2005 Domaine Viviane & Jean-Marie Lelievre Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Larrets

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  11/19/2008, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (LELIEVRE Hauts Cotes de Nuits LES LARRETS) 2005 Red Burgundy Dear Friends, Looking for rock and crushed ore in your glass? What if it was combined with the purity and drive of 2005 Pinot Noir produced in the Cote d'Nuits? As one of my favorite wines of 2005 for unapologetic minerality and low-alcohol purity, this wine is an enigma at a great price. This winery is one of the discoveries of 2008 - Viviane and Jean-Marie Lelievre are set to explode on the scene and their 2005 portfolio (with this at the front of the line) will move them ahead in short order. The Lelievre's only produces 2000 or so cases per year so every bottle is crafted with care - their livelihood (literally) depends on it. Very Nuits St. George in character, the structure, spice and framework of their Pinot Noir is like an ancient rocky road that's been arranged to form a beautiful stone path with hand-made integrity intact. If you cold take a block of Himalayan sea salt, turn it into Pinto Noir and sift it with a hand grinder it would be the backbone of this wine. From an old-vine parcel of mostly 40-45 year old vines, this flagship bottling (they own no grand cru parcels) has one of the most beautiful colors of the vintage but also one of the lowest alcohol levels (thanks to the higher elevation near Meuilley, it is only 12.5-12.75% with full ripeness). In 2005, the character of the Les Larrets cannot be denied and it screams its vintage pedigree in a similar way to this morning's Macon wine but in an opposite sense - the warmer growing season helped this typically cool site achieve uncanny equilibrium. In a colder year, this area can be too taut but in a vintage like 2005 you get the best of both worlds - stone fruit, linear density and the spiced depth more akin to a Nuits 1er - in a word - electric. This is the type of Pinot Noir that cannot be grown anywhere else in the world except the environs of Nuits St George and the 2005 Les Larrets shouts its nervous energy from the mountaintops (I mean, hilltops) - it should continue to do so for the next decade at least. If opened now, give this wine 2-3 hours of air to show its stuff. The best part? This wine represents the new era of exchange rate sanity - last year it sold for $38 but now, solely from the dollar's increased value, it trades for closer to $25 (this is the last of the 2005). If we run out, there should be a few cases of this on the East Coast as well (at the same price). For around $25 (for 2005 Red Burgundy) this will certainly find its way into the hands of those who appreciate top-tier Burgundian terroir at a bargain price. While it's one of my pet-peeves in the wine trade to use the "Hurry on this" phrase (no one needs to hurry on anything wine related), I will do so here because 2005 Red Burgundy continues to bring people out of the woodwork that I haven't heard from in years, especially when it is under $30. So... Hurry on this one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for terrific purity, ageing ability and top value for 2005 (also for unknown discovery) VERY HARD TO FIND 2005 Domaine Lelievre Hauts Cotes de Nuits "Les Larrets" (Nuits St. George) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Burg8890