Domaine Lafouge Auxey‑Duresses Rouge 1er Cru Les Écussaux 2022 | Burgundy

The Wine

One of the cooler sites in the range, planted on limestone-rich soils near Moulin aux Moines. “Les Ecusseaux” likely comes from the old French écu, meaning shield or coin, possibly tied to historic noble holdings or medieval vineyard divisions.  Perfumed and lifted, with red cherry, dried rose and crushed rock minerality. Partial whole-bunch fermentation and restrained oak give the wine plenty of energy without losing the earthy old-school feel that makes Auxey one of the more exciting appelations in our opinion.

The Producer 

“the domaine has, yet again, produced some excellent wines. It is a common refrain that it’s impossible to find good value Burgundy but given the modest prices for which the Lafouge wines sell, it’s immediately clear that is simply not true”
-Allen Meadows, Burghound

We are absolutely thrilled to add the incredible wines of Gilles and Maxime Lafouge to the portfolio. This estate is the benchmark address in Auxey-Duresses, tucked just up behind Meursault in the Cote d-Or. It has long been considered very much an “insiders” domaine, but after a string of great vintages and lavish critical praise, the secret is finally out.

Most of the vineyards are in Auxey with holdings in 5 of the 11 premier cru’s. There is also some vines in nearby Meursault and Pommard. Everything is farmed organically, vineyards are old and picking is all by hand which is not the norm in Auxey. In the cellar, its native yeasts only followed by a 5 day cold soack, with destemmed grapes....although in recent vintages the addition of up to 20% stems has been used.They aim for a relatively quick fermentation of around 15 days followed by a long elevage and no racking until about 3 months before bottling. New oak is kept to a mnimum, with up to 25% used for some of the premier cru’s.

These are old school Burgundies in every sense of the word.The value is striking, but the quality is even more impressive. And perhaps the best part? Maxime was kind enough to hold some 2022's back for us to start our collaboration. What a gent.