Reviews

It is one of the pleasures of serious Beaujolais that the answer is rarely as simple as “it is all Gamay.” At Domaine de la Grand’Cour, Jean‑Louis Dutraive makes Fleurie from old vines, granite soils and a deliberately restrained cellar philosophy. Yet the wines from Champagne and Le Clos are never interchangeable. They share a producer, a grape and an appellation, but they are shaped by different positions, soils, vine material and élevage choices—and the differences become very clear once the bottles are side by side. For anyone who thinks Fleurie is merely floral, light and easygoing, this is exactly...

Domaine David Duband is one of Burgundy’s most convincing modern success stories: a producer who began with family vineyards in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and built a portfolio that now stretches from fresh, site-driven Chardonnay to Grand Cru Pinot Noir in Charmes-Chambertin and Clos de Vougeot. The wines currently available at Symbolic Wines offer a particularly clear view of that progression—from the deceptively serious 2023 Coteaux Bourguignons Blanc to 2023 Grand Crus that show just how far Duband’s precise, whole-cluster style can travel.

Fleurie has a reputation for perfume, delicacy and charm—qualities that can sometimes lead people to underestimate it. Jean‑Louis Dutraive’s Domaine de la Grand’Cour is the antidote to that lazy assumption. His wines are unmistakably Fleurie in their floral character and drinkability, but they also have old-vine concentration, granite-driven structure and the kind of quiet authority that makes great Beaujolais feel far more consequential than its price or label might imply.

Bouchard Père & Fils is one of those names that carries Burgundy history in the same breath as Burgundy authority. Founded in 1731 and now reshaped under Artémis Domaines, the house remains a major reference point for grand cru Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with holdings that still matter not just because of scale, but because of the clarity of the wines themselves.