Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru, Climat Du Val; Pascal Prunier-Bonheur, 2013
A mature red Burgundy from the Côte de Beaune
A curious side-effect of lockdown has been a shortage of game; with no game-shooting parties allowed to meet due to social distancing, there has been no game being shot and making its way onwards into butchers’ shops.
With the end of lockdown restrictions, autumn 2022 has seen the return of game to our local butcher, so I made a venison stew and dug out this fire-sale red Burgundy from Cambridge Wine Merchants.
I had bought it in the first stages of lockdown when Cambridge Wine was both quickly adjusting to the new reality (most of their sales were on-trade) and also hoovering up distressed restaurant stock and reselling it at bargain prices.
I’ve long struggled with red Burgundy — it’s not that I don’t like it, I just can’t quite see the point; I’ve sat next to a then-trainee MW who was swooning over some red Burgundies and found myself thinking they were perfectly pleasant but no more than that.
Experts have told me I’m simply not spending enough money, apparently.
But, with no opportunities to go out of an evening, and various discounted mature red Burgundies on offer from Cambridge Wine, I decided to see if I could acquire an expensive habit.
I bought a mixed dozen priced in the mid-teens, opened a few and found myself liking the whites more than the reds.
So, I then upped the budget a little and bought some slightly more ambitious Côte de Beaune reds, tucked them away and promptly forgot all about them for a couple of years until game re-appeared in the shops and #1 child became interested enough in wine to prove a suitable tasting companion.
Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru, Climat Du Val; Pascal Prunier-Bonheur, 2013 (£20+, Cambridge Wine Merchants)
dark cherries, damsons, liquorice and spice; old leather and dried herbs; savoury, mellow and harmonious. Fresh and delicate, yet quietly assertive with very fine, well integrated tannins.
Very Good.
Drinks nicely on first pouring and does not require aeration, but opens up a little with air.
A versatile food wine, match with darker game, such as venison, duck liver pate or sockeye salmon.
