Alexandre Brault Burgundy
I don't think I've ever had to write an offer and tell a story about a producer and his wines like this one.
Before I start down that road, let me say I've just come from tasting the entire range of these wines fresh off the boat and, both white and red, are of remarkable quality. Honestly, there are few producers where you could pull a dozen different climats and each and every one of them is superb. Each displaying sharply focused terroir definition, beautiful depth of flavour buffered by pithy textures delicately seasoned by expertly handled oak. These are great Burgundies from a producer you've never heard of.
So, back to the story. Toward the back end of Covid we were looking for a new Burgundy producer to import. I always start with our current crop of producers and ask them who they think is making great wine and might need an importer. All the replies listed some fantastic producers, unfortunately all were already imported to Australia...except one. Francois Buisson (Buisson Battault) mentioned a guy called Alexandre Brault, a new producer with a small domaine and micro-negoce business. Before I go on, let me put this recommendation in context, Francois is a quietly spoken, humble and brilliant winemaker. If he decides to say someone has the right stuff then I take that to the bank.
From there, emails are exchanged and while it's not possible to get out of the country to taste the wines, we settle on a selection for the first order. There's nothing to go on, no reviews, no lead. Just the say-so of Buisson. We ship the wines and by this time we have an opportunity to ask a friend who's made it to Burgundy to go and taste. He's calls me immediately and tells me the wines are great. Today, we tasted the entire range and, the wines are great! If I were to compare them to anyone with a range of size that traverses various communes and maintains typicity and terroir as well as quality, it would be Ben Leroux.
That is the great part of the story; a new Burgundy star on the rise and he's in our portfolio and the wines are reasonably priced. Tick Tick, Tick!!
However, not long before the wines arrived I had an email from Alexandre's wife to say he had passed away from cancer. Incredibly sad. I have no idea what will happen to the domaine but after tasting the wines, I do know the world has been robbed of a formidable talent. I only wish I had ordered more while I had the chance. I only wish I had the chance to sit down and taste with him.
Brault was not known to reviewers outside Bill Nanson who spoke about him as "one to watch" last year. He was only really known to other producers and was clearly highly regarded. His previous life had seen him run Domaine Alex Gambal, and when it came to the point that business was sold, Brault had reportedly been very keen to buy but had been outbid by the big negociant Boisset.
From this point he set about purchasing a little over three hectares across Meursault, Monthelie and Auxey Duresses and then supplemented these holding with bought fruit (always organically farmed) from a variety of communes spanning both Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune. He wrote to me to explain his philosophy saying: In the cellar we pursue the work made in the vineyard and try to be as little interventionist as possible. All grapes are handpicked and fermentation occurs spontaneously. Our winemaking philosophy aims at bringing forward the unique identity of each one of our limestone-based terroirs.
That last point about bringing forward the identity of each one of their terroirs is spot on and it was a very much a feature of our tastings; each wine looking distinctly different according to site but also held together via a thread of tempered winemaking hung on excellent buffering phenolics sitting beneath and elevating the fruit and minerality. This lack of ego in the winemaking obviously belied the talent of the man. Judging by the wines he was destined to be a star.
It's a happy sad story but at the least the fact we get to see his wines now and remember him in the process keeps a little of his legacy alive.
I have very little wine and I would urge you to buy them. They are great across the board.
Cheers
Michael
Before I start down that road, let me say I've just come from tasting the entire range of these wines fresh off the boat and, both white and red, are of remarkable quality. Honestly, there are few producers where you could pull a dozen different climats and each and every one of them is superb. Each displaying sharply focused terroir definition, beautiful depth of flavour buffered by pithy textures delicately seasoned by expertly handled oak. These are great Burgundies from a producer you've never heard of.
So, back to the story. Toward the back end of Covid we were looking for a new Burgundy producer to import. I always start with our current crop of producers and ask them who they think is making great wine and might need an importer. All the replies listed some fantastic producers, unfortunately all were already imported to Australia...except one. Francois Buisson (Buisson Battault) mentioned a guy called Alexandre Brault, a new producer with a small domaine and micro-negoce business. Before I go on, let me put this recommendation in context, Francois is a quietly spoken, humble and brilliant winemaker. If he decides to say someone has the right stuff then I take that to the bank.
From there, emails are exchanged and while it's not possible to get out of the country to taste the wines, we settle on a selection for the first order. There's nothing to go on, no reviews, no lead. Just the say-so of Buisson. We ship the wines and by this time we have an opportunity to ask a friend who's made it to Burgundy to go and taste. He's calls me immediately and tells me the wines are great. Today, we tasted the entire range and, the wines are great! If I were to compare them to anyone with a range of size that traverses various communes and maintains typicity and terroir as well as quality, it would be Ben Leroux.
That is the great part of the story; a new Burgundy star on the rise and he's in our portfolio and the wines are reasonably priced. Tick Tick, Tick!!
However, not long before the wines arrived I had an email from Alexandre's wife to say he had passed away from cancer. Incredibly sad. I have no idea what will happen to the domaine but after tasting the wines, I do know the world has been robbed of a formidable talent. I only wish I had ordered more while I had the chance. I only wish I had the chance to sit down and taste with him.
Brault was not known to reviewers outside Bill Nanson who spoke about him as "one to watch" last year. He was only really known to other producers and was clearly highly regarded. His previous life had seen him run Domaine Alex Gambal, and when it came to the point that business was sold, Brault had reportedly been very keen to buy but had been outbid by the big negociant Boisset.
From this point he set about purchasing a little over three hectares across Meursault, Monthelie and Auxey Duresses and then supplemented these holding with bought fruit (always organically farmed) from a variety of communes spanning both Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune. He wrote to me to explain his philosophy saying: In the cellar we pursue the work made in the vineyard and try to be as little interventionist as possible. All grapes are handpicked and fermentation occurs spontaneously. Our winemaking philosophy aims at bringing forward the unique identity of each one of our limestone-based terroirs.
That last point about bringing forward the identity of each one of their terroirs is spot on and it was a very much a feature of our tastings; each wine looking distinctly different according to site but also held together via a thread of tempered winemaking hung on excellent buffering phenolics sitting beneath and elevating the fruit and minerality. This lack of ego in the winemaking obviously belied the talent of the man. Judging by the wines he was destined to be a star.
It's a happy sad story but at the least the fact we get to see his wines now and remember him in the process keeps a little of his legacy alive.
I have very little wine and I would urge you to buy them. They are great across the board.
Cheers
Michael