Today’s red Burgundy is the kind of wine you pull from your cellar 5-10 years from now, perhaps having forgotten it was there, and it shatters all expectations you had—even if they were high to begin with! Then there’s the bonus of looking like a genius to anyone you share it with: Neither the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation nor the “Les-Porrets-Saint-Georges” Premier Cru have great name recognition, but Cyprien Arlaud does, and savvy Burgundy buyers are wise to follow him wherever he goes in the Côte de Nuits.
Producers like Cyprien tend to reject the notion that they have a “style,” because it suggests they’re following some enological recipe, but there is a stylistic feature I recognize every time I open an Arlaud wine, whether it’s from his family’s domaine or his
négociant label: incredible purity and refinement, derived not from winemaking or wood but from naturally grown, perfectly ripe, carefully handled fruit. When Cyprien joined his father at Domaine Arlaud in the 1990s, his first move was to begin converting their vineyards to biodynamics (they were certified in 2014). With his satellite Cyprien Arlaud label, he works with contract growers who allow him to manage the farming according to biodynamic methods—applying the “same dedicated spirit” to these sites as to Domaine Arlaud’s. If you didn’t know “Les Porrets” before, you’ll never forget it after trying Cyprien’s lights-out-delicious 2013 from this acclaimed site. Very little is made, so we have very little to offer—only six bottles per customer until our allocation disappears!
We’ve offered many Arlaud wines in the past, so his story may be familiar to some: Domaine Arlaud dates to the 1940s, when Joseph Arlaud married Renée Amiot, whose family owned several prime Burgundy vineyards, including pieces of the Clos St. Denis and Bonnes Mares Grand Crus. Joseph’s son Hervé followed, expanding the domaine’s holdings further, and these days it’s Hervé’s son, Cyprien, who runs the show. In addition to overseeing the family’s 15 hectares of biodynamically farmed vineyards—Domaine Arlaud boasts an all-star lineup of Premier and Grand Cru vineyard holdings, particularly in Morey-Saint-Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin—Cyprien started his négociant label in 2012, in the family’s original home base of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The approach to both, in both the vineyards and the cellar, is the same: long, slow fermentations initiated only with native yeasts; minimal sulfur additions; and judicious use of new oak so as not to mask the purity of the fruit. The common thread across the Arlaud range is high-toned refinement—even today’s Nuits-Saint-Georges, which has the hallmark ‘masculinity’ and deep mineral savor characteristic of this village, displays remarkable elegance at the same time. It’s a well-tailored country gentleman as opposed to rugged farmhand.
The “Les-Porrets-Saint-Georges” Premier Cru (alternately spelled “Les-Poirets-Saint-Georges”) is a very rocky site just downslope from Premier Cru “Les Perrières” and just north of perhaps the highest-rated cru in the village, “Les Saint-Georges.” As with Les Perrières, it sits just below a limestone quarry and is strewn throughout with pebbles and larger rocks, with an aspect that tilts slightly to the southeast. There’s a deep, firm structure to Arlaud’s 2013 that clearly reflects its site of origin, and yet, for all its dark-toned fruit and profound minerality, Cyprien found a way to make it quite pretty as well.
The 2013 “Les Porrets” kind of came to us out of nowhere, frankly—Arlaud’s importer got just a handful of cases as a “gift”—but boy are we glad it did: Aged a little over a year in 25% new French oak and now blessed with a few extra years of bottle age, this wine is just starting to show its stuff. In the glass, it’s a deep, reflective ruby with hints of garnet and pink, with high-toned aromas of black cherry, wild strawberry, raspberries, black plums, violets, black tea, a hint of sweet tobacco, and lots of underbrush. Medium-plus in body and still firmly structured enough to need a good hour in a decanter to show its best, the wine nevertheless has incredible length now and promises to blossom into something special with more time in the cellar. It is truly impressive and I will be thrilled to see what it become in 5-7 years’ time (not to mention 20!). Serve this powerful, focused Premier Cru in large Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees and pair it with heartier Burgundy-friendly fare such as a classic
boeuf bourguignon or maybe a slightly fancier preparation, like the attached. This is a great ‘get’ for the Burgundy collectors out there—don’t pass it by!
