Echinosum
Posts: 598
Joined: 1/28/2021
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
Status: offline
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My red Burgundy moratorium is over. My white Burgundy moratorium remains in place.
The moratorium began after some purchases of 2015 vintage en primeur. I bought 2 whites and a red, all at around £35/bt ex tax. Thinking, you have to spend that kind of money for it to be worthwhile. That bought some village wine from some excellent producers, and a 1er Cru from a lower division producer. The latter purchase was actually less successful, I don't love that wine. Reminded me that village wines from good producers is worth the premium. At that time, I thought red was worse value in comparison to alternatives than white, so that's why most of the purchase was white. But today, to buy those same wines from the 2022 vintage, the whites have nearly doubled in price, but the red is about 50% more. So whatever I thought then, white burgundy looks much worse value as time has passed.
But the difference really is that I'm much happier with my white Burgundy substitutes - Kumeu River wines from NZ - than the red ones. The red pinots I have from NZ and Sth Africa are great, but they somehow lack the Burgundy magic. Whereas the Kumeu wine has a sufficient magic of its own. Opening and drinking a bottle of Hunting Hill is as exciting as the white Burgs. But excellent as the NZ and SAf Pinots I drink are, there is a magic in red Burgundy that they don't really substitute for.
So I've gone back into buying red Burgundy. People say, there's excellent value in unfashionable villages, and the Hautes Cotes are really delivering in recent warm vintages. So I'm trying those. I'm learning from my disappointing 1er Cru from a lower division grower, and trying to avoid that kind of thing. So it's reputable growers' less fashionable wines, and up-and-coming innovative growers. The prices I've paid are in fact a bit lower than in 2015, in the £25-£32 range. And I have wines from each of 20, 21 and 22. As all of these wines need a bit of time, it will be a while before the verdict arrives. I hope they have a little Burg magic.
Maybe I should be experimenting with Maconnais to find some worthwhile white Burgundy at reasonable prices. But I'm so happy with the NZ and SAf chardonnays I drink that I hardly feel the need.
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A discriminating palate can be a curse.
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RE: The Moratorium - 
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