Clearly I’m having some trouble keeping up. We’re only one day shy of a full month since my last post and it’s been weeks since I drank these last two Burgundies. I hardly know what to say about them!

First up, Meursault, where white wine dominates. There are no Grand Cru wines here, but many Premier Cru and the quality is apparently pretty even across the region.

The wine I drank, from Louis Latour, was lemon-yellow and had aromas of fresh straw, lemon and a little cream. It had a medium body and was creamy up front, but had a bitter acid on the back palate with a long finish.

And finally, for my last Burgundy, I thought it appropriate that I try a Grand Cru. While I’m sure that it’s not the same as a DRC, it’s a Grand Cru Burgundy for only $55! This one is from Corton, and one of the top areas within it, Les Renardes.

This particular Corton-Renardes, from Domaine Marius Delarche, was ripe and fresh on the nose, with eucalyptus and a hint of raspberry. It was very smooth, as I expected a Grand Cru to be, with medium body. It was tangy and acidic, as undoubtedly it would improve with more bottle age, but the tannins were quite subtle. There wasn’t a lot of fruit, and it was a little green, but this was a 3-year-old Grand Cru Burgundy that we clearly drank too young. The sacrifices I make for the sake of Give Me Grapes!

Unfortunately, I drank these wines long enough ago that I don’t think I can fairly give them scores. However, these were, at least according to the labels, the best wines of the Burgundy bunch and why I saved them for last. They definitely were the best upon drinking them as well.

So, what comes next? First, I must think of ideas to make sure I don’t let one month lapses become the norm. But, I’m thinking it’s time to move to another classic wine region, outside France.

Though it is part of Burgundy, Chablis is 100 miles north of Beaune (the upper end of the Cote d’Or) and is closer to the Champagne region. It was once a vast winegrowing region, and the main supplier of wine for Paris via the region's vast system of rivers. Although, the advent of the train blew that out of the water (pun intended).

It is a very cool region, and Chardonnay is the only grape here. The vines are very susceptible to frost during budbreak, although modern frost prevention technologies have helped to improve chances the crop isn’t lost. The region has a limstone clay soil that supposedly produces flavors in the wine that cannot be reproduced anywhere- a true expression of terroir. Most winemakers in the region favor unoaked wines fermented in stainless steel.

Typically the wines have very high acid, on account of the very cool climate, and often have flavors of stones and minerals. When the wines are young they are often a little green in color, but many of the best wines have the potential to age for decades.

Unfortunately, Chablis, the name, has been highjacked by many cheap wine producers outside the region and used to label any old white wine. The region is fighting back and trying to protect their name from this awful swill. My advice: if the Chablis is coming to you in a 5 liter box, steer clear.


The 2007 Hervé AZO Chablis half bottle was both creamy and a bit oaky on the nose and the palate. It was very acidic and light with bitter green apple and wood. Not too bad, though certainly not the best.

The Score: ★★½

After writing and nearly posting this post I realized that I had, in fact, purchased two bottles of Chablis, the second being the 2009 Château de Maligny Chablis 1er Cru "Montee de Tonnerre" for $26.99 at K&L. I remembered that I had intended to drink them back to back to compare a more standard Chablis to a premier cru. So much for good intentions. This wine was creamy with hints of flowers and wood on the nose. It had a creamy acidity, but fairly light mouthfeel. It tasted of lemon rind, sweet grapefruit and wet stones. Definitely worth paying for the premier cru!

The Score: ★★★½

I really took Kevin Zraly’s advice to heart when I decided to purchase a Mâcon-Villages ( ) rather than a Pouilly-Fuissé to taste a wine from this region. Though not pricey by any means, he said the most Mâcon-Villages is pretty good and that Pouilly-Fuissé isn’t really worth the extra money. But its so fun to say!

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to taste both at the K&L Burgundy tasting. And neither could hold a candle to the wine from Puligny-Montrachet that I really loved anyway!

Mâcon is a region that produces almost entirely white wine. It’s warmer there than the Côte d’Or, but the wines are fairly solid. Or maybe I just think so because I’m finding myself so enamored with white Burgundy and its acidic un-oakiness! Near the southern tip of the region, just north of Beaujolais, is the Roche de Solutré.

Nice rock! It marks the end of the great growing region of Burgundy (or rather the end of the limestone plateau in which great Burgundy is grown). It is within sight of this landmark that Pouilly-Fuissé is grown.

I picked up a half bottle of Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages for my tasting. It was fairly clear and golden yellow. It smelled like oaky chardonnay. I thought uh-oh, should’ve sprung the few extra bucks for the Pouilly-Fuissé! But, on second smell, I could pick up the acid underneath. Sure enough, the wine had a biting acid, but was also creamy, with a fairly heavy body and lots of minerals (i.e. stones).

The Score: ★★★

This also seems an appropriate time to interject a quick lesson on negociants, given that Louis Jadot is very well known and often seen outside France (like in Target, for example). So, I mentioned in my previous post that Burgundy is not a land of glorious château, but mostly rural farmland. Until fairly recently, especially in Burgundy, most French wine was made by negociants. They were the ones who made, bottled and sold the wine, but did not grow the grapes.

As I’ve mentioned before, vineyards have been split into very small parcels (law of equal inheritance) and so it was often the case that growers didn’t have the quantity of grapes or the financial means necessary for the equipment to make wine. Negociants bought the grapes, or must, sometimes even juice, produced wine, often with a “house style”, and sold it.

They were dominant until about 25 years ago when more small growers began producing their own wines. And many negociants have since gotten into the grape-growing side of things too. How do you tell when looking at a French wine label if it was made by a negociant or not? The key word is “Domaine”. It functions very much like the word Estate on American wines. So, this Mâcon-Villages said simply “Louis Jadot”. This means they bought the grapes to make the wine. However, if it said “Domaine Louis Jadot” that would mean it was made from grapes grown on land Louis Jadot owns.

Next lesson- what does Maison on a label mean?

The day before I was planning to head to K&L to buy the rest of my Burgundy (having already visited Draeger’s the day before), I received my newsletter in the mail from K&L. Guess what they were holding the very next day? A Burgundy wine tasting! I cleared my schedule.

The tasting was hosted by their Burgundy buyer that goes to France and meets with the winemakers of many of the wines they sell. He was incredibly knowledgeable and pronounced all the French words with an American accent. Made them seem less out of reach for my non-French speaking self!

The tasting was of 13 wines (!!), 7 white and 6 red. What was interesting about this tasting was that many of the wines were labeled “Bourgogne Blanc” and “Bourgogne Rouge”. That means the grapes could come from anywhere in Burgundy (much like a bottle of wine that says “California” could come from anywhere in the state). But, many of the vintages we tasted (2008 & 2009) were years that the economy was struggling. Our host said that many of the winemakers declassified their grapes so they could still sell their wine, but since he had relationships with them, he knew for a fact that many of the wines were actually from specific villages. Read: Wine Bargains.

At any rate, the most interesting thing I took away from the tasting was a further lesson on malolactic fermentation. It seems that most (if not all) red wines go through this, and some whites, especially Chardonnay, do too. This process takes the malic acid (like the tartness of a green apple) and changes it into lactic acid (like in milk). This is what gives Chardonnay its creaminess.

As California Chardonnay has become a bit over the top lately, some producers have specifically chosen not to put their wines through malolactic at all, or they stop it before it finishes, in order to preserve the natural acidity in the wine. These are the California chards I prefer.

All of the white burgundies I tried at the tasting had good acidity and all were noticeably better to me (in that I don’t like super creamy, or oaky, chardonnay) than most domestic examples. I was surprised when our host told us that all seven of the wines had been through a complete malolactic fermentation. Because it’s a fairly cool climate in Burgundy, the natural acidity of chardonnay grapes is quite high. Incomplete malolactic would be the winemaker’s nightmare!

Of course, my two favorite wines of the tasting were the most expensive. The 2008 Maison Jacques Bavard Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Champs Gains” was a five star wine. And at $54.99 would’ve been the most I’d ever paid for a white wine-- if I’d gotten it. I’m still thinking about it... The 2008 Maison Champy Chambolle-Musigny was my favorite red. A four star wine coming in at $46.99.

I also learned a bit more about reading French wine labels, and how to tell if the wine was made by a negociant or not- but this post is getting long. I’ll save that for a future lesson.

I was completely incorrect when I thought I was “punishing” myself with Bordeaux. Its hard, true, to remember all the appellations and especially all the various classifications systems. And there are more grape varieties allowed. But next up is Burgundy, and its complexities make Bordeaux seems like child’s play. I have a pretty good memory and a knack for memorization (at least in the short term), but there’s just simply no way I *need* to memorize everything about Burgundy. Not to mention learning how to pronounce everything!


So, I’m going to do the abbreviated version. Burgundy For Dummies, if you will. Luckily I’m far more excited about these wines. I think I’m really gonna like Burgundy.

So, first, the basics. Burgundy ( in French) makes both red and white wine and they one make one of each. Red Burgundy is Pinot Noir and White Burgundy is Chardonnay. (Ok, this isn’t entirely true. Beaujolais is part of Burgundy and they grow and make wine from the gamay grape. But, no one calls wine from Beaujolais Burgundy, they call it Beaujolais, so I doubt this will cause any confusion). Easy enough, right?

Burgundy is in Eastern Central France and made up of several sub-regions. Chablis is actually fairly removed from the rest of the region, closer to Paris, and makes only white wine. The Côte d’Or, the most famous area of Burgundy, which is actually divided into two regions, Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, and makes a mix of red and white wine, Côte Châlonnaise which makes red and white wine, Mâconnais which makes almost all white wine and Beaujolais, 99% red wine, and I will not be covering it in this upcoming series. I have my limits.

Next big difference between Bordeaux and Burgundy is that in Bordeaux wines were always from “Château French-Word” and it was the château themselves that were classified in all the various systems. Burgundy is far less glamorous, there are no sprawling mansions. This is farmland. In Burgundy it is all about terroir, so naturally it is the vineyards that are classified. And thanks to our friend Napoleon, who after the French Revolution called for a law of equal inheritance for children, there are a TON of vineyards. In general, it seems that quality is highest from vineyards at the top of the hill, and it goes down from there to the base.

There are two classifications for Burgundy, Grand Cru and Premier Cru (often written 1er cru on labels). All Grand Cru Burgundies must say “Grand Cru” on the label and there are only 32 of them, so when you see one you know it’s the real thing. There are 400+ Premier Cru vineyards, so we won’t be discussing those in detail.


So, since there are more than 110 appellations and 1,000 vineyard names one must know in order to be an expert, I turned to my buddy Kevin Zraly and his book for my following “Graphique de Bourgogne” (that would be Chart of Burgundy). Memorize this and you may pass for a somewhat intelligent life-form when it comes to the wines of Burgundy. (Pronunciations provided when available).

Côte d’Or:

Côte de Beaune (70% red wines 30% white wines) 8 Grand Cru Vineyards
Important Red Villages:
Aloxe-Corton
Beaune
Pommard
Volnay

Important White Villages:
Aloxe-Corton
Beaune
Meursault
Puligny-Montrachet
Chassagne-Montrachet
Best recent white vintages: 1996*, 2000*, 2002*, 2005*, 2006*, 2007, 2008

Côte de Nuits (95% red wine) 24 Grand Cru Vineyards
Important Red Villages:
Gevrey-Chambertin
Morey-St-Denis
Chambolle-Musigny
Vougeot
Flagey-Échézeaux
Vosne-Romanée
Nuits-St-Georges

Best recent red vintages for Côte d’Or: 1999*, 2002*, 2003*, 2005**, 2006

Côte Châlonnaise
Important Villages:
Mercurey
Givry
Rully

Chablis (white wine)
Best recent vintages: 2002*, 2004, 2005*, 2006*, 2007, 2008

Mâconnais (white wine)
Quality levels, basic to best:
Mâcon Blanc
Mâcon Supérieur
Mâcon-Villages
St-Véran
Pouilly-Vinzelles
Pouilly-Fuissé
Best recent vintages: 2004*, 2005*, 2006*, 2007, 2008

And here’s what I picked up for this little jaunt through the ‘Gold Coast’ (Côte d’Or translated, by the way). I realize these following wine names may be largely unintelligible, I promise to get more detailed in each wine’s post!

From K&L:

2008 Domaine Delarche Corton-Renardes Grand Cru $54.99
2007 Louis Latour Meursault 1er Cru "Goutte d'Or" $39.95
2009 Château de Maligny Chablis 1er Cru "Montee de Tonnerre" $26.99
2007 Antonin Rodet Chateau de Mercey Mercurey Rouge $18.99
2008 Domaine Louis Jadot Côte de Nuits-Villages "Le Vaucrain" $23.99

And, since they have such a good selection, though not better prices, I also picked up a few things at Draeger’s, an upscale grocery store in downtown San Mateo with an amazing wine department.

2008 Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages (half bottle) $8.99
2007 Hervé AZO Chablis (half bottle) $13.99
2006 Domaine Anne-Marie Gille Vosne-Romanée $37.99
2008 Vincent Girardin Les Vieilles Vignes Volnay $38.99 (wow click the link to see how much better prices are at K&L!

Before I even start talking about this wine, I would like to offer some advice: Always read the label. Ok, read on.

Yabby Lake doesn’t sound like the greatest place, yabby rhymes with shabby. However, this lake is on the Mornington Penninsula which sounds like a lovely place to enjoy a cup of coffee out on your porch, if you do that sort of thing. This Yabby Lake Chardonnay was a pretty bright yellow in the glass. It had a pleasant nose that was fruity, smelling of apples as well as vanilla.


But, I did not read the label. It states that this wine is aged for 10 months in oak. One third in new oak, one third in year old oak and the remaining third in two year old oak. Would you like some oak with your oak? Something I learned long ago is that I do not, repeat do not, like my chardonnay over-oaked. In fact, I prefer it naked (or least wearing next to nothing).

Since I did not read the label, I was not expecting so much oak flavor. It had some nice acid in the background and the vanilla taste was there as it was in the nose. I tried so hard to get past the oak and search out the fruit. All I got was perhaps a touch of pear, but with each sip it's hard not to simply feel like I’m licking the inside of an oak wine barrel. I’m instantly taken back to earlier this month, while tasting at Woodside Vineyards, when I had the opportunity to stick my nose into a brand new barrel made of French oak. It smelled fabulous. But I had no desire to lick it.

All this being the case, this wine is not going down the drain, and not only because it was $25. Its not bad and I don’t hate it. It is a good wine, just has more oak than I prefer. As I learned at last month’s wine club, the chardonnay tasting, many people enjoy oak in this amount so I don’t think its even over-oaked. This wine has taught me to read the labels of chardonnay. Closely. And to enjoy the rest of this bottle with a hunk of strong cheese.

The Score: ★ ★

I was very excited to make it to wine club last Thursday. Three WHOLE hours out of the house sans kids. Amazing. The theme for the evening was Chardonnay from around the world. We seem to be a group that likes to guess things about what we’re tasting and see who gets the most right. Sometimes that means we do a blind tasting, others we try to guess where the wine is from or how much it cost. This time we had the descriptions of all six chardonnays we tried, but we didn’t know which wine was which. I’ll be up front and admit that I got every last one wrong. Oops! But, I have some excuses.

So here’s what we tried (in no particular order):

2005 Talley Vineyards Chardonnay Oliver’s Vineyard (Edna Valley)
2007 Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay (Argentina)
2008 William Fevre ‘Champs Royaux Chablis’ (France)
2007 Trevor Jones Virgin Chardonnay (Australia)
2007 Carmody McKnight Free Run Chardonnay (Paso Robles)
2005 Iron Horse Vineyards (Sonoma)

And here’s what I thought of each one (adapted from my vague notes taken whilst conversing with my wine club friends- my aroma wheel at home):

#1: I thought this wine was light, citrusy (like fresh-squeezed limes) with a bit of green apples. Very acidic and tart. This was my favorite one of the evening. I guessed this was the Bodega Catena and it was not.

#2: I thought this wine smelled very oaky, however it tasted less oaky. It was pretty fruity and the oak was nicely balanced against the fruit. I liked it. I guessed this wine to be the William Fevre Chablis. Of course, it was not.

#3: This wine smelled like a glass full of buttered popcorn. (Which is caused by diacetyl, a natural byproduct of fermentation). While there was some fruit flavor underneath, I found the wine way too oaky for my taste. I’m not one for oaked white wines, sometimes I just feel like I’m drinking a wood plank. I guessed this wine to be the Iron Horse. Wrong!

#4: This wine was acidic and smelled of green apples. It was refreshing to drink and had just a touch of oak. It was my second favorite of the evening. I thought it might be the Carmody McKnight. Nope!

#5: At this point in the night, my nose started to fail me, because my notes for the nose are “??”. I also noted that it tasted pretty oaky. Very descriptive, I know. I thought it was the Trevor Jones. Of course, I was wrong.

#6: This wine was an interesting experience for us. Immediately upon pouring it one thing was very obvious, it was oxidized. The color was like apple juice. As you might imagine, it smelled all kinds of horrible. We all tasted it to see what an oxidized wine tastes like. Let’s just say most of us needed a chaser (I chose bread smothered with goat cheese). I guessed Talley Vineyards for this one.

So, part of what made it so difficult to place the wines (and I did change my mind several times), was having one of them be oxidized since it clearly didn’t taste like the description. I also failed to notice that wine #2 was in a bottle that was a screw cap. Had I paid attention I almost certainly would’ve pegged it as the Australian wine and certainly wouldn’t have chosen France. I mean, c’mon, a French wine with a screw cap?!

So, here’s what the wines actually were:

#1: William Fevre Chablis
#2: Trevor Jones Virgin Chardonnay
#3: Talley Vineyards Chardonnay
#4: Iron Horse
#5: Carmody McKnight Free Run Chardonnay
#6: Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay

Better luck next time!

So one thing that had to happen in order for me to truly begin my education (read: drink the wine), was to no longer be pregnant. I’m happy to report that mission has been accomplished. Evan Michael was born on Monday, July 5th at 9:59am weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs!


Giving birth is certainly a reason to celebrate, and it seems that much to the consternation of the French, we Americans turn to Champagne only on such occasions. Myles and I opted not to order the “champagne” on the Birthday Dinner menu we were offered the night before leaving the hospital (after being served margarine, packets of creamy Italian dressing and “breakfast syrup” for my pancakes with my hospital meals, we didn’t trust their taste). Instead we waited until Thursday to open the bottle of Champagne I had picked up in late June in anticipation of this exact occasion.

I chose Mumm "Cordon Rouge" Brut Champagne from K&L for $26.99. Its in my preferred price range and the notes on their website described it as being rated 98% on the eschelle de cru, “higher than Cristal”. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but it sounded good! (By the way, the eschelle de cru is the classification system of vineyards in Champagne, with those between 90 & 99% being the highest rated villages and those rated 100% being the grand crus. So I was right.)

It was quite good! Light, acidic and a little yeasty. Made from 60% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay and 10% meunier, it was the typical light gold color with teeny little bubbles. The perfect little glass of bubbly to celebrate to arrival of my new little boy. Cheers!