Team Thursdays | Petit-Roy with Garrett Smith
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You could consider Seiichi Saito a mico-negociant - he's got a small section of his own vineyards in the "streets with no names" of sorts...that is, not the famous vineyards of La Tache and Romanee-Conti, but on the slopes of the Haute Cotes-de-Nuits and other remote regions; he also purchases fruit from friends with whom he shares a vision on farming.
You can feel the passion in the wines - they are textural, full of soul and not the oaky style of Burgundy we got to know for so long. The wines are perfectly ripe and supple, but oozing with personality and minerality.
The main attention goes to the Bourgogne Aligote as well as the reds, but the whole range is worth exploring. The Altesse comes from Bugey in Savoie, planted to limestone and marl soils. It's a local grape, slightly nutty with smoky tones complementing some citrus, flowers and tea-like aromatics laced with saline. That's not too dissimilar from the delicious Aligote, which is more bountiful in its aromas of lime, citrus blossom, hints of butter and a toasty, salty edge. You could take a step up into the Bourgogne Blanc Aux Boutieres, from the same plot as the Aligote. Chardonnay from the clay soils gets beautifully ripe, bringing out more meyer lemon and apricot, even hints of tropical fruits with that chalky minerality underneath.
The reds are stunning as well, such as the Bourgogne Les Lormes and de Sousa - both from Pommard, Les Lormes from the younger vines and de Sousa from the oldest vines. Lormes is de-stemmed to reveal a bit more richness and playful quality, whereas de Sousa, from vines planted in 1949 is left whole cluster for the press, revealing more spark of spice and lifted minerality.
There is the dual bottling of Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Beaune, with one bottled without sulfur marked "SS". Pressed without removal of stems, this becomes incredibly spicy and deep, coming from the slopes above Pommard.
I think the most pertinent other wine to touch on is the Monthelie Le Meix Bataille, from a vineyard directly next to Meursault. This is also a whole-cluster wine, redolent in spicy tones, black fruits and fine tannins. This is one of the more powerful wines of the bunch, deep and thought-provoking. It reminds you of a great Bize wine, both savory and sweet.
