2014 Domaine de Robert Fleurie Cuvee Tradition 750 ml

“Tragédie-en-Champagne”

A month ago, Eric Asimov, the wine critic whose columns in the New York Times remain required reading for collectors and industry cognoscent, presided over a tasting of 20 bottles of Cru Beaujolais. "The 2014 vintage,” Asimov wrote, “was a very good one, maybe even superb … They can be enjoyed early and fresh, or they can be aged for five to 15 years, and sometimes longer … Our top wine was from Patrick Brunet’s Domaine de Robert, a producer I don’t remember encountering before … but I will certainly look for this terrific Fleurie in the future.”

While the magnificent Domaine de Robert Fleurie was previously unknown to Eric, we’ve been visiting Pascal Brunet every summer since 2009.  Last summer, we tasted the NYT’s #1 Under-$20 red Burgundy of the year, as well as a dozen other vintages dating back to the early 1970s — as we listened to the sad, if inspirational story of Patrick’s father, Robert, and la “Tragédie-en-Champagne.”

Forty-six years ago, Robert Brunet came home for dinner. Robert had been farming 8 acres in Morgon for years, just as his father had. He eked out a subsistence living, selling his tiny production to locals who stopped by to fill up three gallon jugs right from the cement tank. It was just enough to put chicken and pomme frites on the table.

Perhaps Brunet’s humble upbringing could have left him content to work 11-hour days, six days a week, for 40 years. But one restless Sunday, he just could not enjoy the company of lifelong friends at the local cafe where they would gather after church. He returned home early. He knew something had to change.

On a blustery February day in 1970, Robert heard through the grapevine that a 4-hectare parcel in the heart of Fleurie was going up for sale. Brunet and his friends knew all about the plot. The soils were a fine mix of light clay and rugged granite. Brunet didn’t have two francs to rub together. But he knew a banker who did.

Robert’s son Patrick Brunet told us, in his neat little cellar in Fleurie, that the argument between his father and mother had been heated that night. His mother was scared of debt, and worried that the proposed purchase would send the family to the poorhouse. His father was also worried, but mostly about spending the next 30 years struggling to feed his family.

The following day, Robert Brunet went to the bank and borrowed the money he’d need to purchase the vineyard that the locals aptly named “Champagne.” Brunet was jubilant, at least until June 1971, when Nature would teach the young viticulteur a lesson he’d never forget.

Robert was pruning “Champagne” at 2 p.m. on what had been a gorgeous summer day. When he heard the thunder, he looked up. The clouds rolling in from the east were black. Brunet raced to the shed for cover. First a drizzle, then a teeming rain fell before the sky truly opened up. In a barrage of hail that lasted 45 minutes, Robert Brunet lost 40% of his first crop.

But this natural disaster was but the prelude to the real “Tragédie-en-Champagne” Patrick Brunet would tell us about over a bottle in his family cellar. While the hail storm was devastating for the family’s finances, his father persevered, working 12-hour days — indefatigable. By the time Patrick joined his father in the vines in 1979, the business had stabilized. Just two years later, Robert Brunet fell suddenly ill and passed away.

On the tasting table in Fleurie were 18 vintages of Domaine de Robert Fleurie. The last wine we tasted would be his father’s phenomenal 1971 — still delicate and silken, a Burgundy of great class and distinction. The first was Patrick’s most recent release from the superb 2014 vintage, a bottle that blew us away just as it did Eric Asimov of The New York Times.

Vivid ruby with gorgeous aromas of black cherry, raspberry and sweet herbs. Rich, juicy, wonderfully pure, and complex. Filled with crushed red fruits, black cherry preserves, and Asian spices, finishing with tension and persistence far more typical of the Côte de Beaune than Fleurie or Moulin-à-Vent. This is a phenomenal effort from Brunet. Drink now for its youthful vibrancy or lay it down until the late 2020s!

The last of our 2014 allocation from Domaine de Robert are now up for grabs.  600 bottles hit port on Sunday.  $18/bottle — COLD PACK SUMMER SHIPPING INCLUDED right to your door (where necessary).