BALAGNY + BACK VINTAGE BURGZ 🕊️

Fionn Today.

Some very special wines in this mailer that I’m incredibly honoured to share with you. This is a pre-warning, the following are silly limited. Some are just singular bottles from reserve stock. First in best dressed.

Firstly, we have a tiny amount from the late, great Julie Balagny. A true pioneer in Beaujolais whose wines drink like nothing else. Francois comes from fruit sourced in the South. Reflecting the vintage, this is dark fruited and framed with plush tannin. Toccata is from her own, old vines on a steep slope surrounded by woodland. Both are drinking well now but will age with grace. Due to the limited nature of these wines, please kindly respect the one bottle limit. It’s only fair to share these with as many of you as possible.

It’s not often we get access to some older releases but it is always nice when we do. Perfect if you’re impatient like me with the ageing taken care of.

Odds and ends from the Julien Altaber cellar. The man is now fully at the helm of Derain plus he continues to have a whole heap of fun with the Sextant line. Easily one of my favourite producers atm. He combines excellent sites in Burgundy with an unapologetically creative, low interventionist hand in the cellar that leads to genre-bending bottles that are a joy to drink.

The Intuition series is where maceration, extended elevage and maturation is experimented with. Boundary pushing concentrated Chardonnay here. Unique in both power and poise. The Aligote sees a similar treatment and is a deep, serious expression unlike any other. Whilst Po a Po is equally as unique with the maceration lending us lots of burnt orange and herbs. The last intuition bottle is the Burgundy x Jura mash-up of my dreams. Anyone for a ‘16 Bourgogne Blanc under a layer flor? Sign me up.

If you’re a red head we’ve got a ‘17 Pinot that is really coming into its own after a short slumber, ticking off all the tertiary notes. The younger wines are rustically charming too. Energetic and floral like the Fleur au Verre. Whilst, The Coteaux Bourguignons continues in the moreish house style.

We squeezed out a tiny bit more Burgundy so bare with. I waxed lyrical about these Santini wines a few weeks back, see here if ya missed it. Thankfully, I managed to blag another case of the delightful Coteaux Bourguignon. Added bonus is an extra bottle or two of the vintage defying Bourgogne Blanc. 11% in 2022? Magical.

One more for good measure? This is easily the most unusual Bourgogne ‘Rouge’ you’ll find. In 2018 this old vine Pinot Gris went from golden to bright red in a matter of days on the vine. Mr Santini saw this as a prime opportunity to extend the time on skins to soak out all that beautiful, unexpected colour. This firmly feels in the light red zone. Crushed berries and hibiscus.

Alright, a couple more then… A new Grillions bottle from a few years back. IMO, the most underrated winemaker on our shelves. Good pals with Eric Pfifferling of L’Anglore fame and this is evident in the house style. Expect southern fruit with plenty of freshness. Bistro bound.

Finally, a single bottle of Grappe, Vin Jaune 2012.  A proper collectors item you won’t see again.

Again, apologies for the minute quantities but better than nothing right?

Fionn

xox