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RED BURGUNDY
 Burgundy is the biggest mine-field in the world of wine. There
are fabulous wines to be had here, but for a variety of reasons, it's one of the most
difficult wines to understand.
First, the producers tend to be tiny. While a Bordeaux property might make thousands
of cases of a single wine each vintage, in Burgundy a producer might make but a couple of
thousand cases. Of this production, they may make six or twelve different wines,
meaning that each batch of wine is very small, sometimes amounting to but one or two
barrels of a particular wine.
 Add to the mix that the wines are made of Pinot Noir. This is perhaps the
greatest red grape, but because it's not as easy to understand as Cabernet, Merlot,
Zinfandel or Syrah, you have a variety of opinions as to the quality of a particular
wine. There are a number of critics who, for one reason or another, cannot assess
Burgundy. When you're tasting Pinot Noir and expecting it to have the color of
Syrah, the body of Zinfandel and the tannins of Cabernet, it's not surprising your tasting
assessments and ours are not in agreement.
Many producers are wary of many of these critics. Robert Parker now has an associate
who writes about Burgundy as Monsieur Parker is sometimes not a welcomed taster. The
Wine Spectator is also not welcome on the grounds of a number of top domaines. This
is due, in part, to the winemakers' feeling their wines are not fairly judged. We
can understand the stinging criticism from wine writers can be difficult to accept.
How would you like it were your work held up to a worldwide audience and someone who has
not traveled in your shoes writes something to the effect that your work for that year
should never have seen the light of day? I am thinking specifically of one
producer's wines. Had someone on the Left Coast made the same exact wine, these
critics would herald them with great enthusiasm and pronounce the winemaker a
"genius". Sometimes the standards are different.
A wonderful facet of Burgundy is the variation in vintages. Some years produce
wines with very high levels of tannin. The critics tend to view these are
"great" vintages. Lighter wines or those which are drinkable in their
youth tend to be maligned. If dinner is tonight, what's wrong with putting a young
and ready-to-drink bottle on the table?
Paramount is "it's who made the wine that's important." Good winemakers
make good wines. The rubes get lucky in a good vintage and are lost the rest of the
time. Good winemakers are sensitive to the vintage and adjust their winemaking
accordingly. Taste wines from vintages such as 1991 and 1992. This is where
you can separate good winemakers from poor. We had a wonderful "mixed
appellation" tasting of 1992s---one wine was poor, but seven were delicious,
including a wine from the producer whom the Wine Spectator said shouldn't have bottled
anything (that vintage). It won the tasting, by the way.
Some estates use lots of new oak. We've visited some cellars where the American
importer supplies the barrels! Some importers dictate other winemaking practices
such as "no filtration". The "field" is varied and there
is an incredible array of red Burgundy to be had. Some are great. Some are
schlock. Almost all are expensive!
We don't have a large or deep collection of Burgundy. We select wines we like.
If the critics like them, fine. If they don't like them, I DON'T CARE!
And a number of Burgundy lovers will tell you to turn upside-down the
ratings from Robert Parker and The Wine Spectator. Many times these people are
looking for the same characteristics in Burgundy as one looks for in Cabernets.
Tasting in a Burgundy cellar...
Some Burgundies We Like:
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- CHARLOPIN
 Philippe Charlopin is a young winemaker who seems to have mastered his
craft. We had tasted a few of his recent vintages and been very fond
of the wines. So we conducted a blind-tasting of 4 appellations of
Charlopin's wine, challenging these with two wines each of the prestigious
Domaine Dujac and Domaine Roumier. When the wines were unveiled,
Charlopin's took the top four spots!
His winemaking establishment has moved a couple of times. Today he's
headquartered in Gevrey-Chambertin. His domaine comprises about 12
hectares of vines and he makes quite a range of appellations.
Charlopin's prestigious bottlings have certainly been great of late, but
even the "smaller" appellations such as Fixin and Marsannay
are worthy of attention. It shows that this fellow, obviously, values
ALL his wines and doesn't slack off on the less fancy bottlings.
The current releases are youthful, yet delicious.
Charlopin's Echézeaux is a medium-bodied, mildly smoky, toasty Pinot
Noir. Deep, young and delicious.
The 2002 Gevrey-Chambertin displays dark cherry fruit and a nice bit of
wood...hints of vanilla bean. Drinkable now-2010, or so.
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- Currently in stock: 2003 ECHÉZEAUX $99.99
2002 FIXIN "Clos de Fixey" Sold Out
2002 GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN $54.99
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JOSEPH ROTY
 From
what I've read about Joseph Roty, he's quite a curmudgeon and quite a
perfectionist. Sounds like our kind of vintner!
He's been described as an "enfant terrible" by some
journalists. I noticed that despite the fame and wide recognition for
his wines, you won't find an entry for the estate in the annual wine guide
from Revue de Vin de France. Nor will you find the wines tasted by the
Guide Hachette crew. Roty doesn't submit his wines to these
people.
The domaine is now run by his son, Phillipe. They have very old vines,
with most of their vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin and
Marsannay. Farming is said to be biologique and they
tend to have very old vines. I read the Marsannay from Les Ouzeloy comes
from vines well over 80 years old. The small production of fruit per vine
accounts for the rather amazing character and quality of this wine.
We have a couple of Roty wines in stock presently.
The Marsannay from 2004 displays hints of cherry fruit and a
smoky element on the nose and palate. The flavors are wonderfully
elegant and refined with the complexity of far more famous appellations,
frankly. It's delicious and ready to drink, especially at cool cellar
temp.
The Gevrey Chambertin is a treat! It has some of the
bacony, smoky notes we love in Burgundy. It's a medium-bodied red with
hints of cherry and forest floor fragrances. Match this with some sort of
porcini mushroom dish and you'll have a most memorable wine and food pairing.
- Currently in stock: 2004 Marsannay "Les Ouzeloy"
$34.99
2004 Gevrey-Chambertin $55.99
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- CAMUS-BRUCHON
 Savigny-Lès-Beaune
is a small wine village north of the "metropolis" of
Beaune. The vineyards in this appellation cover some 380+ hectares,
a sizeable quantity. As a result, value conscious Burgundy drinkers
know this town as a potentially good source of wine.
Lucien Camus-Bruchon & wife Bernadette farm some 9.2 hectares of
vines, mostly Pinot Noir. Lucien took over from his father in 1971
and he's the sixth generation.
Like most vintners in this area, Lucien's holdings are scattered amongst
several different crus. You'll encounter Les Lavières, Les
Narbantons, Les Gravains along with an old vines' bottling of
Savigny. They also make a small amount of Pommard from the Premier
Cru site of Les Arvelets (a recently purchased vineyard), as well as a
Beaune Premier cru, Clos-du-Roi.
The "Vieilles Vignes" bottling of Savigny-Lès-Beaune comes from
79 year old vines in Savigny. The Aux Grands Liards (a
"liard" is a black poplar) comes from vineyards planted in 1913
and 1922. Old vines are a way of life at this domaine, although his
white wine is from a vineyard planted in the early
1990s.
We tasted some exceptional wines in this cellar. Especially
surprising is Camus-Bruchon's white wine, a Savigny-Lès-Beaune Blanc
"Les Goudelettes." This is a delicious, smoky, toasty
Chardonnay that spends about eleven months in wood. Lucien stirs the
lees during the secondary, malolactic fermentation. As a result,
you'll find a nice bit of fruit and toasty notes here. Quite dry, of
course.
The red wines of Camus-Bruchon are quite good in their youth.
However, they also generally have good structure for cellaring. We
tasted a rather youthful 1993 Vieilles Vignes bottling, while the 1982
vintage was amazingly fine! This demonstrated the dedication of the
winemaker, as 1982 is not especially highly regarded. Yet a 20 year
old bottle is magnificent and memorable.
You're quite in luck should you own a bottle of 1976 Savigny-Lès-Beaune
"Les Lavières." This wine displayed some gamey Pinot Noir
aromas with earthy, truffley aromas and some pencil lead
fragrances.
The 2004 Savigny from the Lavières site, a premier cru location, is a wonderful expression
of Pinot Noir...The wine offers nice, intense black cherry fruit and a
touch of oak. The tannin level is such that
serving this now with duck or lamb would make for a delightful
pairing. It may also be cellared another 5+ years, if you like.
The wines from this property are well worth purchasing, on the basis of
high quality and outstanding value.
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Lucien & Bernadette
- Currently available: 2004 Savigny Lavières 1er cru $29.99
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- DOMAINE RAMONET
 These guys are famous for
their wonderful white wines from Chassagne and environs. Happily, their red wines
are an after-thought for most people with platinum credit cards, so the wines remain
relatively well-priced. They have a few premier cru reds and a basic bottling.
The juice is cold soaked for a few days, half the fruit being de-stemmed. They have
some cement vats for the fermentation, macerating for about ten days. About
one-third new wood is used for the reds, which are usually nicely concentrated
Pinots. We rarely detect the oak in these, but have been delighted with the quality
given the pricing
We have found Ramonet's basic Chassagne Rouge to be, routinely, a wonderful
bottle of Burgundy. It tastes Burgundian. You won't mistake it
for California, Oregon or New Zealand Pinot Noir.
The 2004 is a mildly-oaked red. Delicious, in fact. I don't
think it will cellar for more than 3-5 years, but it sure is delicious right
now. In a period when California vintners seem to view $40 to $60 as
the "sweet spot" for pricing Pinot Noir, you can own a bottle of
this for $35. That's an easy decision.
- Currently available: 2004 Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge
$34.99
- FREDERIC ESMONIN
- This property is also known as the Domaine des Estournelles. They own or farm
three Grand Crus in Gevrey-Chambertin as well as some premier cru and village vines.
Their recipe calls for a four day cold soak, followed by a warm fermentation.
Typically they use 25% new wood for their wines.
 I
like the 2004 Gevrey Chambertin wines we have from Esmonin. They
exhibit an interesting spicy, woodsy tone. We've had several
bottles...those consumed with a meal have been extremely satisfying, while
one bottle, entered in a blind-tasting, was rather peculiar. Such is
the nature of tastings...they are purely "sport." Putting a
bottle on the dinner table is perhaps the best test for a wine.
- Currently available:
2004 Gevrey-Chambertin "Lavaux Saint-Jacques" $39.99
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- MICHEL MOREY-COFFINET
 A small domaine of less than 8 hectares, Michel Morey is the son of Marc Morey, another
famous Chassagne producer.
We've been pleased with the white wines from this estate and a number of the
reds have been remarkably good. We've had some good Chassagne rouge
but currently are featuring a most price-worthy wine. If you're a fan
of good Pinots and are hunting for something sensibly-priced, you may find
this to be as fine a bargain as we do.
Recently shipped to the Bay Area is a Bourgogne Rouge which puts to shame
many "village" level Burgundies. I'd venture to guess most
tasters would probably identify this wine, if tasted blind, as some sort of
pretty good Burgundy such as a Volnay, Chassagne rouge or even something
from farther north. In fact, it's more stylish and charming than just
about any "Bourgogne Rouge" we ever tasted. The price is
also remarkable, especially considering how well this does on the dinner
table. It's a medium-bodied, cherryish Pinot with a nice touch of
oak. Drinkable now (and how!), this is best served at cool cellar
temp.
- Currently available: 2001 Chassagne-Montrachet "Morgeot"
Sold Out
2006 Bourgogne Rouge $19.99
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- DOMAINE DE LA ROMANÉE-CONTI
 What can I possibly add to what has already been written about this
producer? It is the top estate in the world of red Burgundy. It is a target
for wine writers who can easily bemoan about the high prices these wines
fetch. We're partial to their "cheap" wine from the Echezeaux
appellation, being content with the DRC style at their "entry level"
price.
 Owning some 24 hectares of vines, the wines include the famous
Romanée-Conti, La Tache, Richebourg, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Grands Echezeaux and
Echezeaux. All new oak. Low yields. Truly hand-made wines (our last
visit we saw the cellar master hand-racking from barrel to barrel). They also make a
modest amount of Le Montrachet and we sometimes can purchase their brandy (marc or
fine). DRC reds are the standard by which all others are measured.
We are amused by the reviews this estate gets from The Wine Spectator.
A few years ago the Spectator bashed an entire vintage of DRC wines. I
recall a blind-tasting we conducted of 1992s, I believe, and the DRC wine
won the tasting. The Spectator had written something along the lines
of "these wines should never have been bottled."
Participants in that tasting felt most of the wines were worthy of
praise.
I had sent off a note to another winery, saying we enjoyed their wine in
this particular tasting and they forwarded my note, bemoaning the lack of
taste on the part of some journalists. One of the owners of DRC,
Aubert de Villaine, called them immediately to say it was pleasant to see
signs of intelligent life in, of all places, the USA! The wife of the
owner of the other domain, by the way, sent a note back saying few wine
writers recognize the work that goes in to making these wines, especially in
less-than-perfect vintages.
In any case, we were told a few years ago that Wine Spectator staffers were
not permitted to visit the domaine! I don't know if this policy has
changed, but we were amused upon hearing of a local hotel stopping by to
purchase a case of DRC wines and the DRC staff were certain these bottles
were for a Dictator tasting.
Look on any vintage chart and you'll see poor ratings of 1982 and
1984. Those vintages of DRC wines sold for modest money. We
enjoyed the wines in their youth. In June of 2001, a friend opened a
bottle of the 1982 DRC Echezeaux and this was the wine of the evening!
I don't want to beat the drum too enthusiastically, but wish to merely point
out: taste what's in your glass.
Unfortunately the wines of "The Domaine" (as many people call it)
are purchased by people who do not intend to ever pull the cork. These
people are "investors," speculating that the wines will increase
in value. This tends to drive up demand in those harvests dubbed by
"experts" as "top vintages." If you want to get an
idea of what this winery produces, splurge on their wine in a so-called
"smaller" year. I have never been disappointed. -
- The 2005s are the most recent arrivals. The prices are a reflection of several
factors: the increasing demand for the wines of DRC, the weak dollar
and the US importer having to sell these wines to dining establishments with
ostentatious wine lists. (I'm most specifically referring to the
sudden huge demand for these wines in Las Vegas, for example.)
In tasting the 2002s I found the wines to be quite good, with the Romanée-Conti
being a shade lighter in color than the other wines and not quite as
impressive as La Tache or Richebourg. In 2002 they produced for but
the third time in their history as "Vosne-Romanée" appellation
wine. This is a lovely Burgundy unless you serve it alongside
one of the other heavy hitter bottlings.
We had a bottle of 2000 La Tâche at Thanksgiving in 2007. Lovely
wine. Really nice fruit and beautifully balanced. I just
received an offer from an importer for this wine...it turns out the current
value is about a thousand bucks for a single bottle! Yikes.
Our dear friend Mario Perelli Minetti has long spoken about wanting to taste
a DRC wine. The man is 97 years old, so we figured we'd better hurry
up and pop the cork. I picked him up at home and we drove to a spiffy
restaurant. We had a lovely bottle of Laurent Perrier's Grande Siecle
Champagne to start.
Mario ordered the Sea Scallops.
"Mario," I cautioned, "we're opening a bottle of fine
Burgundy tonight...maybe you might find something else?"
"Hell, I'll drink the wine with sea scallops. I don't mind."
So we poured the wine and he tasted it.
"Say, this is damned fine Pinot Noir. What's a bottle of this
going for?"
"Mario, it's a ten year old vintage. The most recent is being
offered for $440 a bottle wholesale."
"Wow...they have a strong marketing department!"
- Currently available: A few bottles are in the locked
case...stop by and have a look.
No mail order sales of these rarities. Sorry.
BONNEAU du MARTRAY
 The
Bonneau du Martray estate is pretty much synonymous with Corton and
Corton-Charlemagne.
Most of the domaine's holdings are planted with Chardonnay, but they do have
a small patch of Pinot Noir in the Corton appellation amounting to about one
and a half hectares.
Jean-Charles le Bault de la Morinière is the architect of this property,
taking over the reins back in 1994 after returning from Paris where he was,
well, an architect. Stung by criticism of the domaine's Corton Rouge,
he has worked diligently to upgrade its quality.
Yields tend to be fairly modest, generally around 30hl per hectare.
The fruit is de-stemmed and the juice is given a pre-maceration cold
soak. Wood is not a major part of this wine as they seek to highlight
the fruit and particular terroir.
We have some bottles of their very fine 1999 vintage. It's a
medium-bodied Pinot, displaying some dark cherry fruit and a hint of
spice. The tannins are modest at this stage. Very fine.
Interesting to think this is perhaps the lone domaine in Burgundy which
makes "grand cru" level wines exclusively.
Currently in stock: Bonneau du Martray 1999 "Corton"
$74.99
Domaine
Comte Georges de Vogüé Many
estates in Burgundy have remarkable histories.
This is one of them.
The family can trace its roots back to the mid-1400s. Comtes Georges
died in 1987 and the estate was run by his daughter, Elizabeth.
Since these people often have titles, hers is "Baronne Bertrand de
Ladoucette." Now her two daughters are involved and they are the
Comtesse Gérard de Caussans and her sis, Marie de Vogüé.
Their wines tend to be a bit 'severe' or quiet when they're young.
These are not made with an eye towards fashion, nor do they make wines for
today's critics who rush to judge the most recently crushed grapes in an effort
to be the first to bestow praise or criticism on a wine. The wines of this
domaine, like it or not, are wines for those who have the patience and storage
conditions to allow these Burgundies to actually develop and, in fact, mature.
If you're looking for instant gratification, you'll undoubtedly be disappointed
in the Comte de Vogüé wines. These are not as flashy as the wines of the
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, for example. They're more difficult to
assess when they're young and, unless you're willing to wait a decade (or two or
three), these may not be the wines for you.
The property comprises nearly 12-and-a-half hectares. A significant
percentage is in the vaunted Musigny appellation, with 2.75 hectares in Bonnes-Mares.
They also make a tiny bit of "Bourgogne Blanc," the wine coming from
vineyards within the Musigny appellation. I think they make about 4 or 5
barrels of this annually.
There's a lovely, elegant Chambolle-Musigny and a Chambolle-Musigny Premier
Cru. Along with these they make a few barrels of Chambolle-Musigny Premier
Cru "Les Amoureuses." Then there are the grand cru wines of
Bonnes-Mares and Musigny.
We periodically see some bottles of the Comte de Vogüé wines.
- Currently in stock: 2005 COMTE DE VOGÜÉ Chambolle-Musigny
Premier Cru $184.99
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- MORE RED BURGUNDIES
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