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Herding Cats: Burgfest 2020 – The Reds
France: Burgundy, featured
, Oct 2024
Burgundy covets caprice. Tasters, critics and even winemakers can only approximate how its wines evolve. Predicting Burgundy is like herding cats–it’s just a more enjoyable undertaking with less meowing.
Cellar Favorite: 2008 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru
Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy, cellar favorite
, Sep 2024
I know, I know, I know. With all the discussion about the unaffordability of Burgundy, why this 2008 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru? Simply because this bottle was not scurried away in some dusty cellar. It was not used to make a profit. It was not brandished about to show off someone’s wealth. It had one reason and one reason only–to be drunk for what it is, something as banal and wondrous as wine.
Chablis 2022-2023: Here Comes the Sun King
France: Burgundy, featured
, Aug 2024
Chablis was bearing the brunt of a challenging growing season when I visited in 2024, but at least the previous two vintages refilled cellars. What are the differences between 2022 and 2023, and what should you look to buy?
Mâconnais 2022/2023: Don’t Pass Me By
France: Burgundy, featured
, Aug 2024
The Mâconnais has a wellspring of delicious and affordable Chardonnay that it could be argued is only now demonstrating what its finest terroirs can achieve…in the right hands. More than just Pouilly-Fuissé, more than its recently introduced Premier Crus, there is much to be discovered, especially in a benevolent vintage as 2022.
Cellar Favorite: 2022 Kei Shiogai Bourgogne Blanc
Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy, cellar favorite
, Jul 2024
A couple of years ago, I ordered the maiden Kei Shiogai 2020 Bourgogne Blanc En Pellans from a restaurant list, as members of the fourth estate are persona non grata at the winery in Beaune. I was interested. Sadly, the bottle left me indifferent. When dining in Chablis recently, I decided to try another bottle.
A Burgundy Intermezzo
France: Burgundy, featured
, Jul 2024
This brief Burgundy report looks at new releases from an established producer, Domaine Leflaive, a brand new grower, Arnaud Boué and a welcome return for the Chassagne-Montrachets of Domaine Michel Niellon, with an early look at their 2023s.
Cellar Favorite: 2015 Envínate Lousas Parcela Camiño Novo
Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy, cellar favorite
, Jul 2024
During the Burgfest tasting, we tend to diversify our drinking habits at dinners as members proffer bottles from their cellars. One of the best was the 2015 Lousas Parcela Camiño Novo from Envínate, which translates as “wine yourself”.
Variations on a Theme: Burgundy 2020 Whites
France: Burgundy, featured
, Jul 2024
There is justifiable handwringing about Burgundy losing its typicité because of warmer growing seasons. Is that being borne out in the wines? In the first of two blind tastings at the annual Burgfest, I tasted over 200 whites from the 2020 vintage and found reasons to be cheerful.
Cellar Favorite: 1986 Domaine Jean-François Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and 1989 Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru
Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy, cellar favorite
, Jul 2024
In the fledgling days of my wine career, long before I put pen to paper, I used to visit a reputable merchant in deepest Suffolk. These were thoroughly enjoyable away days from the office. We would often repair to a local fish restaurant to imbibe the rest of the afternoon away, skivers that we were. I vividly recall one occasion when the merchant regaled a bottle drunk recently. He rhapsodized that wine so much that his words have always stayed with me. Unfortunately, even then, 20-plus years ago, this wine was so unfathomably rare that the chances of even finding a bottle, let alone drinking one, were remote. Of course, back then, I had not counted on munificent wine friends…
Archive Away: Mature Burgundies 1919-2019
France: Burgundy, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Jun 2024
Every year, I round up all the stray bottles of Burgundy and publish them in a single article. This year’s edition is the customary eclectic array of wines stretching back over decades, from feted recent vintages to others best forgotten, from legendary producers to “Who?”