In a world of increasingly expensive Burgundies, knowledgeable connoisseurs know that fine expressions of the region’s glorious terroirs can still be had for very fair prices ... if you know where to look. One of their favorite hunting grounds is Savigny-Lès-Beaune.

And in Savigny, the number one address is Domaine Pavelot, where Jean-Marc and his son Hugues’ premier crus La Dominode and Aux Guettes have been show-stoppers in great vintages like 2009 and 2012.

Of the 2012s, Neal Martin describes the two Savignys as “surfeit with energy, vivacity, purity and terroir expression, to the point where I had to ask, what more could you want?” Allen Meadows has called the 2009 La Dominode “stunning,” while Steve Tanzer describes it as “superb and atypically powerful.”

Unique Terroirs

La Dominode comes from a parcel of sandy clay within the excellent Jarrons vineyard, and has long been recognized as a separate sub-cru for the superiority of its wine. Through the Pavelot’s classic methods the fruit from their 80-year-old La Dominode vines creates a wine of remarkable depth and aging potential, and in 2012 it has an extra measure of nuanced elegance.

As it is in most years, La Dominode was a level above Aux Guettes in 2009, but in 2012, the two crus ran neck and neck.  In this exceptional year, Aux Guettes is just as complete and perfectly balanced, yet with a more precise character, due to its higher altitude and poor, stony limestone soil.

While Pavelot’s brilliant Savignys were the well-kept secret of savvy Burgundy buyers, the word is now out...