About The Wine
Inside the Bottle: Sitting on an unassumingly flat alluvial bench next to the south hill of Savigny-les-Beaune, Les Bourgeots is no ordinary Burgundy village wine. Just below two great 1er crus—Les Narbantons and Peuillets—Bourgeots’ calcium-rich clay and sand deposits give this village wine its unusual power and dimension.
The first time I tasted Les Bourgeots, I knew that the old guard Burgundy buyers would get it. However, I was concerned that our young, metrosexual Burgundy drinkers, who seem to believe acidity is the only valid structural component in a red Burgundy, wouldn’t understand this firm, but gentle beast. To my pleasant surprise, every vintage we’ve imported (2009-2013) has been a massive hit with all our best sommeliers. With its intricate structure and mass of complexities, this wine’s talent is its disregard for Burgundy’s established hierarchy. Insouciantly, it transcends its humble rank as a village wine and demands to be taken more seriously. I suspect anyone tasting it blind would put it in the class of a 1er cru- which explains the reason why Domaine Simon Bize has bottled it separate from their other village wines.
Aromas of damp black earth, crushed rocks, wet forest, bramble, thyme, wild blackberries, chanterelles, and budding, wild forest flowers giddily surge from the glass. On the palate, its texture is fluid and mineral, concentrated with graphite, chalky tannins and a core of rich acidity that entirely appropriate to earthy, savory flavors.
Built with a multitude of dimensions, this big-time village wine delivers every bit of promise from a top domaine, an exceptional terroir and the great 2009 vintage. It drinks beautifully now, but should you chose to cellar it, in another 3-5 years it will offer even more heavenly complexities.