hey guys,
Every one in a while I get a little bit of time to read & research and further my knowledge. So I appreciate you guys patiently answering a couple of my questions.
I was recently reading a thread here on Burgundy pricing and someone mentioned in 2009 they bought Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux for $89 (don’t remember the vintage). Now in 2009 i didn’t know much about wine and was drinking $15 bottle of Sangiovese from Wholefoods but in hindsight you go that was a pretty awesome wine to buy for 90 bucks. MG Echezeaux goes for >$500 now.
If you had to pick 5 Burgs to cellar for next 10+ years, roughly under $125, what would you buy. It’s something you absolutely love. Something you would buy plenty of and stow away and most likely 10 years from now still wish you had bought more of. Who cares if it appreciates by 5x or not, you would happily smash a bottle of it and feel nostalgic.
If your top 5 aren’t really Burgs but Barolos/ Barbarescos/ Tuscans/ Bordeauxs/ Napa Cabs/ Oregon Pinots / Something else, I would love to hear about those too.
That might not be enough time for some wines, particularly Burgundy. For that kind of money, I’d look into Henri Gouges NSG 1er Crus. There are 6 or 7 different options to choose from, all under your cap limit with the exception of the Les St Georges. Most would just be coming into their drinking window at 10 years.
A decade would also be sufficient rack time for Hudelot Noëllat’s Chambolle-Musigny or Vosnee-Romanèe Village wines too, and both are well under the $125 ceiling.
Craig, thanks a lot. That’s exactly the type of response I was looking for. This isn’t one of those threads where I am asking for recommendations and everyone goes I need to figure It out on my own. I am asking for folks to share what they are passionate about.
Thanks. These are all wines I’ve been buying in most recent vintages. Some of them I’ve backfilled as well (some like Dujac are quite difficult to backfill).
Having said that, I strongly recommend tasting a bottle young to zero in on what producers you prefer. Most Burgundies drink very well in the first couple of years from release.
BTW you don’t need to spend $100+ for ageworthy Burgundy. I buy a lot of Guillemot Savigny, and Faiveley Mercurey 1er Crus. They’re super Burgs around $40-45. Frédéric Esmonin (Gevrey) and Domaine Bart (Marsannay) are great value too.
Craig, that’s exactly what I have been doing. Tonight was Huber Lignier Tres Girard 2011. Down to last 60 ml. I enjoyed it . One of those days when you realize you should just keep aside the ratings and enjoy the wine
Many good suggestions here. I’d add Bertheau Charmes, Clerget Caillerets, Hudelot Noellat Charmes, Leroux Vosne-Romanee, and more obscure, Francois Lumpp A Vigne Rouge, has really impressed me. And I’ll vote further for Gouges, Faiveley, and Arnoux.
Great advice Craig,
Dinesh you need to workout what you are looking for in Burgundy, some makers work (extract) the grapes harder than others and they all vary on their use of oak, maybe you like red fruited wines or maybe you prefer them a few shades darker. And beyond all that no matter how good you think they are young they will be soo much better when they are properly mature.
Craig is right about spreading your wings to try other areas as well, Marsannay is producing some cracking wines these days as is Savigny and Santenay. I opened a 1999 Santenay pemier cru the other night and it was really really nice.
Burgundies are made in different styles. I highly recommend learning which producers you like rather than buying blindly based on the lists of others. For example, Jadot and Drouhin are excellent producers - but the wines are made in entirely different styles. To me, the worst possible way to approach Burgundy is to buy a few bottles, put them away for a decade and hope for the best. Rather, I would start with less expensive bottles (regional wines or villages level wines) and find out what YOU like best rather than what I love best.
Also, remember that the price of wines at the winery and in the US at retail can be vastly different. The Mugneret-Gibourg grand crus you see at $700 in the US are vastly cheaper (around 130 Euros) if you are lucky enough to have an allocation of these wines at the winery. These are small production wines, more akin to California cult wines than to Bordeaux estates. Are you buying wines now to drink in 10-15 years or to flip? If the latter, I doubt you want Jadot or Drouhin. These wines are made in much larger quantities than are the smaller estates and thus much less likely to become collector items. If you buy Burgundies to flip later, buying villages level wines much less likely to appreciate wildly in value than are Grand Crus. I think that you have been recommended a number of fine wines for drinking, but not for flipping.
I will recommend producers for drinking but not for investment value. You should try (and I mean try now, not in 15 years) wines from Hudelot-Noellat, Maison Theriet, Henry Jouan, Drouhin, Rossignol-Trapet and Yvon Clerget for red wines and Bernard Moreau, Ramonet, Bouchard, Drouhin, and Christian Moreau for white wines.
I’ll give a quick response: get to know which terroirs / lieu-dits in Echezeaux and Corton produce good wine. Then discover domaines that match your taste. You’ll find good or very good wine, easily capable of aging. There will be a reasonably large number of domaines producing bottles under the $125 mark, though it varies greatly depending on your home country. Many simply don’t want the bother of shipping small quantities to the U.S.
I give this general approach as I think it is more fun and will match your personal taste. There are plenty of good books with maps describing the holdings. The same approach works, to a degree, in the hyphenated Chambertin vineyards, but those opportunities seem to be disappearing fast.
A second way of discovery would be to investigate the 1er cru vineyards whose conditions (level on the slope, gradient, exposure, etc) aren’t all that different from their immediate GC neighbors. There are many, many producers making excellent wine -vin de garde- from splendid sites, well under $100 a bottle.
@Markus S - not even close. I have just started discovering burgundy and at a very early stage. It’s a fun process - do as many offline events as I can, visit tasting events (unfortunately missed La Paulee), procure a wide selection of producers in small quantities and try different styles.
Since you do ask, here are a couple of producers I have enjoyed:
Hubert Lignier
Hudelot Noellat
Here are some I have liked ok but not enjoyed as much as above two
Ghislaine Barthod
Jadot - obviously they have a massive range and I have probably tried a few bottles and hard to generalize based on that. I have got a couple of bottles of Clos Saint Jacques and Les Suchots, which are. next.
Faiveley - same as Jadot. Massive range. Their Cazetiers 1er and Clos Saint Dennis are next.
In addition have sourced wines from:
D’Angerville - Caillerets and Fremiet
Arlaud - Ruchots
Y Clerget - Santenots
Fourrier - Aux Echanges
Gerard Mugneret - Boudots
Gouges - Pruliers
Drouhin - CM
Lignier Michelot - Faconnieres
Chandon De Briailles - Pernand Vergelesses
Mugneret Gibourg - Chaignots
Bouchard - Caillerets
Lafarge - Chenes
Chevillon - Vaucrains.
And a few others. Idea was to try broadly and then see what appeals to me.
I know why this post May appear as a fishing expedition. But purpose was really more to see what do people who have been into Burgundy for a while feel passionate about.
Dinesh,
I have looked at your CT notes, I think the Barthod that you posted a note on would have improved a lot if you had opened the bottle poured a small amount off recorked it and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days to open up a bit. I find 2014 fairly closed at the moment and needs a fair bit of time to unwind and show its true nature, also Ghislaine makes wines that need time to show you what they offer. Slow down buddy, trust me when you have your Burgundy epiphany with a mature wine you will understand
. One of those days when you realize you should just keep aside the ratings and enjoy the wine 
