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The pursuit of freshness is a perennial struggle for white Burgundy vignerons these days. They’ve adapted to warmer, drier summers by delaying pruning, harvesting earlier, and tweaking their cellar work. But Chardonnay loves the sun, and inattentive growers can end up with overripe, high alcohol wines.
In the last few years Michel Gros’s son Pierre has taken over as principal winemaker at the family domaine. His winemaking style is so far indistinguishable from his father’s, and we can’t blame him. Given Michel’s stellar reputation and 45 vintages of experience, we’ll give Pierre credit for seeking wise counsel.
Master of Wine Jasper Morris is an eloquent, experienced, extremely British wine writer, who doesn’t throw the word “superb” around lightly. And so while we at Ansonia have held this opinion of Cyril Gautheron for years, we took note when earlier this year he called him “a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”
The lone Austrian source in our catalog is the Weingut Salomon-Undof, a centuries old domaine overlooking the Danube river. They’re best known for their Grüner Veltliner, a humble grape that’s synonymous with Austrian winemaking. But we’re very fond of their Rieslings – dry, stony, piercing interpretations of the grape that are the perfect defense against a hot muggy summer evening.
Climate change has made most winemakers’ jobs more difficult, but in some sectors it’s brought more good than harm. One area basking in the abundant sun these days is the Côte Chalonnaise, a sub-region of Burgundy just south of the Côte d’Or. Vignerons here do have to manage drought, powerful storms, and other new challenges, but the struggle for ripeness is largely a thing of the past.
Weeknight Burgundy is not an oxymoron. Yes, pricing for the famous names in Burgundy has gone a bit nuts of late – and while the wines have never been better, many cuvées now occupy the “special occasion” tier for most consumers. But we’re happy to report that with legwork and a bit of patience, there’s still value to be found.
Chassagne-Montrachet is a town synonymous with opulence and richness. Its wines combine weight without heaviness – everything you want in a top class white Burgundy – but usually comes with a hefty pricetag. Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not quite as complex or long-lived as a Chassagne premier cru, but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a steal.
The soils of Sancerre are famous for their flint. This unusual rock gives the region’s wines a note of smokiness and minerality — a perfect foil for Sauvignon Blanc’s lush grapefruit notes. Our Sancerre producer, the Domaine de la Garenne, makes several delicious wines – but their flint-heavy cuvée is our favorite.
Pierre Vessigaud is our newest white Burgundy source, and he’s among our most exciting finds in years. A committed, Demeter certified biodynamic vigneron (the highest organic classification), Vessigaud’s wines are extraordinary in their complexity and sophistication. He’s brand new to our portfolio, but his wines have already stolen the show at several Depot tastings.
If you know anything about Margaux, it’s probably about the iconic Chateau Margaux. But there’s lots to the appellation besides the famous First-Growth chateau. Margaux’s sandy, gravel-filled soils produce some of the Left Bank’s most elegant red wines; Jancis Robinson cites their “haunting perfume,” and “silky texture.”
Burgundy’s Côte d’Or produces most of the region’s iconic red wines. They can exquisite, other worldly expressions of Pinot Noir, but they often come pricetags to match their famous appellations. In recent years we’ve found ourselves spending more time in Burgundy’s other corners, in particular the Côte Chalonnaise and the Maconnais – the names are less recognizable, but the bills are much friendlier.
After four consecutive vintages of small crops in Burgundy, 2022 finally delivered relief. “Beautiful and bountiful,” writes Jasper Morris of the 2022 red Burgundies; “very good wines and plenty of them.” William Kelley calls them “succulent, suave and charming.” Having tasted dozens of them during our spring tasting trip we can entirely agree.
Wine writer Lettie Teauge once described Sancerre as a wine that delivers “pleasure not profundity.” We think this is an excellent description – sometimes a moment calls for a grand, majestic wine, but other times all you need is something crisp, refreshing, and reliable.
Master of Wine Jasper Morris writes that “Cyril Gautheron is a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.” The average Chablis may be riper and rounder than a decade ago, but for traditional Chablisien punch and zip, we always reach for Gautheron.
Climate change has thrown a series of hurdles at the winemakers of Burgundy, but the news isn’t all bad. In some corners of the region vignerons will (somewhat sheepishly) admit that a warming world has improved their wines, and nowhere is this more apparent than the Côte Chalonnaise, where grapes once on the margins of ripeness are now basking in abundant sun and heat.