Why am I not surprised that you import these, Jeremy? Talk about impeccable tastes. I am really surprised that more people don’t try these wines. As Kent says, they would shame many CdN 1er cru, and for $40!
Love the Camille Giroud Santenay 1er cru Clos Rousseau and even the village Santenay. Also Maranges can produce some lovely super-value Burgundy. I’ve asked David Croix to crank it up from these regions but he says he can’t get any more vines, so obviously someone appreciates them!
I’ve always heard Santenays have the ability to age well, but I recently had some Avery’s bottled wine with a generic “Santenay” label from 1952 that was absolutely delicious. Subtle, complex, and just a lovely, unexpected treat.
I am very excited that I was able to secure two barrels of Santenay 1er cru Gravières blanc this year, from the only plot of Chardonnay on Terre Blanche according to the grower. Seeing as Santenay is my favorite appellation after Savigny and Beaune, I am super chuffed.
It’s not absolutely impossible that that Santenay found its way into things with much grander labels at Averys too, and it’s always worth remembering that the village-1er cru distinction was usually not too relevant back then-if the bottle indeed contained mostly Santenay it could well have been 1er cru in large part. I bet it was delicious, one sometimes finds marvellous things with the Averys label. It could I believe have come from Remoissenet(Matthew Hemming MW who sometimes shows up here is the one to ask), and Remoissenet’s Santenay Gravieres is consistently excellent even fron vintages in which Remoissenet wines weren’t at their best.
Therein lies our perpetual problem in Ontario—we seldom get any solid producers of Santenay. I don’t think I’ve had one that has gone beyond “pleasant”. I’d like to believe they are out there and do represent great value. Just gotta find 'em.
one sometimes finds marvellous things with the Averys label. It could I believe have come from Remoissenet(Matthew Hemming MW who sometimes shows up here is the one to ask),
Hey Tom, and others -
I’d say that the Averys Santenay 1952 was almost certainly a Remoissenet wine. In fact I’m pretty sure we’ve still got a bottle or two of old Santenay amongst our library stock, so I’ll have a look. Reliable historical information about both Averys and Remoissenet is hard to come by: neither was renowned for diligence in archiving files and, with John Avery having passed away and Roland Remoissenet effectively a recluse, it’s pretty much impossible to unpack the history. I recently asked Bernie Repolt about the provenance of some 1950s RSV from Remoiss and they genuinely had no idea, only when I spoke to an old Averys employee did I discover that it was Marey Monge juice.
Despite the above, John told me stories about buying huge numbers of barrels of Maranges with Roland Remoissenet in the old days. These formed the basis of many of their cuvees, especially the sort of thing that’s known as Renomee today. John was talking about purchases running into 100s of barrels in a day. If they were buying on that scale in Maranges, and given both companies have histories of Santenay bottlings as well as very close ties, then I’d be pretty sure that your 1952 was from Averys via Remoissenet.
I’m in Beaune with them next week so will ask (for what it’s worth). Am also intending to ask about trying the famous 1969 Gravieres.
Thanks for the info, that’s really interesting.
I actually bought an entire collection (about 7 cases) of perfectly stored bottles.
Pretty eclectic, and REALLY heavy on certain vintages.
Amongst the odd and ends were half a dozen or so Averys bottled wines. '53 Bonnes-Mares, '64 Hospice de Beaune Docteur Peste etc… The '52 Santenay came from that lot, as well as two other Santenays with no neck tag, but “Annee 1947” seemingly stamped on the label. I say “seemingly”, because it doesn’t look like it was printed, it looks like it was stamped.
And the '52 didn’t have a vintage on the main label, just the neck tag.
Any idea why?
Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about old Averys bottles, but so far these have been pretty delicious.
And at the price I paid, I’m just super happy that they’re so drinkable and interesting.
Plenty of room here Ray…much like Givry…great values here for the tariff…drinking a 2010 rene lequin-colin…beautiful spice …crisp acidity…fresh mushroom…tight tart fruits…very nice for 22 bones…though an '07 Michel Sarrazin champs lalot givry really stole my heart at the same price
I’ve had good experiences sampling bottles of 2007 Santenay Clos de la Comme and Clos de Tavannes from Francois and Denis Clair. Letting the rest of them sleep.