Burgundy is known for it’s Pinot Noir grapes and the thousands of small scale growers with their few rows of grapes producing only a small selection of wines in their own tiny wineries. Considered by many to be a tricky grape to grow Pinot Noir is a versatile grape which picks up a lot of the features it brings to it’s wines from the soil and climate it grows in and the way the wine is produced. The Burgundys to the north are light and have a strawberry flavour, and to the south the wine is still light but with earthier flavours.

The best red Burgundys come from the beautiful Cote d’or in the centre of the region which is a narrow band hugging the higher ground around tiny villages. The most delicate reds are centred around Chambolle-Musigny and Volnay and the bigger more tannic wines near Gevrey-Chambertin and Pommard. This region is home to some of the most expensive wines in the world including Domaine Leroy, Henri Jayer and Emmanuel Rouget.

Chablis is the most popular white produced in Burgundy, with it’s own sub region to the north closer to Champagne than the Cote d‘or. The main Chablis grape is Chardonnay. Some of the notable Chablis producers are Laroche, Raveneau and Brocard. Meusault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet are the other great white wine villages in Burgundy.

Nearby Beaujolais uses mostly Gamay rather than Pinot Noir grapes.

To avoid paying too much for wines and being overwhelmed by the selection it’s good advice to pay a tasting merchant who represents several wineries, Le Marche aux Vins is one such merchant based in Beaune.

Written by  Kat Mackintosh.

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Taste the terroir

If I was going to choose to drink wine from only one region for the rest of my life it would be Burgundy. That way I would be allowed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in a variety of styles. And that’s what I’m talking about, variety, the wines here really properly reflect the terroir and the scale goes from fruity to spicy then to tannin rich earthy.

 

Review posted 23rd September 2007 by hennersclarkeson.

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