I think if you drill down on producer the hierarchy can very quickly start to fall apart. I’d take Leroy/auvenay village wines over grand crus from many other solid producers (and so would others judging by price).
The key is “if well chosen”
Leo opened a beautiful Fixin from the 70s a few weeks ago. Amazing nose
agreed. That’s what I said in my first post about overlap and producer: there is overlap in quality between aged premier and grand cru wines, but, overall, grand cru beats premier hands down. Not every grand cru is mindbending, due to bottle variation and variable producer quality, but neither does every premier cru turn into a swan w/ age.
Noah,
Village and 1er Cru wines can and do age for just as long as Grand Cru wines. The wines on your list should all benefit from long cellaring, especially the Gouges Nuits. Even more humble appellations such as Givry and Mercurey improve with extended bottle age. I had a 1993 Joblot Givery 1er Cru last week that was terrific and still had plenty in the tank.
Critic’s drinking windows are notoriously conservative and most red Burgundy will age for a lot longer than most people expect and in a non linear fashion. A 1945 Jaffelin Beaune ‘Bressandes’ for instance was close to the best wine I have had this year, it was as good as any Grand Cru to have passed my lips over the past 12 months and a 1947 Merlin Volnay ‘Santenots’ wasn’t far behind either.
Best Regards
Jeremy
Perhaps someone has mentioned this before, but it’s very unusual for me to pull a burgundy that is over the hill (my burgundies that I’ve purchased on release go back to 93 currently ). I’m still enjoying bourgognes (as well as village wines and PC’s) from 93, 95, 96 and I can’t remember anything being over the hill. Fear of waiting too long is really unfounded if you are buying decent producers. I think the real problem is drinking your wines too young if you are doing it out of fear of them falling apart. (If you are drinking them young because you like them that way, or because you don’t have anything with age, fine.)
This is so true, and not just with Burgundy. So often I see “this wine is losing it’s fruit; drink up.” It’s very common with 15-year-old wines that have a track record of aging well. All you will do is guarantee you don’t drink your wines either at their early charming stage or when they are mature.
Noah:
Lots of good advice above. Since you asked for specific examples, I found some Lafarge 76 village volnay recently in the cellar. One was really beautiful, another a touch harsh but still an interesting wine and fine with food. The Chevillon 93’s are just starting to drink well, and his 91’s are surprisingly nice now. Older Jadot Ursules (62, 85, 89) and Bouchard L’Enfant (91, 93) have been quite good. I’m not sure that any of them reached the heights of an excellent GC from a comparable year (e.g., La Tache 62 or 76) but all were very enjoyable nonetheless.
Yeah this…
Seen plenty of well stored Village/1’er’s from the '20s - '60’s look as good, if not better, than similar GC/s…
I’ve been “collecting” the stuff for over 30 years now; have stored them (with temperature control) between 60 and 70 degrees, by choice (I want to see my wines mature–in my lifetime, not preserve them or emulate Bern’s cellar!) and I can honestly say I’ve never had a wine that I thought was too old/over the hill. Plenty of other problems, for sure. Most times, when people conclude that a wine is “over the hill” or too old, IMO, the wine has not been cleaned enough of the sediment that comes from aging (via decanting or settling it properly) or allowing it some degree of aeration to allow it some vitality (not arguing the appropriate amount here.)
I find it startling how, so long after I started, my opinion of how long most RB needs and how long it will last…has increased and increased.
And, re: grand crus’ being consistently better/more of a “thrill ride” (to use Dr. Weinberg’s term)…I think “expectation” has to be factored into the mix, which includes the label, the cost, the occasion, etc etc…and the expectations are usually a lot higher with a grand cru…so, for me…the “thrill ride” is often not as great as with “lesser” wines, where the expectations are not as high. The grand crus often disappoint me more, given the occasion, the build up, price, etc…than a 1er cru or villages, where my expectations are fairly much lower. “Thrill” is relative, then.
Personally, I find it more interesting to consume a decently aged 1er cru than any other category. “Thrill” is more an intellectual exercise with Burgs…and…in that regard…given their relative values, lower expectations and more variety, among other things…a 1er cru is often more rewarding to me intellectually when it is great. Grand crus come with expectations that don’t often/always repay those expectations-- and they are more often the focus of an event rather than just a meaningful part of it.
Here’s an illustration. Ten days ago, I went (with my college-aged son)to New Orleans with a friend and his family to celebrate his 60th. My friend is a fiend about BYO and insisted I bring down at least two worth, older Burgs, so I did. (The corkage was ludicrous…$8/bottle at Galatoires; zero at August, where my friend treated both of us). At Galatoire’s we had a '93 Roumier Chambolle-Les Cras. It was superb…and complemented the meal. The next night at August, we had a '94 Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Beze (my friend was born in a “4” year and I like to mark them with such; I had had this before and it was great; beyond the vintage). It was delicious…but…because it was such an esteemed grand cru, we spent a disproportionate amount of effort analyzing it (and the Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet 2000 he brought, and disappointingly, brought sealed, ie, no prep/aeration, unlike what I did with the reds; the Chevalier was just opening up into a beauty when dessert arrived.) The Roumier 1er cru is what I’ll remember most for the “thrill” ride; (and I actually thought Galatoire’s was the best meal of the trip, too, maybe with some contribution from Roumier.) My thoughts…in action…maybe.
Jeremy,
I have always thought that if you want a wine that will really age well but is relatively inexpensive, about the best bang for the buck is in Beaune premier crus. In the US, you can still get Jadot wines (other than Ursules), Bouchard (other than l’enfant Jesus), Dublere, etc., for $35-45.
Wanted to get your view of this thought for a place for Noah to look for what he wants.
Have had plenty of lovely old Jadot Beaune wines Howard.