Idk about mark but the Chambertin is the only wine I buy from trapet.
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I’ve never found young fruit in itself to be that compelling. With better Grand crus, I can certainly see that the wines will age into something special, but that’s a far cry from an aged Burgundy where the fruit is an integral part of a much more interesting and greater experience.
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You probably shouldn’t be opening young grand crus then.
Same here. I really like the 15 and 16 Trapet Chambertins. I don’t buy much of the other offerings.
Having seen Mark’s Trapets, I recall he’s mostly a Chambertin guy, BTW.
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I think 19-22 are better, but they’ve ticked up in price a bit.
If I am dissecting my Burgndy purchases and what I drink it would be as follows:-
- I don’t drink young wines for pleasure. I do taste them to make buying decisions.
- I love Chambertin, enjoy the other Gevrey Grand Crus, and buy them because they tend to be good values. Ditto Clos Saint Denis and Volnay. But I stopped buying recently, because I won’t live to see current vintages at maturity.
- I did taste the 2019 Trapets , but not the others. I did prefer the ‘16, but would be really happy with the 2019s. I thought the Chapelle ‘19 was particularly well made.
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I really started buying wines in about 1981 or 1982. My father owned a wine store and sold it and retired in later 1981 when it was clear that neither my sister’s husband nor I were going in the business. [By that time, I was in DC as an attorney and was going down a different path professionally.] Until that time, while I had bought some wine, I mostly just got wine from my father. Thus, when I first started buying wines, I had already developed a palate to some extent from having drunk very good wines for a number of years that dad had brought home and later gave me to bring to DC.
I first bought more Bordeaux than anything else, starting with 1979 Bordeaux (and a few 1975s and 1978s that were still around on store shelves). My plan was to age a lot of these wines. This plan changed somewhat because (1) I needed (wanted???) wines to drink and (2) 1982 Bordeaux. The 1982s were so cheap when first released on futures that I was able to buy a bunch to put away (mostly classified Bordeaux) and some to drink early. I specifically bought things like Gloria, Chasse Spleen, Latour du Pin Figeac and others to drink early. But, I also drank some of my 1979s early. The wines were excellent young, but I later regretted having drunk things like 1979 Pichon Lalande as it really became so good over time. I also wish I had kept some of the less expensive 1982s I bought because they some of them aged really well. But, I needed wines to drink and I had to make decisions. AND, in those days, I was on a then new wife imposed budget like so many younger people are I am sure on this thread. The funny thing about that is my wife (now married 43 years) really loves 82 Bordeaux AND that was our wedding vintage. As a result, while I bought a bunch of classified Bordeaux, I bought no 1982 First Growths.
When I started buying more Burgundy (a couple of years later), I kind of floundered around a bit until I went into a store having a German wine sale where I met David Schildknecht who was the wine buyer for the store (Rex). The world of Burgundy was changing a lot then as more and more producers were bottling their own wines and not selling to negociants. I had grown up drinking from better negociants like Faiveley. But, through David, I was introduced to a lot of small growers that were just being introduced to the US market (or at least to me). David often opened bottles of things for people to try in the store (Saturday afternoons at Rex were magical - both for Burgundy and esp. for German wines at a time when small growers were just being introduced into the US by importers like Terry Theise). Here, what I tried to do is buy less expensive villages level wines or even premier crus for drinking earlier (a great way to learn about a producer) and grand crus for putting away. But, I “cheated” sometimes and drank Grand Crus you just like many of you do now. By this time I had been married for longer (and eventually moved from the government to private practice) and sort of started ignoring my wine budget a lot more.
The fact that my wife really loved the 1982 Bordeaux we were drinking helped a lot in giving me credibility and it also helped that wine prices in those days were incredibly cheap. But, counteracting that was the fact that we bought our first house and had two kids.
I give this history to show that I really went through a lot of the same choices that a lot of the younger readers of this thread are going through now. I have to believe that most of the older people did as well.
My thoughts of what I learned can be summarized as:
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Family before wine. I would have loved to buy a huger supply of first growths and DRC wines when they were incredibly cheap (1982 first growth futures were about $35 as was the price for DRC GE 1980 at around the same time). By the late 1970s (before I finished law school), from my father I had already had a number of first growths and Grand Cru Burgs. So, I knew what they tasted like. But, that was not where I was in life and family before wine.
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Learn what you like before you buy tremendous amounts of wine. My father and David Schildknecht were incredible helps to me in getting started buying wine. Hard for most to “acquire” a father ITB but TRY AS HARD AS YOU CAN TO FIND A GREAT RETAILER. Much more important IMHO when you are starting out than buying wine over the internet at a great price that others tell you is a great wine. Learn your own palate.
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When buying Burgundy (and a lot of other wines) where producers make wines at different price points, use lesser wines, not Grand Crus, to figure out what producers you like best. My first Truchot, for example, was a 1985 CM Sentiers, not a grand cru. Once I tasted that wine and loved it, I started buying more wines from him.
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There is always another great vintage.
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Try to taste widely. In my earlier wine buying years, a friend of mine from back home and I often went to wine stores on Saturday afternoon when they were tasting wine. Now, we have a monthly wine tasting group where a bunch of friends teach me new things every month.
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Have fun and don’t stress out what you do not get to drink.
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Good stuff. Thanks
There is much ego in the wine game. When many really focus on what matters, its community, the hunt, and the buzz. All of that happens at $30 wines too. Finding the great $30 wine you would rather drink than the $300 dud… or the $30 wine that hits the spot nearly as much as the $3000 Ferrari… is a great part of the fun.
I think that’s just humanity in general.
So you have been successful in these endeavors?
I approach things completely differently. I am obviously aware of price, but not in the sense that I’m trying to find cheaper equivalents for higher-priced wines. It’s more about finding wines that meet different needs, younger drinking/aging, casual vs. formal, different profiles, etc.
Yes, I have found satisfying wines & experiences at all price points (and unsatisfying wines and experiences at most price points).
That’s a separate question. You made it sound like you were looking for $30 wines to replace $3000 wines. For me, they are often two completely different experiences. Each in its own place.
I’m in a bit different situation given my extremely low consumption relative to almost everyone else on this forum; QPR isn’t at all relevant to me. I do look for new and exciting producers for tastings/dinners, though.
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Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. 
That is indeed the point I made, that a $30 wine can be as satisfying as a $3000 wine, when the full experience of community, hunting and buzz are considered.
There’s no wrong way to enjoy wine so long as you like it! When I write that “if you enjoy Sonoma Pinot” people think it’s an insult, but it’s not - lots of people love Sonoma Pinot!
Also, if you have 2021 grand crus, no reason not to open a couple. They’re drinking quite well.
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Thanks again for all the input. Just grabbed a a few things from the local shop. They try to find producers that they feel still represent decent value from Burgundy.
Trying to get sense of styles:
Berthaut-Gerbet Fixin - excited to check out this producer
Jouan Chambolle-Musigny
Domaine Gachet-Monot Cote de Nuits Villages
Chevillon Nuits-Saint-George VV
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Hmmmmm…interesting.
I have some spare time so I re-read what Howard Cooper said - in the second to last paragraph - specially the following lines ***** (both Trapet and Rossignol-Trapet make excellent villages level wines, as do many other excellent producers). The best way to learn about wine is to buy a bunch of bottles of the same thing and drink one young and then have another bottle every few years until they are mature. ****
I totally agree with what Brian C r a f s t r o m said that Howard’s post , is extremely well written. No offense is intended anyone including MChang.
From what I could read from his posts here he was doing pair-tasting ( or match-tasting ) of Chambertin from other producers - for example : Rousseau vs Trapet.
For those who are interesting in buying Trapet wines - here is what Jasper Morris wrote on page 260 of his book : 2nd Edition Inside Burgundy -
Trapet style surfaces in their Chambertin, which is supported by a dense mineral core that is a vineyard expressing itself. This combination of purity and grandeur makes for a very complete wine.
However, it would be foolish to look only at the top of the range at his domain. Both the generic Bourgogne and the Bourgogne Passetoutgrains A Minima (this being the curve on which Jean-Louise developed his sulfur-free protocol) are consistently excellent wines, as is the Gevrey Osrea blend,
I love Berthaut Gerbet Fixin and also his generic bougogne too. They are excellent QPR wines and I did not buy enough his Fixin 2019…as I only have 5 left - down from 24.
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*Her. She does make excellent wines though that I always wish I had more of.
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