I have been drinking red Bordeaux and Italian wines for years. Recently at friend’s dinner I tasted Burgundy and was blown away. I know that to get the same quality of Burgundy you have to pay 2-3 times more than for BDX or Tuscans. Nevertheless any recommendations for village quality Burgundies for $50-$60? Do they exist?
many, many threads on this if you use the search button. Enjoy the journey. But tell your kid he’s going to a community college, not that 4 year private college . . .
Actually it’s the other way around. My son told me yesterday that he goes to community college and saves me 300K that was earmarked for IV League. That’s the reason I decided to explore Burgundy region. ![]()
Thanks. I did find few threads of what I was looking for. But if anyone wants to still comment it will be appreciated.
Hi VadimG,
You don’t have to pay 2-3 times for the same quality, it is just different. You are dealing with wines where sometimes less is more, and that is really hard for some people to get their head around. it is a region where much pleasure is to be had, but it is a region that you won’t get overnight. There will be plenty of people that jump in this thread and say words to the effect that you will have a lot of disappointments along the way, if you choose to dive in. That is complete BS, if you attack the region with the proper mindset.
kind regards
Jeremy
Burgundy is an enigma wrapped inside a mystery. Apologies to Winston Churchill.
You are going to enjoy the journey. As an entry, I have a bottle that I always feel sums up the best of Burgundy. It isn’t expensive so it should be close to your price point.
Try to get the 2019 version. Any of them will work however.
Domaine Matrot Blagny La Piece Sous le Bois This is a red wine from Blagny.
Even if this doesn’t scratch your particular itch it will show you what Burgundy can do at a reasonable price.
Beautiful fruit. Gorgeous structure and precise flavors.
Village wines at $50 to $60 will be a frustrating and fruitless search IMHO.
Audoin Marsannays
Collotte Marsannays
Pavelot Savigny 1ers
Benjamin Leroux
2019s are awesome now.
There are many, but having more information would save you from recommendations that do not fit your palate because Burgundy is so different depending on village, vintage, & producer. So if you share the wine that you were blown away by (producer, vintage, village, & vineyard (if applicable) would ensure that you get more accurate suggestions.
I say this because Dujac is stylistically so far from Jouan who is also stylistically so different from Fourrier that producer will matter to ensure that you get a similar profile to the wine you liked. In the same way that wines from the village of Chambolle-Musigny does not taste like wines from the village of Pommard.
I’m happy to make suggestions, but to ensure that a suggestion serves you in the way you seem to want, more information is needed.
I tend to favor Pinot with generous but not over-the-top fruit. Balanced pleasure in the glass is the goal; wines of the heart more than wines of the head…
Ymmv, but here are some winners in my book:
Fixins from Berthaut-Gerbet and also Gelin
I’ll second Audoin’s Marsannays- His 21’ Favieres recently knocked my socks off, a smile in every glass.
Lafouge Auxey-Duresses
Above your stated price range, but…
Sigaut’s Chambolles offer gateway Burgundy easy pleasure.
Jadot’s Beaune Ursules is findable, delicious and ages well.
nobody has yet mentioned Guillemot but getting more pricy.
Burgundy is an enigma wrapped in Benjamins buried in the vault of a casino.
everyone has their advice…my 2 cents:
get jasper morris’ book ‘inside burgundy’…$75 and a resource i keep coming back to. he breaks burgundy tastes down into the ‘big, bold pinot style’ and the ‘subtle, pretty, nuanced style.’ i used to prefer the former but gradually prefer the latter.
taste every village to get a sense of place. i prefer my village wines with ~8-10 years of age, my 1er wines with ~12-15 years of age and grand cru wines with 15+ years of age.
as for best bang for your buck? lafarge volnay can be found in the $70-80 price point in most places…a benchmark for the village. pataille has village wines in the $50-75 area that are some of marsannay’s best. barthod’s les bon batons is nearly chambolle village for $50-65. i think lafouge’s auxey-duresses’ wines are excellent for the price and right up my alley.
I saw a car the other day with a UC Santa Barbara license plate frame, it said UC Santa Barbara, IV League. I thought that was clever.
[IV in that context is Isla Vista, the unincorporated town that surrounds UC Santa Barbara and in which most of the off-campus student housing and bars and stuff are located.]
We talk about this a lot. Value is the combination of what something costs and how much you enjoy it. So other people’s notion of the better or worse value in producers, varieties, regions, categories etc. is at least 50% just how much they enjoy those wines.
If you’re paying $18 for a bottle but don’t like it at all, it’s poor value. If the wines that most stir your soul are $150, they might be good value for you.
So make your own judgment as you explore. If you are finding wines that you really enjoy at prices that make sense for you, then it’s good value for you. If you’re finding that you only really enjoy bottles that cost amounts more than make sense for you, or if you’re finding that only 1 out of 4 bottles you’re trying in your price range are ones you actually like, then maybe it’s not good value for you. But it’s your personal judgment of the value, not really what other people think.
Thanks all. It’s really useful and will help me to get started.
Few points:
@ alan_weinberg I have bookmarked other threads on the subject
@ Kirk.Grant I tried to find out what that wine was but unsuccessful. It was brought by someone else to my friend’s party and bottle was thrown away. I could launch investigation but I don’t think at this point it matters much. I just want to start exploring region and willing to try different appellations. As to give you an idea what I currently drink/like - Right bank Bordeaux, Chianti Classico, Nebiolo. What I don’t like - big oaky wines like Primitivo, Amarone, many Cali Cabs. Not sure if this information would help as Burgundy is so much different.
@ Jeremy_Holmes Point taken. Though it will be hard but I am open to drink less ![]()
@ jprusack Will definitely get the book
@ Everyone Thanks for suggestions. I have already located some of mentioned wines on winesearcher and will get few bottles, but would really like to explore in some structured manner so will probably get familiar with growing areas and their characteristics first.
The reason no-one has mentioned Guillemot is because the wines are definitly not worth seeking out and definitely not worth drinking. Nothing to see in the Guillemot department. Definitely.
Borders rather than surrounds, and for technical purposes IV is part of Goleta.
Go Gauchos!
I’m going to list $hit in a random fashion/order just cause…
Fixin
Irancy
Joblot
Lumpp
Glantenay Volnay
Alain Gras Saint-Romain Rouge
Lorenzon
Chandon de Briailles Savigny
Dureuil-Janthial Rully Rouge
Faiveley Myglands
Faiveley La Framboisière
Lamy-Pillot Chassagne Rouge
Mallard Ladoix
Pavelot Savigny
Rapet Beaune 1er
De Vilaine Digoine (needs time)
Vougeraie Pierres Blanches
Some of this stuff i haven’t had in recent years so buyer beware ![]()
this. If you like Burgundy Pinot, you like Burgundy Pinot and you’ll find joy in a lot of affordable bottles. I had very enjoyable Vignerons de Buxy Givry Premier Cru Clos Jus for 20$
(vintage dependant).
We’ve found the Otto Forsberg of UCSB.
I will take it as a compliment! Having lived there for a while I couldn’t help, sorry.
Back to the topic: Fixin
Lots of excellent affordable wine there: Bart, Gelin, Joliet, Berthaut-Gerbet …