Burgundy - April 2012 Tasting Notes

Burgundy

Burgundy, the name can strike fear in many a novice wine drinker.  The French are so good at taking something simple, like a wine label, and making damn near impossible to acquire any information about the contents of the bottle.

Burgundy comes in 2 colors - white and red.  If it is white, it is from chardonnay grapes.  If it is red, it is from  pinot noir grapes.  See, that was easy, wasn't it?  But what about that bottle that say "Chablis" on it?  Well, that is chardonnay too.  There is no such grape as chablis and, as all French wine are, it is labeled with the town/village/region it is from.  That means that Chablis comes from the village of Chablis which is in the Burgundy region and they only grow chardonnay grapes there.  Got it?  No?  Don't worry, I am typing this and I don't get it either.  Let's just chalk it up to the French being french and let it go.  There are different levels of the wine and as the level goes up, so does the price (Cote d'Or is the creme de la creme of all of Burgundy and you pay for it).  Find one you like and stick with it.


This lovely red Burgundy is a traditional Pinot Noir (see the label?  It says Pinot Noir and Bourgogne which is just french for Burgundy).  This was $9.99 @ Wegman's

This lovely little bottle is 100% chardonnay, but the French don't even call it white burgundy (which it is).  This is Pouilly-Fuisse which I think translates roughly as "partly fussy," but I could be wrong cause I studied spanish in school.  This set us back $17.99 @ Wegman's

Again, no where does it say "burgundy" but it is.  Louis Latour is one of the top producers of burgundy.  This one was $12.99 @ Wegman's

Remember when I said that there are levels in burgundy wine?  Well, for the most part, there are 3 to know. They are, in ascending order, Village wine, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru.  Village burgundy is made solely from grapes grown in and around the village on the bottle (like Beaune).  Village wine will always have the village name on the bottle.  Premier Cru (first growth) is a designation given to a vineyard.  Premier Cru vineyards are always noted on the label (like below).  Grand Cru (great growth) is the highest designation any vineyard in Burgundy can receive.  There are only 33 Grand Cru vineyards in all of Burgundy.  You can pretty much tell if it is a Grand Cru by price as these are the absolute, most expensive burgundies (and they only have their names on the label).

This Premier Cru from the village of Beaune (bone) cost $29.99 @ Wegman's.  We drank the whole bottle.

This one is easy.  You try it.

Did you get that it is a chardonnay and it is from Burgundy?  Good.

This one is $14.99 @ Wegman's

We were still thirsty, so we opened up this little gem just to see if it really smelled like "freshly baked chocolate chip cookies" as the label claims.  It didn't but some of us still drank it.

Do you see the interloper in the picture?  We all fell in love with Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir a few tastings back and at about $10 a bottle, why not always keep some on hand?  We didn't get around to finishing it, as evidenced by the stopper in the top!