Burgundy’s Youth Pioneer Forward

Aurelien Verdet is a young, passionate and committed winemaker whose father was one of the founders of organic viticulture in the Burgundy region back in the 1970’s. Aurelien himself is just 32 having been born in 1981 but his attention to detail and his capability for making very good Burgundy far supersedes his age.

Aurelien is committed to continuing his father’s tradition of organic farming and now has his own domaine comprising of 3 hectares in the Haut Cotes de Nuits which was, in 2009, followed up with vine purchases in Vosne Romanee village and premier cru Beaux Monts alongside vineyards in Nuits St. Georges, including the village appellations and premier crus of Damodes, Richmone and Boudots.

Not content with just making his wines from vines and vineyards he owns, Aurelien also purchases grapes from the appellations of Chambolle-Musigny, Morey St. Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Fixin. In order to maintain his passionate stance with organic farming, strict guidelines are set out at the beginning of the growing season with the suppliers to ensure the integrity and high quality of the fruit used in his wines.

Aurelien’s wines are strictly low production wines and by the harvest of 2012 (last year) the vineyards he owns were officially certified organic. Additionally, of the wines made from the grapes he buys around Burgundy, all are made at the specific wineries from where they are grown and Aurelien himself harvests, vinifies and bottles the wines himself.

This dedication and strive for perfection can be seen in his wines which, available here in Hong Kong, are a great representation of Burgundy wines and exceptionally good value for money. One of the problems with Burgundy wines are that the cheaper they are, in general, the worse they are and that there is no middle ground of affordable, good quality wines as the top ones, although fantastic wines, are pretty much unaffordable to most.

During a tasting with fellow industry professionals all agreed that the wines were of a very high quality and that it was “great to find a good, drinkable Burgundy for less than HK$ 1000”. In fact, the wines are just about half that cost and, personally I think they are great value and, with all the stocks here being the 2009 vintage – a good one – there’s no reason for you not to snatch up a few bottles.

The wines I had the pleasure of tasting were the Nuits St. Georges 2009 which comes from the Les Chamottes vineyard. The wine, although a little closed to start off with, opened up nicely after about half an hour and was juicy and approachable and in my opinion, a wine that is well suited to many styles of Asian food. There is a good deal of black fruit and a decent tannic backbone giving the wine the ability to be drunk now but will do even better with a few years in the cellar. Overall, a nice, stylish wine and one that I appreciated!

The Vosne Romanee 2009 was floral and elegant and originated from the Les Barrauds vineyard. It has a nice light structure making it a feminine wine not only in its structure but potentially in its demographic of drinkers. It recently won the Decanter Asian Wine Awards 2012 Best Regional Red award and, is a really well balanced and pleasurable wine to drink.

Lastly we tried the Gevrey-Chambertin 2009 which hails from two parcels of land. One from the Morey side of Gevrey and the other from the centre of the village. The wine is intensely aromatic and I only had one word written down as a tasting note; “lovely”. A wine I really enjoyed tasting and this one too opened up extremely nicely after about 30 to 40 minutes.

As mentioned, I have always struggled to find decent, affordable Burgundy and slowly but surely they are popping up around town. Everyday wines these are not, (unless $600 wines are your everyday wines!) but it’s certainly one that should be in your cellar for enjoyment with friends at home or in the club – alternatively pick some up and take it to your favourite restaurant. Trust me, paying the corkage on it will be much better than paying for some of the sub-standard Burgundies on many local wine lists here.

Domaine Aurelien Verdet wines are available in Hong Kong from Cellarmaster Wines and can be bought through their website www.cellarmasterwines.com and to contact them you can do it through their site or click the link to the ‘contact us’ section of their site (http://cellarmasterwines.com/content/contact-us)