Thanks! I think I’ve had a pycm and loved it
I am supposed to be picking up a couple this weekend for 79 EUR, how’s the value at that price point?
Great value for flipping.
I find Barthod retains the character of the grander Chambolle wines.
Mugneret-Gibourg too, but they are stupidly pricey.
It strikes me that the point William Kelley is trying to make is much more nuanced than “who makes great Bourgogne?” Even if a producer says they treat all of their wines the same, generally it is not true. Particularly for those who have wines across the appellation hierarchy (even the best names). At the end of the day each of these wineries is a business and at some point resources are limited, so inevitably they need to make practical decisions on how to allocate those resources.
I’ll use Mugneret-Gibourg as an example since their BR was cited several times as a great example of BR. Yes, they make an incredible BR, but if they need to make a choice between their Ruchottes and their BR for hypotheticals such as high density plantings, winter pruning dates, debudding, frost protection, preventative sulfur treatments, picking dates, careful sorting, whether or not to destem by hand, how to allocate their best barrels etc. - they will always prioritize their Ruchottes over their Bourgogne. All of this is further compounded by the vine genetics that are and have been thought through/prioritized for GC sites over Bourgogne sites for hundreds of years. This is not to take anything away from MG’s Bourgogne, but the gap between their Bourgogne and their Ruchottes could theoretically be narrower by some margin if resources were unlimited.
Across Burgundy there is more untapped potential in lower appellations than higher even if the ceiling is lower for lower appellations. This is what make producers like Arnaud Ente so interesting. His domaine is less than 5 ha and he does not have the luxury of owning any GCs. Despite having tiny slices of Les Refert & Goutte d’Or, his best wine to my knowledge is generally considered to be “La Sève du Clos,” a small village Leu dite with 100+ year old vines that have outstanding genetics. If Ente’s domaine was 15 ha and he owned a perfectly situated slice of Chevalier-Montrachet it would probably be one of the best wines in Burgundy, but La Sève du Clos would likely suffer for it, or even worse, get blended with his other village lieu-dits into a single bottling of Village Meursault to conserve resources.
As new generations continue to inherit or acquire random small plots of village & bourgone that represent the apex of their holdings we will hopefully see more wines that blow away expectations set by the appellation hierarchy. Maybe one day we will have the luxury of arguing over which one of 15 different producers makes the best “Haute-Densite” Bourgogne Blanc. Exciting times!
8 Likes
I love the Barthod Les Bons batons BR, but can be a little hard to find.
1 Like
Is this literally pruning dates or referring to more to pruning order and those vineyards that might employ delayed pruning?
1 Like
Mugneret-Gibourg.
Yes. It was just one of many small nuanced hypothetical decisions I could come up with.
Edit: Yes, pruning dates in the sense that you would put thought into when you prune / delaying pruning dates in order to delay budbreak, and you would prioritize doing this in your top sites.
Bizot is another (quite obvious) answer. All of his wines, from Bourgogne to Echezeaux get basically the same treatment…
2 Likes
And so affordable!
2 Likes
That criteria was not part of the OP’s question 
For cheaper things I like Olivier Leflaive’s Les Setilles BB.
Edit: Oh yes, and Henri Germain’s BB Cote D’or is fantastic, I have no clue if he actually puts in ‘as much’ effort but it is a nicer wine than many cheaper Meursaults IMO.
1 Like
I tried an 18 and 19 of it recently and couldn’t finish the bottles. Never had any other Barthod but I have a couple village and 1er cru bottles in the cellar. Wonder if those will fare better for my palate 
What do you mean? $1600 Village wines isn’t what you are looking for?
1 Like
Almost everybody seems to be ignoring the initial question and just mentioning Bourgogne they like / are good.
3 Likes
Joseph Roty
1 Like
I prefer $8,500 village wines.
https://uk.ackerwines.com/product/105373-2009-domaine-leroy-vosne-romanee-les-genaivrieres-750ml/
(I looked this up because someone brought this wine to a get together on Tuesday. It’s a great wine and also must be the answer to the question of what’s the most expensive village wine in Burgundy)
1 Like