Because my early experience with white Burgundy was in drinking wines from the 80’s that were at least 10 or more years old. And when I had wines such as the 96 Leflaive Chevalier and 96 Coche Corton-Charlie, let alone less highfalutin wines as well aged Ramonet’s and Leflaive premier crus from the 80’s that were 10-15 years old, I knew how wonderful white Burgundy could be. My goal in buying WB’s after that was to reproduce that experience. Now that is no longer a reliable venture. Nothing in the wine world from anywhere else takes its place for me. And although there is a difference between a $200-300 grand cru from a great producer and a $100-150 premier cru, neither of them are worth the money to me if they cannot age into great mature WB. I do realize that I may get some greater enjoyment out of an excellent $75 premier cru even at 3-5 years of age than a $30 Bourgogne, but I am pissed off enough that I am not pursuing that anymore. I suppose given some more time to come to my senses, I may start buying some carefully selected WB’s above the Bourgogne level as long as they are in the $50-75 level and I drink them within 5 years…but for now the wounds are too fresh! (This would be considered a “first world problem”, eh?)
What I meant was that there is indeed a perceptible difference between the $250-300 Grand Cru and the $100-150 Premier Cru UPON RELEASE AND EARLY ON (I left out that part!), those differences in quality (and between those and the wines in the $50-100 range) become more apparent and, to those who can afford them, most worthwhile when the wines are maturing and reaching their peaks. Those differences are usually not worth the price differential when you have to consume them within 5 years.
Sad.
Your description of the 08 Clavoillon makes me happy for you and even sadder for my experience. If you have never had a premoxed bottle, I wonder if it is because as you say you only have a few a year (ie: small sample size) or whether you are just lucky. Of course, if your few bottles per year were only Coche-Dury, Raveneau, and pre-2002 Leflaive, that would also explain it. Or if you were one of those wine drinkers who think that aged white Burgundy should taste of caramel and sherry and didn’t recognize premox…but I know you are not in that category. So I assume it is due to the small sample size and that you are lucky. Rejoice!
The producer I have tasted recently that was most like that was Fontaine Gagnard. Had a 2012 from them in January and, while the wine was not premoxed yet, it certainly seemed like it would be in a year or two. Our annual attempt to attempt to compete with the Tucson Lunch Bunch - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers