Uncorked › Burgundy
Burgundy Uncorked
Burgundy keeps things simple on grapes and gets obsessive about place. Nearly every red is Pinot Noir, nearly every white is Chardonnay, and two vineyards a footpath apart make two different wines. These five volumes go from the whole picture down to the individual climats, with the monks, the dukes, the Hospices and the producers who matter along the way.
Reads on your phone, tablet and laptop. Best on a tablet.
Start at Vol. 01 if you are new
Bourgogne
The whole region in one sitting. Why Burgundy asks where, not what. The four step pyramid from regional wine to grand cru, the label decoder, and the two grapes that do almost all the work. Along the way: the monks who mapped the slopes, the duke who banned Gamay, and how to read a hillside.
Côte de Nuits
Twenty kilometres of the most expensive farmland on earth. The limestone and marl under each grand cru, the prince who lost a vineyard to a royal mistress, whole cluster against destemming in the cellar, and a walk down the slope from Gevrey-Chambertin to Nuits-Saint-Georges with the producers who define each village.
Côte de Beaune
Where Chardonnay hits its peak and Pinot turns silky. Corton and its hill, the Hospices auction, Pommard's muscle against Volnay's perfume, Meursault's cellars, and the Montrachet family tree split between Puligny and Chassagne. Plus the premature oxidation mystery and where the smart money buys.
Chablis
Burgundy's northern outpost, closer to Champagne than to Beaune. The oyster shell limestone, the seven grands crus on one south facing hill, the fight over which soils deserve the name, the candles and sprinklers of the frost wars, and the eternal argument between oak and stainless steel.
The Deep South
The value end of Burgundy and the rebel beyond it. Five villages of the Chalonnaise, the Mâconnais ladder up to Pouilly-Fuissé and its rock, then across into Beaujolais: Gamay, carbonic maceration, the Nouveau race, granite and goblets, the ten crus and the four growers who made the region serious again.