Creating a balanced wine list is not easy. Putting a Burgundy list together is even harder. With over 500 appellations in Burgundy alone, it's difficult to represent all the villages and top producers on one list.
The usual small Burgundy section has a selection of several white wines from the Côte de Beaune like a Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet and a really expensive wine from Vosne-Romanée. You're lucky if the list includes a Cru Beaujolais or even a good Chablis.
The cost of inventory is high for most small restaurants and the desire to represent several villages and vintages can create a section without real focus.
Here lies a solution. Make your Bourgogne AC list strong.
The generic Bourgogne appellation represents 51.4% of the entire production in Burgundy. Many consider the Bourgogne AOP appellation too basic and does not warrant the attention of serious wine drinkers. However, if the producer is serious about their wines, the best value lies in this category. The laws for Bourgogne AOP are simple: grapes allowed, styles (Red, white, rosé, mousseaux, passe-tout-grains), geographical boundaries, the same criteria for all the other AOPs in Burgundy.
Some Bourgognes can append the name of a village (Chitry) or lieu-dits like Montre cul near Marsannnay, with the effort to highlight the terroir, however most are made up of blended regions. A small producer that does not own vineyards throughout the region is perhaps using the Bourgogne label for a plot just outside the boundary of their appellation. Domaine Maume for example has .52 ha of Bourgogne planted with 40 year old Pinot Noir. Others like, Domaine Lucien Boillot make their Bourgogne rouge from 2/3 fruit from Gevrey and 1/3 from Volnay. Still very expressive of their style with plenty of enjoyment for any wine lover.
This is a list of all the Bourgogne Blancs and Rouges that we currently have in stock.
Prices are wholesale.
Bourgogne Blanc
Bourgogne Blanc Domaine Laroche 2010 @ $16.50. Chardonnay from the Chablis region.
Bourgogne Blanc Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard 2013 @ $12.17. Chardonnay from the Chablis region.
Bourgogne Blanc Maison Roche de Bellene 2012 @ $15.33. Blend of 30-60 year old Cote de Beaune grapes.
Bourgogne Blanc Château de Puligny-Montrachet 2011 @ $23.67. Located just outside Puligny on flat soils.
Bourgogne Blanc Maison L’Orée 2010 $30.83. Old vines from Côte de Beaune and Côte Chalonnais.
Bourgogne Rouge
Bourgogne Arnoux Lachaux 2011@ $26.67
Bourgogne Deux Montille 2011 @24.33
Bourgogne Domaine de Montille 2011 @ $26.17. Made from the lieu dit Les Longbois in Volnay and neighboring Puligny-Montrachet.
Bourgogne Domaine Lucien Boillot 2012 @ $25.33
Bourgogne Maume 2011 @ $22.67
Bourgogne Philippe Gavignet 2011 @$21.33. A blend of Pinot Noir from the Côte de Nuits.
Bourgogne Maison L’Orée 2010 $30.83
Bourgogne Maison Roche de Bellene 2012 @ $15.33
Bourgogne Régis Bouvier 2012 @ $14.50
Bourgogne “ En Montre Cul” Régis Bouvier 2009 @ $19.67. Montre Cul” means “showing your rear”—the vineyard is very steep, so when harvesters are picking the grapes they have no choice but to look up at the rear of the person above them. This is a historical, official name for the vineyard
