Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [68]
“Funky,” I answered. “Where can I get a glass?” We became fast friends. “Funk” is neither a technical nor trade term, but it is my word for classic Burgundy’s greatest virtue.
And funk is what most of Burgundy’s varietal emulators are missing. They often compensate with fruit intensity, which is seductive in its own way. Think back to our Old World versus New World Chardonnay and Pinot Noir comparisons. You may even wish to repeat them, as they illustrated the fundamental difference between varietal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and their Burgundy benchmarks. The varietals express what they are, as in the grape; the Burgundies express where they come from. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. Not that winemakers aren’t trying. They continue to seek the right combination of vineyard and grape to achieve a similar singularity in their wines, and I have every reason to believe they will succeed. Burgundy is several centuries ahead of the aspiring winemakers and regions in terms of doing just that. In fact, the first Burgundy winemakers were monks, whose approach to winemaking was very detailed. They were the first to observe and exploit the subtle differences in vineyard sites, laying the groundwork for what is planted where in Burgundy today and for the Village, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru vineyard rankings. If you visit Burgundy’s famous walled vineyard, the Clos de Vougeot (Cloe duh Voo-JHOE—clos means enclosure), you can still see one of their ancient and enormous wooden grape presses inside the castle. It is fabulous.
The Rest of Burgundy
Even without her jewels, the classic wines of Chablis and the Côte d’Or, Burgundy is a soulful beauty, offering some delicious selections, and excellent values, from other parts of the region—the group of wines that I call the rest of Burgundy. These are the regions and wines that are the most affordable in stores and restaurants because they are made in greater quantities and are grown in areas that, though less prestigious than the classic zones, have both good quality potential and more acreage.
Compared to their classic cousins, both reds and whites are usually less full-bodied and less complex. Some professional tasters say they are more “rustic” in style and taste, versus the classics’ more “refined” style. This is an obscure description to try to understand unless you taste the wines a lot. A good analogy might be a country biscuit versus a croissant. Both are good, but they are quite different, and the description of rustic versus refined makes some sense. One thing to keep in mind is that the rustic wine (and the biscuit) has less ambitious aspirations than its refined counterpart, because it doesn’t have that classic reputation to uphold. Finally, these districts are generally considered to be less distinctive and expressive of a particular earthiness or terroir. Here are two of the “rest of Burgundy” key areas to look for. (The third, Burgundy’s cheap-but-good Beaujolais zone, will be covered separately because it uses a different grape.)
Mâconnais Although you may not have heard of this zone, you have probably heard of its most famous wine appellations. In ascending order of quality they are Mâcon-Villages (Mah-COHN Vee-LAHJH), St. Veran (Saint Veh-RAHN), and Pouilly-Fuissé (Poo-YEE Fwee-SAY). All are light- to medium-bodied Chardonnay whites, usually with little if any oak aging. I love selling them in restaurants because they are major crowd-pleasers and are very food-versatile. With a few exceptions, I think the first two offer better value for the money. With the extra notoriety of the Pouilly-Fuissé name,