Red Burgundy for a California Pinot Lover

The CA pinots you mentioned don’t have much in common with Burgundy. I agree with the recommendation to test out Oregon as a gateway before trying Burgundy and either deciding you don’t like it or spending too much money on ones you’ll regret later. Alternatively, go back to cabernet for a bit and decide if you like Bordeaux, which is both much cheaper and much easier to get a handle on than Burgundy. If you don’t end up preferring Bordeaux to CA cabernets, you won’t end up preferring Burgundy to CA pinots, either.

Given climate change, I suspect Shan’s advice is perfect to set future expectations. Try a good 2002 for age (or 2009 if you can’t find a 2002, but they are still mostly primary), and a 2019 to see what contemporary, good, young burgundy tastes like. In both cases, don’t gamble on a producer you haven’t seen vouched for on Berserkers, you’ll lose.

Howard (and I) might say don’t look to burgundy for California styled Pinot, but I sadly think burgundy is being forced in that direction.

The best solution would be the Time Machine, but rumor has it that was assigned a different mission altogether.

I sort of see the title of this thread like “meat for a vegan.”

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Pousse d’or is a good recommendation, I forgot about them. I find them a bit simple but they are reliably deep, fruity, and well composed

By the way, I never figured this thread would generate 50 responses. I was also surprised to see there really was no previous thread with a similar topic. I figured the most common response would be “Dude, this topic has been covered 100 times. Try using the search.”

Here is a different thread in a similar vein except it is the burgophile looking for Cali Pinot.

I think you may have identified someone who Michael can trade a few bottles with :slight_smile:.

Thanks. I’ll review that thread. And 115 responses, so I guess this one has a ways to go.

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When I decided to buy some Oregon Pinots, I asked the board for recommendations for a wine that a Burgundy drinker would like.

It is how I got to Goodfellow, one of my more rewarding collecting experiences. Marcus makes wines which have a certain Burgundian feel, although blind I have yet to confuse the two. That being said, he does make bloody good wines, Highly recommended.

As for Burgundy, Jouan in 2015 made quite forward wines. The Clos Sorbe is easily within your price range, but the old vine Clos Saint Denis is well worth going slightly above budget.

I think a “mature high quality Burg” is going to be way more than $100 - $250 dollars. Having said that, I do think you can get some really great Burgundy for that price, that have some age, are drinking well now, but not what I would consider “mature”; for me a mature Burgundy is showing secondary and tertiary notes on the nose and the palate, I generally don’t consider Burgundy mature until it’s 25+ years old.

So having said that, I’d suggest that you seek out and watch the weekly auctions on winebid.com, they have some great older bottles, a wide selection of producers, and vintages. Some from the auction ending this week are:

1985 Prince Florent de Merode Corton Maréchaudes $210+ - A great vintage, a great vineyard (now managed by DRC), and a sub-par producer.

1998 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques $130+ - An off vintage, great vineyard, and consistent producer that I consider to be mid-tier in some of their wines, and others are benchmarks.

Alan manged to summarize in 13 words exactly my feelings on this subject.I would not have been able to summize in so few words.

This feels like it has the potential to become a quixotic expensive exercise in futility. Good luck btw

Brodie

Not sure of the price in the States but maybe: Joblot, Lumpp, Pataille or Lorenzon?

Hi Team. My January dry-out ended earlier this week on my birthday and the first thing I wanted to do was get back to a California-Burgundy comparison. So I opened the 2019 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Chambolle-Musigny that @Michael_Chang got me alongside a 2018 Martinelli Zio Tony Pinot. Used the Coravin (speaking of another recent thread) and did this over two nights.

My first reaction is that I need to do this more often. :slight_smile: Instead of drinking a full glass each evening, why not two half glasses? We have the technology.

That said, both were excellent and worthy comparisons. I preferred the Chambolle-Musigny slightly as it seemed to have a little more complexity and a savory component that made it a little more interesting. The Martinelli was a little fruitier but plenty going on there as well. Both have a long way to go. They are in the same ballpark regarding original price and age, so seemed like a fair comparison.

Thanks again to everyone for engaging here. I’ll be reviewing other options and doing this a lot more.

Mike

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Thanks for following up with the comparison.

Since these are key factors for you, I predict that in a few years you’ll have moved mostly or all to Burgundy. Oregon is also worth exploring!

Wouldn’t surprise me. I have a lifelong habit of spending too much money instead of too little, given the chance.

FWIW, my experience with Oregon Pinot has not been as good. I visited Patricia Green and Purple Hands a few years ago and bought a six pack of each and some follow ups (mostly 13s, 14s and 15s) but they seem a little lighter and more acidic than Sonoma/RRV. Open to other suggestions. Always willing to try more.

Agreed, Bouchard Volnay was going to be my recommendation.

Looks like you found some good Burgundy. I second the above if you are still interested and see what you think of an opulent Pousse d’Or.

To really make a comparison, you need to try wines with more age on them. Burgundy needs tine before it really sings.

I think Chris has hit it on the head. The one recent-ish wine I tried that really put me in mind of this (and you’ll see that my own predilection is away from a riper style :slight_smile: ):

2019 Michel Gros Vosne Clos du Reas

I brought this as my Monopole contribution. Fairly pure bing cherry and strawberry bouquet. It’s young but it’s also quite on the rich and modern side, and everyone agreed about that. There was some discussion that, blind in a Cali Pinot tasting, this would be a deadly ringer—which isn’t maybe what you want. This did check in at 14%. Although there is purity, it is very forward and quite showy and I would need to taste from Gros again before I buy, I think. That said, a lot of people got a lot of pleasure out of the wine.