One of the best addresses in Savigny-lès-Beaune, Jean-Marc & Hugues Pavelot has long been a favorite for classic, refined, traditional, vineyard-driven wines, and today we have a rare late release of the 2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode in perfect condition, showing beautifully at nearly ten years of age. La Dominode is the domaine's benchmark wine and has been one of Savigny's bar-setting bottles for decades, sourced from a 2.22-hectare east-facing parcel with a significant proportion of old Pinot Noir vines reaching roughly 80 years of age. The 2017 vintage was a welcome return to healthy yields after the very short 2016 crop, producing wines with lovely ripeness, freshness, and balance. It was not a vintage built around sheer concentration, but the best producers made exceptionally elegant, harmonious Burgundies, and Pavelot excelled, with La Dominode arguably the strongest wine in the cellar that year. Now entering a terrific drinking window, it shows red and black cherry, raspberry, and plum layered with earth, spice, cocoa, underbrush, and a distinct mineral character, with the tannins becoming increasingly silky and integrated. There is plenty of freshness and structure to carry the wine for another decade, but it is already wonderfully expressive today with a little air. With only a few cases available at this excellent price, this is a rare opportunity to buy mature, perfectly stored Premier Cru Burgundy from one of Savigny’s great traditional estates.
John Gilman 94+ The 2017 la Dominode is the most structured young Savigny premier cru in the cellars, but its potential is enormous. The youthful nose was still in the process of absorbing its serving of new oak, but will do so seamlessly with a bit more age, and offers up a fine blend of black plums, red and black cherries, pigeon, dark soil tones, raw cocoa, a bit of bonfire, cedar and an exotic topnote of licorice. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely reserved out of the blocks, with an excellent core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a long, soil-driven and complex finish. This is serious juice. (Drink between 2026 - 2065)
Burghound 92 pts! Here too a generous dollop of wood frames the very spicy aromas of plum liqueur, dark raspberry and subtle humus and underbrush scents. The sleek and impressively intense medium weight flavors brim with minerality while offering the best complexity and persistence in the range on the balanced, firm and serious finish. This too should amply reward mid to even longer-term cellaring potential. (Drink starting 2027)
2017 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode
2017 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode
One of the best addresses in Savigny-lès-Beaune, Jean-Marc & Hugues Pavelot has long been a favorite for classic, refined, traditional, vineyard-driven wines, and today we have a rare late release of the 2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode in perfect condition, showing beautifully at nearly ten years of age. La Dominode is the domaine's benchmark wine and has been one of Savigny's bar-setting bottles for decades, sourced from a 2.22-hectare east-facing parcel with a significant proportion of old Pinot Noir vines reaching roughly 80 years of age. The 2017 vintage was a welcome return to healthy yields after the very short 2016 crop, producing wines with lovely ripeness, freshness, and balance. It was not a vintage built around sheer concentration, but the best producers made exceptionally elegant, harmonious Burgundies, and Pavelot excelled, with La Dominode arguably the strongest wine in the cellar that year. Now entering a terrific drinking window, it shows red and black cherry, raspberry, and plum layered with earth, spice, cocoa, underbrush, and a distinct mineral character, with the tannins becoming increasingly silky and integrated. There is plenty of freshness and structure to carry the wine for another decade, but it is already wonderfully expressive today with a little air. With only a few cases available at this excellent price, this is a rare opportunity to buy mature, perfectly stored Premier Cru Burgundy from one of Savigny’s great traditional estates.
John Gilman 94+ The 2017 la Dominode is the most structured young Savigny premier cru in the cellars, but its potential is enormous. The youthful nose was still in the process of absorbing its serving of new oak, but will do so seamlessly with a bit more age, and offers up a fine blend of black plums, red and black cherries, pigeon, dark soil tones, raw cocoa, a bit of bonfire, cedar and an exotic topnote of licorice. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely reserved out of the blocks, with an excellent core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a long, soil-driven and complex finish. This is serious juice. (Drink between 2026 - 2065)
Burghound 92 pts! Here too a generous dollop of wood frames the very spicy aromas of plum liqueur, dark raspberry and subtle humus and underbrush scents. The sleek and impressively intense medium weight flavors brim with minerality while offering the best complexity and persistence in the range on the balanced, firm and serious finish. This too should amply reward mid to even longer-term cellaring potential. (Drink starting 2027)
