Nearly all white wines from Burgundy spend some time oak. The barrels help develop the texture wines’, adding a roundness through micro-oxygenation. And while they’re typically less heavily oaked than many New World wines, the toasty notes are an important part of the great white Burgundies of Chassagne, Puligny, and Meursault. But not all white Burgundies are oaked.
With Thanksgiving next week and December holidays only a few weeks after, entertaining season is upon us. Whether host or guest, it’s always handy to have an inexpensive, crowd-pleasing red around. Today we suggest the a 2016 Juliénas from Jean-Marc Monnet.
The reds of Burgundy are known for their elegance and finesse -- but not Pommard. Its clay-rich soils produce reds that Rajat Parr calls “masculine, rustic, and earthy.” Next to the elegant, ethereal red Burgundies of the rest of the Côte d’Or, Pommard stands out. It’s a bit less subtle, but no less delicious.
Chablis is the quintessential food wine. With its refreshing mouthfeel and vibrant minerality, it matches beautifully with a wide range — a foil for rich, creamy dishes, or a match for crisp ones. And for nearly all Chablis, the price-to-quality ratio continues to impress.
We drink Beaujolais year round, but it fits particularly well in the fall. Most of our Beaujolais is on the more serious end of the spectrum, hailing from the ten famous towns that dot the region. But we also enjoy the simpler style -- pure fruit, no oak, low tannin, and a pleasant, crackling mouthfeel.
The Domaine des Varoilles is one of the most exciting recent additions to our Burgundy portfolio. Based in Gevrey-Chambertin, the domaine boasts an extraordinary collection of vines, ranging from village-level to Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin. Most interesting, perhaps, are their two premier cru monopoles at the western end of Gevrey-Chambertin. “Clos des Varoilles” and “La Romanée” […]
Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-St-Georges are neighbors with opposing characters. Vosne tends towards elegance, finesse, and spice; Nuits towards richness, more structure, and bolder flavors. In the hands of a talented winemaker, both can be superb.
Soil plays a crucial role in determining the character of wine. Clay-rich soils produce bold wines; flinty soils imbue their wines with notes of gunsmoke. And in Chablis, the particular blend of limestone, clay, chalk, and ancient oyster shells gives its wines an elegant, lace-like minerality.
The Beaujolais has always had a turbulent relationship with the rest of Burgundy. To many in the Côte d’Or, Beaujolais represents overmarketed and undercrafted wine. But in recent years the Beaujolais has undergone a renaissance, as the prominence of Nouveau recedes and more vignerons make ageworthy wine.
Most consider white Burgundy the finest expression of Chardonnay. But even within Burgundy there’s a wide range of styles and flavors; precise, crisp Chablis on one side of the spectrum, and lush, mouthfilling Meursault on the other. Today’s wine is Chablis that wants to be Meursault. And while it’s typical of neither place, it’s also […]
Beaujolais might be the perfect wine for the fall. Crisp air and turning leaves are an excellent match for a the cool fruit and punchy mouthfeel of first-rate Beaujolais. The region is still best known for the Beaujolais Nouveau, a quaint local custom turned global marketing phenomenon. But there’s far more to Beaujolais than cheap candied red wine.
Our final Futures issue of the year comes out next week. It includes some of our most popular winemakers -- Goubert, Boyer-Martenot, Desvignes, and more -- but one favorite in particular: the Domaine Michel Gros. His entire lineup of 2016s will be available next Sunday, but today we’re focusing on one wine that is always in short supply.
The 2015 vintage in Red Burgundy has been called one of the best in decades. Ideal growing conditions produced perfectly ripe fruit, resulting in wines that are full bodied, deeply colored, and simply delicious.
The Gamay grape has had a turbulent history. In 1395 Duke Philip the Bold concluded Gamay was “evil and disloyal,” and banished it from the northern half of Burgundy. For the past six centuries it has found refuge in Beaujolais, where it produces mostly simple reds -- fruit-forward and inexpensive.
The Domaine Jean Collet in Chablis had a tough 2016. Mother Nature threw just about everything at them -- hail, frost, mildew, grape maladies, sunburnt fruit, and more. The domaine lost about 60% of the crop, but the fruit that survived was superb.