Weekly wine update: Burgundy

Burgundy is one of the great French wines, and today's lecture focused on it. I learned two things from today's lecture. First, Burgundy labels are really confusing, and, second, Burgundies are expensive. Burgundy is renowned for both its red and white varieties. The reds are made from pinot noir (except in Beaujolais, where Gamay is used instead), and the whites are made from Chardonnay.

We started with a simple Chablis, which was crisp and refreshing. It was completely unoaked. Next, we had a 1er cru white Burgundy. It was lightly oaked, but just served to convince me that no, I don't like Chardonnay. We had the Beaujolais next. It was light with strong fruit flavors, but I just didn't like it that much. We had a village-level red Burgundy next. It was closed, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed pinot noir from Long Island or California. Finally, we tasted a premier cru Burgundy, and it was truly enjoyable, but at $24/bottle (and probably the cheapest of its kind), it's a little pricey. The Rhone Valley was squeezed into the end of the lecture, and we tried one relatively inexpensive wine from the southern part of the region. I felt it wasn't as good as some other Rhone Valley wines I've tried, but it was also $11/bottle, a good deal.

Next week is spring break. The following, we'll be studying the "brave new world" of wines--Australia, New Zealand, and South America.