Approaching age 50 - is it too late for Burgundy?

WINE TALK
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Quinta de Baixo, Quinta da Pellada, Filipa Pato are starters and imported into the States. The Douro is nothing like Burgundy.

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I do not think Dão wines are similar to Burgundy. Burgundy is Burgundy, Dão is Dão, and it’s okay. I actually would prefer if people didn’t use the adjective Burgundian when they speak about Oregon/Ontario/California/Portuguese/Wherever Pinot Noir grows; I think it is more fair and even more valuable to try to figure out what different terroir can offer rather than assign or dock “points” for being More Burgundian, whatever that means.

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No one on this forum is more flattering towards Portuguese wines than you are, Eric, and I can’t tell how dearly I appreciate that, but I don’t think Touriga Nacional from Dão is the cousin of Pinot Noir from Burgundy anymore than Nebbiolo might be, even though they’re all reds from cooler regions, so I’ll have to agree with Sean. Certainly not Bairrada, a relatively maritime region whose producers see themselves as Portugal’s Bordelais - the Caves São João’s Cabernets being evidence of that. That being said, there are excellent Portuguese wines I would classify as Burgundian in their conception, namely Niepoort’s Charme, or Rita Marques’ Conceito wines. I would certainly recommend those wines to any burgheads, but the terroirs are different: Douro is mostly schist, Dão is mostly granite. The Dão-Burgundy parallel is probably more logical in the whites: I remember my dad tasting a Puligny wine I bought and saying it reminded him of Encruzado.

44

I will make some fairly specific recommendations to the OP (I am writing only about red wines in this post):

Look for 2009 and/or 2010 wines from the Cote de Beaune. There are hundreds available. Appellations I would look for would be:
Pernand
Savigny-les-Beaune (generally agreed best value)
Beaune
Pommard (generally agreed worst value)
Volnay
Chassagne-Montrachet
Monthelie (under the radar and usually friendly)
Auxey-Duresses (under the radar and sometimes surly)
Santenay (another runner in the value sweepstakes)

For ~$100 you can find a wide range of Premier Crus. You can find some Savignys for ~$50, from maybe half a dozen producers.

You have a budget. This ain’t rocket science. Look for what’s available in your budget and give 'em a try.

Dan Kravitz

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-duplicate-

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Of those, I think Volnay is leaps and bounds beyond the rest, with Chassagne a relatively close second.

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47

The problem with red Chassagne is finding them. The best ones like Ramonet and Bernard Moreau are fabulous.

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I do so agree. I have a good amount of Moreau, but have trouble finding Ramonet at good prices. The Moreau Cardeuse is particularly good.

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If you mean Ramonet’s Clos de la Boudriotte as one of your examples, I believe it is not difficult at all to find here in Europe in the last half dozen vintages. There’s even a 2001 for sale right here in Portugal. It’s one of those supposedly terrific QPR reds I’ve read a bunch of times around here, but then CT wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic and I ended up not committing to it. Maybe I should reconsider.

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I read the title of this thread and the thought that popped into my head was “it’s never too late for love!”

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I read it and thought, “hell, I’d love to be 50.”

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Maureen and Alan - y’all crack me up!

Thanks all for the great suggestions.

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Agreed on Howard’s posts (and Jeremy’s!) They’ve spent a lot of my money as I hesitantly venture more into Burgundy. Biggest factors are producer and vintage, I’ve found, and you can make a very difficult job much easier by remembering to concentrate just on those two things.

I’m like the OP in wondering if I’ll ever get to enjoy Burgundy when it is in its prime, and I’m (for some reason) deathly afraid of drinking what I have ‘too young’. Not just when it is shut down, but just too early.

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Don’t worry about the top names, and seek out emerging producers.

An example of that for me has been Genot-Boulanger - where a new generation has reinvented the domaine. Researching for a Burgundy trip led me their website, piquing my interest. I visited and loved the wines - and found a beautiful overriding style that showed from village and lesser premier crus up to the top of the bottlings I tasted.

It can be like discovering a new band before they get famous!

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Far too late Scott. Move along.

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I’m lucky enough to have consumed a fair bit of Burgundy, and many of my oustanding experiences were not that expensive.
At a vertical tasting of Richebourg, a Volnay from Pousse d’Or was my WOTN, even though it was an “appetizer”.

If I was dabbling a bit more, and looking for an “a-ha moment” on a budget, I would look at Volnay, NSG, and to backfill with some Village wines from the Chambolle or Gevrey. Especially very good vintages where the quality rolls down the ranks.

Voillot makes good Volnay that can be opened a bit earlier, as does Lafon. I like d’Angerville quite a bit but it takes time.

Chevillon 1er Cru NSG are lovely and older vintages usually can be found at Vinopolis reasonably.

There’s a ton of options, and you just can’t force the a-ha moment, but it’s out there somewhere. Meanwhile, it’s so much fun to explore all the different personalities of Burgundy.

But save a bit of budget for lighter bodied Oregon wines!
[wink.gif]

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How can you know when it’s “in it’s prime” for your palate, if you don’t check in on them?

I’ve definitely opened some red Burgs that were like drinking bricks but I feel like that still helped me gauge when they would be ready.

58

Thanks Todd and Scott for the kind words. Todd, I am curious, what producers have I recommended that you have liked?

Drinking wines too young or too old is a risk with all kinds of wines, including a lot of California Cabernet, Bordeaux, etc. This is wine, not something serious. We are all going to drink a lot of wine at all kinds of different stages - just enjoy it. I recommended Hudelot-Noellat to Scott because I think of their wines as being enjoyable at a range of different ages.

If you want another recommendation for wines that are incredibly sexy but within Scott’s price range, it has to be reds from Ramonet. But, they are very hard to find in the US. Drink one of these and you won’t care what age it is. I wonder if I will ever have enough patience to allow any of these wines to get to maturity.

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Couldn’t agree more, Marcus. This is the biggest reason for buying more than 1 or 2 of something - there’s so much more freedom and less pressure, and you learn so much more not only about the wine, but about your own tastes. I’ve found there are some wines I just prefer on the young side, when their youthful fruit is in abundance. If I’d gone by popular wisdom on the board, I’d have missed that stage entirely, believing they weren’t ready.

Sure, there have been a few that have been totally without pleasure, and those have gone into cooking wine. But not very many. Most have something to offer and much to teach.

60

Very well said and I completely agree, Sarah. It’s for this reason that I purchase at least 4 bottles of every wine I buy.

I like to try one when they are young, check in when I think they are mid-aged, and calibrate to have the remaining 2+ bottles when I think they will provide the most pleasure.

It’s the learning by following a wine’s development through its life that provides much of the pleasure of this hobby to me.