Wine regions of the world 7 Burgundy Côts D’ Or.

This is the one region that I do not like for all the wrong reasons. I do not like the region because of one actual wine that is above all other wines I fell responsible for more snobbery and turning people away from exploring more about wine. This wine I remember once was so much sort after and desired that it was also I thing one of the reason why new world wines took such a strong hold in the market. The wine I hold responsible is no other than Chablis. It might be a hangover from the late 1980 when I was just a mere boy who was learning his trade and this particular wine seemed to rule the world. It might be just me and the number of bad experiences I had with this wine, not drinking it but serving it to customer who seemed to have more money than taste and just wanted to pay over the odds for a premier cru over chilled so you can hardly taste the wine and then add some sparkling mineral water to it, to make a spritzer.  It is perhaps these images that I have that just make me shudder and think give me a good pint of best bitter I want to give up on wine. I remember Water the restaurant manager at the time saying of the wine of Burgundy, the reds are good but the whites are to dry and taste of chalk and wee wee.  A damming indictment indeed.

But I did not give up on wine and I was redacted about this region as I was introduced.  It is a bit like a block buster move that has so many good actors in it but all you know by the poster and trailers is that it has one star, Chablis. Yes Chablis is a star and known throw-out the world but Burgundy is so much more than just that. Chablis is just the clock face but you need all the workings of the clock behind the face to make the clock work and that is what you have to do. Get behind the clock face, past all that everyone knows and sees and get to know the works.

Part of the mystery seems to come from the fact that almost all of the grapes that are grown are just Chardonnay for the white and Pinot Noir for the red.  But there are exceptions to every rule, notably  Aligoté , Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and more significant to the reds Gamay. So to what should you look for these following names Pouilly-Fuissé,  St-Véran,  Mâcon-Villages and Bourgogne Aligoté to name but a few . get beyond the big names of the grand cru and premier cru and look in to some of what is called the village wines will show the village name on the wine label.

That is what you have to do with the wine from this region look at the supporting cast and then if you ar lucky you will get to know the big stars .

Of course I should not say that all Chablis is bad, far from it , you do not get to be a big star for so long without having some talent. And it is a very complex talent that could warrant a whole  section if not more to disuse the complexity of the wine. In cat it is not the wine that I have a problem with but some of the people who I have encounter that have drank the wine. And to think of that is that more a comment about me or the people how I met. As this is about wine and not my personal hang ups I will not say any more.

He history of wine and this region does go back a long way , there is evidence of viticulture in Burgundy  back in the Second century AD by the Romans. The monks of the monasteries had an important influence, as monk did in almost all production of alcohol. But as Burgundy is land-locked,  little of its wine left the region. It was not until medieval times when it was transported along the river ways to many courts build its reputation.

But it was the Dukes of Burgundy who did the most for the wine of the region, the first reliable reference to grapes and varieties come from this time. Also producing  red wine of a quality that was  able to impress the papal court. Burgundy and Champagne were rivals for the lucrative Paris market, but  burgundy took the march with its better reds.

After that  Burgundy became incorporated in the Kingdom of France and the rest is  well known. The church slowly selling of the lands and the vineyard until the French revolution when the rest was sold off.

In more modern times the region has experienced some effects from the first world war, economic depression of the 1930s , the devastation  of World War II . After this like most of Europe it was sadly lacking in development. But now stands as one of the top wine regions of the world.

So please get past the big stars and the big star price tags, met the supporting cast of equally good talent and then move on up to the big names.  And do not let my predigest put you off, like there are no bad dogs just bad owners, there must be no bad wine, just bad drinkers.