Burgundy is dead at retail

[Gary_York]

Gary, what is easy to sell? (Real question). My guess would be varietal labeled wines, with lots of fruit, soft or no tannin, and a touch of residual sugar, but I am not ITB and that is a total guess.

It can mean many different things to many different people. With Burgundy you have to work twice as hard to sell half as much wine.

[Anton_D]

Burgundy is dead at retail? I didn’t even know it was sick!

Oh, well, if people don’t want to go out to Binny’s to buy Burgundy, nobody’s going to stop them.

[Kirk.Grant]

I know there are a lot of great bottles out there but for retail its dead.

I was in Binnys today and its $55 for a regular appellation Bourgogne from an average house, the entire Burg section was maybe 15 bottles, Bdx was maybe 200+ and Napa was 300+ there are just no burg wines for people to buy.

Even if you want to buy Burg its not there at Binnys, you have to seek it out

Alan,

When I read this post I think of all the Burgundy that’s already sold and not on the shelves…to me, I would read this as Bordeaux & Napa are dead at retail…look, there’s hundreds of them still on the shelf. Seems to me like someone has already come through and cleared out the Burgundy section…

Merry Christmas!

[Rich_Brown]

Alan has a knack for at creating thread titles that will irk people and get responses. Some stores are strong in some areas, and others in different regions. Probably depends on a lot of things like the area demographics, owner’s preferences, etc. There is a store near me where the Burgundy section has been steadily growing for years, and is pretty impressive. I was recently turned on to Monthelie, mentioned by Mark above, there. Lots of affordable and interesting wines are available if you want to look for them.

Alan’s statement is silly, but he knows that.

I can literally spot an Alan thread just by the subject line with nearly 100% accuracy.

[Howard_Cooper]

I bet he can get his Gallo Hearty Burgundy at most stores.

[Richard_Albert]

Again!?!
The continuing tour of the Troll Garden of Eden is kinda “threadbare”.

[Lee_Short]

Much as I enjoy Alan being smacked around, and it should be done regularly and twice on Christmas Day, there is some truth in what he says at least for Burgundy. The Bordeaux and Napa stuff is of course nonsense.

But if you look around, Bourgogne from good producers can be found for less. How about a delicious Fourrier for $45 or a Barthod for around the same. Or a mineral laden Monthelie for less. New store, but one of the specialists was an old friend and I bought a lot of great inexpensive Burgundies for everyday drinking.

Or great Auxey-Duresses from Gilles Lafouge, Rully from Dureuil-Janthial, Mercurey from François Raquillet, Marsannay from Charles Audoin, red Maranges from Bachelet-Monnot, white Pernand from Rapet, Saint-Romain from Alain Gras, etc etc

No need to go that far out, even. For $55, you can find a variety of premier crus from Savigny, Beaune, Pernand (red). Often Pommard. Once in a while Volnay. I think 2014 was the first time I paid over $55 for Ile des Vergelesses in 750, and it was only over $55 if you counted shipping.

But, yeah, there’s value in the wines you list above, for sure. And others from those communes, too. I paid less than $20 for some Bart Marsannay last year that was tasty. Walked in and bought it off the shelf at Vinopolis. I guess they don’t count as retail.

But certainly, even lower appellations from the more reputed producers from the Côte d’Or have gone crazy.

Yep. Doesn’t make any sense to me, but I’m happy to keep buying where the value is, and stay away from wines that have become overpriced. I used to buy a few bottles of Mugneret-Gibourg Bourgogne every year. But I’ll be buying more Rapet, Rollin, Briailles, Guillemot, Bize, Marechal, Ramonet, etc, instead of paying more the M-G regional wine.

I even recently backfilled 01 and 02 Maurice Ecard premiers crus for under $60.

[Kelly_Walker]

For many retailers the more desired Burgs never make the shelves. They are sold to known clients.

[AlexS]

Doesn’t Binnys stock Burgundy next to the MacDonald?

[David_Bu3ker]

Lee,

It’s interesting that you mention the Mugneret Gibourg Bourgogne. While it has gone over $50 for the 2016, I still think it crushes California Pinot Noir at the same price, and beats most producers village Burgs.

Not sure where I’ll top out, but I haven’t yet.

[GregT]

Much as I enjoy Alan being smacked around, and it should be done regularly and twice on Christmas Day

A fine Christmas wish indeed.

[Lee_Short]

Lee,

It’s interesting that you mention the Mugneret Gibourg Bourgogne. While it has gone over $50 for the 2016, I still think it crushes California Pinot Noir at the same price, and beats most producers village Burgs.

Not sure where I’ll top out, but I haven’t yet.

Yeah, it was the last one to go. And honestly, the only Bourgogne that I ever bought regularly in the first place.

As for the comparisons – California pinot and ‘most producers’ (which I’m taking to mean most quality producers?) village burgs aren’t the competition for my $$$. The competition is a very select few producers’ mostly premier cru wines from mostly Savigny and Pernand with a good sprinkling of Chassagne, Pommard, Beaune, and Volnay. And a few Oregon pinots. And a very few California pinot producers who I feel offer value, usually under $30-35.

[Anton_D]

Doesn’t Binnys stock Burgundy next to the MacDonald?

[MChang]

There are some amazing burg deals out there. For example, nywines has 2013 Ramonet Clos St. Jean for $49; I’d be hard pressed to find a better pinot at that price point anywhere.

[David_Bu3ker]

Maltroye makes fantastic Chassagne Montrachet Rouge for around the $40-$55 mark depending on the wine.

[Rich_Brown]

Doesn’t Binnys stock Burgundy next to the MacDonald?

Yeah, that was really well played my man!

[Alan_Eden]

I know im going to get attacked but it does not change the fact that you cant buy Burgundy on the shelves of Chicago’s biggest wine chain.

It has become an elitist product

[MChang]

I know im going to get attacked but it does not change the fact that you cant buy Burgundy on the shelves of Chicago’s biggest wine chain.

It has become an elitist product

It’s the autumnal mead to your bud light.

[C_Wagner]

Bought an 09 Leroy Bourgogne on Saturday for $51.99 at UnCorkIt in Streeterville (Chicago).

Just a smallish corner wine/liquor store.

[jhans]

The fact that some vintners lost 75% of their crop in 2016 could have something to do with it