I am trying to choose between Les Lavières 2012 and Pernand-Vergelesses Rouge Les Vergelesses 2012 from Chandon de Briailles (for 3 bottles of wines to lay down for a few years).
I have had neither of these wines in the past. Based on what I am reading online, neither appear to be “Ready” for drinking yet. It seems that Les Lavieres will be approachable sooner than the Les Vergelesses, but Les Vergelessses comes from a “Better” vineyard and may provide more pleasure over time. Cellertracker reviews seem significantly better for Les Lavieres at this time.
I am inclined to choose Les Lavieres. I am trying to find out if it indeed matures earlier (am not much for postponed gratification) and also to know a bit more about its reputation for typicity and deliciousness.
For context - I haven’t had a lot of Burgundy and my experience with aged burgundy is almost non-existent. In the past few months - I have loved the Georges Noellet Vosne-Romanee 2014, the Fixin Gellin 2014, and Voillot Volnay Les Champans 2011. I have had only one Savigny-les-Beune (Les Pimentiers 2010 from Maison Arnoux & Fils) in the past, that I hadnt liked anywhere near as much. So I don’t really have much of a benchmark. But the wine prices at this village is obviously more accessible that Cote de Nuits (or Volnay for that matter), I would love to find a few good producers here that I can like and follow.
Would appreciate any insight that you may be able to share.
Be careful to note that there are both a Pernand “Les Vergelesses” and a Pernand “Ile de Vergelesses” from this house. The latter is generally regarded as the better and longer lived wine, but they are both fine wines that will age well.
I haven’t had much aged “Les Vergelesses”, but it may well mature later than the Savigny Lavieres. All of the wines from this estate are known for blossoming late and often being shut down very hard in middle age. I think the Savigny Lavieres is a good choice for you.
The lavieres would likely be a little more friendly earlier, but the wines from this estate aren’t designed for early gratification. If you want to try SLB wines that will show well a little earlier for the same price, I’d suggest Pavelot.
2 bottles of the Les Lavières and one of the Les Vergelesses.
The single Les Lavières is lined up to be opened first as a ‘canary in a coalmine’ to see if the wines might be opening up, with the other two potentially opened together (when depending on how the 1st bottle goes), to allow you to make your own mind up, rather than relying too much on critics.
If you want a producer to drink young, skip Chandon de Briailles or find their 2007s. I love the wines of Chandon de Briailles, but they just do not make wines meant to be drunk young. You have a lot of better sources for Burgundies that can be enjoyable on the young side.
My recommendation for a winery making wines from this area to be drunk younger is Domaine Dublere. Blair makes fabulous wines that I think will age well (I have not had any that old - yet) but that have such beautiful purity that they drink well on the younger side.
But, if you want something really open without paying a fortune, I think you would be better off going out and finding a 2012 Hudelot-Noellat Chambolle-Musigny or a 2010 Jadot Beaune Greves.
This. Most Savigny/Pernand wines are going to be a little tougher and rustic (I’m not sure I agree with the Pavelot rec at all, those wines, to me, are even more rustic than the Briailles).
If the OP tells us what city he’s in, maybe we can see what might be available.
If you want to learn more about the winery and those two sites, and other vineyard holdings then you must listen to Levi Dalton’s wonderful and always though proving and soulful radio interview with Claude de Nicolay, the co-manager of Burgundy’s Chandon de Briailles domaine. It is Episode 377, and it is FABULOUS.
I have drunk the 2012 CdB Lavieres twice, including last week, and it is delicious, even now. It will be superb in 10-15 years. Lavieres is not an inferior site and is always more expensive wholesale than Vergelesses. Ile des Vergeless is a completely different story and, for my palate, CdB and Rollin’s versions approach grand cru quality. CdB de-stemmed in 2013 due to hail, and their 2013 Ile des Vergelesses is remarkably tender and supple, although that may change. It is hard to go wrong with any CdB wine, but I would recommend spending $10-$15 more for Ile des Vergelesses. An alternative would be any of Guillemot’s Savigny-les-Beaune 1er crus, which are made in a similar style to CdB - lightly-colored, fragrant, and savory. Pavelot’s wines are darker, denser and don’t have the finesse and detail of CdB and Guillemot, and they don’t seem to gain a lot of interest with age. For Savigny-les-Beaune with depth of color and fruit, along with a dose of mineral and soil, Lucien Jacob’s Peuillets is a good pick. Camus-Bruchon’s Savigny-les-Beaune cuvees fall in the dark and firm camp, at least young, and, although I have no experience with aged bottles, I would instead place my bets with CdB or Guillemot.
Disclaimer: I sell all of the wines I mentioned here.
I think I am just going to pick up 2 bottles of CdB Lavieres and try to forget that they exist for the next few years!
Thank you very much Martin and Lee - for your notes on Les Lavieres.
@ Alan and Howard - I do love wines from Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanee. But I can’t really pick them up in threes to age (not regularly anyway). It seemed worth exploring the wines from SlB. I usually see a significant enough price difference between the wines from those 2 villages and Savigny (the latter seems fairly well reviewed too)
I live in a Dallas suburb (My wine budget increasingly goes to Pogo wine store at Dallas. I like their selection on Burgundy, Loire and Austria; although the markup does make me wink at times). None of the wines you recommended seem available locally at this time. I’ll keep my eyes out for them.
Sheila - I’ll definitely check out that episode on Dalton’s show before I buy. Very much appreciate the pointer.
I gained a lot more insight on this subject reading through this thread than did over the last few days of research!
Well, you’re on the right track! If Martin says you can drink a 12 Lavieres now, I would trust his advice, he has plenty of experience. My own experience is that 12s can fall into two camps: nice supple fruit, drinkable now, or can age; or, tannic, rustic, tough wines. All depends on the vineyard source and producer.
Sadly, you don’t have a ton of choice in your area, Pogo’s prices are on the high side, and they don’t show much lower end wine at all. Welcome to the 21st amendment
Martin: this is a surprising comment to me. I tasted that wine only from barrel and I had a very different impression: an austere, hard wine. Things may have changed of course, but I remember well the comments by Claude de Nicolay who said that one will have to wait the wines of this vintage for a very long time. If they became supple and tender in the meanwhile, not even she was expecting that.
CdB wines constitute the largest block in my cellar; we have visited with Claude a number of times.
I agree with the above statements and will add that I absolutely love the minerality of Lavieres. It is a unique site with wines completely different from Les Vergelesses, only a few yards away.
Gilberto, I was somewhat surprised by how the wine showed, as well. I have had it twice. Here is Claude Kolm’s review: “Île des Vergelesses shows its vineyard superiority to the very fine Verglesses. The fruit here is darker and the wine shows good length, penetration, and depth, along with finesse and enlivening acidity. Here, too, the fruit was entirely destemmed. 93/A” I don’t believe that he found the wine to be austere and hard either. And I agree with finesse comment. Generally, I believe the theory that CdB wines are impenetrable in their youth to be inaccurate. Same for Gouges, at least since Gregory Gouges began making the wines. I wouldn’t recommend either of them as a cocktail substitute, but both producers make wines that are lightly-colored, medium-bodied, fragrant and (generally) firm, with a soil-inflected, savory core, which plump up beautifully at the dinner table. No doubt both are better with age, but I have no qualms enjoying the bright fruit, freshness and vigor in the young wines. In addition, selling them, I must do this. FWIW, last night we drank the 2007 CdB Ile des Vergelesses, which keeps getting better. The fruit is of the pale red sort and there is some orange rind and truffle/decaying leaves action beginning to show. It is pretty much a perfect dinner beverage for me, but it is not for those who like dark, rich, fleshy red Burgundy.
I also find very young CdB wines to be quite pretty aromatically and drinkable in a young sort of way. As far as Gouges, I think they definitely changed when Gregory started making the wines.
I would also agree with Martin’s early mention of Rollin’s Ile de Vergelesses as another excellent Pernand worth buying and aging.
First of all good choice with CdB as you can tell most people like them. In regards to your plan to buy and lay these down for a few years… I am not sure if you are going to be overly happy with the results. Burgundy goes through phases and 3 years on these wines could be beneficial or it could put them in an awkward phase. I am sure others with more knowledge of how the 12s will evolve could comment on this.
Maybe look at trying to purchase some older wines. Like others have said the '07s are drinking well now and they were pretty readily available.
A quick winesearcher.com search show vintages back to 1998 and reasonable prices.
