We’re back with what we’d love to be a regular and recurring feature: Delicious, spot-on, ready to drink now red Burgundy that clocks in at less than $30. This would not have been a tough category just 15 or 20 years ago, but these days it is extremely rare. So how did we manage this one? Well the importer found a few cases of the 2019 in their warehouse and really wanted to move them out since they are several vintages ahead now. We got a bottle, we tried it, and it’s great. I won’t pretend this is a powerfully structured bottle for your cellar, no, this is juicy, earthy, drink me now Pinot Noir that is perfectly balanced and deeply satisfying. The details are below, but the crux is that it comes from a highly respected family in the Côte Chalonnaise. The catch: We got the last few cases but there’s not much, so load up now before this deal is long gone!
The Devillard family are important and highly respected stewards and/or owners of four distinct properties in Burgundy: Château de Chamiry, Domaine de la Ferté, Domaine de la Garenne and Domaine Perdrix. The first two are located in Côte Chalonnaise which is the family’s ancestral home. The Château de Chamiry is in the village of Mercurey where the most highly regarded Pinots of the Chalonnaise are made (there are more Premier Crus here than any other village in the region), and this is where the family first began producing and bottling wine under their estate label. It was Bertrand Devillard’s father-in-law, the Marquis de Jouennes, who first brought their Mercurey to market back in 1934. Today Bertrand’s children, Amaury and Aurore, are at the helm of the business.
Because the Devillards have an abundance of high quality vineyards they are able to produce a “value” label for Bourgogne Rouge and Bourgogne Blanc that they call simply “Le Renard,” or The Wolf. The fruit is, unsurprisingly, primarily from the Côte Chalonnaise, though they occasionally include both Maconnais and Côte de Nuits fruit as well. The goal is to create a consistently excellent example of classic Burgundy that offers an extraordinary quality to price ratio.
Now, sometimes when the term “classic” is applied to a humble Bourgogne Rouge the implication is that it is also “rustic,” with hints of funk and animal that is likely due to some old, less than perfectly clean barrels. But that is 100% not the case here: “Le Renard” is made entirely in steel tanks, so it is guaranteed to be fresh, clean, and surprisingly elegant. I recommend serving it on the cool side of cellar temperatures, around 55-60 degrees, in Burgundy stems. At five years of age the fruit is still very sappy and forward, built around sweet cherries, raspberries, and cranberries, but there is that tell-tale of damp earth and fresh mushrooms that comes with the proper bottle age. Throw in a hint of mint and some dried rose petals and you have a truly “classic” expression of Burgundy Pinot Noir, for an even more “classic” price!
