2006 Savigny-les-Beaunes "Les Picotins" Vieilles Vignes

Dear Rene, At only $19.99 a bottle by the case (the lowest price in the country by far) this is easily the best buy in estate-bottled, single-vineyard Red Burgundy you can find. A bold statement, but true. I challenge you to find a Burg that tastes this good for twenty bucks! I've been working on getting this wine into your hands for almost two years. Shem and I selected the tastiest six barrels of "Les Picotins" in the Spring of 2007 with our good friend wine-broker Peter Vezan and had it raised and bottled to our taste. With the help of Yannis Tsapos of Dionysos Imports, (thanks Yanni) we squirreled it away until this delicious moment. It's ready to enjoy now, or will age quite nicely. In fact, I retasted it last night, and my wife, who is most definitely not a "pinot freak," said it was "delicious!" The 2006 Savigny-les-Beaunes "Les Picotins" Vieilles Vignes combines the elegant and racy qualities of the region with a rich concentrated complexity. It does all of this at prices that harken back to 1996. Red Burgundy from a famous single vineyard and star winemaker at $19.99? Now THAT is reason for pinot freaks to rejoice! And if you haven't had enough pinot, we're tasting some of Oregon's best this Saturday. Please come by this weekend for our wine, beer and cheese tastings. Check out the delicious cheese and charcuterie specials Perry has, this week from Italy. I look forward to seeing you. Doug Rosen Domaine Jean-Luc Dubois For years I have been extolling the virtues of Jean-Luc Dubois and the wines he produces in Burgundy's Côtes de Beaune. Jean-Luc inherited his 7.5 hectare estate from his father in 1988, and hasn't looked back since. The quality of the wines has soared. Once fully in control of the family estate he: Dramatically lowered yields Became one of the first in his region to green harvest (removing all imperfect fruit to further reduce yields and improve quality) Bought a destemmer to reduce the possibility of unripe tannins that can cause harshness in the wine Introduced the use of barriques to gracefully age his wines and enhance their texture and mouthfeel 2006 Savigny-les-Beaunes "Les Picotins" Vieilles Vignes 2006 Savigny-les-Beaunes "Les Picotins" Vieilles Vignes, Jean-Luc Dubois Reg. $29.99 3 bottle special: $24.99 each (Save 16%) 6 bottle special: $22.99 each (Save 23%) Case (12) special: $19.99 per bottle Save 33%! This is one of my favorite Red Burgundies every year. Due to the unwavering hard work in the vineyards and the confident yet light handed approach in the cellar, Jean-Luc Dubois seems to never miss. The 2006 is no exception. It is just this sort of wine that Allen Meadows' Burghound.com was talking about when he said, of the 2006 vintage: "At their very best, the Cote de Beaune 2006s are classic burgundies that mirror the finest wines from the Cote de Nuits. This is to say that they are exceptionally aromatic and elegant with the best transparency to the underlying terroir since the 2001s, all wrapped in admirably persistent finishes with fine detail and a more pronounced sense of minerality than most vintages possess. " The other happy news about the vintage is drinkability. This 2006 is still young, but it is already starting to show the beautiful fruit, perfect balance, and exceptional complexity that are the hallmarks of great Burgundy. It promises to get still better over the next year and keep beautiful for six or seven more years. In other words, this is a wine you'll be able to drink in the near future, unlike many of the 2005s that will require many years of additional cellaring. Here's what it tastes like: It the glass this has deep dark ruby color. The perfumed aromas start out shy but blossom as the wine airs to show violets, black cherries, and ripe raspberries. The palate shows a deep, rich, and serious quality with ripe cherry fruit, soft vanilla spice, and a clear sense of minerality. The flavors seem to unfold and expand as the wine airs. This has plenty of deep rich fruit and it's all wrapped in bright, silky, racy structure. Wines of this quality/price value are rare indeed. Buy enough to experience it soon and also see how it evolves through 2015. If you are already a pinot freak, load up. If you're not, try this to see what all the excitement is about. I've tasted many $40 pinots from Oregon without this much character and class. To order please call 703.525.0990. We need your Visa or MasterCard information including expiration date. Wine arrives tomorrow, Friday March 6th. Thank you for reading. Jim Cutts