Theulot-Juillot, Mercurey 1er Cru “Les Combins”
Theulot-Juillot, Mercurey 1er Cru “Les Combins”

Theulot-Juillot, Mercurey 1er Cru “Les Combins”

Burgundy, France 2017 (750mL)
Regular price$45.00
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Theulot-Juillot, Mercurey 1er Cru “Les Combins”

We’re calling today’s limited offer a Burgundy hat trick because Theulot-Juillot’s 2017 “Le Combins” is (1) from a revered Premier Cru in a value-loaded village, (2) currently in its prime drinking window, and (3) an absolute steal when compared to the <$50 Côte de Nuits competition. Packed with gobs of berry-fruited perfume, mineral savor, and the depth/cut of a great Côte de Beaune red, it’s a bottle for both the lifelong collector and the novice seeking entry into the hypnotic realm of Burgundy. 


We’ve drained our fair share of youthful Pinot Noir, but to begin unlocking the singular magic of Burgundy, experiencing a bottle no less than five years old is a must. This typically means one must exercise monk-level patience and be in possession of deep pockets—and that’s what makes Theulot-Juillot’s 1er cru bottling such a rare bird. For $45, this is an alluring ode to the pure, delicious, terroir-driven magic of red Burgundy that will have your dinner guests swearing you spent multiples more. This is the village to know if you want to stay ahead of the Burgundy curve!


At the beginning of my career, Mercurey was something like the poor man’s Gevrey. That’s no longer the case: This village at the northern edge of Côte Chalonnaise is now primed for its star turn. While Mercurey’s relatively high elevation once gave it a reputation for lean and skeletal wines, in the age of ever-warmer vintages, Mercurey is now producing finessed, detailed Burgundy oozing with old-school charm. It has all the terroir pedigree you could ask for: the marl and limestone soils here are so key to the vibrancy and precision of high-quality Pinot Noir. In the hands of a producer like Nathalie Theulot, Mercurey upends any outmoded notions of hierarchy we might’ve had, doing a downright Pommard-like dance between elegance and power.


Nathalie Theulot is one of the great interpreters of Mercurey terroir. Her family has been a bastion of the appellation for almost 120 years, and she lays claim to one of the few female winemaking dynasties in all of Burgundy. Nathalie’s grandmother Marguerite—along with her husband Émile—founded the estate, buying land in no fewer than six Premier Crus. In 1987, she passed it along to Nathalie, who’s now run it for nearly four decades. She employs lutte raisonée farming, eschewing herbicides and insecticides, and rigorously thins her crop to ensure the greatest concentration of flavor possible. Her parcel in Premier Cru “Les Combins” faces directly south, protecting it from cold, northerly winds and amplifying the fruit needed to balance Mercurey’s chiseled structure. 


After harvesting by hand and carefully sorting, the fruit ferments for fifteen days before being pressed into French barrels, 25% new. Every single decision made in both the vineyard and winery are designed to polish the terroir of the Côte Chalonnaise to an iridescent gleam. Served slightly chilled around 60 degrees in Burgundy stems, Nathalie’s 2017 “Les Combins” pours a vivid ruby with magenta highlights. The nose here is woodsy Burgundy at its best: Crushed raspberries, black cherry pit, blackberries, cranberries, red plum skin, mushrooms, forest floor, black pepper, and an iron-like, almost sanguine minerality. It carries over to a finely-etched, mineral palate that sings with more cedar and forest undergrowth before lifting into a 30-second berry-inflected finish. This is beautiful, classically styled red Burgundy to savor alongside something equally old school like oeufs en meurette. There are still sensational values to be found in Burgundy and this is living proof! Enjoy now and over the next five years.

Theulot-Juillot, Mercurey 1er Cru “Les Combins”
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France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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