All of the winemakers we work with in Burgundy are grower-producers, meaning they farm their own grapes and produce their own wine. But over the last few years of severely diminished yields, we’ve seen several winemakers add “négociant” operations, making additional wine with purchased grapes under another label. These cuvées often put winemaker skill on display, and such is the…
More than anywhere else in Burgundy, winemakers in Chablis have felt the impact of recent warm vintages. Earlier harvests and more sun exposure have meant riper grapes and wines with fleshier, richer textures. This style of Chablis can support more oaking, and some winemakers have begun to increase the exposure to oak barrels.
Well-priced white Burgundy is getting harder to find. Chablis continues to be a great source of value, and particularly in the summer we find ourselves pairing crisp, unoaked Chablis with almost everything. But sometimes the meal calls for a white with a bit more gravitas, and for such an occasion we head to the heart of Burgundy.
Michel Gros produces some of our favorite red Burgundies. His style is smooth and elegant, with warm, enticing notes of toast, red berries, and a silky texture. Gros’s village level and premier cru wines can be truly extraordinary, but they often need investment and patience to achieve their potential.
With a supply crunch from recent small vintages and seemingly inelastic demand, the cost of Burgundy is headed in one direction. And yet amid ballooning prices Chablis has maintained its place as a consistent source of value. Even Grand Crus from top tier producers still rarely break the $100/bottle mark.
Vincent Boyer is among the most talented of our winemakers, and his family owns some the Côte d’Or’s finest white wine terroir. With his increasing recognition and impressive critical scores, you might expect him to be content with the renown he has achieved. But Vincent is an innovator. He’s adopted a longer aging process — […]
One of our most exciting recent finds in Burgundy has been the Domaine Boursot in Chambolle-Musigny. They’re new to our portfolio but hardly new to the region, having started making wine there in 1550. Still, we feel as though we’ve gotten in on the ground floor – a new generation has taken the family’s unrivaled terroir in an exciting, modernized…
The Maconnais has long been one of our favorite sources for white Burgundy. This southern sub-region produces wines with an often friendlier character than those of the famous Côte d’Or to the north. Maconnais whites typically have low or no oak, they’re more affordable, and require less cellaring.
Wine writer Rajat Parr describes St. Aubin as the “insider’s white Burgundy.” Wedged in a valley between Chassagne and Puligny, this town produces white Burgundy with hints of Montrachet’s golden richness, but a less stratospheric price tag.
The Maison Picamelot is among Burgundy’s finest crémant houses. The Wine Advocate’s resident Champagne expert William Kelley writes that “Picamelot produces some of the best sparkling wines in Burgundy,” and calls their wines “elegant,” “excellent,” and “superb.”
There’s not much left hidden in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. A mere 30 miles long, the region is home to many of the world’s most famous vineyards. Limited supply and increasing demand mean even its most obscure corners receive visitors from around the world.
St-Aubin may not be the secret source for white Burgundy it once was, but it’s not because of the quality. Soaring prices for Burgundy from its famous neighboring towns of Puligny, Chassagne, and Meursault mean that the spillover demand has nudged prices for St-Aubin well. But the quality has more than kept pace, and despite the demise of its anonymity,…
Great winemakers make great wines in good vintages and bad. They channel their terroir into the best expression possible, trimming their viticultural sails based on the subtleties of the growing season. But sometimes a vintage provides such exceptional materials that just about everything it produces is terrific. And 2019 was just such a vintage.
For centuries Burgundy has swung back and forth between two models of winemaking: domaine bottling, where a winemaker makes wines from grapes he grows himself; and negociant, where a house buys grapes from local vignerons and crafts them into wine. With a few exceptions, most of the top names in Burgundy are the former (grower-producer) model, with the winemaker shepherding…
“Crémant should never try to be Champagne.” That’s how winemaker Philippe Chautard answered when one of our guests asked him to compare the two. “Crémant is from Burgundy, and should act like it.”