des Croix – 2014

Update 24.12.2015(21.12.2015)billn

DSC08818Tasted in Beaune with David Croix, 19 November, 2015.

Domaine des Croix
2 Rue Colbert
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 22 41 81

David on 2014:
“We started our harvest on the 10th of September, on the Thursday. Across the domaine we had slightly better yields than 2013 though less than 2012: 2012 was 25 hl/ha, 2013 was 17 hl/ha, 2014 was 21 hl/ha and 2015 back to 25 hl/ha. To compare, 2009 was 39 hl/ha. I used quite a bit of whole-clusters in 2014. The vigour is low and the yields are low so there’s a sense of concentration and colour which I try to balance with some whole-clusters. I’m not saying it’s like 2007 and 2011, but it was again an early spring and a poor summer – but here with more character.”

David on pricing his 2014s:
Prices -I didn’t change the 2013s, and I don’t want to change the 14s, but maybe the yields in Grèves and Pertuisots mean I have to something. No decisions made yet though.

The wines…

Just like last year, this is simply (probably) the best address for Beaune, not just this year but also the last few vintages too. Bravo!

2014 Bourgogne Rouge
Savigny villages with a hint of Beaune villages, but actually no bourgogne 🙂
Big, deep, impressive but still inviting. Wide, long line of flavour, almost minty but ripe tasty fruit. Cleary better than bourgogne!

2014 Beaune
Also a little 1er cru in here, from Teurons, Blanchefleurs, Blanchoserie, and 50% Tuvillains.
Deep, dark but very precise fruit. Wide, a little give and easiness, but in the mid-palate there’s a saline edge. Lovely finishing flavour.

2014 Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
One parcel.
Dark fruit with some weight. Brighter, more precise and direct almost mineral with a really lovely finishing flavour – really mouth-watering flavour. Long. Excellent!

2014 Beaune 1er Cent Vignes
4 parcels and 15% whole-cluster.
Big, dark fruited but bright and floral too. Good energy, no fat but there is insinuating complexity and also a suggestion of minerality. Good finishing drive…

2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Deep, minerally dark fruit. Fresh, bright, but layered flavour with just a little cushioning and a more noticibale if modest tannin. Always a great Savigny.

2014 Beaune 1er Bressandes
A deep, dark looking thing in the glass. Wide, herby, energetic – it’s really begging me to try it. Big in the mouth too – filling every space, but hardly any textural weight, but certainly concentration and an undertow of ripe tannin. Darkly but joyously flavoured and long. One to have patience with but bravo!

2014 Beaune 1er les Grèves
Only two barrels this year – but that’s one more than last year!
Big, herby, complex, muscly aromas. Large scaled in the mouth too. Dark fruit complexity, some herb, an undercurrent of mainly hidden structure. Bright mid-palate fruit intensity, that lingers exceptionally. Again one to wait for if less obviously so vs the Bressandes…

2014 Beaune 1er Pertuisots
6 hl/ha after the hail 13 in the recovery phase of 2015…
Wide, textured, floral, beautiful nose. Lots of understated tannin, but energy and gorgeously flavoured. Be very lucky if you can buy it. Very dark fruit, almost black fruit…

2014 Corton La Vigne au Saint
High toned, open aromas, dark fruit still. Mouth filling, lots of flavour intensity, depth of flavour too. A mineral salinity but with concentrated mid-palate and super length. Excellent.

2014 Corton Grèves
Deep dark, textured here some whole-cluster notes. A big and impressive nose. Mouth filling, texture rom the tannin, fresh intense, complex, more oak flavour here today, but texturally not. A big kick of mid-palate flavour before fading in the finish. Long. Long. Excellent wine, to wait for. Bravo!
2014 Corton-Charlemagne
A rather narrow aroma that widens a little but a ripe channel of citrus is the main display. Beautiful, lithe personality – you don’t need to do anything, it searches out every corner of your mouth, a mineral and, today, slightly oak inflected wine with tannin in the mid-palate. A critusy, complex wine, that gives an extra burst of flavour in the finish – very persistent. A beauty but with some understatement today…

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