What happens when a deeply respected Meursault domaine decides to make wine from prime Puligny-Montrachet real estate? The result is today’s below-market-price Puligny stunner.
Suffice it to say that in world-renowned Puligny-Montrachet, there aren’t many “secret” wines or new discoveries left to uncover. Names like Carillon, Leflaive, and Boillot have dominated the conversation for decades and their legendary reputations (and price tags) seem to grow greater every year. So, in my ongoing search for rare, high-quality, but still fairly priced Puligny, I often look for cuvées from vineyard sites that seem out of place within the context of an elite property’s other holdings. This method doesn’t have a 100% hit rate, mind you, but it occasionally delivers a world-class find. Such is the case with today’s irresistibly delicious Puligny-Montrachet “Les Levrons,” a stunning white that embarrasses other similarly-priced Pulignys I’ve opened over the last year. This site is located just below the Premier Crus “Les Perrieres” and “Les Referts”—vineyards that regularly fetch $110-130 per bottle. Especially in the stunning 2013 vintage, and in the capable hands of Meursault master François Bitouzet, this is an exceptionally fine wine, whose extreme scarcity and idiosyncratic location guarantee that it eludes all but the most determined and studied collector. We don’t have much of this beauty to share because, frankly, there isn’t much on the planet! With three-plus years in bottle, it is entering its prime drinking window, but as we only have a small allocation, we must limit purchases to six bottles per customer.
The venerable Bitouzet-Prieur has been producing gorgeous white Burgundy for centuries, almost exclusively in Meursault. During this time, that family’s Premier Cru bottlings in this village have earned endless flattery from the global wine press and a sommelier following that is as devoted as it is passionate. Today’s wine hails from a gorgeous, backyard-sized parcel that is the one and only white wine vineyard the family farms outside of Meursault. While everyone else is competing for the Bitouzet family’s Meursault releases each spring, this is the wine I always grab first. There are a mere 28 cases of this outstanding 2013 vintage in the country—it’s in its prime and virtually leaping out of the bottle. I can’t wait for you to drink it.
François and Vincent Bitouzet farm all their parcels organically, relying on zero shortcuts with chemicals or systemic treatments, and all of the fruit is harvested by hand. This site, “Les Levrons,” was planted in 1955. Its east-facing, clay- and limestone-rich soils are a superlative location for growing Chardonnay. It produced rich and deeply textured white in hot years—but even better, in the classic 2013 vintage we are offering today, “Les Levrons” delivers impressive opulence and muscle, as well as deep minerality and acid-driven focus and a cornucopia of classic Puligny aromas. This is a special wine that could only originate from a great vintage and classic Puligny-Montrachet real estate.
Please take care to decant this 2013 “Les Levrons” for one hour before serving at 55 degrees in large Burgundy stems, or pull the cork 2-3 hours prior to service. In a region with some estates bottling overripe, young-drinking, “modern” whites, the Bitouzet family are arch traditionalists. This is great news for all of us who love real, built-for-the-cellar, antique-styled white Burgundy. It also means that, even with three-plus years of age, this bottle wants a little extra air if you wish to enjoy it immediately. With a little time to breathe, you can expect it to blossom with yellow apple, bosc pear, white peach skin, lime blossom, toasted nuts, and luxurious cream/lees aromas. As always with this specific site, there is a symphony of dried-spice ‘treble’ notes: accents of chai tea, freshly ground nutmeg, dried vanilla bean. It’s a stunning wine, and a perfect companion to a luxurious plate of
blanquette de veau. And for the same reason it needs a brief decanting today, you can rely on it to deliver freshness and heavenly aromas for the next decade, or more. Bitouzet bottles extraordinarily long-lived white Burgundy and I fully expect this gorgeous Puligny to only grow more expressive, exotic and perfectly integrated until it peaks in the mid-2020s. So, if you want a fairly priced, top-producer Puligny that drinks great now and will improve in your cellar for years to come, this is your wine!
