Amid Champagne’s glitz and glamour, winemaker Pascal Bardoux stands out. His cuvées are quietly exceptional — his tasting room is his small untidy office, where we taste slowly and thoughtfully from an old beat-up leather sofa. “Le marketing” is nowhere to be seen.
If a good Pouily-Fumé bursts from the glass with energy and life, winemaker Frederic Michot is a perfect embodiment of his wines. He talks and drives fast, and sports the same no-nonsense attitude found in a glass of his Pouilly-Fumé: pure Sauvignon blanc, no oak, clean and crisp.
New winemakers in Burgundy are hard to come by. It’s a tiny region, and between small harvests, ever increasing demand, and well-established importers, it can seem there’s nothing new to discover. Which makes us even gladder of our most recent Burgundian find: the Domaine Boursot in Chambolle-Musigny. Neal Martin of Vinous writes of a “foundation for […]
The Salomon-Undhof estate dates to 1792, and is currently on its 7th and 8th generation winemakers, father and son Bert and Bert Salomon. Their terraced vines overlooking the Danube have long been an excellent source, with the country’s preeminent wine guide calling them a “figurehead of Austrian wine history.”
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 case with the wines of Caroline Letsimé.
White Burgundy is an easy wine to pair with food. At the high end, an ageworthy bottle Meursault or Puligny can exceed the subtlety and depth of a red Burgundy. Paired with a lobster risotto or veal in cream, it’s a marriage of opulence and charm.
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.
Sofie Borhmann is a bit of an anomaly in Burgundy. She’s not French (she’s from Belgium), not well known, and exports very little to the US. In a tiny region with exploding demand and skyrocketing prices, her wines are quiet, well priced, and relatively unknown. We found them on a restaurant list in Beaune, and after some persistence managed to track her down.
We’re not sure where you’re reading this from, but we hope it has air conditioning. Everywhere from Beaune to Boston to Bordeaux has been baking this week. When it’s warm out we like to drink Chablis and cooled Beaujolais; but when it’s this brutally hot, there’s just one answer: Muscadet.
Syrah grown in most of the world is bold, rich, smooth and voluminous. In the Northern Rhône the grape takes on a different style: lower alcohol, less mouthfilling, more spice, more energy. Recent scorching summers have blurred this style a bit, but 2020 was a welcome return to normal. Decanter writes of “A reliably fresh, balanced and approachable vintage – a return to classicism.”
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 — […]
Bordeaux is best known for its expensive, ageworthy red wines that are among the most famous and collectible in the world. But this tier represents only a fraction of what the region produces, and if you know where to look, there’s accessible value to be found.