The Practice of "Replis" in Burgundy
New wine word for my wine friends!
"Replis," as the term is used in Burgundy, refers to blending premier cru wine into lower-level village wine in order to make a village-level wine.
The practice is used:
(1) to increase volume to satisfy market demand for certain villages;
(2) to increase the quality (and relatedly, the reputation) of village-level wine in that particular village; and
(3) sometimes when the premier cru climats are small and not recognizable on the market on their own.
Villages where producers are known to do this include Chassagne-Montrachet (55 1er cru climats) and Pommard (28 1er cru climats), both of which have strong brand value in their village names and less recognition for their individual premier crus (other than a few standout premier crus).
Louis Jadot is a major Burgundy négociant known for using replis for its wines. For its Beaujolais and Mâconnais wines, it blends wines from higher-tier appellation sites into wines that carry lower-tier appellation labels in order to increase the quality of these wines. Jadot's Beaujolais-Villages wines customarily contain a percentage of Beaujolais cru grapes.
