One for Beaune, here we go. Thank you.
if I’m buying, Beaune all the way. if I won the lottery… then it’d be a harder call cuz I’d pay my student loans and then I’d probably still be left with Beaune.
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The best wines in Burgundy (with the exception of Volnay) come from the Côte de Nuits.
However, the best values in Burgundy come from the Côte de Beaune (or if you want to pay less from Chablis and the Côte Chalonnaise. Everyone ignores this last region but read posts on this board from William Kelley that exciting things are happening there. Since you are new to Burgundy and thus have to pay high prices for what you are buying, don’t ignore Chablis or the Côte Chalonnaise.
As I said, I love Volnay and I am really getting into reds from Chassagne Montrachet as great Burgundy, but if I have to choose Beaune or Nuits, only, I am going with Nuits. I am 65 and have a cellar full of Burgundy so, all I have to do in your hypothetical is keep the ones from the region I pick and drink those. Thus, within the confines of what I have, price really isn’t a consideration. My favorite wine village in Burgundy (heck in the world) is Morey St. Denis. Then, I also love wines from Vosne Romanee, Chambolle Musigny and Gevrey Chambertin. I would hate to lose Volnay, but there are so many good wines from the Côte de Nuits, including all my Truchots, which I could never give up.
Hey Mister, I’ve got a Beaune to pick with you…
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Thanks Howard, interesting.
What do you like about Morey? How would you describe the Wines? I have never tried them. I Will add that to my list.
I recently bought some red Chassagne, some Pommard, Volnay, Pernand, some Mersault and Aloxe-Corton.
I am looking for value, but want to explore the region at large. I have by No means ruled out the Chalonnaise, just merely trying to start with the basics.
I love White Burg… but there are so many lovely white wines… Champagne, Riesling… and Chablis to replace Beaune whites… not as good less pricey…
I love red Burgundy and mostly Cote de Nuits… and there is no real alternative. Done with Southern Rhone, still a bit of Northern Rhone, a bit of Bordeaux, Italian… reds but always come back to Cote de Nuits despite the entry ticket
Moreover, my lust for red Burgundy has allowed me to age my other wines who are all the better for it.
(he likes Morey 'cause he likes (and has in the cellar) Truchot…)
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I Nuits you would say that…
To be honest, I think you are going about this backwards. By trying Burgundy by appellation, you are going to find a huge amount of dogs and are going to find Burgundy confusing and inconsistent. IMHO, the best way to learn about Burgundy is to try producers and find the producers who sing to you. For example, I very much like the wines of Hudelot-Noellat. I like them when they come from Vosne Romanee, I like them when they come from Chambolle Musigny, I like them when they come from Vougeot. FOCUS ON PRODUCER, NOT APPELLATION.
One reason I love the wines of MSD is because of the bevy of wonderful producers there - I love the wines of Jacky Truchot (wines from MSD and GC), but he retired after the 2005 vintage in general and the wines now are pretty much impossible to find. But, there also are other wonderful producers like Domaine des Lambrays, Dujac, Cecile Tremblay, Hubert Lignier, etc., etc., etc. Lots of wonderful producers there. And, I like the flavors of the wines they make - for me, they are very pure Burgundy flavors without some of the add ons from other villages.
But, forget MSD. You say you want to start with the basics. Well, the basics are producer, not appellation, just like in every other wine region in the world.
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Nuits !
- I have still lots of great Riesling in Germany
- no match for Chambertin, Vosne etc. in the CdBeaune
Easily nuits.
You’d probably benefit from going to la paulee.
great advice.
Disagree. Every single one of those producers will tell you they are trying to make wines reflecting their terroirs, not themselves. Some do it better than others, obviously. But if your goal is to understand Burgundy, understanding Vosne-Romanee is a deeper sort of knowledge than understanding Hudelot Noellat, even if Hudelot Noellat makes wonderful Vosne-Romanees. Anyway, it’s not an either-or for someone starting out. The best approach is just to try a lot of different things without going broke, which is really more a matter of keeping your antennae up for good deals whatever they may be than it is making a conscious effort to shop an appellation or a producer.
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i like Howard’s advice because at first sticking with the same person translating the terroir and being able to compare it more or less on a 1-1 basis with their work from other regions helps to understand the differences especially when youre new to Burgundy. its like taking the 10000 foot view first. but i agree with you as well because once you have a face level understanding, digging deeper into the region to compare producers and wines within that village fill out the understanding drastically moreso. But you have to have the basic framework from the comparison to other villages first or else you end up sitting there with a powerful Vosne and a elegant Vosne and not knowing which one really represents the appellation
I agree. I have no idea how to learn about terroir from mediocre producers so I have no idea how to learn about terroir before one learns about which producers to try in a given terroir.
By the same token you could just as easily have said you have no idea how to learn about producers by drinking mediocre terroirs so you have no idea how to learn about producers before one learns about which terroirs to try from a given producer.
I would probably go a different direction with this statement and say mores that I think terroir is meaningless if you only compare it to itself. a wine having Vosne character means nothing if you ONLY drink wine from Vosne. it only matters if you are comparing a wine from Vosne to a wine from Morey or a wine from Volnay.
to reframe it a little bit, if a newbie wanted to know how Napa chardonnay is different from other Chardonnay, no one would tell them to just drink a bunch of Napa Chardonnay and they’ll understand. we would tell them to drink a Napa Chard beside a white burgundy, or a chablis, or an Oregon chard.
****I’m interested to see what preferences members have here. Would you choose one over the other because you have a favourite village, or producer,
or style, because of drinking primarily reds/whites? etc etc. *****
How about let us just talk about primarily reds ? There is not much whites in Nuits.
******Yes. If you had to choose between drinking only wines from Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuits for the rest of your life -
What would your choice be - and why? ****
Life is long and why only ( repeat : why only ) for the rest of one’s life ?
Over a life time, wine-lovers often change the taste. Why limit yourself to only Beaune or only Nuits.
Here are what Jasper Morris said ( in Page 15 of Inside Burgundy under the title : Understanding burgundy ): Among the most beautiful thing in my life have been some wonderful bottles of burgundy. Not necessary g-crus, not always great vintages - but wines which, from the first sniff, have demonstrated the vigneron has done his best possible job with the grapes available from that vineyard, from that particular year.
Let go to the basic of the enjoyments of drinking red burgundy :
Producers whose style you prefer;
Producers who craft wine from your prefer favorite village ( or prefer AC); and
Producers who styles go well with the general characters of your prefer vintage years.
Please also remember what Meadows said :
Your prefer vignerons most likely know what they are doing and most likely you need to pay accordingly.
Just look at the new trend : L-Belair is releasing some of his 2019 red through Auction house.
Back to the OP, I couldn’t give up white burgundy and generally prefer red over black fruit anyway so I’ll buck the trend and pick beaune.
But you would probably take Nuits plus PYCM whites… or even Nuits and Chablis…