- Raised in the Vineyards
- His First Vintage at 18
- The French Have Bought Almost All of His Wines
- Style Is Polished Traditional: Less Rustic
- Very Elegant, Precise Fruit
- On Day 2, The 2017s Are Drinking Out of Their Minds
- He Will Be Recognized As a Top Producer in Burgundy within 10 Years or "I Will Be an Idiot"
2017 Rebourgeon Pommard Clos de la Cure
- The Best Lieu Dit Pommard I've Ever Had
- Easily Premier Cru in Quality
- Ethereal, Seductive and Sweet with Huge Finesse
- Volnay Elegance but Pommard Punch
- MONOPOLE Behind The Rebourgeon Winery
- Next To Violot Clos St Jean 1er Cru, 1er Cru Clos des Poutures from Armand Heitz
- 65 Year Old Vines
2017 Rebourgeon Volnay 1er Cru Brouillards
- The Ultimate Sleeper Volnay 1er Cru
- Nose: Roses, Ripe Mid-Season Cherry Fruit
- Classic Volnay
- Palate: Terrific Sweet Fruit, Haunting Elegant Texture
- Mid-Season Cherries, A Hint of Black Cherry
- Terrific Inner Mouth Florals
- Really Stoney and Mineral
How Can You Predict Genius in a Young Winemaker?
With new musical composers, you look for a certain clarity and innovation.
With new chefs, clean flavors and artful combinations.
So how do you tell that a 19 year old winemakers young wines will be the stuff of genius?
The wines of William Whitehead are quite drinkable young and after a 30 minute decant. They are, frankly delicious. But they are young Burgundies and young Burgundies are hardly ever at peak brilliant when young. They require time for the fruit to settle in and for the secondary and tertiary characteristics to come to the fore.
So how can you tell that you are buying something that will turn into a $100+ wine? Let's be honest with ourselves, with most expensive, known Burgundy, we look at the label and place our faith in the producer, having seen their young wines mature into genius in previous vintages. But I don't have that luxury when discovering new winemakers.
I look at fruit quality and clarity. What I mean by clarity is that the fruit is defined, The cherries taste like cherries. The licorice like licorice. In my experience, when you get this, in 2-3 years, the wine
Patience Grasshopper. Of course, if you want to decant these wines for 24 hours, you can see what these wines are going to be in 3-5 years. The fruit precision becomes laser-like. The secondary flavors are pristene. The wines become more serious and structured. The elegance becomes more apparent. These already drink like elite wines on day 2.
The Rebourgeon Style
These are more polished than the Billard Gonnet wines and have a darker color but are what I like to call polished traditional. The style here is to die for as it really works well in the Beaune. You have glorious red/black cherry fruit and also unreal freshness, depth and length plus a keen reflection of the site the wine comes from. The wines have that extra special clarity that you see in winemakers who ... well winemakers who become famous.
I can unequivocally say they need to breathe and all my samples were remarkable after 3 hours open and after 24 hours open. The murderer's row of Pommard 1er Crus is stunning at this estate as well as all the village wines in Pommard. Plus Brilliant Volnay!
Clos de la Cure. Best Village Pommard I've Had in Years.
Since I've now tasted almost all of young William's wines I can confidently say his 2017 Rebourgeon Pommard Clos de la Cure for $58.99 a bottle a 4-pack is absolutely the best lieu Dit Pommard wine I've ever had. This is easily premier Cru in quality but is also so distinctive and the quality of this wine is unbelievable. Between this and the Pommard 1902 La Vache they are the best Pommard village duo I've ever come across. Both wines are like counterparts to each other. While the 1902 La Vache is muscular, darker fruited, rich and deep with structure to burn the Pommard Clos de la Cure is more playful, red fruited, more ethereal, seductive and sweet with huge finesse. But both are equally brilliant but so different. Equal in quality I think as well. But this wine is the wine to drink young while you cellar the 1902 La Vache. This is from 65 year old vines behind the Rebourgeon winery and has some spiffy neighbors including the great 1er Cru Les Poutures from Armand Heitz. This is also a MONOPOLE.
Huge expressive nose. So clean and full of mid season red cherries, spice and flowers. Then there are superb aromas of mineral and licorice. It's outrageous. So dope.
Palate has a stunning sweetness and purity. It has an unreal spherical like quality that struts its elegance confidently. It's got Volnay elegance but Pommard punch. Stunning ripe tannins. Beautiful purity and so so delicate. What a Pommard. Showing incredible elegance. A True wow wine. Terrific sweet and floral inner mouth aromas. Ripe and juicy tannins and such complexity. A lot of material. Awesome. A wine impossible not to drink. The ultimate really in that it's insanely delicious, complex and drinkable. But will age 15+ years.
On Day 2 the nose got confectionary and has just a classic high end deep, bombshell Pommard nose. This is so classic. I'd put this up against the top guys any day. De Montille, Comte Armand. Billard Gonnet. Stoney and deep with confectionary flowers and fruit. High toned and pungent. Great nose.
Palate is elegant, juicy, sleek and structured with the sweetness of the fruit and that classic intense stoney-like Pommard minerality. Long, balanced juicy and utterly profound. Truly a genius wine and a wine that will age effortlessly for 15 years. I suspect in 5 years this will approach levels I can't even imagine.
The second wine is the 2017 Rebourgeon Volnay 1er Cru Brouillards for $54.99 a bottle for a 4-pack which is an insane value for a wine this high quality. This wine is brilliant as well and is slightly less expensive despite it being a 1er Cru. This is the ultimate sleeper Volnay 1er Cru. It's between Les Mitans and Fremiets which are both terrific 1er Crus. The famous Pierrick Bouley epic 1er a Cru Les Grands Champs is also nearby. I drank it over 2 days and my house and for
The nose starts out a bit closed but you can see the perfume is gonna develop. It's closed initially but its a clean closed with a hint of what's to come. Then it comes. First roses, ripe mid season cherry fruit and it gets so so so aromatic. It unravels. Some hints of citrus skin. Wow. Such a pure and elegant nose. Classic Volnay. As it opens a dizzying perfume is there. Earth, mineral, loam. So so good.
Palate is ripe, juicy and substantial. Terrific sweet fruit and haunting elegant texture, with awesome juiciness and very very fine tannins. Mid-season cherries, a hint of blackberry to give it depth. Long sweetly fruited finish. Terrific complexity, energy and depth. This is super impressive. It drinks well after 10 minutes as well. Awesome. Superb velvety, ripe and sweet tannins. Terrific inner mouth florals and fruit. Almost a 9.5 for me on Delectable. Really stoney and mineral
On day 3 the nose was more candied. It was like Cotton candy cherry syrup. Awesome. Gorgeous almost pastille like aromas on a bed of minerality. Classic Volnay The palate is so juicy and so ripe. Classic finesse and elegance and power and depth. Complex and sappy. Wonderful. Velvety and awesome texture. I think this will drink well for 10-15 years. Very limited.
Oh - and for those of you who are still reading, the "I will be an idiot" line in the title was borrowed from Stuart Pigott (about another winemaker).
2017 Domaine RebourgeonVolnay 1er Cru Les Brouilards - $56.99 ($219.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $6.30)
2017 Domaine Rebourgeon Pommard Clos de la Cure Monopole - $60.99 ($235.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $6.30)
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