I probably shouldn’t get into Burgundy, but I’m looking for a good book, or more than one, that will give me a good, in depth tour around the area and as many vineyards and producers as possible – but not necessarily reviews of specific wines.
I’ve looked at Clive Coates’ book but it has too many reviews on individual wines. I’m looking for something more on the characteristics of areas, appellations, vineyards, producers, wines, etc., but not really a buyer’s guide. First I want to get to know Burgundy a little better and then I might be interested in which wines to buy.
I’ve got the Hatchett Atlas, and I like it a lot, but I want something that deals exclusively with Burgundy and has more details and describes what the wines are like.
Matt Kramer’s Making Sense of Burgundy is the closest thing to what you’re looking for, but it’s really something crying out for a longer and newer treatment.
Anthony Hanson’s BURGUNDY book is also good. I’m looking at a book on the bookshelf “The Great Domains of Burgundy” by Remington Norman which will give you a good overview of major producers.
But like Keith said, time for somebody to write this very book that you’re asking for.
I just skip the tasting notes in Coates’ book and find it quite valuable for the information you seek. I agree it needs to be updated and, frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t been.
Of the recent books, I think Coates older edition is best, and completely agree about skipping the tasting notes, just focus on the historical stuff. Philosophically I’m most in line with Kramer, although as noted above his domaine info is way out of date considering it’s 15+ years old. But it really lays out a good way to think about Burgundy. I have both Hanson and Norman, but for whatever reason don’t look at them much.
If you really want to know about Burgundy, I think the best way is to find a local good Burg retailer (if you have one) and talk to them. I know there are some serious Burg guys up your way so there must be a good retailer although I don’t know who. But no matter, you could do it over the phone with one of the good ones down here anyway. Drink lower level Burgs from different communes to get a feel for which ones you like. Then post questions on the board as there are a lot of knowledgeable people here with whom you can actually interact with.
With Burgundy (or any terroir driven region), maps are really important once you get into it. Bill Nanson’s site (http://www.burgundy-report.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) has good maps, so you can see where Malconsorts is in relationship to Petits Monts, etc.
But the bottom line is that this can be a great resource. If you get far enough to wonder “how is Vosne different from Gevrey?” or “what are the differences among the Volnay premier crus?”, you could post the question here and would likely get some good answers. And as opposed to a book, you could actually start a dialogue.
I flubbed! I should have mentioned Hubrecht Duijker’s excellent and long-out-of-print Great Wines of Burgundy. The parts that are out-of-date are still historically interesting, but much of it is timeless and the writing on the characteristics of the villages and their best crus is beautiful and still true.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve seen most or all of these books on Amazon and abebooks.com. I may order some of them. Wish I could find something recent.
Over the last several years I’ve regularly been talking with the folks at the Boise Co-op (I live three blocks away) and they REALLY know Burgundy and have great maps – and an amazing selection of wines. I will continue to chat with them and take their recs but I’d like something to read as well. I think the folks at the Co-op, especially Divit Cardozo, got their knowledge from working over there and getting to know the places, people, and wines. Unfortunately, that’s not likely for me.
I’d add a vote for Remington Norman (whose name I dearly want to hyphenize and turn into a surname so he can take his proper place among the wine-writing toffs of his generation).
The Remington Norman book is good, but it is focused on producers rather than the terroirs and therefore not as timeless as some of the other books mentioned.
I was following up on these very helpful recommendations and I noticed that Amazon shows that Remington Norman’s book will be updated and released on November 24, 2009:
I’ve lived with all of these books-for me number one is Norman, and it’s great news that it’s being revised. A book is due
from Jasper Morris, who knows the wines like few others, though I don’t know how soon. The Coates books are terrific, particularly for the surprisingly accurate tasting notes which have helped me tremendously over the years. Matt Kramer is useful for the partial and outdated lists of vineyard holdings but I don’t find many great insights otherwise. Duijker I like best for the pictures of old labels. The more books the better-Burgundy requires lots of reading.
FYI, I sent an email to Wine Spectator requesting that they let me know if Matt Kramer is planning on updating his Burgundy book. I’ll report back if/when I get a response.
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