I got the last three bottles of Le Montrachet to clean out a bin from Art of Wine in Pleasantville in 1978. $6 a bottle. I think it was the Louis Latour from what I remember of the label. Those days are looooooooooooooooooooong gone.
My entry level WB has shifted to Saint-Aubin from PYCM. 2016s were just released and if you were quick you could find them at $42 to $50 at retail.
Just picked this up for $60.95 and am enjoying it quite a bit. It’s not PYCM, but a nice entry level Mersault.
Ditto Macon above the basic tier.
Anyone know of the whereabouts of the OP?
and now there is barely any under $100 on w-s pro…
We periodically wonder why Burgundy producers haven’t solved premox or, in many cases, appear even to have acknowledged and cared about it at all.
As I’ve seen the prices of White Burg climb steadily upward during the premox era, I can sort of understand why. We consumers have a problem, but I’m not sure most Burg producers have one. Demand is strong and growing.
I’m amazed anyone buys white Burgs at all… Think I bought four bottles this year.
What’s the alternative? I’m asking out of ignorance, white Burg has been out of my price range.
No true alternative – that’s why idiots like me keep buying it by the case!
Or thunderbucket?
If you really want a Chardonnay, I’ve never had a pre-moxed Champagne, Oregon, nor German. I like Cameron, Vincent, and Walter Scott for Oregon.
I like Oregon Chardonnay fine, and drink a decent amount of German riesling. That said, when I want white burgundy, I find nothing else can really scratch that itch.
I love Walter Scott! Sadly even that’s out of my price range on a regular basis. May have to stick with Mosel, Vouvray, Sancerre, and Savennieres - I seem to find pretty good quality on those in the 20-40 price range.
Rhys Alpine and Horseshoe chards often scratch my white Burgundy itch for about $70. Not quite the same but close enough.
2018 Walter Scott La Combe Verte is well below $40 and a really lovely wine.
Meursault’s not improving from a price perspective. in the high yielding 2018 vintage, the bulk price largely remained stable vs 2017 at about 4,500 euros the barrel. In 2019 the first sales were all betweem 5-6,000 and some of the later transactions were over 7,000! I expect that the average was well over 6k…
That is a ridiculous price for entry level anything except perhaps entry level DRC. I used to buy a lot of Puligny Montrachet, but these days it is ridiculous and I gave up buying it.
For me there are still a lot of good white burgundy options at bargain prices. Lafon’s Macons, Leflaive Setilles, and of course any number of Chablis. Plenty of good BB sub $30 as well. More rarely I’ll spend up to something like St. Aubin from a good producer. The bigger problem these days is that I have no interest in the riper vintages. I guess that’s a good thing as I’m less tempted in those years.
A guy I once worked with went to work for a Napa Valley winery in the mid 70s. On his first trip to Burgundy he walked around Meursault and realized how small the area was, so he told his boss to plant as much chardonnay as he could…it worked out well.
Having sold Burgundy in the 70s for very little, I find it hard to judge prices period. But is Meursault from Drouhin or Bouchard PF at $55 that expensive when you consider that Chorey les Beaune Rouge is being offered at $50??
Another friend of mine used to say that if every day another millionaire (back when millionaires were millionaires) got interested in wine, then the price of all the wines you had ever heard of would get really expensive. He was talking about the Cote d Or, Pauillac, St Julien, Margaux etc.
Those of us looking for terrific wines at lower prices have to look elsewhere.