I’m organizing a wine dinner with some wine-friends here in LA. We typically drink Italian wines (Piedmont-Nebbiolo and Tuscany-Sangiovese/Super-Tuscan), California (mostly PN) and Champagne. This time we want to explore Burgundy. Can you suggest 6-8 wines with good QPR, available on the market and ready to drink?
Whites and reds, then we will craft the menu to pair the wines - 1,000 is the total budget
At $125 to $166.67 bottle price, good luck with that:
Woodland Hills, Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]Wine - shop by Country - France - Burgundy - Page 1 - Woodland Hills Wine Company
Wally’s, Burgundy
[u]https://www.wallywine.com/wines/region-state/burgundy.html[/u]
Mission, Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]https://www.missionliquor.com/category/wines/1000?order=price&method=desc[/u]
Hi Time, Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]BURGUNDY
WineX, Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]You are being redirected...
I actually think that the budget makes it doable to do something along the lines of a bourgogne, village, 1er cru, and GC lineup for both red and white. Check out Vins Rare in Pasadena as well as WHWC.
I really like Elliot’s suggestion. Lots of different ways you could go with producers. My recommendation would be to take Elliot’s idea for a lineup to a good LA area retailer like the ones above (K&L, Wine House also great options) and let them help you put together a lineup. They also likely will have some older wines in stock that are in a good drinking window.
Vins Rare, White Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]White Burgundy: Vins Rare, The finest selection of rare wines.
Vins Rare, Red Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]Burgundy
$1000 for the wines? That’s doable with local vendors. These are all in stock at wine house and k&l.
I’d do something like 4 whites 4 reds
2014 Louis Michel Montee de Tonnerre $40 at wine house
2009 Fevre Valmur $100 at wine house
2014 Ramonet Morgeot $150 at kl
2009 Jobard Meursault Charmes $105 at kl
2009 Bouchard Volnay Caillerets Carnot $100 kl
2015 Rossignol Volnay Caillerets $120 kl
2005 Lucien Boillot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Les Corbeaux” $65 kl
2005 Domaine Fourrier Chambolle-Musigny “Les Gruenchers” 1er Cru $360 wine house
That’s right around $1k and will give you a nice mix of Chablis, cdb Whites/reds, and readier to drink cdn reds.
I also like Elliot’s idea of a progression of wines. I don’t really know vendors in LA, but some suggestions.
First, do a mixture of whites and reds.
One idea would be to compare Chablis (a recommendation would be Christian Moreau) with white Burgundy (suggested producers might be Lamy (who makes wonderful affordable whites from St. Aubin), Aubert de Villaine (who makes excellent QPR wines from Rully), wines from Macon from Comte Lafon, and then, getting a bit higher end but still well within budget, Bernard Moreau or Pierre Yves Colin-Morey in the Cotes D’Or). If you can find them still, 2014 was a really wonderful year in white Burgundy and I have had really outstanding 2014s from most of the producers listed about.
One more super QPR wine would be the Bourgogne Blanc from Bernard Moreau (the 2015 runs about $25 in the DC area). A neat way to do this would be Bernard Moreau Bourgogne Blanc, village Chassagne Montrachet and then one of their premier cru Chassagne Montrachet (say Morgeots) to see what happens as you move up the ladder of vineyard quality from the same producer).
For reds, I think 2015 is a great vintage but you really are going to be missing the what makes Burgundy special if you go for 3 year-old wines, esp. as you get to higher end wines. I highly recommend trying to find wines with some age on them - if possible, a 2001 or 2002 (note 2003 is a strange vintage and 2004 is the worst vintage over the last 20 years or more so avoid). Otherwise, maybe a 2007. I might start with a 2015 Hudelot-Noellat Bourgogne Rouge (this should be about $30 and is a good introduction to Burgundy). Then, move up to a villages wine from Hudelot-Noellat - which would be either Chambolle-Musigny or Vosne-Romanee. If you can find a 2012 (which are drinking beautifully right now) it should run about $60 or so. If not, get the 2014 (around the same price).
Then, looking at K&L’s website, I see a 2001 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Clos de Vougeot for $140 and a 2002 Domaine Harmand Geoffroy Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru “La Bossiere” for $120. Assuming they are well stored, they should show you what aged Burgundy tastes like.
Plus one with Howard’s recs! They make sense on many levels. If you budget is really limited try Fevre’s Champs Royaux Chablis for around $20. A Cote Brouilly Cru Beaujolais from Thivin would be fun too and runs around $22. Cellar Tracker lumps Cru Beaujolais in with Burgundy even though its made from Gamay, not PN. Even so, producers like Thivin make a very Burgundy like Cru Beaujolais.
I really endorse with Howards plan and especially the idea of grabbing a ready to drink 01,02 or 07. Think you may find some less costly aged village level Nuit St George or Gevrey Chambertin too.
Some very good ideas for you here. If you take these lists to your nearest good wine shop they’ll be delighted to help you (and inevitably help with substitutes on out of stock bottles).
K&L Hollywood, Burgundy, Price Descending
[u]http://www.klwines.com/Products/r?r=57%204294967065+28&d=17&t=&o=5&z=False[/u]
Wine House, Burgundy, Cote de Beaune, Price Descending
[u]https://www.winehouse.com/regions/burgundy-cote-de-beaune/?orderby=price-desc[/u]
Wine House, Burgundy, Cote de Nuits, Price Descending
[u]https://www.winehouse.com/regions/burgundy-cote-de-nuits/?orderby=price-desc[/u]
I like the suggestions from Michael and Howard. I definitely agree with Howard that having a mature bottle is essential to getting the full burgundy experience. My suggestion would be the 2001 Robert Chevillion Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru “Les Cailles,” currently available from Benchmark Wine for $180. It may need some decanting to show its best, but it’s hard to say – another one of the Chevillion 1er crus showed well straight out of the bottle in December. I would open the bottle and pour a taste at the beginning of dinner, and see how it’s showing after 5-10 minutes in the glass. If it isn’t showing much, I would decant at that time, to be served later with the main course.
I’ve had pretty good luck with 05s and 09s lately, including the ones I posted. Probably my favorite burg of the year is the 05 Rossignol Chevret which was drinking perfectly. I tracked down a mag of this at Courtier in the Bay Area but not sure how it’d show in mag.
This wine is singing right now and would be a great choice for an excellent mature Premier Cru.
I like the suggestion for Chevillon Cailles. The 2001 drinks pretty well.
There are also bottles of Jadot Gevrey Clos St. Jacques available from 2000, 2001 and 2002 at various stores. I expect any of those could be nice experiences. I might try the 2000 since it’s a vintage that has been drinking well for some time.
Jadot makes wines in more powerful style, Drouhin in a more elegant style. It would be an interesting comparison to taste them together.
Lots of different ways to approach this. Nobody ever said Burgundy was easy, just fun and tasty.