Burgundy Club - September 2025

Greeting Burgundy lovers!

This month is all about dirt, slope, and exposure—two Burgundies that feel anchored to where they come from. One shows the muscle and lift of a sun-catching Pommard hillside; the other is a crisp, pinot noir sparkler from a Chassagne stalwart working high above Saint-Aubin. Both are honest, farm-first wines that taste like the ground they grew in.

Red Wine: Armand Heitz Pommard 1er Cru Les Arvelets 2018

The site. Les Arvelets sits at the mouth of Pommard’s big valley (la Grande Combe), looking down toward the little river L’Avant-Dheune. It’s rare in Pommard, and the entire Cote d'Or for that matter, for how much sun it takes—southerly with a touch of west—and it’s steep, which keeps water moving and vines working. The soils show that classic red cast from iron in the clay over limestone, with thin topsoils and bits of alluvium and silt. The combo is textbook Pommard: ripeness from the aspect, structure and color from the clay, and freshness from elevation and drainage.

The grower & the year in the glass. Armand Heitz farms organically with a low-oak, low-intervention mindset. His reds typically include a healthy share of whole clusters and see modest new wood (around 20% at most), bottled with minimal tinkering. 2018 was a hot, generous year, but an experience grower will make the right moves to keep the fruit lively; the wine feels ripe without heaviness—red and black cherry, a little spice, and firm but fine tannin that reads Pommard. The 2018 vintage reds across Burgundy can lean too big and jammy, but the balance that Armand finds in a blazing warm year and a south facing sight is impressive. Still, this wine is ready to drink now or the next couple of years with slightly burlier foods than you might normally pair with Burgundy. One could even manage a steak pairing if that's something you're into!

White Wine: Jean-Noël Gagnard “Caroline Lestimé” Crémant de Bourgogne Grand Lys 2019

While technically white, this wine is the first Burgundy club feature to include carbon dioxide. That's right, a sparkling Burgundy to cleanse the palate from that ripe Pommard if one is so inclined to open both club wines in the same night!

The producer & the fruit. Jean-Noël Gagnard is a Chassagne-Montrachet reference point, run by Caroline Lestimé since 1989. Grand Lys is 100% Pinot Noir drawn from the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune above Saint-Aubin—most notably the Clos Bortier site—where altitude (roughly 300–430 meters) and limestone/white-marl soils keep things cool and focused. Farming is certified organic, with biodynamic practices in play. Think Champagne bones—pinot, chalky soils, elevation—just with Côte d’Or DNA and none of the Champagne markup. By the way, the hills above the Saint-Aubin 1er crus on what I call the "Western Slope" of Saint-Aubin, are the source for many great Crémant de Bourgogne wines as sparkling wine wants an extremely cool climate to keep acids higher and sugars lower than still wines. 

How it’s made. Grand Lys is handled by the traditional method: second fermentation in bottle and extended lees time (around three years), then disgorged as needed. The result is a fine, dry Blanc de Noirs with clean red-fruit tone and a chalky snap that makes it wildly versatile at the table. If you love the feel of grower Champagne, this scratches the same itch with a Côte de Beaune accent. While three years on the lees in generous, the wine comes across as leaner and brighter than that might make it sound. This is an excellent apertif or celebration bottle and I'd recommend popping it before the beautiful late summer/early fall evenings of Denver are done. 

That's all for this month - we'll keep the great Burgundy coming for you in November!