Fete du Bourgogne: the grand finale!
We have saved the best for last and selected something very special to draw our Fete du Bourgogne to a close. Two of the gems of Vinum’s wine portfolio, we are delighted to present a selection of wines from Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay.
Words like rare, mythical and iconic are thrown around too easily by wine merchants, but they are each applicable to the wines of Lalou Bize-Leroy’s two domaines. Vinum is privileged to receive direct allocations from both Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay and we have chosen these older vintages to release as the grand finale of our summer Fete du Bourgogne.
Allocated to us direct, the provenance of these bottles is unimpeachable. With the feverish demand for Lalou’s wines too many of the bottles on the market today have been traded around the world multiple times. By contrast, our stock has only ever moved from the Cote d’Or to Singapore where it has been stored in pristine condition in our climate-controlled cellar.
We are excited to release these special bottles from our company reserves. Thank you for your support of our Fete du Bourgogne and please let us know if you would like to order any of these rare jewels for your cellar.
Very best wishes,
Matthew Hemming MW
The Offer:
Offered subject to remaining unsold. Immediately available in SG. Volumes are limited and orders may be subject to allocation.
Domaine d’Auvenay
2005 D’Auvenay, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $15,000 per bottle (inc GST $16,200)
A ripe, expressive and fantastically complex nose that features a huge array of red and especially blue fruits, spice, earth, game and underbrush notes that leads to rich, full, suave and seriously deep flavors that coat the mouth on the long, concentrated and palate staining finish. This seems almost approachable but it’s because the firm lashing of tannin is perfectly integrated and this will last for years but require at least a decade before even beginning to drink well.
95 points Allen Meadows
2007 D’Auvenay, Auxey Duresses Les Clous
4 bottles @ $7,500 per bottle (inc GST $8,100)
The 2007 Auxey-Duresses Les Clous comes across as cool, finessed and introspective. It shows fabulous balance, but the wine is all about detail and nuance, quite a stark contrast to the 2008. This is all finesse and class. (Drink starting 2013)
93 points Antonio Galloni
2007 D’Auvenay, Meursault Les Narvaux
3 bottles @ $8,500 per bottle (inc GST $9,180)
Not Professionally Rated
2007 D’Auvenay, Puligny Montrachet En La Richarde
4 bottles @ $11,000 per bottle (inc GST $11,880)
Not Professionally Rated
2009 D’Auvenay, Meursault Les Narvaux
3 bottles @ $9,000 per bottle (inc GST $9,720)
Not Professionally Rated
2011 D’Auvenay, Auxey Duresses Les Clous
4 bottles @ $6,500 per bottle (inc GST $7,020)
The 2011 Auxey-Duresses Les Clous stands out for its brightness and pure energy. All sorts of citrus and white flower notes emerge from the glass in an intensely saline, taut wine endowed with tons of class and personality. What a great way to start this tasting at d’Auvenay. (Drink starting 2015)
91-92 points Antonio Galloni
2013 D’Auvenay, Batard Montrachet Grand Cru
6 bottles @ $30,000 per bottle (inc GST $32,400)
Not Professionally Rated
2014 D’Auvenay, Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru
6 bottles @ $12,000 per bottle (inc GST $12,960)
Not Professionally Rated
2015 D’Auvenay, Puligny Montrachet Les Enseigneres
6 bottles @ $10,000 per bottle (inc GST $10,800)
Not Professionally Rated
2016 D’Auvenay, Bourgogne Blanc Aligote Sous Chatelet
3 bottles @ $4,000 per bottle (inc GST $4,320)
Not Professionally Rated
Domaine Leroy
2000 Leroy, Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes 1er Cru
3 bottles @ $8,000 per bottle (inc GST $8,640)
Deeply colored with drop dead gorgeous pinot fruit of unbelievable purity followed by beautifully detailed, focused, wonderfully nuanced flavors and much more minerality than is typical in Charmes. The balance here is wonderful with excellent fruit/acid balance. I very much admire the style of this.
89-92 points Allen Meadows
2000 Leroy, Gevrey Chambertin Aux Combottes 1er Cru
3 bottles @ $6,500 per bottle (inc GST $7,020)
Much more robust and less nuanced than the Charmes and without the unbelievable sève of the ’99 yet this still delivers plenty of earthy fruit, finely balanced, elegant flavors and a touch of finishing rusticity. Long and lovely if not compelling.
88-91 points Allen Meadows
2000 Leroy, Richebourg Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $12,000 per bottle (inc GST $12,960)
Mme Bize believes the ’00 Richebourg is even better than its ’99 counterpart and I have to agree. Though it is not as powerful, it delivers even better elegance and finesse with wonderfully racy, pungent fruit and positively vibrant flavors that seem to never end. The intensity builds from the mid-palate and this finishes with a rush of velvet sappiness and only the barest hint of the dense underlying tannins. Muscular and opulent but never heavy.
91-94 points Allen Meadows “Don’t Miss”
2000 Leroy, Romanee St Vivant Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $12,000 per bottle (inc GST $12,960)
This delivers comparable quality to the incredible ’99 with hauntingly beautiful range of aromas that defy adequate description followed by dense, round, ripe, beautifully precise flavors and length that lasts for minutes. This can often be the best wine in the Leroy portfolio and while I don’t believe the ’00 merits that honor, it once again delivers astonishing quality.
92-95 points Allen Meadows
2000 Leroy, Vosne Romanee les Beaux Monts 1er Cru
3 bottles @ $6,500 per bottle (inc GST $6,750)
The 2000 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts is a magical bottle that’s just beginning to drink very well. Soaring from the glass with an extravagant bouquet of peonies, spices, orange rind, plums, raspberries and smoked tea, it’s medium to full-bodied, ample and velvety, with a layered core, lively acids and a long, saline finish. This wine, re-released by the domaine this year, will show brilliantly for more than a decade to come.
94 points William Kelley
2000 Leroy, Vosne Romanee Les Genaivrieres
3 bottles @ $5,500 per bottle (inc GST $5,940)
Still relatively deeply colored. The notably ripe yet agreeably fresh nose features ample spice nuances on the mostly dark berry fruit aromas that now display moderate secondary development. There is fine volume and richness to the utterly delicious and seductively textured medium-bodied flavors that brim with dry extract before delivering very impressive depth and length on the balanced finale. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so for up to another decade or so.
90 points Allen Meadows
2004 Leroy, Gevrey Chambertin
5 bottles @ $6,500 per bottle (inc GST $7,020)
Again, the aromatic profile is completely different with a much deeper emphasis on iron-infused earth, underbrush and an understated sauvage quality that leads to stylish, powerful and almost implausibly complex flavors that exude a sense of raw power yet the overall impression is one of control and near perfect balance. A stunner of a wine that has complexity to burn.
95 points Allen Meadows “Don’t miss! Outstanding”
2006 Leroy, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $8,000 per bottle (inc GST $8,640)
This is quite ripe though not surmature, featuring a fresh array of distinctly earthy and ever so slightly rustic red and blue fruit aromas that are in perfect keeping with the robust, muscled and powerful full-bodied flavors underpinned by mouth coating tannins and superb concentration on the strikingly long finish. As impressive as this is, and it’s very impressive, after the fireworks provided by the RSV and the Riche, it doesn’t quite have the game to fully match up. Still, I hope to have the pleasure of trying a glass or two when it finally reaches full maturity.
95 points Allen Meadows “Don’t miss!”
2009 Leroy, Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $12,000 per bottle (inc GST $12,960)
This is one of the few Leroy ’09s to display much in the way of overt wood influence though even here it’s not enough to really intrude on the attractiveness of the cool and intensely mineral-inflected red berry fruit and earth suffused aromas. The concentrated and beautifully well-delineated flavors possess excellent mid-palate concentration as well as outstanding intensity before terminating in a wonderfully persistent finish. As fine as this is, and this is among the most sophisticated of these grands crus, it is not at the same level as all but the Richebourg.
95 points Allen Meadows
2009 Leroy, Nuits St Georges Les Boudots 1er Cru
3 bottles @ $8,000 per bottle (inc GST $8,640)
This vineyard’s close proximity to Vosne definitely shows in 2009 as this is very spicy with a broad range of Vosne-like aromas that add plenty of nuance to the mostly very ripe mocha, black berry fruit and plum liqueur notes. There is excellent size, weight and concentration to the velvet-textured flavors that enjoy copious amounts of dry extract that again render the very firm tannic spine almost invisible on the massively long finish. This is a substantial and very serious Boudots that will age for decades.
95 points Allen Meadows
2011 Leroy, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
3 bottles @ $10,000 per bottle (inc GST $10,800)
Mild reduction disguises the more subtle elements of the nose but there is plenty of earth character present on what appears to be ripe red berry aromas that lie beneath the funk. There is a highly seductive texture to the large-scaled, sleekly muscular, intense and massive flavors that again, despite all the sheer size and weight, manage to remain focused and betray absolutely no sense of heaviness. The breathtakingly long finish is quite saline with an almost pungent minerality that adds lift. Mostly wines would have been crushed coming after the Musigny but this more than held its own. This is flat out tremendous and entirely textbook.
96 points Allen Meadows “Don’t Miss!”
2011 Leroy, Nuits St Georges Aux Allots
3 bottles @ $5,000 per bottle (inc GST $5,400)
Here the fruit profile is cooler still with restrained aromas that resemble those of the Lavières with perhaps just a bit more in the way of spice elements. There is really lovely detail to the lightly mineral-suffused medium weight flavors that display a bit more austerity on the more firmly structured finish that is well-buffered by the palate coating extract. This too is very impressive for its level.
90 points Allen Meadows
2011 Leroy, Nuits St Georges Les Vignerondes 1er Cru
3 bottles @ $5,750 per bottle (inc GST $6,210)
Notes of cassis flowers, violets, earth and plenty of spice leads to medium weight flavors that possess a sophisticated mouth feel as the tannins are extremely fine-grained. There is good punch and delineation to the chiseled, intense and moderately austere finish that is not only exceptionally persistent but impeccably well-balanced. In sum, this is textbook Vignerondes with its refined yet tautly muscular palate impression.
93 points Allen Meadows
2011 Leroy, Vosne Romanee Les Beaux Monts 1er Cru
6 bottles @ $6,500 per bottle (inc GST $7,020)
While the increments to which I refer are small they are nonetheless noticeable as this is aromatically slightly fresher, more elegant and more complex all at once. The highly expressive nose is gorgeously layered, spicy and cool with its ultra-pure dark pinot fruit, plum, cassis and wet stone scents. The medium weight flavors are impressively rich but there is a palpable sense of underlying tension and energy that make this a pleasure to taste. Moreover the borderline pungent minerality adds more lift, particularly on the overtly austere, linear, focused and hugely persistent finish. As good as the Brûlées is, and make no mistake it is terrific, this just offers another level of class and refinement.
95 points Allen Meadows