We like to talk about wines that are just off the beaten path. Particularly in Burgundy, the best values can be lesser known wines just a few meters from the famous vineyards. But in most instances, famous vineyards are famous for a reason.
Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet produce the world’s finest dry white wines. In production for nearly two thousand years, the vineyards surrounding these villages produce wines of different characters — Puligny a bit more serious, Chassagne a bit friendlier.
Since its early days Champagne has been synonymous with glamor and marketing. It can be easy to lose track of quality and distinctiveness amid the glossy promotional haze. But Pascal Bardoux, our tiny grower Champagne producer, cuts through the fluff. His tasting room is his small untidy office, where we taste slowly and thoughtfully from an old beat-up leather sofa.
We’re big fans of Sofie Bohrmann’s white wines. Her vines in Meursualt, Puligny, and St-Aubin produce some of the purest and most well balanced white Burgundies in our cellar. Each is masterfully oaked, and each shows its terroir with clarity and precision.
Transition to organics/biodynamics may be trendy in winemaking today, but it’s nothing new at the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacqueline André’s grandfather stopped using chemicals in his vines in 1963, and the domaine has been certified organic since 1980 – the first in the appellation.
The Clos de Vougeot is one of Burgundy’s great landmarks. First planted with vines in the 11th century, the wall around the vineyard dates to 1336, and the majestic Chateau to 1551. It’s a Burgundian icon, both of culture and viticulture. With more than 80 owners across an astounding 50 hectares (120 acres) of vines, the wines from the Clos de Vougeot vary widely in character and quality.
Praise continues to pour in for the Domaine Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond. Their Northern Rhône reds are pure syrah, and display an exquisite balance of texture, fruit, subtlety and depth. The wines continue to improve each year — Josh Raynolds of Vinous declared his tasting this year “the single most impressive set of bottlings I have had here.”
Denis Basset is best known for his rich pure Syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage. They’re delicious, well priced, and pulsing with energy and life. For years our only look at his lone white cuvée was in his barrel room – just a splash “to set the palate” before moving on to the reds. The white was always lovely — floral and fresh, beautifully expressive, and a perfect way to start a tasting.
Puligny-Montrachet is generally considered the finest white wine town in Burgundy – and thus, by most accounts, the world. It’s where Chardonnay reaches its highest expression – at once intense, elegant, chiseled, floral, and subtle. Puligny is less opulent and mouthfilling than its two famous neighbors, Chassagne and Meursault – its elevated water table and high mineral content make the wines more linear and reserved.
Denis Basset is a charming, energetic, fast talking young winemaker with a knack for channeling his terroir. His organic cuvées from Crozes-Hermitage are popular in Parisian restaurants, and it’s easy to see why — they’re balanced, honest, refreshing, and tremendous values.
When we lived near Cluny in Burgundy more than twenty years ago, we stumbled upon a nearby producer in Viré-Clessé. The young couple who owned it tended their vineyards and made their wine according to organic and biodynamic principles – not at all the norm back then – and their work opened our eyes to the quality possible in the Maconnais.
The 2015 vintage enjoys mythic status in Burgundy – the year when everything went right. One winemaker told us he purchased a sorting table in 2015 to remove imperfect grapes, but he didn’t even bother setting it up until the following year. Everyone made good wine in 2015 — and the greatest winemakers’ results were extraordinary.
Well-priced white Burgundy is getting harder to find. Demand is up, supply is (way) down, and the wines themselves just keep getting better. As prices at the high end reach to stratospheric levels and more consumers focus on entry level cuvées, it’s become trickier to find that weeknight Bourgogne blanc.
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. One of our most exciting recent finds was the Domaine Boursot in Chambolle-Musigny. Neal Martin of Vinous writes of a “foundation for a promising future,” and describes Boursot’s wines as “superb,” “excellent,” “very fine,” and “worth seeking out.”
The Northern Rhône produces the world’s most complex and balanced expressions of Syrah. Particularly in Côte Rôtie, at the region’s northern limit, the wines combine inky, black, masculine fruit with extraordinary lift and finesse. Our producer in Côte Rôtie is Christophe Bonnefond, who seems to make more impressive and well-balanced wines each year.