Friday poll: Bordeaux Rouge vs. Burgundy Rouge

WINE TALK
21

15, [berserker.gif]

22

16!

23

Interesting that a geek community should be so at odds with sales figures.

I think the original question is flawed. Why in the world should one deprive oneself of one or the other?

I certainly don’t, and feel that pitting two of France’s greatest winegrowing régions against each other is pointless.

I might point out too, that you’ll find Burgundy adepts denigrating Bordeaux a lot more than the other way around.

Best regards,
Alex R.

24

As much as I love Burgundy I hate the idea to drink nothing else the rest of my life. There are so many other good wines on earth.

25

Such a big difference in votes. I would have thought it would be a closer race.

26

I have tasted many generic Bordeaux, and have yet to taste anything that I would really want to drink regularly, let alone as my only wine for the rest of my life. OTOH there are plenty of very good basic Bourgognes made by excellent producers who pride themselves on the whole range of wine.

So I hate to say it, but this is a really flawed, poorly thought out poll where like is not being compared with like. You can see that in cost; generic Bordeaux is at best an $10 bottle that is also a lousy value. Take Mouton Cadet, an industrial effort and frankly not a good wine, while basic Burgundy can be ten times as much but also capable of being a great experience.

27

Interesting.

I have the exact opposite opinion, and in my experience, have come to the exact opposite conclusion. Granted, I’m not talking “generic” plonk from either category. In the daily drinker category - say $20 to $50 - Bordeaux slays Burgundy. Heck, Beaujolais slays Burgundy.

28

Question isn’t clear as to whether, in each category, it’s a “typical” example readily available, or the best possible artisinal example. I gather we’re looking at around $30 Can ($20 US).
Typical : Bordeaux or Beaujolais
Artisinal: Bourgogne.

It might also depend on what I’m being forced to eat each day. Steak, or roast chicken?

It is so easy to over analyse these polls!

29

I don’t know of any generic Bordeaux in the $20 to $50 range, but I agree once you hit those levels, Bordeaux really is the better buy. But OP was talking generic, and the cost and quality is around $10, and you get what you pay for.

30

Question isn’t clear as to whether, in each category, it’s a “typical” example readily available, or the best possible artisinal example. I gather we’re looking at around $30 Can ($20 US).
Typical : Bordeaux or Beaujolais
Artisinal: Bourgogne.

It might also depend on what I’m being forced to eat each day. Steak, or roast chicken?

It is so easy to over analyse these polls!

31

I did not see him make any references to “generic” in the OP.

I feel this way across the entire price spectrum.

32

I left the poll to each individuals’ interpretation. I wanted an end of weekday fun simple poll to relax our minds and wind down.

But I definitely didnt have “generic” wines in mind when creating this poll.

33

Thanks for the clarification, ¥ 0 ñ 9.

“Bordeaux Rouge” can be interpreted as “AOC Bordeaux”, which is, of course, not the same as “Red Bordeaux”.

34

Robert and Mark are both right to my taste.

Maybe swayed by picking up ‘75 Pape Clement for under $100 all-in on last week’s Winebid auction, less than many new release village Burgundies, I picked Bordeaux for the poll.

The Burgundy value proposition just sucks. I find it much more difficult to hunt bargains in new or mature Burgundy that I really like and want while I continue to find and drink high quality mature Bordeaux at what I consider fair pricing. Beyond the First Growths and the Right Bank equivalents, there are only a few wines/vintages that make me balk.

The caveat is: for the above thinking, my brain is planted in the $50-200 range.

If we limited the poll to Bordeaux and Burgundy in the $20-50 range, I would have a problem with both categories these days but would probably swing the other way. I like the Burgundy I can still find in this range, particularly $30-50, on average more than the Bordeaux. There are still high quality Premier Crus in this range. Even in the US.

35

What a great poll. It’s brought out nit picking pedantics galore! neener blahblah [popcorn.gif]

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[rofl.gif] [rofl.gif]

37

Bordeaux was first love and still enjoy it but now a days I drink 15 bottles of burg to every Bordeaux.

38

It’s funny, I have sometimes read on forums such as this that people “graduate” from Bordeaux to Burgundy. That seems very odd to me in that Burgundy is the far more upfront, easier-to-understand wine (notice I didn’t say “obvious”?). It also shows its colors much earlier. It is thus easier to relate to. Burgundy is seductive, Bordeaux is reserved. You have to think about it to appreciate it. Not just a roll in the hay :wink:.

As for the entry level wines from both regions, I think that Bordeaux has Burgundy beat hands down.
Let me explain.
As for the whites, I think we can all agree that, except for a tiny percentage of white Bordeaux, Burgundy does better.
However, I can find good (not excellent) château-bottled Entre-Deux-Mers at 5 euros a bottle. Entry level Burgundy is about twice that.
As for the reds, the contrast is even more striking.

Once you move up the quality scale this - important - value-for-money consideration takes on less importance.

Once again, I am a fan of both Bordeaux and Burdundy, even if my art lies in the latter region.

Best regards,
Alex R.

39

Alex,
I think it is easier to get into fine Bordeaux for several reasons:

  • Bordeaux: there is the 1855 classification and a chateau equals one owner and produces a very large number of bottles a year.

  • Burgundy is a minefield as you have a combination of terroirs/climats and producers which multiplies the complexity with many producers making wine from a terroir/climats and producers making many wins from various terroirs/climats. To only take a few examples,

  • Ghislaine Barthod makes 9 1er crus (11 from 2017) a village and a regional wine with her husband making many wines from many different terroirs from different villages…

  • Grivot has 3 grands crus, 6 Vosne 1er crus, 3 NSG 1er crus, 5 villages (2 NSG, 2 Vosne and 1 Chambolle) and 2 regional (red and white) not to mention his attempt at negoce…

  • There are about 50 producers of Clos Vougeot, many excellent, many all right and many avoidable…

When a beginner, you have no idea about Producer, Producer, number of wines, number of terroirs/climats… so you can get a lot of disappointments before you understand a few things … so this is certainly not the region to start with…

So, I started with Bordeaux and then developed an interest for Burgundy only once I became a wine geek.

40

Antoine makes good points. In addition for me, I have just moved to “lighter” styles of wine in general over the years. Most of that has to do with a changing diet as we have gotten older. Right or wrong, I associate Bordeaux with beef, lamb or other more robust dishes. Burgundy can play with lighter food or move up to more robust dishes which makes it more versatile. We joke in our house that Bordeaux has turned into somewhat of a special occasion wine because we tend to only open them at home or bring to a restaurant when we know we will be having something like beef or lamb (which is rare these days). Everyone looks at food and wine pairings different but this is what works for us.