Bargain burgundy
Why is Burgundy so expensive? A fine bottle from a top estate can easily cost more than £20. And the wines from the most prestigious estates, such as Domaine Leroy and the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, are so costly that most wine merchants dare not print the prices in their lists.
Part of the reason has to do with the size of the region. Compared with Bordeaux, the Rhône or the limitless expanses of Australia or Chile, Burgundy is tiny. Take the largest village of the Côte de Nuits: Gevrey-Chambertin. It consists of just over 400ha and produces about 190,000 cases of wine each year. In contrast, the three leading estates of Pauillac - Châteaux Lafite, Latour, and Mouton Rothschild - have 212ha under vine. That's about the same size as the total vineyard area of another Burgundy village, Volnay.
As well as scarcity pushing up the price, so too does the fussiness of the one grape from which red Burgundy can be made, Pinot Noir. To produce wine of real quality, yields must be kept low. Average yields are about 45 hectolitres per hectare, but the reality is that the best estates have far lower yields, ranging from 20 to 30 hl/ha, depending on climatic conditions, age of vines, and pruning policy. In Bordeaux, yields of close to double this would not be unusual.
But possibly the main reason why good Burgundy is expensive is that, for large numbers of besotted wine lovers, it can be the finest red wine in the world. There really is nothing to match the exquisite leafy aromas, the silky texture, the elegance, and the lingering flavours of fine Burgundy.
The best is always going to be expensive, but there is no reason why one should not be able to enjoy Burgundies of lesser grandeur at a reasonable price. The trick is to look for the less fashionable villages.
Burgundian vineyards are divided into three quality categories: grand cru, premier cru, and village wines. In theory grand cru is the best; it is almost always the most expensive.
Village wines come from anywhere within the village boundaries that is not classed as a cru. Some villages, such as Vosne-Romanée or Chambolle-Musigny, are fashionable. Others, such as Beaune or Morey-St-Denis, are less so.
There are some villages on the Côte d'Or, such as Monthélie and Fixin, that are decidedly unfashionable. This is not purely down to whim. The most sought-after villages tend to produce the best wine because they have superior soil and microclimates. Fixin wines can sometimes be a touch earthy, but the region produces a most acceptable red Burgundy.
As for white Burgundies, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet will always carry a premium because everybody has heard of them. The neighbouring villages of St Aubin and Auxey-Duresses are just around the corner, but because they are little known their wines are comparatively inexpensive.
Similarly, the villages of the more southerly Côte Chalonnaise are less prestigious than those of the Côte d'Or. Wines from Mercurey, Rully or Givry can be very good. The problem is that they can also be awful. The secret is to buy the producer rather than the vineyard. Michel Jillot and Francois Faiveley are probably the best producers in Mercurey. One of their wines, despite the modesty of the village appellation, is almost always superior, and more enjoyable, than a premier cru from a mediocre grower.
Sometimes a red Burgundy that is not even entitled to a village appellation can be extremely good. Michel Lafarge is one of a handful of truly outstanding growers in Volnay. His wines are delicious and supremely elegant. He owns some vines that fall outside of the Volnay boundaries so he bottles them as Bourgogne Rouge. A few barrels of his Volnay, perhaps from young vines or those that are not up to his high standards, will be declassified and blended with the Bourgogne.
Lafarge's Bourgogne will never be a great wine, but it is always a stylish one. The same is true of a great many excellent growers: Méo-Camuzet, de Montille, Ghislaine Barthod, Rion, and many others. Because of the exacting standards of their viticulture and the skill of their winemaking, even these lesser wines can be very good. Méo-Camuzet is a very prestigious estate so it simply isn't worth its while to sell poor wine, even if it says merely Bourgogne on the label.
An ideal choice
Because Bourgogne Rouge does not have the concentration and structure of a top Burgundy, it will not keep indefinitely. They are best drunk within three of four years, though in certain vintages such as 1990 and 1993 they can probably keep for longer. That makes them ideal for restaurant drinking as they do not need to be cellared for years.
The structure of the Burgundy region means that the wine is rarely bottled in large quantities, except by some of the co-operatives and négociants. To find the authentic, good-value Burgundies, as well as the pricey classics, you have to go to the specialists. There are handful of firms who import the top growers: Morris & Verdin, Haynes Hanson & Clark, Laytons, Domaine Direct, John Armit, and Bibendum.
All the wines listed have been tasted recently. They have genuine Burgundy character, and they are all ready to drink, although the 1993 would benefit from another year in bottle.
