Visit at Domaine des Croix … initial tasting of the 2014 vintage

This was my first visit at Domaine des Croix, the personal domaine of David Croix, the very talented winemaker from Camille Giroud.

The Domaine des Croix estate was founded 10 years ago by David and a group of investors. The first vintage was 2005 and the domaine mainly focus on reds from Cote de Beaune and Corton.

Photo: David Croix

I have been a big fan of David Croix since the 2010 vintage, where he made some gorgeous red Cortons at Camille Giroud … they really drink well … and seem to be overlooked at least by the collectors in Denmark.

I was therefore delighted that I had the opportunity to visit Domaine des Croix on my March trip to Burgundy.

Tasting the 2014s at Domaine des Croix

The tasting in March was at a very early stage for the 2014s, and while I normally like to taste the wines at this stage (after completion of the malolactic fermentation), I do however not like to do very precise evaluations of the wines, if it’s a domaine I have never visited before. If I really know the wines very well … then it’s a different story. So no formal tasting notes in this article.

I have however some general comments to the wines tasted at Domaine des Croix, and some more informal thoughts about some of the individual vines.

My first observations were that all the wines displayed a lovely juicy and quite energetic fruit – quite vibrant and expressive. It’s not a big vintage with dense and extracted wines, it rather seems to be a vintage offering forward and drinkable wines, with good energy and nerve. The transparency and display of terroir seems fine at least at Domaine des Croix.

All wines showed remarkably well, but the final assembly of the casks will eventually form the bottled wines.

First wine that really raised my attention was the Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets, with it’s lovely outgoing fruitiness … expressive (30% whole cluster) … bursting with cherries and other red fruits. A delightful Savigny in the making.

The Beaune Cent Vignes was almost equally expressive (50% whole cluster in the cask tasted) offering a lovely fruit and expression of terroir – cask from the top part of the vineyard – the cask from the lower part (100% destemmed) was more introvert and furthermore reduced. The final cuvee will have around 20% whole cluster berries.

I especially enjoyed the Beaune Greves, a lovely terroir, offering a lovely floral nose .. very extrovert in both the bouquet and on the palate. It offers a lovely intensity but is also quite lightfooted (in a good way) displaying the greatness of this fine terroir. Really looking forward to taste this from bottle.

The next favorite was the Corton La Vigne au Saint, a very expressive and outgoing Corton with 50% whole cluster grapes. This was offering a lovely expressive floral nose … and a fruity pure and delightful palate with fine weight and refinement at this stage.

Finally the Corton Greves offered a more substantial and concentrated expression of Corton, but nevertheless also charming and showing fine promise – but not quite as decadently expressive as the Corton La Vigne au Saint at this stage.

All in all a lovely set of 2014s … hope I will get a chance to revisit these wines … at least just for fun and pleasure … but perhaps also for a more formal review when they reach the market.