Second Edition of “How To Buy Burgundy” Now on the Web
ByBurgundy, especially red Burgundy, is difficult to understand. I have substantially revised this guide, increasing it to 8000 words, and have tried to answer many of the questions we get.
Click here to read the new guide
The single biggest problem is that of expectation. Many people expect red Burgundy to taste “rich, round and velvety”. Perhaps 5% of Burgundy tastes like this when made from very low yields and late harvested. A few producers make such wines (Denis Mortet, particularly between 1993-2003, Henri Boillot, Alain Burguet, Clos de Tart) but expect to pay £40-£150 a bottle for such wines. Occasionally a very warm vintage produces wines with an extra sweetness, such as 2003 and the lovely 2009. I will list more 2009s in the September List.
Much of this expectation derives from certain wines of the 1950s and 1960s which were doctored by some French exporters and English merchants with wine from the southern Rhône or Algeria. But if you look on the map Burgundy is the most northerly fine red wine region in Europe. It is roughly on the same latitude as the river Loire, yet no one expects Loire cabernet franc to taste like Château Cheval Blanc! This northerly situation means the wines have a marked fresh acidity, which lends it an appetising and refreshing quality. Furthermore, pinot has thin skins, which is where colour and tannin reside in the grape. So pinot is usually a lightish colour, and has a gentle texture, without the tannin one finds in Bordeaux or the sweetness of the southern Rhône.
What is does have is lovely fragrance. 65-70% of its appeal is in the nose. In the simpler wines a simple cherry-like perfume, in the more expensive ones there is an incredible intensity of aroma. Some are scented with the kirsch-like, almondy aromas of cherry kernels, and as they age can develop lovely aromas of hung game. But most of this is lost if the wine is served above 16ºC.
I have prefaced the guide with a comparison of some elements of Bordeaux and Burgundy. They really are opposites which need a different approach to understand and enjoy them. My father never enjoyed the Burgundies I brought home. His palate was formed, or deformed!, at Oxford where a lengthy degree in medicine allowed him much opportunity to enjoy many lovely clarets from the New College cellar. He always looked for the backbone of tannin in a wine, and missed its firm grip when it wasn’t there. Burgundy was too sleek and silky for his taste.
If you have not enjoyed Burgundy, yet still have the curiosity to get to know it better, then I hope this guide may help you discover its many qualities.
You can read the new guide here.
Toby Morrhall
Burgundy Buyer
Toby
Have just been browsing the 2010 White Burgundy offer and note that, when delivered, Francois D’Allaines Bourgogne Blanc 2010 will be around the same price as his 2008 that is currently available in the Jul-Sep 2011 Wine Society list. This raises the question in my mind (as it has done for the en premier offers of lessor Bordeaux wines, which I raised with Sebastian) of why invest upfront when I can purchase/drink mature/maturing wines from the same producers now?
Grateful for your thoughts.
Robin
Dear Robin,
The chief reason to buy en primeur is that we take lower margins on such business (but of course you have to pay earlier, but interest rates for money in the bank are very low currently) and in many cases the rarer Burgundies sell out. Our policy has never been to advise on wine as an investment, which seems to be your chief point. Sometimes we sell out of D’Allaines’ Bourgogne Blanc sometimes we don’t. Ditto Bourgogne Blanc Les Sétilles from Olivier Leflaive. We generally sell wines that were previously offered en primeur at a higher price when listed because we have had to finance them, so our costs are higher. Whether these Bourgogne Blancs rise or fall in price relative to other vintages is often due to swings in currency, as they are generally in reasonably good supply. No one knows what the currency movement will be until after the event. Thus if you want to be sure of getting your D’Allaines Bourgogne Blanc you should buy en primeur. If you are not so bothered you can wait and see, and risk not getting the wine if it sells out. Price changes are more likely for the rarer wines.
Toby
I only buy wines to drink as my purchase history would show. I buy a couple of cases of lessor wines each year because I felt they were value for money and I enjoyed the experience of storing some wines and watching them mature. However, I suspect that the value part of that equation had been undermined over the last couple of years with prices, even for wines not driven by scarcity, appearing to rise well above inflation. I wonder whether we are being too generous to producers?
Robin
Dear Robin,
The chief explanation for price increases is currency devaluation, duty and VAT increases. € has declined 24% from 1.5/£ in Jan 2007 to 1.14/£, and US$ has declined 18% from Jan 2008 2/£ to 1.64/£. The government has increased Excise duty on a bottle of wine from £1.16 in 2000, £1.26 in 2005, £1.46 in 2008 to £1.80 currently. Its policy is to put an end to cheap wine to stop alcohol abuse. VAT increased this year from 17.5% to 20%.
Cheaper wines are hit more by Excise duty than expensive ones, because it is calculated per bottle and not by value.
To get a 100% barrel fermented, and matured in barrel for 10 months, Bougogne Blanc from Francois D’Allaines in the excellent 2010 vintage for £9.67 I do not consider expensive. An espresso costs you £2.50 in a coffee shop. Imagine the margins on that!
Dear Robin,
I forgot to say that our cost price has actually fallen with François D’Allaines, chiefly because we are now dealing directly rather than through an agent. Prices have risen for the reasons explained in my last reply. So, I’m afraid we are paying our supplier less not more in this case.
Best regards,
Toby Morrhall
Toby
Many thanks. I am convinced and will look again at the offer.
Robin
Dear Toby,
I’ve just seen this post and the revised Buyer’s Guide, which was excellent before and is even better now! Many thanks for a very clear exposition.
I was drawn to it by seeing your response to the members’ reviews of the Society’s Red Burgundy and the Exhibition Gevrey-Chambertin Domaine Drouhin-Laroze, 2006. But the idea that red Burgundy is rich may not be solely due to the ‘doctoring’ of the 1950s & 1960s (more pied-noir than pinot noir) but an old literary trope derived from early comparisons with lighter reds from further north (e.g. Poitou or Champagne). Even in the 18th century Burgundy was thought heavy on the digestion.
It does seem to be an acquired taste, and perhaps members should be patient.
Christopher