Brett happens

While neither wine knocked my socks off, they’re both solid examples of Côte-de-Beaune reds. The Rollin doesn’t strike me as a long ager but the Rapet should hold up for ten or 15 years. Buy ’em both this weekend and you’ll just make it over the $100 threshold that earns you a 10% discount.

Beaune 2010, Grèves premier cru, Domaine Rapet Père et fils  ($60.50, 11801882)
100% sustainably farmed Pinot Noir from 50-year-old vines. The bunches are manually harvested and sorted, then transferred by conveyor belt to the vat. Fermentation lasts 15 days, with regular punch-downs. Maturation takes place in oak barrels, 20% new.  Pumping is avoided. 13% ABV.
Classic upmarket Burgundy nose: red berries, forest floor, spice, smoldering leaves, whafting sweet oak. In the mouth, the wine is medium bodied, well dimensioned and quite structured with ripe if young tannins. The astringency and dryness give it a velvety texture. The fruit is clean and pure albeit unsmiling, the finish long. There’s a a faintly ashy aftertaste. Needs time to knit together, sweeten, turn silkier, deep-six the oak, develop secondary and tertiary flavours and reveal its depth. But to all appearances, the potential is there.

Pernand Vergelesses 2009, Île des Vergelesses premier cru, Domaine Rollin Père & fils ($40.75, 11845341)
100% Pinot Noir. Manually sorted. Vatted without pumping. Temperature controlled fermentation. In most vintages, unfiltered and unfined. 13% ABV.
Textbook nose of red berries, humus, quartz and asky oak. Open, medium bodied, fluid. Good balance between ripe fruit, minerals, oak and structure. Elegant tannins and acidity and a long, dry finish. If you’re not allergic to a whiff of oak, pop the cork now. Otherwise, give it a year or two in the cellar.