Who Drinks White Burgundy?

Posted 04/01/2008 at 11:13 AM by Ben

In a recent e-mail to subscribers of his subscription only newsletter, wine critic Steve Tanzer of the International Wine Cellar finally tells us who drinks all that expensive White Burgundy:

"Cote d'Or white wines are for a**holes," one outspoken producer of whites from all over Burgundy told me in a recent conversation. While I don't share that sentiment (the best of these wines, after all, are among the most complex and satisfying white wines made anywhere in the world), I understand what he's saying. Wines from a handful of name brand producers in Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet are avidly pursued by wine snobs; too many wines sell on the strength of their swanky appellations rather than on the quality in the bottle; and current prices are through the roof, making most of these wines affordable only to a tiny percentage of wine lovers."

And he offers this solution:

"But you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for fresh, minerally, suave chardonnay.... [T]he Maconnais [is] the source of the world's greatest values in serious chardonnay, and fertile ground for white Burgundy lovers who feel priced out of the Cote d'Or. [Dozens] can stand up to the better examples from the Cote de Beaune-typically at less than half the price and sometimes much less."

http://www.wineaccess.com/expert/tanzer/article.html?content_id=50261 [subscription required]

I'm sure the IWC found some good ones, but overall my experience with wines from the Maconnais has been thoroughly dismal. The vineyards are seriously over cropped, and the wines are produced in industrial looking stainless steel tanks rather than the oak barrels commonly used in the Cote d'Or. Most importantly, the soil isn't all that special, and because of that the wines taste pretty much like un-oaked Chardonnay from Anywhere USA or Australia. Pouilly Fuisse, which is in the Maconnais, is the notable exception, but it's not much cheaper than White Burgundy from the Cote d'Or.

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