Value Burgundy? You heard right.

Wine of the week: a nice Pinot Noir 1er Cru 2017

Jaeger-Defaix, Côte Chalonnaise, Burgundy
2017 Rully 1er Cru Clos du Chapitre
$55.99 / bottle (6 btls/cs)

Rarely do we have occasion to use the words ‘value’ and ‘Burgundy’ in the same sentence. Consider this your Halloween treat! Rully is an appellation in the southern part of Burgundy that shares a border with the famed Côte d’Or. The wines from Rully sell for a fraction of the price compared to their fancier neighbour and punch above their weight. Whether red or white, the fruit often comes from premier crus sites, which make up about a third of the appellation.

You might recognize the name of the winery if you’ve ever drunk the wines from Bernard Defaix, one of our top Chablis producers. Defaix is an organic producer in its fourth generation being run by brothers Sylvain and Didier. As tends to happen (often, somehow), Didier married a woman whose family also owns vineyards. Hélene’s Defaix’s family were grape growers in Rully dating back to the 16^th century and she was keen to carry on the tradition. In 2002, she took over the first vineyard from her great aunt Henriette and by 2005 she was fully managing all 4.5 hectares of the farm. Hélene and Didier now make a small collection of stunning wines from this property under their joint label. Clos du Chapitre is a monopole that is a little over one hectare. It’s surrounded by a stone wall and sits directly behind the family’s house. It produces their top red.

16.5 Jancis Robinson (review for 2016 vintage)
Lively, fruity and fun with real lift! Exciting and racy. Lots of personality and well made. Well structured and long. Transparent but also hedonistic. VGV (very good value)

Jancis picked Clos du Chapitre as one of two Burgundy bargains for the 2016 vintage. Full write up here.