There’s nothing wrong with drinking wine however one wants, it’s all a personal choice. There’s no alarm that goes off when a young bottle of La Tache is drunk, no wine police are called to the scene.
However, the wines still aren’t made to be drunk young (100% new oak and typically 100% stem inclusion), so those who like drinking them young have a certain palate that leans new world. Nothing wrong with that, but for those of us who don’t, it’s not group think.
A recent taste of 2017 Corton at Paulee made us look at each other and shrug - and then dump (though it was quite a bit better than the 2019). Here I think drinking blind is often a great leveler because it removes label bias, and there’s no greater label bias than DRC (other than perhaps Leroy).
Yes, DRC has made a clear push for its wines to be drunk young. They make a lot of wine!
I will join the chorus of being very curious as to what these are. I don’t need the info publicly, either. Every year I organize a big village vintage Burgundy horizontal that’s done double blind, but has ringers. I’d be delighted to add one of these wines.
Blah blah. The debate this thread has turned into is boring. Can you have something like a sublime experience drinking wine that costs less than $1k a bottle? Yes. Less than $200? Yes. Less than $100. Yes, it’s certainly possible, with a little knowledge, help or luck. If you’re of the grass is greener kind, you might argue that the experience would be sublimer with a grand cru burgundy. Whatevs.
On a somewhat different note, anyone seen The Taste of Things? Recently watched it myself.
I’ve seen the Burgundy light. It’s become too difficult and expensive to keep burning. Partly because bottles consumed over here have never approached the otherworldliness of those consumed in France. At this point I’m happy to have the memories and not dilute them or frustrate myself with attempts to recreate them.
Bordeaux is different but almost or just as pleasurable as the Burgundies I’ve had here. It’s much easier for me to obtain similar levels of satisfaction with Bordeaux.
If your palate is attuned more to Burgundies, you have my understanding as well as my sympathy for the difficulties of your quest.
Also, when I read Burgundy reviews on CellarTracker, I often read reviews from people who think Burgs are over the hill when I have recently had the same wine and think the wines are way too young.
My guess is that this is an issue with many types of wines. But, I esp. think it is an issue with people who are used to drinking plush domestic pinots that are best on the younger side and do not understand Burgundy.
Look Mark, 99% of the world (probably more) has never had a great Burgundy (or any other great wine) and get through life very well. I know that you know enough that your original post only describes a very small minority of Burgundy lovers. I really believed you posted that silly OP expecting (hoping) that someone would respond in kind with a comparable over the top post. For you now to seem offended when I gave you the post you really had to be looking for seems disingenuous and beneath you.
Essentially, David, my quest is basically over. I have enough Burgs to last the rest of my life and then some. None are DRC. Come join us in DC and taste some. It has been years since I have seen you.
I’ve mentioned it several times before but I’ll do it again.
Quinta de Baixo Poerinho. Especially the Garrafeira cuvee. Tomas Costa has also mentioned it.
Dirk Niepoort’s estate. Dirk is a huge Burgundy aficionado and the Portugese importer for DRC.
Lots of write ups, but people still hesitant to even taste it. How many here have tried it?
I have done the “Coche v Coche” blind. While I find the Niepoort Coche pretty good, it’s a far cry from Coche-Dury
I think a few have said it well: it is my experience, just like you can’t replace Bdx with Napa cab, you can’t replace Burg with something else. For me, the gripes mostly miss the point, similar to how some people gripe about the cost of living in Manhattan and why people oddly spend so much of their income to live there. Really it just comes down to preferences and affordability. Those preferences could be due to intrinsic or extrinsic reasons.
Too often, I read people paint with too broad a brush, trying to neatly (derisively?) categorize people by there cellar preferences. I have not found too many people who only, dogmatically like one type of wine. My experience is mostly people like a variety of things and constraints like budget and time often force people to focus a bit more than they otherwise would.
Not to triple down, but yeah, I’ve had it too, and while the Niepoort is a nice wine, I wouldn’t mistake it for village red Burgundy.
I will say a really nice bottle of cru Beaujolais from a good producer aged for around 15 years can get you to village (and premier cru) red Burg territory.