In Focus: Burgundy

Burgundy. Just the name causes wine lovers to melt with joy or mutter under their breath. Sometimes both. It is arguably the greatest wine region in the world. It can also be the most maddening. How can a place that produces such incredible wines of power, finesse, balance and class also be responsible for kicking out volumes of overpriced and hard to love swill? What is it about this special place that marks the difference between wine heaven and hell?

I'm glad that I asked. The first thing to remember about Burgundy, or Bourgogne en Francais, is that any lover of Burgundy will soon have more stuff to remember. Of all the great regions Burgundy can be the hardest to read, the hardest to judge, the hardest to get a feel for. This is due to her fragmentation. She has been broken time and again into smaller and smaller pieces until today it is common for numerous growers to have holdings in a single vineyard (The walled Grand Cru of Clos de Vougeot has 80 growers for its 125 acres). How can so many producers in such a small area produce any kind of consistency?

The truth, relatively speaking, is that they can't. Burgundy can be a beauty on one side of the ridge, and a beast on the other. She can vary wildly from vintage to vintage. But nothing makes more of a difference than the producer. Because so many farmers grow so few grapes most wine is purchased by large firms known as négociants, who then blend the wine before it is released into the market. This brings some semblance of order to the region. The best firms are picky about the quality of the grapes and have been making wine in Burgundy for hundreds of years. The worst live on the name Burgundy and sell overpriced wines in markets where most people won't be able to recognize the difference.

But that's why we are here, to know the difference. First the basics. For our purposes today all white wine in Burgundy is made from Chardonnay, and all red wines are from Pinot Noir, except in Beaujolais, where red wines are made from the red Gamay grape. There are exceptions, but this rule applies to all of the higher quality wines. Next, let's learn how to read the label:



In the image above you may notice a couple of interesting things. First, the name of the producer is tucked away towards the bottom of the label. This is because you are not buying a producer, you are buying wine from a particular area. In Burgundy it is all about three words: Location, location, location. As I mentioned earlier what can be great on the top of the hill may not be so great on the other side. If it is all Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, it must be the terroir, or sense of place that is important. This works on the surface, as here we are buying a bottle of Savigny-les-Beaune, but if you have several producers of Savigny-les-Beaune to choose from then the producer comes into play. Confused yet? Read on, I'll try harder.

The second thing that may have struck you is "Appellation Savigny-les-Beaune Contrôlée." The Appellation Contrôlée system is a governing body and a set of laws regarding the production of French wine. The A.C. system regualtes quality and insures that the bottle of wine that you are about to purchase is from where it says it is. Appellations are small areas of wine production. The more specific the location of the A.C. the higher the quality of the wine. Thus our wine from Savigny-les-Beaune (which is an area inside Burgundy) is from a smaller and better area than wine simply labelled "A.C. Bourgogne." There are four levels of classification for Burgundy:

• Grand Cru vineyards - The best, smallest and most expensive of Burgundy. These are also wines with great longevity and have the best chance at improving for years or even decades in bottle.
• Premier Cru or 1er cru vineyards- A small step down from the Grand Crus, but also (generally) lower in price and more widely available.
• Village wines - Wines sold with just the name of their commune.
• Generic - The lowest quality, highest quantity, and sold simply as A.C. Bourgogne.

There is a direct supply and demand relationship between the rare Grand Crus and the easily-found A.C. Bourgogne. Grand Cru wines will state Grand Cru on the label and will be listed just by the name of the vineyard (ex. Le Musigny in the commune of Chambolle-Musigny). 1er cru wines will state either 1er cru or Premier cru on the lable along with the name of their commune and the name of the 1er cru vineyard. Whew! That's a lot of stuff. Now, on to the regions.


Chablis

Located almost 100 miles to the north of Beaune, Chablis shares both the Chardonnay and the limestone marl of the Kimmeridgian with the rest of Burgundy. Hence Chablis will always be Burgundy. But she is back with a vengeance, producing very large amounts of high-quality Chardonnay. The wines tend to have common threads of minerals, chalk and citrus fruits. The Grand Crus need extensive bottle age before they reach maturity, so head to the 1er crus for a nice Chablis that can be enjoyed in this decade.

The best vintages of Chablis are: 2002, 2000, 1997, 1996, 1995 and 1990. Some great Chablis producers are: Jean Dauvissat, Domaine Laroche and Louis Jadot.


Côte Chalonnaise

The Chalonnaise has long been known as the bumpkin of Burgundy. Located just to the south of Beaune the wines here lack the finesse and depth of the Côte d'Or, but there are fine examples to be had. The advantage of being a less well-known area is that the wines don't require prices that are out of this world. Vintners and négociants also have a little bit more freedom in their wine making. Some of the best in the Côte d'Or got their start in the smaller communes of the Chalonnaise. Head for Rully for pleasant, if simple, whites and towards Mercurey and Givry for Pinot Noir.

Wines from the Chalonnaise are best consumed within 5 years of release. The better vintages usually coincide with those of the Côte d'Or.


Mâconnais

An area of very good white wine the Mâconnais is a somewhat large area around the city of Mâcon. The communes of St-Véran and the collective Pouillys (Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Vinzelles, and Poully-Loché) are known for producing wonderful Chardonnays at half the prices of the areas in the Côte de Beaune. But the best deals to be had are the wines of the Mâcon-Villages, labeled simply as that or as Mâcon plus the name of one of 43 villages around the area. It is still Chardonnay, grown just outside of the more famous areas, but at a price that everyone can live with. Stick to the top producers such as Verget and Louis Latour.

Beaujolais

Located at the extreme southern end of Burgundy Beaujolais can be thought of as the Côte de Nuits' irreverent younger brother. The wines here are playful, joyous and feisty, just like the celebration that occurs every year to mark the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau. The Gamay grape is king here. The wines have red fruits similar to Pinot Noir but with a very light touch. So light in fact that Carbonic Maceration is common. This process involves fermenting whole cluster of grapes under pressure to extract extra color and flavor, but not the tannins that come during normal fermentation. The result is a wine that is fresh and fruity and best consumed as quickly as possible. The exceptions to this are the Crus of Beaujolais. Ten villages are permitted to put their name on the label with Beaujolais. Cru Beaujolais is of a higher quality and is produced with more care. Subsequently it will retain its character for years as opposed to the months of the Beaujolais Nouveau. Morgon, Moulin-á-Vent and Fleurie are three crus to look for.

2003 was an exceptional year for Beaujolais. Stick with the cru wines. Never drink a Nouveau Beaujolais that is more than a year old.

As your eyes start to glaze over from this deluge of information, try to bear in mind that we are condensing 10 centuries of wine making into a few thousand words. The wines that Burgundy produces can be lovely but confusing, there are entire volumes of books written on the subject. With this in mind we have broken this article into two pieces. You have just read about the lighter-styled and less famous areas of the region. In the final part of our look into the beauty of Burgundy we tackle the Côte d'Or, home to the best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in the world.

Below is a selection of wines reviewed by the Winegeeks.com tasting panel, one for each of the regions we just discussed.

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