It was difficult to chose just ten of the many great bottles I’ve enjoyed this year, but these are some of the best, listen in no particular order. Reviewing thousands of young wines, I generally gravitate towards mature specimens when drinking for pleasure, and 2017 was gave me abundant opportunity to gratify that preference. What’s … More The best bottles of 2017
When uttered by a Burgundian, the words ‘my uncle used to say…’ often preface interesting insights into times past. In Emmanuel Rouget’s cellar, however, they carry particular weight, for at this address ‘le tonton’ refers to none other than the late Henri Jayer—no matter which generation is speaking. Burgundy’s most influential twentieth-century vigneron, who passed … More A tasting with Emmanuel Rouget
One of my favorite pastimes in Burgundy is tracking down mature wines. To my mind, older bottles offer incomparable insights into the character of the region’s terroirs and the families which translate them into wine. Their textural plenitude, aromatic complexity and sapid, gastronomic qualities are unrivaled. What’s more, I believe the great postwar vintages to … More Some mature Burgundies
Consider the wine list of a typical starred restaurant in London, New York or San Francisco. More likely than not, it’s a list that encompasses extraordinary geographic diversity, ranging widely across the old world and the new. Amidst the excitement of choosing, we seldom reflect that a wine list like this, a gazetteer of almost … More Wine & Culture
The wines of the Côte d’Or are becoming unaffordable. Village wines from the most sought-after domaines routinely retail for three-figure sums. It’s a problem felt particularly acutely by restaurants, so it’s not surprising that one man who’s bucking the trend is a restaurateur: Jean-Charles Fagot, the proprietor of one of my favourite places to eat … More A tasting with Jean-Charles Fagot
I began visiting Domaine Hubert Lignier as a graduate student, and Laurent Lignier has always been phenomenally generous with his time (and wine) ever since. So it was personally as well as professionally gratifying to discover that the Ligniers have produced some of the finest wines to be found in the Côte de Nuits in … More 2015 Burgundy: Domaine Hubert Lignier
Visiting Domaine Ramonet was always going to be something of a personal pilgrimage. Ramonet’s wines were among of the first white Burgundies to grab my attention, initiating a fascination which has only deepened over the years that followed. The domaine’s wines exhibit a rare amalgam of amplitude, depth and precision which always makes an arresting … More A visit to Domaine Ramonet
Domaine Dugat-Py in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin produces some of the most controversial wines in Burgundy. On the one hand, critical plaudits abound: one of a handful of Domaines awarded three stars in the Revue du Vin de France’s famous classement, the Dugat-Pys’ wines have long been lauded by Allen Meadows and a succession of … More The wines of Domaine Dugat-Py
Perhaps Meursault’s reputation as a rich wine, evocative of peaches and hazlenuts, was never more than a cliché; but for an inaccurate caricature its persistence is impressive. Tasting in the village this summer, vignerons assured me time and again that, though Meursault is often a ripe, ample wine, their intention was to produce something more … More What is Meursault?
Is there a more under-rated commune in the Côte de Nuits than Fixin? One of the many pleasures of spending a full two months in Burgundy in 2016 was the opportunity to dig a little deeper, and my discoveries in Fixin were among the most rewarding. One was the Domaine Berthaut—which is hardly news to … More Visit: Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
William Kelley 