A question for Burgundy lovers and all others

WINE TALK
61

Indeed. If you add Gary York from back in the day here and on ERP, you might have 180%, though for whatever reason the haters of Burgundy have always seemed more obsessive and trollish to me. I can’t offhand think of anyone who obsessively trollbombs positive California threads the way Gary did Burgundy discussions for years.

If anything, I think the people who are most critical of Burgundy are Burg fans who enjoy a narrower range of those wines than others (sounds judgy, but not meant to be). The same holds true of Cali Pinot and Chard lovers, where the high octane/low octane battle has been an ongoing feature (or bug?) of these boards for years.

As for me, sure, I prize Burgundy. But I love Beaujolais (what I’m having tonight), Barolo, Barbaresco, various other Italian regions making both classic and obscure rural grapes and styles, the North Rhone, California Syrah, Oregon Pinot, some Washington wines, Australian whites, Marcassin (took a Chardonnay to a top restaurant two years ago and it paired well with about six different dishes), right bank Bordeaux, and some left bank, and Sauternes. And…I could go on. Wait, I forgot Rioja, mostly “trad”, but some modern. Oh, and Ribera di Sacra.

And I could go on…but I love Burgundy first and foremost. The only things I can think of that I have “trashed” would be Aubert Pinot (and again, I like Marcassin!) and Brunello to try to prove a point to Gary York in the early Berserker days.

62

I haven’t noticed Burg drinkers trashing others. I am happy not everyone loves Burgs; they are hard enough to get as it is. But I rarely read the non-Burg threads, and that might explain my ignorance.
alan

63

Alan…thanks. You posted my thoughts better than me… [thankyou.gif]

64

Easy. All roads lead to Burgundy because most of the other wines really do suck. [wink.gif]

65

Hah! I’d forgotten about (or perhaps subconsciously blocked out) Gary York.
A

66

I drink more Napa cabs and Burgs than anything else. That’s probably a major head scratcher for some, since a thread was even strated challenging that possibility. But given that background and perspective here’s my take, which is just a general perception from a quasi-fence sitter:

It seems like the self proclaimed AFWE, who are almost entirely burgophiles, are condescending about heavily fruited california wines, or even heavily fruited old world wines like Pavie, Cos, and Ducru. I’ve seen many condescending pepsi can emotes from “AFWE” folks in threads about california pinots. I mean, come on folks. Can you really deny that? Some may be half joking, but that’s debateable. At the same time, there are shots back across the bow, albeit less frequently, about not liking to drink gym socks, shit, horse sweat, dirt, etc.

67

To the extent that the OP assertion is valid (and I haven’t really seen that on this Board) I suspect it is because they have traversed many other regions and ended up loving Burgundy - thus seeing as a natural (and hierarchical) evolution of taste with Burgundy at the pinnacle :slight_smile:

It reminds me of reading in an Arturo Perez Reverte book a character’s assertion that the natural progression is to be charmed by the easy charms of Burgundy in one’s youth, but to move to the more serious dry wines of Bordeaux as one matures and becomes wiser. Made me laugh at the time :wink:

68

apparently I need to amend my signature. It seems that I left out something…

69

I was going to generalize about a supposed feeling of superiority from those who have progressed through varieties and regions, and after years of tasting, determined burgundy’s superiority. If that is the case for the burg-nuts, it could result in a bit of condescension towards those that praise X above burgundy while on but a preliminary step in their wine tasting journey. But, I’m not convinced that is the case, since on this board there are many extremely experienced tasters that have progressed through just about everything, only to end up back at California pinot or napa cab.

All of that aside, I nearly lost my marbles on Facebook recently. A friend of mine is a big fan of Sea Smoke and posted about enjoying a bottle of Ten. It’s a top tier wine of the style, and one I’ve enjoyed on occasion. Power to him. What took me aback was the guy that commented that, along with the Southing, the Ten was probably the best pinot noir in the world. I’m guessing every burg-ler on this board would have shit themselves upon reading that. It took immeasurable restraint to avoid commenting on his assertion. Best in the world? I need to call this guy and see if he has any DRC and Leroy that he’ll trade me for Sea Smoke and KB

70

excuse me
I just shit myself

71

RIGHT!!!

72

Is this the type of condescending, self-aggrandizing BB post that spawned this whole thread? I reckon it is.

73

Frankly, I really don’t care whether someone thinks Sea Smoke is the greatest wine in the world and don’t understand why anyone else would really care if I think it isn’t. For me, I like Burgundy, that is unlikely to change, I doubt I will ever be a California Pinot lover and I don’t see why anyone should care what I like or do not like other than my wife, the people I drink wine with regularly and me.

74

I agree with K Joseph. I recently tried the Sea Smoke Southing, and although it was quite good, I have a villages-level Burgundy (a Marsannay) in my cellar that is twice the wine that Sea Smoke is, at 1/3 the price.

Burgundy is like chocolate. When you have a craving for it, absolutely nothing else satisfies.

75

I don’t think this thread has anywhere else useful to go from here. You might as well start a thread on Daily Kos about whether liberals are too sanctimonious and closed-minded. What do you think people in that forum are going to say? “Yes, we are, we apologize and will try to change?”

This is a great board, but part of participating here is that you have to just realize what the board zeitgeist is, and you have to realize that will be the swipes about the unsophisticatedness of those who drink wines perceived to be ripe and modern, and not let it be a big deal, or at least try to respond in good humor as often as possible. And particularly to be aware that those constitute only a very small percentage of what discussion goes on here, much of which is quite friendly, genuine, and informative. There are a lot of really kind and smart folks on this board.

And with that, I will excuse myself from this thread and bring my focus to the many other discussions on WB of interest.

76

The best analogy I was able to come up with is - If you are a sport fan and your team is X, do you feel the need to put down team Y?<<<<<<<<<

Absolutely! Oh, and BTW, the Eagles, Redskins and Cowgirls all suck! [stirthepothal.gif]

77

Wait, the Phil Rizzutto fan club is in the house???
The first thing I thought when I saw the sports analogy was SF Giants fans and Guillaume re. the Lakers.
But our sports bantering is friendlier than some of the wine stuff.

78

Not this burg-ler …

Sorry. People have different preference. Your best may not be my best. Why should I shit on myself [scratch.gif] ?


****…I’m guessing every burg-ler on this board would have shit themselves upon reading that… ****.

79

Sorry I thought this a Valentine’s day thread

80

Uhhhhhh…but it is a Grand Cru vnyd, I’ve been told.
Tom