Burgundy wine, a supreme choice

People who know me and share my interest in wine know that, if I was forced to choose one red and one white wine as the single best choice in the world - no, don't try and be clever, champagne is not included - on both counts I would nominate wines from Burgundy. Since 1985, when I first visited the Burgundy area on wine business, I have been in love with this amazing, quirky, singular area and its unique, wonderful wines.

I was reminded of this the other day when, thanks to the generosity of YT, whom you know well by now, dear reader, we were privileged to taste a red burgundy from 1999, an ordinary (village) Gevrey Chambertin "Coeur de Roy" by noted producer Bernard Dugat-Py served from a magnum. This supposed ordinary wine was an absolute stunner, coming as it does from a small producer focussed on quality; the vines for this are extremely old, some nearly a century, and the production is tiny, up to about five thousand bottles each vintage. The result is a concentrated, dark, multi-layered wine punching way above the weight of a straight Gevrey Chambertin wine: a rich, complex, red fruit and spice explosion tempered with oak on the nose leading on to a palate full of ripe red fruit, medicinal spice and soft tannins all layered into a seductive, classy drink that was hugely impressive and pleasing. If all these sensations can emanate from a mere village wine - what on earth are their Grand Cru reds like?

May I quickly clarify that the heart of Burgundy, the bit producing the most splendid wines, is the area known as the Cote d'Or running south westwards from Dijon, with Gevrey Chambertin the first major wine village in the first part culminating in Beaune. This area, the Cote de Nuits, contains the most prominent of the red wine producing vineyards, though some decent white is also made. When you reach and pass the charming city of Beaune you are in the Cote de Beaune, primarily white wine country but with some lighter reds of immense delicacy and charm. Outside the Cote d'Or resides the more workmanlike Burgundy vineyard, less grand but still capable of producing taste sensations to astound.

Not all Burgundy wine is astounding, of course, and prices are high. This is an area that rewards perseverance, knowledge and love, an area of earthy people, small vineyards, limited production and limited grand style. Forget Bordeaux with its grand chateaux, aristocratic owners and moneyed lifestyle. There is money in Burgundy for sure, but it is far less obvious, and most owners are more passionate about their wine that the money they can make. But this tiny area of rolling hills, pretty villages and vineyards has a magic that exists nowhere else in the world in my opinion.

And the best wines need to be tasted to be believed, honestly!