My first great red Burgundy….

When I joined – as it was then – John Armit Wines, back in 1997, practically my first act was to scan the company stock system for mature wines I could buy at cost price (after I received my first pay cheque).  We had to submit any controversial purchase requests to one of the Directors, so with due trepidation I told Susie De Paolis what I wanted to buy.  Her typically generous response; “of course you can”, made my month: included in that first purchase was 2 bottles of 1990 Volnay 1er Cru  Champans, Domaine Marquis d’Angerville. As well as cementing my friendship with Susie that moment of kindness allowed me an experience which shaped my career.

1990 Volnay Champans from Angerville was my first great red Burgundy. Ever since then I’ve been passionate about red Burgundy.

Those bottles of Angerville encouraged me to petition (or should that be pester) John (Armit) and Susie until they agreed to let me accompany them on annual Burgundy buying visits.  Visiting Domaine d’Angerville with John and Susie between 1997 and 2003 did nothing to lessen my enthusiasm:  every year tasting at Angerville with “Monsieur Le Marquis” (Jacques d’Angerville, who passed away in 2003) and later Guillaume d’Angerville, his son (now the Marquis) was one of the highlights of the buying trip.

Since I first visited Domaine d’Angerville in 1997 the perception of Burgundy amongst UK buyers seems to have changed.   Back then, red wines from the Cote de Beaune and the Cote de Nuits both sold well and commanded comparable – and much more reasonable – prices.  Today, demand for wines from the Cote de Nuits far outstrips demand for the best wines of the Cote de Beaune.  I hear repeatedly that wines from the Cote de Nuits are “fuller bodied” than those of the Cote de Beaune.  Rubbish.  A premier cru Volnay or Pommard from a leading grower can be every bit as rich and full as many Cote de Nuits Grand Cru.  In an era when Burgundy prices are definitely not a bargain, there still are  -relative- bargains to be had amongst the wines of the Côte de Beaune.

Back in ‘97 Angerville made, and today continues to make wines which rank amongst the best in Burgundy.  The most effusive press reviews and highest scores are regularly awarded to the Clos de Ducs, for which Angerville is justifiably famous.  But whilst Clos de Ducs is more often than not the finest wine made by Angerville, it is seldom the most seductive – from cask – or in bottle, at least until it has had many years in the cellar.   In my view, the most charming and luscious wines of the Domaine are the hard-to-come by Volnay Caillerets, or my old friend, the opulent Volnay Champans.   Both have a generosity of fruit and a charm that is hard to beat.  Both are quite simply delicious.

I recommend the wines of Domaine Marquis d’Angerville to you mostly highly – and hope they give you as much pleasure as the 1990 Volnay Champans gave me. To see our availability of Angerville wines, please click here

A great Domaine revitalised.

Faiveley is one of the great names of Burgundy. And furthermore the Domaine is one of the greatest in Burgundy – a point which is often overlooked because of Faiveley’s negociant arm. Faiveley own large holdings in a wide range of vineyards with names to conjure with – “Le Musigny”, “Chambertin Clos de Beze”, “Bienvenues Batard Montrachet” and “Batard Montrachet”……to name but a few. Yet however prestigious the appellation, anyone drinking young Faiveley wines during the 1990s and early 2000s could be forgiven for not being immediately enamoured by the contents of their glass. This was a period during which Faiveley made unrepentantly firm, structured wines, capable of, and indeed demanding, long term cellaring. Here you found wines which were always ‘correct’ – but which seldom seduced in their youth.

As so often is the case in Burgundy, a change in the wines came in tandem with generational change at the winery. By 2004, Erwan Faiveley had begun to take the reins from his father Francois, and Bernard Hervet from Bouchard was appointed to help him modernise the Domaine in 2005. From 2006, and then more apparently in 2007 (by which time Erwan had assumed full responsibility) the style of the wines had begun to change – amongst the red wines the tannins were becoming softer and more integrated, revealing more generous fruit. Meanwhile the whites were becoming livelier, fresher and more vibrant. How this change of style was achieved is well documented elsewhere: less oak, better quality oak and gentler extraction – to put it in a nutshell.

Faiveley now makes some of Burgundies most reliably excellent wines right across their wide range of appellations, from the junior, to the most prestigious. Recent positive press coverage reflects the reinvigoration of this great Domaine. (From 2008-2012 Faiveley have received some of the highest scores awarded by both Allen Meadows and Stephen Tanzer). We are proud to feature many of those wines here