Although Beaujolais is part of greater Burgundy, they both remind me of an intense sibling rivalry: The younger wants to prove its worth, while the older tries to assert its dominance. That said, the vanguards of Cru Beaujolais are seriously threatening to outclass value Burgundies from farther north (e.g. Côte de Nuits) with their extraordinary price to quality, equally noble terroir, and massive push towards organic/biodynamic farming. With each blink of the eye, there seems to be a new, buzzed-about challenger that enters the arena and right now it’s Laurent Martray. 
This is a young gun that takes old vines, site-specificity, traditional winemaking, and rock-bottom pricing to the extreme. “Combiaty” is a tremendous value that comes from a hillside of the same name in the famed Brouilly Cru. A keen eye will also notice the bottle’s “vieilles vignes” (old vines) nomenclature, but, ironically, these vines are among the youngest in his possession. Before you take up arms, let me quickly dispel you of any supposed trickery: His “Combiaty” vines are aged 60-something, it’s just that his other vines are exceedingly old—100+ years! No matter the cuvée, hand-farming, a classic neutral barrel treatment, and bottling without filtration is the way of life for Laurent. It’s the classic way, and with his ancient vines, it’s about as close to tradition as one can get. Listen closely and you’ll hear critics chattering about Martray’s talent, so it’s only a matter of time before we look back at these rock-bottom prices and say “remember when…?”