WB Burgundy Appellation Series Week 11: Savigny les Beaune and Chorey les Beaune

Hello and welcome to Week 11 of our Wine Berserkers Weekly Burgundy Appellation Tasting Series. This week, we will focus on the wines of Savigny les Beaune and Chorey les Beaune. Let’s open this week up to some discussion and tasting notes!

First, a few notes from Dr Jean (Jules) Lavalle’s ‘Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne et Des Grands Vins de la Côte d’Or’ written in 1855

Savigny-Lez-Beaune

'The territory of Savigny is, when speaking of the extent of the soil devoted to the cultivation of the vine, one of the most important of the Côte d’Or. More than 650 hectares are dedicated to the production of wine, and among these, 350 hectares containing pinot noir which produces fine wines.”

“We have to note in this commune some wines of ‘extra’ (quality) that, in the country, are considered as being above some premières cuvées, and with a great number of vines that produce wines of première cuvée quality, and a lot of climats that produce good wines of the third and forth ranking.

These climats are:

Première Cuvée, Extra

“Les Vergelesses”, having one portion, owned by Mme (widow) Vauchey, is known under the name of “Bataillere” and is considered as the most perfect part of this climat which contains 16ha 97a

Deuxième Cuvée

Les Jarrons 10ha 34a
Les Narbantons 13ha 29a
Les Marconnets-Hauts and Bas 9ha 45a
Les Guettes 21ha 4a
Aux Gravains 6ha 38a
Les Lavières 18ha 51a
Les Vergelesses-Hautes (no ha given)
Les Peuillets 22ha 93a, having a section on the west side, which is known under the name of “Dominaudes” deserving to be classed among the Première Cuvée class.
Aux Cloux 15ha 61a
Aux Serpentières 4ha 87a
Aux Pointes 2ha 75a
Aux Petits-Liards 5ha 78a
Aux Grands-Liards 6ha 59a
Es Canardières or Canardises 10ha 77a
Les Rouvrettes 5ha 74a
Les Charnières 2ha 6a
Le Pimentier (no ha given)

Troisième Cuvée
(I will fill this in later)

He mentions after this class that:
‘In all of the other climats, the cultivation have all but been replaced the pinot noir with common plantings and the wine is considered to be inferior.

The wines of Savigny, that are rich in bouquet are missing of neither flame nor strength, though they are distinguished above all for their finesse. Also, they had a great reputation in the last centuries, as it is searched above all in our wines this precise quality.

A couple of weeks ago I had a beautiful SlB les Narbantons 2007 from Jadot. I don’t normally think of SlB as the most elegant of appellations, but this wine was very seductive. Lighter color, but just a gorgeous (do I dare say Truchot-like) nose, and lighter but beautiful flavors. A great buy.

A couple of weeks ago I had a very seductive and supple 2007 Narbantons from Mongeard-Mugneret.
Represents the forwardness of 2007 and the great value one can find in SLB.

I’m in the middle of drinking a bottle of '07 Bize SLB 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses. Interesting so far: the wine was beautiful over the first few hours, bright red fruits with the pine needle forest floor tastes and aromas that I’ve come to associate with Savigny from South facing vineyards on the Pernand side of Savigny. What set this wine apart from others I’ve had though was the intensity and drive of the whole package. The flavors are really clear and intense on the palate and drive through to a beautiful finish. Really nice and sets this wine apart from other Savigny 1er crus. Later in the evening though, the wine seemed to retreat into it’s shell. Became much more dark and brooding with the tannic structure becoming much more apparent, almost overwhelming. Probably best to leave this alone for a while now. I’ll report back if I see any siginificant changes on day 2.

A few thoughts for everyone: as I said in the note, I’ve always found a certain similarity amongst quality Savignys from the south facing vineyards on the Pernand side… the wines seem to lean towards a red fruited delicacy with what I call a pine needle forest floor taste… I’ve encountered it in several different producers wines… have others noticed this similarity?

I think that perhaps qualitatively the wines of Savigny may not offer the power and profound qualities of some of the better 1er crus found further north, but from a good producer, these wines can be unique and fascinating bottles of burgundy. I love that delicacy and finesse that I’ve found in some of these wines and the prices are generally a nice bonus. Exploring the different terriors found throughout the village is a fascintaing exercise as well, and one that can be undertaking relatively cheaply compared to other villages.

As for producers, I’ve always looked to JM Pavelot, Simon Bize, Rapet and Camus-Bruchon for quality and affordable bottlings.

I agree 100% with Chris.

Savigny-les-Beaune is an under-appreciated commune IMO, and I believe that is partly self-inflicted. I ignored S-l-B altogether for quite some years, although I was (and am) a fan of the premier crus from Beaune. I think this has something to do with the name of the appellation, as the moniker Savigny-les-Beaune gave me the perception that it was in some way an inferior stepchild of Beaune, an attempt to define itself by referencing Beaune. Gevrey choose to associate with Chambertin. Chambolle choose Musigny. Puligny choose Montrachet. And Savigny is, well, near to Beaune… WTF?

That was my mistake, but I believe many others may have thought the same. Better late than never, and I have belatedly discovered the earthy, gout de terroir-driven wines of Savigny.

The 1er cru vineyards are in two sections, separated by a small river. On the northern side, adjoining Pernand-Vergelesses, we are on the south-facing slopes of Bois Noel. Here the best wines tend to be more elegant, perfumed, and minerally. On the opposite side, adjoining Beaune, we are on the Mont Battois slope with eastern exposures. These wines tend more toward earthy, gout-de-terroir character. Bill Nanson’s excellent Burgundy Report has a good map. Link to map.

My thoughts on the 1er crus…

Grand Crus & Quasi-Grand 1er Crus:
(None)

Savigny’s Elite 1er Crus:
Aux Vergelesses (17.19 ha on the Pernand side)
La Bataillere (a 1.8 ha enclave within Les Vergelesses and monopole of Domaine Albert Morot)
La Dominode (on the Beaune side) (a 6.72 ha enclave within Les Jarrons)
Les Jarrons (1.46 ha in addition to the 6.72 ha that is generally labeled La Dominode, so 8.18 ha total)

Other 1er Crus… There are about 17 more 1er crus, and I tend to think of Les Marconnets as “best of the rest”. However, once past the elite crus listed above, I tend to stick to favorite domaines for the most part, as even the most highly acclaimed tend to be reasonably priced. My personal favorites:

Simon Bize (favorite wine: Les Vergelesses)
Albert Morot (La Bataillere)
Jean-Marc Pavelot (La Dominode)
Bruno Clair (La Dominode)
Louis Jadot (La Dominode)

Just a footnote: on the map, Aux Vergelesses is at the northern end of the commune, overlapping Pernand. Just below Aux Vergelesses is the great Pernand 1er cru Ile des Vergelesses, and just below that is Les Basses Vergelesses, which generally appears on a label just as Les Vergelesses. So in this part of Burgundy, one must take care to keep your Vergelesses’s straight.

Another excellent producer of SlB wines is Domaine Pierre Guillemot. Will hopefully have a note or two later in the week.

It’s obviously young, but I had a bottle of 2008 Chandon de Briailles Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Fourneaux on Saturday (tasted it earlier in the day). Very earthy with a trace of iron, on the leaner side and showing fair bit of acidity, but the pretty red fruit is also open for business. Not deep or layered, but a solid and enjoyable wine. I think I paid in the low to mid $30’s.

-Al

Savigny is my mainstay place for satisfying, don’t break the bank, burgundy. You still can buy very satisfying, complete, red burg here for 30-40 occ 50 dollars that will also age beautifully for 20-30 years in a decent vintage. Please don’t tell anyone this. And there are several very good producers, a little under the radar. This business about slightly rustic wines is baloney. I’d really like to keep this somewaht of a secret, though.

i can’t post any current notes as I still have plastic splints in my nose that block the olfactory areas, but I’ll think back about recent tastes…

1999 Pavelot Savigny le Beaune Daminodes–

Dark red with slight brick edges. Energetic combination of tart berries and deep black cherry. Still a bit reticent, very good concentration and energy. One of the few red burg truly better on the second day. Still 2-5 years from the beginning of mature drinking plateau. 1999 in cote de Beaune resulted in a lot of beautiful yet serious wines that aren’t going to start blossoming for 15 or more years.

LOL John. I suggest we discuss the topic here for exactly one week, then we all clam up. I’d love to hear about your producers.

2002 Domaine Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Gravains - Still primary with impressive mid-palate black fruit, balanced by perfect structure of silky tannins and fine acid grip, all completely resolved. Savoury in character but very complex, unwinding over the palate, the last impression being a clear mineral finish. Seriously good. Cheers Mike

We’re supposed to be discussing chorey les beaune too! I’ve been banging on about a really lovely 2008 CLB from Maillard available in Waitrose here for ca £16. The first lower level 08 that I’ve enjoyed after being very put off by the acidity during the EP tastings. I’ve gone through 6 bottles of this in recent weeks and they’ve all been lovely, energetic, even racy, red fruited and vibrant examples with clearly several years of maturity ahead of them. Best QPR bottle of PN I’ve ever bought.

2006 Michel Gay Chorey-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes - I’ve had a couple bottles of this wine over the past two months. It’s a little reticent at present, but has pretty red cherry and cranberry fruit with some cinnamon spice. Nice value at $22-25.

-Al

Have you had the 1999? I had one two or three years ago and couldn’t decide it was still shut down or already fading. The aromatics were lovely, but the material was diffuse.

Hi Cliff, no 99’s, I have only seen the 02’s from Pavelot in NZ. 02 may have been a better vintage for this wine, it seems to have suited the 1ers as you move south… Cheers Mike

2002 Domaine Vincent Girardin Savigny-les-Beaune 1er cru les Peuillets

Dark ruby. Nose of dark cherry, flowers, forest floor and earth. Fruit forward palate of dark and candied cherry, balanced acidity and tannin. Medium finish. Not especially complex but this went well with roast turkey, salad and spinach ravioli. I think I liked this much better than the Burghound review would suggest. I have one more bottle and will probably wait a few years because I think this will have many years ahead. Don’t know whether or not it will get better, but will be fun to see what happens. Considering I paid less than $30 for this, I wish I had bought more.

2005 Catherine et Claude Marechal Chorey le Beaune

Dark, deep red. Concentrated, ripe palate with black cherry, dark berries and ripe strawberry, moist earth. Remarkable depth and structure, but drinks very well right now with 1/2 hour of air. I would have picked this as a serious upper level Beaune–Greves perhaps, not in my wildest dreams Chorey le Beaune.

2008 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Bourgeots - Slow-oxed in the bottle for 8+ hours before writing this note. It was very tight when opened and took a while to open up. A very mineral driven wine with medium intensity aromatics of violet flower perfume and hints of smoke. I love the sweet purple flower aromatics of 2008 red burgundies. The wine is very lightweight with simple and thin cherry and floral flavors over a framework of stony minerality. Bright acid. A wine for the AFWE. I actually really like the genre of pretty and mineral driven cote de beaune reds but at $35 its not a great QPR. I can get the same thing from other producers for $20. B+ (many others would find this too thin but its balanced for this mineral lover).

Nice find, John. As someone mentioned up above, this thread is supposed to cover Chorey-les-Beaune as well, so this is good to see. I have not been lucky with a wine from Chorey yet, but not very many datapoints. I need to look for some Marechal, I guess.

OK Lew, here is another Chorey-les-Beaune, tasted the past two nights.

2007 Drouhin Chorey-les-Beaune
Popped and poured a glass on first day, recorked, then decanted the rest on day two. Pretty, bright red with slightest purple hue. A little funk on the nose, with some earth and cherry. Medium-minus body, medium-plus acidity and a surprisingly (for me at least) moderately concentrated mid-palate with some candied red cherry. Finishes with noticeable tannins giving a slightly rustic edge. On the simple side, but pretty. Another 2007 that shows almost confectionary red fruits in a relatively light package. For the $16 tariff, this is a great QPR.

This is better than a bottle tasted in January, and I think there is enough structure to continue improving for several more years.