From the southern side of the town of Beaune, the 2012 Beaune 1er Cru Pertuisots is the smallest of the Premier Crus from Domaine des Croix, but one that has gone up in David’s estimation, as he has familiarized himself with the red soil vineyard to the extent that it is presently the last Beaune that he pours. Unfortunately, two hot days at the end of July meant that he lost around 15 to 20% of the vineyard because of sunburn. It has a slight more savory, meaty scented vineyard that bears similarities to Pommard. The palate is full in the mouth with fine volume and good grip. The acidity maintains tension while the finish fans out nicely across the mouth, maintaining that slightly meaty style.
Apparently Becky Wassermann once amusingly gave Loire-born David Croix the nom de plume “walking winemaker” since he commutes between the two domaine under his charge, Camille Giroud and Domaine des Croix on foot. But he ought to be referred to as the “cycling winemaker” since his mode of transport is by pedal. Sure enough, his brakes screeched to a halt as I waited by the entrance of Domaine des Croix. Now in his mid-thirties, David has a wise head on young shoulders and has already overseen a rejuvenation in Camille Giroud, an 19th century negociant utilising mostly bought-in fruit, and Domaine des Croix, a smaller operation whose vineyards were acquired from Domaine Duchet in 2005, and subsequently Jean-Claude Belland five years later, to give a total of six hectares. David’s approach here is very simple: prudent use of new oak, minimal use of sulfur with comparatively longer lees aging. Having said that, when I spoke to him in September 2013 he was considering a racking just to move the wines on since they had remained on the reductive side following malo-lactic fermentation (the barrels at Camille Giroud more so than Domaine des Croix.) “The wines (2012s) can be unusually concentrated, perhaps a little compact,” commented David. “It is a vintage where it is critical to make the right decisions during the elevage. I had never seen the skins so thick. You chew them in your mouth and think ‘Wow.’ So now I am doing slightly longer post-fermentation skin maceration in order to keep the brightness and the texture. We suffered everything during the year: sunburn, hail, and downy mildew that all affected yields. The average yields were around 25 hectoliters per hectare in 2012 compared to 41 hectoliters per hectare in 2009. But we did not get any botrytis and the figures are textbook in terms of acidity, pH, tannins and alcohol.”
Importer: Becky Wasserman Selections (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)
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