2019 JJ Girard Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru "Les Rouvrettes"
- Savigny Les Beaune: A Burgundy Lover's Burgundy
- The Soul, The Truth of Burgundy
- At $29.99 An Absolute Steal
- Wide Open with a Deep Penetrating Pinot Perfume
- Graceful and So Elegant
- Fruit is Deep Red and Black Cherries
- Vivid, Explodes on the Palate
2019 Jean-Jacques Girard Beaune 1er Cru "Clos du Roi"
- One of My Favorite Beaune Sites
- Usually $60-$90 For the Rare Few (Bouchard/Tawse)
- Super floral. Loads of Earth and Minerals
- Lovely Spice and underbrush
- Palate: Juicy with a Classic Earthy Sweetness
- Loads of Red Berry Fruit
- So, So Complex and Mineral
- God-Like Levels of Fruit and Spice
- Once It Opens, This Does Not Drink Like a $36.99 Wine
- Drinking Now But Has 10-15 Years Ahead of It
- Very Limited But Get As Much As You Can for the Cellar
- Compare at $70 for 2018. Today $36.99
- You Cannot Mess With Our Prices!
The BLQ
The BLQ is what I like to call the "Burgundy Love Quotient."You can drink Champans, Vosne
Romanee, Corton Bressandes, Chambolle Musigny and all the rest of the great wines of Burgundy. And I love drinking them as well. But I'll be honest, I generally drink the more famous (and expensive) wines with friends or at special occasions. What I drink every day is what most people drink every day. Wines from Savigny, Chorey or maybe Volnay. You want something perhaps a little less complex or a little less extravagant for every day drinking. And I'm selling 2 wines today that are among the best examples of that idea.
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A very good friend and early member of the list at Fass Selections is someone whose palate I respect immensely. But I also respect her attitude about wine. She says, and with aplomb, "You don't truly love Burgundy unless you love Savigny Les Beaune." Savigny Les Beaune will never be the best wine in a tasting of Gevrey 1er Cru's or Vosne Romanee 1er Crus. If you think that it is not worthy because of that, then that's a mistake.
Burgundy, more than any other wine region, in order to truly appreciate it has to be taken in context. If not, you'll get all messed up from the high prices and blingy appellations. Every appellation and every village is very worthy in Burgundy. The monks who mapped out the vineyards deserve every bit of praise as the Egyptians did for the pyramids. It's remarkable.
Savigny will always however be the best wine when you open it up that night. It's so satisfying. It's so authentic. It's so comforting. It's an old friend showing up at your door with a roast chicken, potatoes, the complete box set of LOST and they are wearing clothes you are familiar with. You have seen them in that scarf jacket combo 100 times and it is so utterly familiar that you know, that chicken, those potatoes, that box set of LOST and that person is going to deliver on a great experience and evening. It's inevitable.
JJ Girard - The Master of Value Burgundies
We sell more Girard under $50 than anyone else and there is a reason. They punch way way above their weight, they are transparent and have wonderful, deep, fleshy ebullient fruit that is accessible to wine geeks and normal people alike. You don't have to wait for many bottlings and the ones you do its only 4-6 years and totally worth the wait. I love Girard. Every bottle is great. With short term aging they can become magical and with long term aging they can compete with more famous villages as JJ Girard is so good at making wine. I'm still waiting on my case of 2012s in 7 more years. I had a client from Canada whose Burgundy palate I respect immensely and he said that this estate reminds him of the serenity, purity and profundity of the great Jean-Marie Fourrier. That's high high praise.
I also want to load your cellars with 2019’s which is the best red vintage since 2010 and 1999 and we got some skinny vintages coming up in 2020 and especially 2021.
The Wines
Up first I have one of my favorite 1er Cru values in the whole book. The 2019 JJ Girard Savigny Les Beaune 1er Cru "Les Rouvrettes" can be had for $29.99 on a 4-Pack today. This wine is just exuberant right now and usually is the most forward of the Girard Savigny 1er Crus. It is wide open with a deep penetrating Pinot perfume. Red cherries and berries galore. There is almost a lipstick-like intensity to the pungency of the fruit. One of those noses you can stand on a table with the glass being placed on the table and you can still smell the wine. (Don't try this at home.) There's glorious spice and all types of limestone minerality. Just a glorious perfume. Despite it being ripe, there is grace and elegance aromatically.
The palate is just unreal and by far the best of the 4-5 vintages I've tasted of Girard Rouvrettes. It's typically a cooler site and 2019 works so well here. Lush, plush, sappy and all brought together by awesome acidity and that hint, just hint of Savigny herbaceousness which I adore. The texture is like velvet yet it's structured, ripe and so sappy from the acids and thoroughly ripe fruit. The fruit is super deep and precise red and black cherries. But all the good, small tight cherries. This just explodes in one's mouth like a mouthful of those cherries right off the tree. Man is this vivid. This is big and large scaled for a Rouvrettes but is so balanced and shows incredible depth. Wow, is this a value. Terrific balance and freshness and just explosive and oh so velvety. Super pure and sappy. Rouvrettes is clay/limestone and the vines are 40+ years old.
Up next is the 2019 JJ Girard Beaune 1er Cru "Clos du Roi." It can be had for as little as $36.99 on a 4-pack and I am thrilled that there were still a few cases left. It's name refers to King Louis XI who appropriated this vineyard upon the death of Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy. Clos du Roi is one of my favorite Beaune sites and usually in the $50-$90 range. It ages wonderfully and always is a very rich earthy wine. The Clos du Roi is located in the Northern section of Beaune where the wines tend to be a bit more open and accessible. But still having the structure to age gracefully like any other Beaune 1er Cru from a vintage as great as 2019.
Gorgeous nose of crushed berries. Red fruited with a hint of black. Super floral. Loads of earth and minerals. Lovely spice and underbrush. A perfume develops after an hour. Glorious spice after air. Cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg. Wow. Terrific vintage for this wine. Deep cherries. Mid season, black and sour. A real melange. Amazing clarity and shape to the nose. So dazzling in its vividness and compactness. Amazing minerality. Just so pointed and refined. A sense of refinement you don't see often in Girard wines or this Cru.
Palate is so juicy with a classic earthy sweetness and loads of red berry fruit and some mid season cherry. Awesome texture and juiciness. Black cherry, such purity, balance and compactness. Ripe and deep tannins and just perfect fruit. Like perfect ripeness and backed up by great energy and minerality. This is very impressive. There is great sap and such vivid black cherry fruit. Will age for a decade at least. So long. Compact. Masterful. Sweet fruit and tannins. Sour cherries on the finish. Complex. Velvety tannins and such purity and grace. So, so complex and mineral. Amazing mouthfeel and such energy and precision. Wonderful depth and incredible balance. Special. Pure and sappy and so straight. Very complex and stoney finish. Balanced and poised. Years to go but a lovely drop today after 3 hour decant or so. Sweet fruited finish. So long. Really just utterly delicious. This has 10-15 years ahead of it. One of the best values I sell and I strongly recommend this is best after 5 years. No vintage exceptions. Having said that it will drink well young with a decant. Definitely a 4 pack purchase so that you can try one now and let the rest age. This will be allocated and is very limited but hopefully I can accommodate everyone.
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