If you noticed a spring in the step of wine writers last week, it could be that they attended a special wine tasting at the SLS Hotel. A couple dozen wine makers came in from Burgundy, France, touting their wares and pouring samples. It was all kinds of oo-la-la.
However, prior to the tasting room opened up for our sip-n-spitting pleasure, Keith Goldston - one of the youngest Master Sommeliers in the world and instructor at the prestigious CIA cooking school - led an informative presentation describing what he calls “the burgundy moment” as well as several points as to what has shaped Burgundy’s special place in the oenological universe.
I scribbled many notes during his lecture, and frankly, even if I tried to transcribe them all here, I’d surely get some things wrong. Instead, I’m doing to share a few points that stuck with me, in hopes that they will inspire you to think about becoming further acquainted with this fascinating wine region:
- 1. - The word “Clos” on a bottle it means that originally those vines were grown in a walled vineyard (and often associated with a monastery).
- 2. - The word “Domaine” on a bottle means the wine was grown and blended on premises.
- 3. - Burgundy wines can be hits or misses. It is a crazy wine region with many varying factors. But once someone has their “burgundy moment” it suddenly all clicks. (I’ll trust Keith on that until it happens to me.)
- 4. - Years of using fertilizers and pesticides had hurt the soil, so nowadays biodynamic wine making is huge in Burgundy.
- 5. - Chablis is part of Burgundy, even though it is much further north. Also, Chablis has gotten a bad rap because of mass producing / marketing. However, the wines of Chablis are great food wines, and because of the stigma, they are largely undervalued (ie: a good buy!)
- 6. - Chardonnay is the #1 grape in the world: 23 million cases are sold in U.S. stores each year, versus 12 million cases of Cabernet Sauvignon.
- 7. - Pouilly Fuisse is the perfect price for a wine list. It is special but accessible. It is rich and full bodied. Actually, California Chardonnays are largely modeled after Pouilly Fuisse.
- 8. - The top Burgundy Chardonnays are:
a. Chablis
b. Corton chalemagne
c. Meursault
d. Puigny montrachet
e. Chassagne montrachet
f. Puilly fuisse & macon
- 9. - The top Burgundy Pinot Noirs are:
a. Gevrey Chambertin
b. Morey St. Denis
c. Chambolle Musigny
d. Vougeot & Echezeaux
e. Vosne Romanee
f. Nuits St. George
- 10.- Regions of Burgundy:
a. Chablis & the Yonne
b. Cote D’Or (only 26 kilometers big, this is considered the crème de la crème but only 10% of Burgundy wine comes from here.)
c. Cote Chalonnais
d. Cote Maconnais (close to Provence)
e. Beaujolais (this is actually in a different district, has different soil and different grapes but makes up 50% of the Burgundy wine production.
- 11. When the French Revolution went down (1700’s) all church lands were seized. Many of those lands had vineyards. The only people who could afford to then buy that land were wealthy individuals. But, the revolutionaries abhorred 1) Government 2) Church 3) Wealthy Individuals.
Instead of selling that land to the rich, many less privileged families banned together and divided the parcels of land among themselves. Napoleon’s “Inheritance Law” deemed that all inheritance be divided equlally between all siblings, rather than everything go to the oldest son.Therefore, as the land was passed down through generations, and divided among children, this became quite tedious when it came to wine making. One person might own only one row of vines, in the best part of the soil, for example, while his cousin had the next row over in lesser soil. No one had enough wine on his / her own to make a business out of it, and some of the wine from lesser vines was awful. This was killing the business of winemaking in the area.This gave way to the negociants (negotiators), who would buy wine from individual owners, create their own blends, and turn around to sell large quantities of wine. These negociants brought Burgundy back to life.Well, I hope you enjoyed these factoids as much as I did, and try to keep a few of the tips in mind the next time you go wine shopping. I know a Chablis and Pouilly Fuisse will be in my basket!