Domaine d’Auvenay, Auxey-Duresses, Les Clous Blanc 2011

Neal Martin

There is a fantastic 2011 Auxey-Duresses Les Clous from Lalou Bize-Leroy this year, robed in a wonderful bouquet with outstanding delineation and focus. The palate has a vibrant captivating entry with a slightly waxy texture and a very complex walnut-centered finish reminiscent of a fine Meursault. This is absolutely divine. Drink 2014-2020. Having tasted the complete range of Domaine Leroy-s wines in Vosne, Lalou Bize-Leroy hopped in her Toyota with her constantly quarreling canines and we follow her down to the back and beyond of Saint Romain to taste her complete range of Domaine d-Auvenay 2011s: two reds outnumbered by the whites. Most of us have more chance of spotting a yeti dining with a dodo at Ma Cuisine than drinking a wine from Domaine d-Auvenay, since the wines are produced in microscopic quantities and only fools would choose to resell them. To put that into perspective, when I visited the picturesque estate tucked away behind a leafy glade, Lalou pointed to what looked like a tin bucket and explained that I was looking at the entire production of last year-s Criots-Batard-Montrachet, all 75-litres of it. But there is something magical that shrouds Domaine d-Auvenay and my few encounters have been memorable. Just last year, her Meursault Narvaux 1999 had the hubris to outshine a Corton-Charlemagne from Coche-Dury, and it remains the greatest white village cru that is likely to ever pass my lips. The 2011s were extremely good, but you probably know that already. What I appreciated was that they are very honest wines, respective of their terroirs, not all implicitly the greatest whites you will ever taste, but each adorned with individuality. I have few experiences of mature wines from Domaine d-Auvenay, but they do have an extraordinary propensity to age. Having said that, if my cellar was stocked with these wines, I would find it extraordinarily difficult to resist temptation.