What I Drank on my Summer Vacation

Do you realize that in New York City in just over a week from now, about 400,000 kids, literally, are going to write short essays with almost the exact same title as this post? Another summer comes to an end.

I love summer in New York City. Yeah, it's hot and humid and the streets can get a bit smelly, but it's beautiful in the evening, especially from our deck, with the light coming through the leaves. On the weekends it can get eerily quiet though, as people flee for the country. We were lucky enough to get out of town twice in August - a long weekend in Vermont and more recently, a week in San Diego and Portland.

Here are some of the wines we drank in Vermont with my pal Deetrane and his family:

2007 Domaine de 2 Anes Vin de Table Rosé, $14. This is my favorite rosé of the season at the under $15 price point. It's a deliciously fruity wine that retains interest and drinkability because it's also lively with acidity. This is a Grenache blend, a natural wine from the Jenny & François Selections portfolio. 2 Anes (2 Donkeys) is in Corbières in the Languedoc, although for some reason this wine doesn't have AOC status.

2004 Château Pontet-Canet, $41. Decanted for about 90 minutes and served with a beautiful porterhouse steak. People salivate over this stuff in their CellarTracker notes. I just don't get it. It's perfectly pleasant dark, rich and ripe wine, with nothing particularly interesting about it, no distinctive character. You're going to tell me that it needs 20 years in the cellar, that I drank it too young. Maybe it will improve with age, but it wasn't a knot of tannic structure or anything when we drank it. It was open and showing its primary fruit. And that's all there was.

1997 Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie, price unknown. Deetrane says that '97 was an off year in the northern Rhone. I really liked this wine - it was light in color and in texture, a highly perfumed jumble of floral and earth aromas. So much better with the porterhouse than the Pontet-Canet, in my opinion.

2005 A. et P. de Villaine Bouzeron, price unknown. This was a lovely gift from Joe when he visited a little while ago. I drank the 2006 and wasn't crazy about it, but this was delicious. Incredibly full bodied and loaded with sweet lemon fruit, and cut with good acidity. Very nice indeed, although it bares little resemblance to any Aligoté I've had - this is much fuller in body and in flavor. Yes, this is the DRC wine maker.

2000 Voirin-Jumel Champagne Millésimé, $37. This is a crazy price for this wine, or for any vintage grower Champagne, really. Gotta love Astor Wines. This is a rich Blanc de Blancs with mature notes, but it hasn't lost its youthful fruit yet. With a little bit of airtime there are broad aromas of roast nuts and biscuits and the palate is deeply mineral with good acidity, nicely focused. Astor still has a few bottles too...

On one of our nights in San Diego, BrooklynLady and I drove out to Bird Rock, just south of La Jolla to have dinner with Jeremy Parzen, the professor of Italian wine, and a few of his pals. What a night! I'm telling you, if you have the opportunity to meet up with a fellow blogger, to share a meal and some wine - do it. Some think it odd to meet in person with people you only know from the internet. There are times when it is weird, but this isn't one of them. You already know each other, in a way. And Jeremy and I slipped naturally into conversation as if we'd been hanging out together for years. A gentleman and a scholar, and his friends are nice too. We enjoyed some very tasty seafood at taqueria Bahia Don Bravo, along with a smattering of interesting wines. Here are notes on some of them:

2007 Robert Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, price unknown. Each year this is without question my favorite American rosé. It's well balanced with delicious stone fruit and good acidity. Great with shrimp ceviche tostadas.

NV Guy Charlemagne Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Réserve, $40. Salty minerals all the way, great focus and acidity, fresh and light, almost sheer. Just delicious.

2000 Dessilani Ghemme Riserva, price unknown. Dr. J calls this "an outer-borough Barolo." I guess he means that Ghemme is close to Barolo the way the Bronx is close to Manhattan. And that you can eat good Italian food on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for half what you'd pay in Manhattan. This wine was soft cherry earth deliciousness, so nicely balanced and food friendly. I enjoyed the complexity of aromas - smoky, fruity, earthy...excellent wine, and completely new to me.

1996 Fleury Champagne Brut Millésimé, $56. This is a crazy price for a wine of this caliber. I found it on the shelves at a place called Meritage in a mall near Encinitas. I doubt that they raised the price over the years that they stocked this wine. Live in or near San Diego? Like Champagne? This one is worth the drive, especially at $56. Beautiful mature nose of roast nuts, honey, and bitter minerals. Let this one air out a bit and it becomes truly beguiling. So elegant and poised on the palate, soft and creamy, but still very focused with powerful acidity. Just delicious wine.

Then there's the amazing dinner in Portland with Peter Liem and his friends. This post is long enough already though, so tomorrow you'll hear about the ridiculous wines we drank that night.

By the Glass - Wines that I Don't Like Edition

When I read reviews I always wish for a sense of what the writer doesn't like - I get the fullest sense of their palate that way. But many people only write about the wines they like. For example, Brooklynguy, a blogger I feel particularly close to, hardly ever writes about wines he doesn't like. He really should do that from time to time. If not, a reasonable person might think "Is there anything this guy DOESN'T like? He likes everything. Therefore, nothing is special to him."

Well, take it easy, folks. There are many many many wines that just suck, to my taste. But I just don't consider myself expert enough to sit here and tell you definitively that a wine is bad. Instead, I'll tell you what I've tasted recently that I don't like. You might like these wines - what do I know? In any case, you'll get a more complete sense of my palate.

At a delicious brunch at Deetrane's house he opened a bottle of NV Feuillatte Blanc de Blancs. What an interesting experience it was for me to drink this wine in all of its chemical candied glory. After a steady diet of the grower stuff, this is the first mass market Champs I've had in a while, and with all due respect to the Deetrane (he likes it, and there is an emotional attachment too - this is a special wine for him and his wife), I found it to be a cartoon version of Champagne. Incredibly sweet candied bananas clubbing you over the head, a trio of birds whistling around to signify the daze you're in. My personal mission now is to get Deetrane to try more grower Champs.

I don't dabble too often in Rioja, and the 2001 Palacios de Remondo Rioja Propiedad H. Remondo, $24, is a good example of why I stick to López de Heredia. I liked this wine when I had it years ago in a restaurant so I bought a few bottles. It hasn't been as good at home (maybe it's my cooking?). This time it seemed roasted and pruney, nothing elegant or nuanced about it. Although we had hearty food, it was out of balance and almost overbearing. The blend is 55% Tempranillo and 45% Grenache (yes, I refuse to say Garnacha). For now I stay with López de Heredia when the Rioja mood strikes me.

I believe in miracles, but I still don't anticipate tasting a DRC wine anytime soon. But Aubert de Villaine makes wines under his own name from grapes grown in the Côte Chalonnaise. That is as close as I'm gonna get for now. I drank the 2006 A & P de Villaine Bouzeron, $23, the other night and it did almost nothing for me. Bouzeron is the appellation created to showcase the Aligoté grape. Wines made from Aligoté should be crisp and lean and fresh. This wine was none of those things, even on day 2 with plenty of airtime. Maybe 2006 was no good in the area. I can't imagine that the wine was supposed to be aged - it's Aligoté for goodness sake. Most people throw some Cassis in there and call it a Kir. Anyway, this wine was very uninspiring. Maybe I'm just missing something - this Villaine guy is clearly not playing games.

You know by now how fond I am of Loire Valley wines. I want to make sure that you know that I don't love all of them, even if the producer is hot with all of the cool cat winos and sommeliers. Here is a hipster wine that I just didn't care for. The 2005 Domaine de Bellivière Coteaux du Loir Le Rouge-Gorge, $20, is a wine that I was stunned to find that I didn't like. Bellevière is the amazing vigneron who is bringing Jasnieres and Coteaux du Loir back to greatness. This is natural wine making using traditional grapes, like Pinot D'Aunis for this wine. I have always enjoyed Bellevière's wines. Not this one - it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Isn't Pinot D'Aunis supposed to be light bodied and redolent of strawberries and flowers, with a dose of black pepper? That's what I've found in the others I tasted. This one had the pepper, but it was very deep and dark and pretty heavy too. At 14% alcohol there was not a lot of elegance going on. Flavors were a touch roasted and the tannins were intrusive. I don't think this was a bad bottle, I think instead that the ripeness of 05 encouraged wine makers to do more with their raw material, and sometimes the resulting wine is out of character.

Alright, I'm not a total curmudgeon. I'm going to open a bottle of Billiot Rosé Champagne tonight with the BrooklynLady for Valentines Day and I love that wine. I don't hate everything. Happy Valentines Day to you all.

Silver Burgundy Roudup - WBW #39

There are lots of things that I like about this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday. There were many new participants - some newer bloggers, and also some established bloggers jumped into the WBW fray for the first time this month. I enjoyed reading your reactions to the wines of the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais, particularly from the folks who were first trying these wines, and having a good time doing so.

Not everyone loved wine they tasted, but on the whole the experience was clearly a positive one. Many delicious wines were identified, most of them under $25. Some are surprisingly inexpensive. Before getting into the specifics, here are a few things that jump out at me when looking at our notes as a whole:

• 9 out of the 14 reds tasted were from the 2005 vintage, a ripe and glorious year. But maybe the tannins in these wines have not yet begun to resolve, and the wines do not yet show balance. Some folks found their 05 red to be a bit young.
  

• Vieille Vignes (old vines) seems to have a big impact in the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais. By this I mean that the wines designated as Vieille Vignes tended to truly be a step up from their "regular" counterparts, and were almost universally well reviewed. This is probably true in most wine regions, but maybe not…a topic for a future WBW?

• 1er Cru wines were no more successful according to our tasters than village or regional wines. As I keep hearing (and learning for myself) about Burgundy - it's all about the producer. Vintage matters, so does the level of wine, but it all comes down to the producer. A good producer makes good wine...period. Grand Cru wine from a poor producer might not be as good as a regional Bourgogne made by a great producer.

So now to a summary, and then the bloggers and the wines.

WBW #39 - Wines of the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais

Participants: 36
Wines reviewed: 52
Mâconnais wines: 33
Côte Chalonnaise wines: 18
Côte d'Or wines (whoops, a la Dr. Vino): 1
Whites: 38 (30 from the Mâconnais)
Reds: 14 (12 were from the Côte Chalonnaise)
Most Common Vintage: 25 wines from 2005
Youngest Wine: 2007
Oldest Wine: 1996
Level of wines: 6 1er Cru wines; 32 Village wines; 14 Regional wines
Most Common Village: 7 wines from Mercurey
Most Common Mâcon Village: 4 wines from Viré-Clessé
Number of Mâcon villages represented: 11
Total Number of villages in the Mâcon with the right to appellation: 43
Most Common Producer: André Bonhommie, Comte Lafon, and Jean Manciat
Most Common Pricing: 31 wines were between $16-25
Least Expensive Wine: $3.99 (no lie, pal)
Most Expensive Wine: ask Dr. Weingolb
Tasting wine: Priceless
Number of Bloggers who Tasted Wine While Actually in the Mâconnais: 1
Number of You Wishing That I Just Get on with the Round Up: get over it

And in no particular order other than whites first...

Bert of the Wine Terroirs blog visits Guy Blanchard in Mercy, Mâconnais and tastes through a wide lineup of whites, including the very young 2007s. In this post you can see photos of the cellar, the producer petting his cat, the producer looking like Vincent Price, and most importantly, an amazing photo where you can literally see the difference between organically and non-organically farmed vineyards. This is Bert's first time participating in WBW, but he is a prolific blogger. Hopefully he will be back for more.

Lyle Fass of Rockss and Fruit also participates for the first time, writing about a Tres Vieille Vignes 2005 Mâcon Bussieres by Eric Texier. These are 100 year old vines (!!!) and at under $25 a bottle, Lyle says the wine is glorious, using the highly descriptive and evocative notes that he always manages to bring to the table.

David of McDuff's Food and Wine Trail reaches into his cellar for a couple of 2002's by one of his favorite producers, André Bonhomme. He tastes a Viré-Clessé and a Vieille Vignes Viré-Clessé and finds them both to be excellent, but the VV wine is deeper, bearing some resemblance to a Meursault. Want to really learn something about Viré-Clessé, a great producer in the Mâconnais, or about wine in general - check this out.

Eddie of Oeno Not Another Wine Blog, another first time participant, also tasted a wine by André Bonhomme, a 2004 Viré-Clessé. Eddie says he is still learning to trust his nose and palate, and he’s not ashamed to say that he had trouble identifying the aromas and flavors. But he liked the wine, which is a good thing. I’m sure we’ll see more of him.

Katherine at Purple Liquid also tasted a wine from Viré-Clessé, this one made by a larger négociant house. She enjoyed the 2005 Maison Chanson Viré-Clessé, and offers up a nice recipe for poached fish to go with it.

Andrea, the Wine Scamp, tasted a couple of whites and gave them both rave reviews. We're talking about an 05 Michel Cheveau Mâcon-Solutré-Pouilly (on which some jerk scooped her) and an 06 Chateau de la Greffiere Mâcon La Roche Vineuse Vieille Vignes. At $14 somewhere in the middle of Texas, this old vines wine might be the best value of the event. Okay, so it didn't pair well with her Brie and hazelnuts, but it sounds like excellent wine. It inspired the Scamp to share some great notes and ideas about cool weather and white wine - check it out.

Jeff at Indiscriminate Ideas writes about all sorts of stuff, from philosophy to food, and now, to wine. This is his first time participating in WBW and he appreciates our collective gentle touch. He found what sounds like one heck of a bottle, the 2005 Domaine Alain Normand Mâcon La Roche-Vineuse, and at $17 he says it's "worth every penny."

Joe at Joe's Wine and and Erika at StrumErika both tasted the same Bourgogne wine by A & P Villaine. Villaine is the wine maker at a little Domaine called Romanee Conti, maybe you've heard of it. This is a case where a good producer can make regional wine that rivals or exceeds "higher level" wine by other producers. Joe really liked the wine, a 2005. Erika wasn't so sure about the 2003 she drank. It was a hot hot hot year with low low low acidity...

Three people tasted wines made by the venerable Comte Lafon, a Domaine based in Meursault in the Côte d’Or. Lafon’s Montrachet and Meursault sell for LOTS of money, and are some of the more sought after wines in Burgundy. So when Lafon bought land in the Mâconnais, people rightly took it as a sign of the potential quality of the terroir.

John, the Corkdork, tasted a 2003 Comte Lafon Mâcon Milly Lamartine, and he highly recommends it, and also trying Lafon's Mâconnais wines in general. Edward, the Wino Sapien tasted the same wine from the 2004 vintage, and thought it was excellent. He had to shell out quite a few Australian dollars for the bottle, but it sounds like he got a good value.

Mike from Wicker Parker, another first time participant, also tasted the 2004. It got its third excellent review. Mike didn’t stop there though, the first wine was way too good. He also tasted two reds, both by François Raquillet, both from Mercurey: a 2004 1er Cru and a 2005 Vieille Vignes. He says the 05 VV was opened too early, but he calls it a definite rebuy that should be great down the line. And his notes on the 04 1er Cru speak for themselves - take a look.

Sonadora at Wannabe Wino tasted the 2005 Jean Manciat Mâcon-Charnay. This was her first foray into the wines of the Mâconnais and she really liked it! "A definite rebuy," she says. And this is a $16 bottle. I like her taste – Manciat is awesome.

Doug from The Inquiring Vine tasted the same Manciat wine, but his sinuses were acting up, so he leaves it to Sonadora to talk about how good it is. He tasted the 2004 Mâcon-Chaintré for good measure and liked it, but almost mistook it for a Soave.

Brooklynguy (me – your host) also tasted a Manciat wine, the 2005 Mâcon-Charnay Vieille Vignes. It is a great wine, so distinctive and satisfying, with so much development yet to come. And it cost me all of $20. I like the "regular" version of this wine very much, but the VV is a whole different ballgame.

Lenn had some trouble finding a wine, so his patient wife Nena grabbed a bottle for him, a 2004 Mâcon regional white for under $15 made by, in what is surely the second best producer name of this event, La Mere Boitier (the drinking mother?). Lenn found the wine to be interesting aromatically, but overall thought it was nothing special. Nena liked it though so Lenn is now the proud owner of 2 cases.

Dr. Vino also tasted a regional wine, an Aligoté, the other white grape of Burgundy. Whoops – this wine turns out to be made from vines near Meursault. Just goes to show you that French wine labels can be tough to decipher – even the most experienced among us can end up in Meursault when looking for the Côte Chalonnaise. No matter, Tyler enjoyed the wine. And for good measure, he tasted a 1er Cru Mercurey that he liked also.

Jack and Joanne at the esteemed food and wine website Fork and Bottle also tasted a regional white, and it seems as though they found a real winner. At about $18, the Domaine Guillemeot-Michel Quintaine “is a no-brainer at a restaurant,” and “a definite rebuy.” As always, their tasting notes give you a great sense of what to expect from the wine. And for good measure, Jack and Joanne also tasted a red from Vincent Dureuil-Janthial, a rising star in the Côte Chalonnaise. The 2005 Rully 1er Cru Vieille Vignes was full of promise, but was not yet ready to fully strut its stuff.

Speaking of Rully, Daniel at Red Wine With Fish tasted one too. He recommends the 2005 Domaine de la Folie Rully, and successfully paired it with pork chops and braised apples, but thinks it might need more bottle age.

Dave, the WineBaer tasted the 2005 Domaine Jaeger Defaix Rully and was intrigued, but ultimately the wine did not show very well. He also tasted a red wine, one from what must be the newest appellation in France, the Côte de Coucherais. Situated just to the northwest of the Côte Chalonnaise, these wines are all Pinot all the time. But sadly, the 2005 Les Champs de l'Abbaye Couchois was not all that impressive either, and since the WineBaer spent about 50 smacks on these wines, he feels a bit shortchanged. I hear that. Hopefully he will find a Silver Burgundy wine that he likes, maybe even at less money.

Farley at Behind the Vines found a wine from a reputable producer for $3.99. That’s right folks, $3.99. The fact that she bought it from a recently fired sommelier in the back alley behind the restaurant is irrelevant. The wine, a 2001 Faiveley Montagny, was probably past its prime. So she tasted a 2005 red from Givry made by Michel Sarrazin, and she liked that one much more. By the way, Farley has two more bottles of the Faiveley, and they’re yours for the bargain basement price of $2.99. Meet her behind the restaurant…

Dr. Debs at Good Wine Under $20 helped Farley find her Givry, and she found a nice little wine for herself too, the 2004 Domaine Larochette-Manciat Mâcon-Vinzelles, at under $20 of course. She liked her wine a lot, and was fascinated by the lack of fruit. Minerals, yes. Nuts, yes. Live electrical wire after a storm, yes.

Andrew at RougeAndBlanc tasted two wines - a 2005 Domaine Thomas St Véran and a red Givry, the 2003 Chofflet-Valdenaire. He found them both to be quite nice, if not terrible complex. He also offers the recipe for one of the dishes he paired with the wines, Steamed Chicken with Tiger Lily and fungus. Worth a peek, no?

Bill at the Wine for Newbies Podcast also tasted a St Véran, the 2004 Domaine de la Croix Senaillet. He rather enjoyed it, and at about $15 says it has excellent QPR.

Tim of Cheap Wine Ratings rummaged through his cellar and found two wines for this event. He thought the 2005 Caves de Lugny Mâcon-Lugny Les Charmes was fine at $13, but not a rebuy. He would rebuy the Domaine Michel Goubard & Fils Mont Avril Bourgogne at $17 though. He thought this one was fantastic - mushrooms, cigars, cherries - it's in there!

Mariëlla from Wijnkronieken, a Dutch Blog, was somehow the only person to sample a Pouilly-Fuissé, what I thought was a more popular area of the Mâconnais. She enjoys the2004 Domaine de la Collonge, and notes how different it is from a California wine she tasted. Kathleen at Wine and Stories from the Vineyard tasted a Latour Macon-Lugny Les Genievres and found that same contrast.

Garry from Tales of a Sommelier tasted our oldest wine, a 1996 JM Boillot Givry. He enjoys it and calls it a good deal off the winelist at £33 (2.5 million US dollars), although he notes that it is old, and one in three bottles is lost.

New participant DJR-S at Sangre y Pajas en Flor: Vinomadic? Because. (yeah, I'd like him to explain the name also) in Puerto Rico tasted three old wines and finds some beauty, reluctant beauty maybe, but beauty nonetheless in all three. DJR-S is a poet who loves wine. Check out this description of one of the wines: "The white Mercurey has blossomed into an amazing tightrope act of earth & oxidative notes, giving it a caramelized orange rind & apple throughline that matches a light, lingering citrus blossom nose-- with some mushroom underpinning that balances the midpalate at a near-impossible point between astringent & unctuous.

Tim at Winecast tasted the 2003 Faiveley Mercurey, and says it's a very good value at about $20. He thinks it could go a few more years in the bottle and continue to improve. Check out his notes and his podcast.

Marcus at Doktor Weingolb really went all out - he spent some serious clams on his wine, the 2004 Domaine Francois Lumpp Givry 1er Cru Crausot. And the sad part is, he was really disappointed. He gives the wine only two Lumpps. But his post is as engaging as ever.

Jeff at The Good Grape was the victim of wine-salesperson-rage and was forced to grab a random bottle and flee his local shop. His wine, the 2005 Matthiew di Brully Mercurey “La Perriere” was not at all to his liking, but he will try again another day.

Diane at Wine Lover's Journal, another first time participant, tasted a 2005 Chateau de la Tour de L'Ange, a red from the Mâconnais, and enjoyed it with mild cheese.

Dale at Drinks Are On Me, another first time participant, says the Gerard et Laurent Parize Grand Vin de Bourgogne Givry 1er Cru is a killer wine, and highly recommends it at about $25.

Serge the Concierge was not able to actually taste a wine for WBW, but he describes a producer he admires - Maison Jaques Depagneux.

And last but not least, Wilf from Wilf's Wine Press uses the occasion of WBW to remember the horrors of war (no, I'm not kidding).

Sorry for the delay in posting the roundup, and thanks again for having me as your host.

Silver Burgundy Dinner - WBW 39 Preview

Wine Blogging Wednesday is now only a week away now. Many people (I hope) will be tasting the affordable and interesting wines of the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais, and will share their thoughts in blog posts and emails, and I will gather and post them here. As a little preview, I want to share a bit about three interesting Silver Burgundy wines that we sampled with dinner the other night.

Thévenet is a pretty famous name in the Mâconnais. Thévenets have been growing grapes and making wine for four generations, and sometimes coming into conflict with the local governing body while doing so. One story I heard is that when the two villages Viré and Clessé in the north of the Mâconnais were granted joint appellation status, this new appellation Viré-Clessé included among its rules that wines can have extremely little residual sugar. There are all sorts of seemingly arbitrary rules for wine in France, so this is just another one right?

But it is not arbitrary at all, as it turns out. Apparently this rule prevents Jean-Claude Thévenet, at Domaine de la Bongran, from using Viré-Clessé appellation status for his magnificent sweet wines, a sought-after and highly regarded wine. Instead they are called Mâcon-Clessé Cuvee Botrytis du 04 Octobre, for example, if that was the date the grapes were picked. Did they make this rule only to exclude this wine, and if so, why? Who knows the politics of the area. But clearly the name Thévenet is an important and provocative one in the Mâconnais.

Jean-Claude is the third generation vigneron and his impressive stable of Chardonnay wines includes St Veran, a Mâcon-Pierreclos, and several other village wines, some under the name Domaine de la Bongran. Thévenet makes a sparkling wine too, a Blanc de Blancs (a sparkling wine made entirely of white grapes, usually Chardonnay).

We enjoyed the NV Jean-Claude Thévenet Blanc de Blancs, ($20 at Astor Wines) as an aperitif, and then with a salad that included fresh sorrel, radiccio, golden beets, and fresh goat cheese. Good thing too about the sorrel, as its intense lemony flavor was a good foil for the wine. When we first opened the wine, BrooklynLady was the one to break the silence - "it smells like a ripe barnyard," she said. And this was an understatement. This wine was all about the poop smell. And it never really blew off. It was tamed a bit with 15 minutes of air, joined by strong sea air and focused lemon aromas, that carried over onto the intensely, almost painfully mineral palate.

I will be honest here - I did not like this wine during our dinner, or afterwards when I snuck in another taste. But the leftover third of a bottle the next day...BEAUTIFUL. So weird when that happens, but this wine just needed lots of exposure to oxygen I suppose. Maybe it was aged in a completely reductive environment (hence the poop smell). Turns out that I've thought a lot about this wine since finishing it, and I think I must have it again.

We had another Mâconnais white with our main course, seared sea scallops with kale custard and watermelon radishes. This was the 2004 Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé, ($20 at Chambers Street Wines) made by Jean-Claude's son Gautier. This wine was a stunner from beginning to end. The color was deep golden yellow, like a sweet wine. I decanted it about four hours before serving following David Lillie's (co-owner of Chambers Street Wines) advice. David says that the wine ferments for a year, and this provides great complexity. It was fat and rich, full of floral perfume when I first opened it. Very exciting! But it's personality completely changed when we had it with dinner several hours later. Still rich and mouth coating, but now so dry and mineral that it almost hurt. There are floral notes on the nose, a bit of lemon peel, but this is wet rocks and quinine, and this is the dominant flavor on the palate too. Very focused and angular, with lemony and quinine mouth aromas after swallowing. This was really good with the scallops and kale custard. BrooklynLady's favorite of the evening.

We popped and poured a mature Pinot Noir with our cheese course, the 1998 Hugues et Yves de Suremain Mercurey 1er Cru La Bondue, ($19, Chambers Street Wines). 1998 was a year that produced a lighter style of wines in Burgundy. It is always a treat to taste a mature Burgundy, and this was certainly no exception. To my taste, it perfectly complimented our cheeses, expecially the pungeant (read: stinky) Pont L'Eveque. The color was light rose red with no signs of rustiness. At first the nose was a bit sea-weedy, with something like rotting garbage. This toned down with a few minutes of air and the nose grew to include enticing cooked cherries and orange pith with hints of prune, mint, and toffee. Ah, the complexity of a mature Burgundy! And for under $20 - is this some sort of a joke?!? The palate was light but quite intense, echoing the nose. Broad and mouth coating, and the tannins do not seem to have fully resolved yet - this could even go a bit longer. Why bother though - it's drinking beautifully now and it's wise and gracious in its old age.

Think of this: I paid less than $60 before taxes (and before case discount) for these wines, three interesting and high quality wines of character and substance, each offering lots of pleasure. And this is Burgundy folks, where one bottle can easily cost $60. But this is Silver Burgundy, and hence the savings. I hope this whets your appetite, and that you will get it in gear and participate in WBW #39.

WBW # 39 Announced - Silver Burgundy

What do you think of when you hear "Burgundy?"

I think of endlessly beguiling and beautiful Pinot Noir, and also of Chardonnay - crystalline, tense, and rich. I think of Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romaneé, Gevrey-Chambertin, and the storied villages of the Côte de Nuits, and also of Puligny, Meursault, Volnay, and the other superstars of the Côte de Beaune.

Then I come back to planet Earth, where I cannot often afford to indulge in the wines of the Côte d'Or, the Gold Coast. There are a few in my cellar, and I agonize over opening them because they are so special and so dear in price. For many of us, these are not everyday wines.

What if you want beautiful Burgundian wine, but you're not in the mood to agonize? What if you're spending about $12-25 per bottle? Is this even possible?

That was just a rhetorical question, as the answer is most emphatically YES. There is great Burgundy wine to be had at those prices, and a great place to start is outside of the Gold Coast, a bit further south in what I like to think of as Silver Burgundy. The Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais are two regions where excellent wines and reasonable, sometimes downright cheap prices can be found. And this is the theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday #39 - taste a bottle(s) of Silver Burgundy, wine from either the Côte Chalonnaise or the Mâconnais.

Some of you are wondering "well why did Brooklynguy exclude Chablis and Beaujolais from his Silver Burgundy thing?" Here's why: Chablis is unique, and probably deserves its own WBW event. Whereas whites from the Côte Chalonnaise or the Mâconnais tend to be similar in style to the Côte d'Or, Chablis is really doing its own thing with Chardonnay. And Beaujolais...well Beaujolais definitely deserves its own WBW, and it's been getting some blogging attention lately already. If Chablis and Beaujolais are open game then there's just too much to choose from. This way, we're going to develop an extensive set of tasting notes and experiences with a specific set of interesting and affordable wines. So I'm sticking with the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais. Don't worry, you're gonna love it. And if you don't, talk to Lenn - he's the one who allowed me to host.

Okay, so here's some info about the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais. The grapes are the same as they are in the Côte d'Or - overwhelmingly but not always Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. And as in the Côte d'Or, there are several levels of wine based on the status of the vineyard, from basic Bourgogne (grapes from anywhere in the region), to village level (grapes from vineyards that are entitled to "village status" in that village), to 1er Cru (grapes from 1er Cru status vineyards that supposedly make wines that are consistently superior to their village and regional comrades). There are no vineyards with Grand Cru status in either the Côte Chalonnaise or the Mâconnais, and there are no vineyards with 1er Cru status in the Mâconnais.

Many people feel that the Côte Chalonnaise is better for red wines, and the Mâconnais is better for whites. That is only a general rule though, and there are certainly exceptions.

In the Côte Chalonnaise "entry level," or regional wines carry the name Bourgogne or sometimes Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise on the label. Regional wines in the Mâconnais are called Bourgogne, but can also be called Mâcon, Mâcon-Villages, or Mâcon-Supérieur. These wines should be quite inexpensive and depending on the producer and to a lesser degree the vintage, can be of surprisingly high quality.

There are five village appellations in the Côte Chalonnaise - Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry, and Montagny, and village level wines will carry one of those names on the label. Bouzeron, created in 1979 and the youngest of the appellations, is only for Aligoté. This is the grape traditionally used to make a Kir, the delicious aperitif in which a little bit of cassis liquor is put in a wine glass and then filled with Aligoté. But some of the whites of Bouzeron are far too good to "waste" on a Kir. Montagny is the other all-white-wine appellation of the Côte Chalonnaise, and its Chardonnay can be every bit as complex and exciting as those from its more famous northern neighbors in the Gold Coast.

Rully is just south of Bouzeron and produces reds and whites made of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Mercurey is probably the rock star of the Côte Chalonnaise. Its reds are indeed powerful and complex, and if you're not careful they might trash your hotel room. There are also excellent reds to be found in Gevrey. These three appellations, Rully, Mercurey, and Givry have 1er Cru status vineyards.

Village level wines In the Mâconnais are usually called Mâcon-something or other - the something or other is the name of the specific village. Like Mâcon-Charnay or Mâcon-Lugny. A few village wines are called Pouilly-something or other, like Pouilly-Fuissé. There are also village wines from St. Veran and Viré-Clessé, in the far north of the region. As you may have guessed, there are way more than five village appellations in the Mâconnais. In fact, there are 43 villages with their own appellation. There are great white wines hiding in these villages that might set you back, maybe $15.

Here are two more places to read more about the Côte Chalonnaise or the Mâconnais:

Eric Asimov's tasting panel recently tasted a load of 2005 Mâconnais whites.

The Wine Doctor, as usual, offers a great guide to the region, and some suggestions on producers to look for. He sadly calls his guide "Chablis and the Lesser Regions," but that's all relative - lesser than the Grand Crus of Musigny, yes. But excellent wines nonetheless.

Okay, so you have more than four weeks from today - go out and taste some wine(s) from either the Côte Chalonnaise or the Mâconnais, write up your post, and then email me at the address in my profile on or not much later than Wednesday November 14th with the link to your blog and to your post. Not a blogger but want to play WBW #39 anyway? Well email me your notes and I will post them too. Big shot wine writer, but want to get in your two cents? Well c'mon in - the water's warm and no one will think any less of you - quite the contrary.