Ladoix

When I was in Paris a few years ago, I ate several times at Anacreon, a small neighborhood place where the main clientele seemed to be couples my age entertaining each other for dinner – not a party place or big deal. The first time I went, I overheard several tables exclaiming with pleasure that the Ladoix was back. I had no idea what they were talking about but it became clear that this was a wine they all liked. I had already ordered something else but returned the next week, partly to see what the buzz was about. At first, I thought the waiter wasn’t even going to bring me the bottle of Ladoix I ordered. It turned out that Americans never ordered it (busted again for bad French) so he assumed that what I wanted was Badoit mineral water. We got that straightened out and my daughter and I enjoyed the wine very much and the reasonable price added to the pleasure. Back in the states, I looked it up in Parker’s wine guide, only to find this: “Ladoix is Burgundy’s least-known appellation.” I proceeded to forget all about it, until this week, when some 2003 Ladoix from Jean-Luc Dubois turns up at big Red for $20.00. The wine has a fairly light red color and a powerful nose of sweet fruit. The scent is not the usual red fruit/cherry of a new burgundy but a combination of blackberries and stone fruit – it seems like peach to me, improbable as that sounds in a red wine. The aroma is so intense that you can almost pour it into your mouth. There is a background of spice, hints of ginger and pepper I think. The taste has plums and a touch of blood, with a good shot of tannin. Maybe some of the wine's distinctiveness is due to the fact that 2003 was the year of the heat-wave. This is my first 2003 Burgundy. Anyway, this is authentic Burgundy, a complex and interesting wine, with good structure, and an amazingly low price. I’ll not be so quick to forget it again.