Please list your favorite sources for more recent reviews of older Burgundy vintages.
Sources that come to mind are Gilman (though becoming more scarce as articles on recent releases predominate), Burghound (through his database, as the articles in the journal are less frequent and more attuned to very high end wines), perhaps Coates (though again less frequent than before), this WB board, and Cellartracker (though you need to figure out which of many, many palates you might be more attuned to).
Are there others I am not aware of?
If Cellartracker is a main source for you, whose reviews do you particularly trust and enjoy for previous Burgundy vintages?
A bazillion years ago, the European company Gilman was associated with (can’t remember name - John?) had a web site with numerous articles collecting notes on older burgundy, only some of which were written by John.
Sometimes the Burghound issue’s retrospective notes are less useful just because they are wines that few of us will have the opportunity to buy, such as large DRC retros, etc. However, I do appreciate those as well, just wish there were more…and some are slightly more “down to earth” in nature, and those are great. But the Burghound database to which his personal notes on older wines are posted several times each year is valuable and very much appreciated. Since I am not really buying new vintages of Burgs at this point, the database notes on older wines are the sole reason I continue to subscribe to BH.
I have been reading and appreciating Burgundy Al’s notes on CT. Any other CT members with a Burg emphasis that anyone has been appreciating?
I have been a subscriber to the NYWC, then IWC, for many many years, but their articles on “older” (as in anything earlier than the current release) Burgundy have been VERY few and far between…I can only think of a handful over all these years, and this is despite pretty incessant nudging by a number of us on the IWC boards, and now the Vinous boards. Because of my long time respect for Tanzer’s Burgundy palate, this is something I have yearned for, but alas, it was not to be. As far as I am concerned, Tanzer, IWC, and Vinous have not been sources for this type of information…at all! I think that covering all of the new releases of every wine from every corner of the universe just fills their plate too full.
Let’s hope that Vinous makes some moves in this regard.
I also like following Keith Levenberg’s notes too on CT. Keith is pretty eclectic, which I like, but drinks a lot of Burgs and seems to post on virtually everything he drinks. He posts under his name on CT.
I am appreciating the names of posters on CT to investigate.
I certainly follow the tasting notes on Burgs (and certain OR and CA pinots) on these boards, but I am a relative newcomer to searching out posts on CT, though I have used it for some years in searching View From the Cellar notes and looking up tasting notes on individual wines. It has just been a little daunting trying to figure out which individual posters might be interesting to investigate in the Burgundy realm.
Another copious (and quality) London-based CT note taker is Simong. Often his notes are up before I get home from a tasting because he posts them from the train.
Those two are one reason I basically stopped posting notes. One, or both, of them are at most of the burg tastings I attend, so what’s the point?
I find reading the conglomerates of a wine’s notes on CT is about as good as there is…and I don’t pay particular attention to anyone’s…though I discount notes on such wines drunk young.
And, I keep my own pretty detailed notes and generally buy multiples of stuff…so…I guess I rely most on my own palate…even if sometimes they are barrel notes. That’s how I bought.
I really appreciate the CT reviews because it gives me some idea of the progression of my btls. Its so much better than just relying on the outdated , early on, barrel samples of the critics. Lately I’ve been making more buying and drinking decisions based on the CT notes, especially where there are good notes from someone I trust.
As a 65% claret / 35% burgundy drinker (or maybe 64/34/2% rest of the world), I use only cellartracker and look for Burgundy Al, Keith Levenberg, Rupert, DrWine2001, and Brad E.
