Domaine Collotte Marsannay le Clos de Jeu

Sale $34.89 - Beats the BEST US Price online!

Buy the wine... not the name... and you can have 12 of this baby for the price of one Grand Cru!!!

The comparison to some of the most expensive Grand and Premier Crus makes more sense when you consider that, as late as the mid-19th century, Marsannay's finest crus (Clos de Jeu, among them) enjoyed a classification equivalent to today’s Grands Crus. Unfortunately, they must have had a bad PR director when Lavalle published the first classification of Burgundy in 1855. Marketing, baby! It was a dominant force even then! Anyway, it is to your gain now... 

The first thing you notice is the dark color here, more deep and plummy than other Burgs in this price.  Proprietor Philippe Collotte is a rare Marsannay producer that still harvests by hand, only using the best, ripest fruit for this bottling. Morello cherries and strawberries coat the tongue, along with spicy clove notes from aging in 25% French oak. What’s most impressive about this wine is simply how smooth, silky, and completely seamless is for such young Burgundy.  Usually it takes years for Cote de Nuits juice to start showing like this.   Philippe completely de-stems the fruit for his Marsannays, reducing tannins and contributing to this voluptuous mouthfeel. Also, Collotte employs a cold soaking of the grapes before fermentation, which helps to bring all that dark, juicy fruit fully to the forefront, singing out right now, instead of playing shy in your cellar until 2025. 

It’s wonderfully refreshing to taste young red Burgundy and enjoy it straight away, (admittedly, with a little decanting), instead of so much Burgundy juice where we have to take a guess and say “Hmmm, all the components are there, this SHOULD be good in 3-5 years….”

That said, this baby will be even better in 3-5 years, if you have the ability to do so.

One of the more interesting aspects of fine red Burgundy is how diverse it can be on the table. The Burgundy region's offical website recommends pairing Marsannay with everything from steak to fish! "The Marsannay reds are natural partners for red meats: beef blade or rib steak, or flank steak with shallots, ostrich steak… Feel free to marry them with freshwater fish (pike, pikeperch, even stuffed carp) or chop suey and vegetable stirfries, fine cured meats, game fowl, cheeses made from cow’s milk... An old vintage will add a touch of perfection to full-flavoured cheeses such as Époisses or Munster."

"Wafting from the glass with a lovely bouquet of raspberries, plums and cherries, Collotte's 2017 Marsannay Le Clos de Jeu is medium to full-bodied, velvety and enveloping, its nicely concentrated core of rich but sappy fruit framed by powdery tannins and succulent acids. This has turned out very well and comes recommended.” WA


Or reply. The wine is available now in Chapel Hill. Thursday, as ordered, in Hillsborough.