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2013 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru (3/20/2020)
Popped and poured. The nose is textbook PYCM; minerals, citrus, flint, spice and highly aromatic. Crips, lean and tart palate, good volume paired with copious acidity and a long finish. Outstanding for the village. (91 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Is there a better bargain in Burgundy than a $43 Saint-Aubin from PYCM?
I love to re-read the vintage reports from a producer when I’m drinking a wine that I really like, in the futile hope of discerning patterns that will help to inform future buying decisions. 2013 was a challenging year in Burgundy that taxed the growers. See the writeup below. It’s no surprise that Pierre Yves delivered amazing wines in a difficult year, as he is a conscientious grower to a fault. Bottom line conclusion for me, it all comes down to the old saw: “producer, producer, producer”.
Pierre Yves Colin described the 2013 vintage in one word, “galère,” which basically translates as the vintage from hell. He went on to say that “it was beyond complicated. There were so many aspects to manage and each of them had to be done in exactly the right way and exactly when they had to be done. 2013 was definitely a vintage that tolerated no laxity. One good example is that in May there was strong mildew pressure but it was so wet and muddy from all of the rain that we couldn’t get any machinery into the vineyards. So there was no choice but to treat manually and let me tell you, that is just nasty work. The suits are heavy and hot, the tanks are heavy, there’s 5 pounds of mud clinging to each of your boots while you’re trying to navigate straight up a slippery and very steep row while making sure that you completely treated the foliage for each vine. Worse, we had to do this twice. Honestly, if I never have to do it again it will be too soon.
We picked from the 30th of September to the 4th of October but stopped on the 5th due to the huge rain storm. We resumed picking on the 6th and then harvested through to the 9th. The fruit was surprisingly clean and sugars were reasonably good at between 11 and 12.1%. The skins were thinner than they were in 2012 and we were able to do our normal pressing. Acids though were right at the limit of what I prefer so I decided to block from 10 to 15% of the malo for each wine. In the same spirit I thought that the wines were sufficiently rich that they didn’t need any lees stirring so we did none at all. After all that we went through, I am genuinely shocked at how good the wines are because I honestly never expected this level of quality. The wines are fresher and more terroir than the 2012s though they’re not as dense and powerful. Still, I prefer the style of the 2013s because they make you feel like drinking them and that’s always an encouraging sign for aging potential.”
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