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17 Jan 2025 | Samantha Dugan

Breathless Burgundy

 

 

“La Vie ce n’est pas seulement respire c’est avoir le souffle coupe” Or

“Life is not just about breathing, it is about having your breath taken away” Alfred Hitchcock, Film Director

 

 

Here we are, just under one month into the new year, and thus begins the yearly cycle of taking tasting appointments with suppliers and importers. Looking to restock old favorites and cracking into the new year, searching for new wines to enchant, delight and inspire us. Not going to yank your chain here, we are still recovering from the holiday season. We are going from November right up until December 31st - and the day after New Year? Yeah, inventory. Honestly, we are often still moving a little slow right now, trying to wiggle out of our exhaustion and get back to our hunger to explore the world of amazing flavors waiting just beneath those corks. Just a little harder to kickstart in mid-January sometimes….but not every time.

 

I was contacted by the importer from whom we get most of our Roses each season, it was time for our annual meeting to taste the early samples of the 2024 Roses. There we sat across from each other, tasting and taking notes on the vintage as a whole, and I made my yearly pre-order for the ones that we loved. There were about twenty samples of super young and racy wines still vibrating my palate when I heard, “Now, don’t feel like you have to, and I know it wasn’t why we are meeting but, I have a couple Burgundies in the bag if you would like to taste them? I just have a sinking suspicion that there are a couple things there that have Samantha written all over them.” Well, how the hell do I say no to that, Rose stinging palate and all.

 

Let me just say, he was wrong. My name wasn’t all over those wines, their aromatics, sultry, elegant, hopeful and triggering in that good way, it was their name written all over me, and I had to share. I called Jessica and Kevin over to taste, not just a confirmation on my findings, but to watch as the aromatics filled their chests, their eyelids drop, corners of their mouths turn into a grin, the telling groan of a Burgundian induced, bite of resurrection. In those few minutes the holiday was gone, the fatigue, the stress, we were just having our breath taken away by sheer pleasure and joy, if only for as long as that puddle of a sample was in the glass.

 

“Now, there isn’t much here” Merde! Why is it always like that with Burgundy?! So much magic but so few bottles of elixir to get. Dang it. I try to go easy with ordering this time of year, but what kind of wine merchant would we be if we didn’t procure some of these magical wines for our customers? Nope. Had to be done, for you of course. If you all don’t take them, I know a threesome of wine dorks that will gladly be slipping a few bottles into their weekly purchases, just to have that feeling a few more times.

 

 

2023 Maratray Dubreuil “La Blancharde” Ladoix Blanc $44.99

The Maratray Dubreuil estate is located in the village of Ladoix, a region in between Beaune and Nuit Saint-Georges in Burgundy. I’ve always loved the wines from the area, often because they are incredible values considering what so much of Burgundy is going for these days. That, and they often have just a little higher pitch of acidity and lift and I personally dig that. 100% Chardonnay, this wine is screaming sexy. In my notes I wrote that the wine felt corseted, like all these aromatic and textural curves laced up into something a little too tight. It felt as if it were about to burst out at any second. Baked stone fruit and citrus, delicate warm spice and layered with white flowers. Only 9 cases available and we were able to get 4.

 

2022 Maratray Dubreuil “En Naget” Ladoix Rouge $44.99

En Naget is a monopole, a single vineyard of Pinot Noir in Ladoix. Aged in oak, 20% of that new, this silky, light, traditional red Burgundy has a touch of creaminess that smells and feels like comfort. Dried flowers, cassis, black cherry, smoked ham, gentle spice and with a texture that made us all groan. This delicate red spills across the palate and stains you with lusciousness and then, ever so gradually, the tannins slip in and pull everything together in the most elegant way. Such a brilliantly balanced wine, from a magical place, full of intrigue and pure hedonistic pleasure, at this price? Breath of fresh air that takes your breath away.  

 

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