I don’t expect I will ever stop drinking wine—but if I do, bottles like today’s Savigny-lès-Beaune will be the ones I miss most. Pull the cork on this gorgeous, classically-styled Burgundian red today, and it is like drinking a glass of youth, energy, and pure happiness.
I’m a firm and true believer in great wine’s singular ability to lift spirits and transform a long, rough day into a joyous evening. Today’s Savigny has this magical quality in spades. What it doesn’t have is a famous family name or a hallowed Grand Cru listed on the label—and believe me, that’s a demonstrably good thing! It means instead of cratering your checking account for one bottle, you can grab a few of these beauties to drink now, a few for your cellar, and put the money you saved in your IRA before the April 15th tax deadline!
In the first edition of “The Wines of Burgundy,” published in 1997, my hero Clive Coates MW wrote that Savigny-lès-Beaune is “happy hunting ground for those seeking good, inexpensive Burgundy.” Of course, over the last 20+ years, dramatic increases in global demand, inflation, consolidation, and climate change have conspired to make “good, inexpensive Burgundy” largely a thing of the past. Fortunately, small family-owned properties like Domaine Lucien Jacob are still here to fight the good fight and Savigny-lès-Beaune remains a great destination for value in Burgundy. While high-ticket villages Pommard and Volnay sit immediately to the south and the majestic hill of Corton is just north, Savigny always seems to hide in plain sight with price tags staying well below those of its more prestigious neighbors here in the heart of the Côte de Beaune.
The story of Domaine Jacob begins in the early 1900s with the grandfather of current proprietor Jean-Michel Jacob. The Jacob family has resided in Burgundy for generations but their sterling reputation was originally built not on grapes and wine, but rather berries and liqueur. Jean-Michel’s grandfather saved his earnings from growing framboise (raspberries) and cassis (black currants) in the hills of the Hautes-Côtes-de-Beaune and eventually selling their eponymous spirits to bars and restaurants in Lyon and Paris. In time, the family was able to purchase a few small vineyards parcels in nearby Savigny-lès-Beaune. By the 1950s, Jean-Michel’s father, Lucien, was expanding the family’s vineyard holdings and making wine a focus. Today, Jean-Michel continues the growth of the family’s acreage in Burgundy with recently purchased vineyards in Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Gevrey-Chambertin. After almost a decade of experience with the Domaine Jacob’s wines, I feel confident in my conviction that wines originating from the family’s “home” vineyards in Savigny-lès-Beaune—while nowhere near as expensive as their Beaune and Gevrey bottlings—are their most most consistently delicious and cellar-worthy creations.
The 2014 Savigny-les-Beaune gushes into the glass with a torrent of ruby and a blast of luscious berry and floral aromas. Red cherry, black and red currants, mulberry and cut flowers ricochet off a firm wall of stony minerality. It’s a beautiful nose, but I think I delighted in this bottle’s palate more than anything. Perfectly soft and gently gripping tannins, a satisfying mouthful of dark fruit on the mid-palate, and an electrifying finish that lasts without any unnecessary weight or alcohol. This is one of those bottles that seems to empty itself; it’s such an effortless pleasure to drink! Still, especially in 2014, this a wine that will develop very nicely in your cellar. This vintage seems to have a knack for producing more restrained, angled reds, and I expect five to seven years of further maturation in a properly tempered storage space will bring even more expressive aromas and silken structure to this already outstanding wine. But don’t let that hold you back from unleashing this bottle immediately alongside a sizzling plate of garlic lamb chops! This rustic dish and today’s satisfying, thirst-quenching Savigny is the ideal recipe for a memorable springtime feast!
