2017 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-Les-Beaune Burgundy France 750 ml

Here’s one of the lessons of the glorious 2017 vintage in Burgundy: If you want to taste the essence of the limestone slopes of Chorey-lès-Beaune, renowned for its reds of lifted freshness and rustic integrity, this is the definitive bottle to get.

In this appellation on the plains below the Côte d’Or, nobody beats Domaine Tollot-Beaut, and for the money, there are few better buys than this vibrant, ruby-hued village cuvée, suffused with wild violet, black tea, and forest floor. 

“This domaine remains one of the finest sources of top value Burgundy and the quality achieved here in 2017 will only enhance that reputation,” raved Burghound’s Allen Meadows. 

Vinous added to the choir of praise, stating that the delicious 2017 wines from Chorey-lès-Beaune will “ doubtless represent great value for the money.”

While the peak of Burgundy will remain out of reach for most of us, village-level wines like this one remain the smartest way to drink from the region, though production is far below what you’d find in Bordeaux. What we can’t promise in the way of quantity, we can make up for in value. A best-in-class wine from the region and a critic favorite is not to be missed at this price.

The Tollot-Beaut domaine is inextricable from the village of Chorey-lès-Beaune, where it is located on Rue Alexandre Tollot. This stone wall-lined route is named after winemaker Nathalie Tollot’s great-grandfather, who was the mayor of the town for many years. The family’s history here dates back to the 1880s.

A fifth-generation vigneronne, Nathalie is just one among many cousins and family members who continue to raise the bar on quality, making Tollot-Beaut an essential part of most collectors’ acquisition plans.

Of the 60 acres owned by the domaine, roughly a third of their holdings are located in Chorey-lès-Beaune. Their Grands Crus off Corton-Charlemagne are magical, yet this village wine remains one of their greatest points of pride. It’s the bottling most associated with the family name, the most direct reflection of their terroir, which for years has been synonymous with terrific, racy acidity and stunning fruit intensity.

The vineyards are old, famous for their high concentration of ancient vines of the Pinot Fin strain, a refined, elegant variety coveted for decades. This 2017 bottling derives primarily from vines planted in 1992 and 1998. No fertilizers are used in farming, the grapes are hand-picked and gently handled, and the Pinot Noir is fully destemmed. The wine sees little new oak, preserving the pure bouquet of dark raspberry and sweet ruby grapefruit. Amazingly for a wine of such freshness and youthful grace, it promises to age exceedingly well too.

Spend with abandon if you can in the Côte d’Or. But if you want to make every dollar work, $47 is hard to beat for this statement-making red Burgundy.