Guy Breton Morgon “Villes Vignes” 2019
Background
When we started offering premium four packs of wine for our delivery service, we KNEW we wanted to do some Cru Bojo. The only issue would be finding the wines. When Cru Bojo hits our market, it goes FAST, especially anything related to the Gang of Four. It’s like when a big band plays a concert at a small venue. We knew we were going to have to hustle a bit. The Chenas is imported by some friends of ours, so that wasn’t a problem. We had a line on the Fleurie and Moulin-a-Vent from Peter’s restaurant connections, but we still needed a fourth wine. Then, out of nowhere we got an email from Burgundy Direct, a company we’ve worked with before. They were bringing in a limited amount of wine from Guy Breton, one of the Bojo’s original Gang of Four!
We jumped at the chance to get it. Breton produces what some believe to be the best wines from the Cru village of Reginie, but his flagship is his Morgon. The Villes Vignes (“old vines”) are between 80 and 120 years old, inherited from his grandfather in 1986. This was the era when the Gang of Four were just starting to gain recognition for converting all the old conventionally-farmed Cru vineyards to organic agriculture. Breton has remained relatively small in terms of production. He only made 3000 cases of this vintage of the Villes Vignes.
Tasting Notes
The truth is that we bought this wine on reputation alone. We knew it was going to be good, and that was confirmed as soon as we got our hands on it last week. This wine is light ruby in the glass, like Pinot Noir. The fruit aromas jump out at you. Lots of raspberry and tart red cherry. There is a distinct irony, beefy, savoury flavour to this wine. It would be great with grilled beef, or beef tartare. There are pronounced structural elements as well. Bright acid and fine tannin give this wine a great mouthfeel, and again, will allow it to age for a good long time.
Food Pairing
Dry-aged Beef. That iron minerality is part of what makes this wine so special. To highlight that flavour we think this would be great with the beefiest beef there is. In the dry-aging process, a fungus slowly breaks down the meat (if we’re being real, the fungus is actually eating the beef). The result is a little pricey, but the beef flavour and the umami are through the roof. Dry-aged steaks are for special meals, and we feel like this wine deserves the same. Alternatively, we also think it’d also be great with Lay’s classic BBQ chips. It’s your wine now, so the choice is yours!
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