Burgundy is known in France to be the rival of Bordeaux wines. Burgundy wines offer a completely different range of aromas, which makes it appropriate to sometimes even drink Bordeaux and Burgundy wines during a same meal, over different courses!
The dominant grape variety there is Pinot Noir.
Pinot noir
One of the noblest red wine grapes. Pinot noir is difficult to grow, rarely blended, with no roughness.
Food pairings: excellent with grilled salmon, chicken, lamb and Japanese dishes (notably sushi rolls).
Districts: makes the great reds of Burgundy (from Bourgogne, France), and good wines from Austria, California, Oregon, and New Zealand.
Typical taste in varietal wine: very unlike Cabernet Sauvignon. The structure is delicate and fresh. The tannins are very soft; this is related to the low level of polyphenols. The aromatics are very fruity (cherry, strawberry, plum), often with notes of tea-leaf, damp earth, or worn leather.
Yet Pinot noir is very transparent to the place where it is grown. The staggering range of wines produced makes it pointless to define which personality is the best expression of the variety.
Just like in Bordeaux, Burgundy also has its sub-regions and famous labels.
1) Cote de Nuits (Famous cities: Nuits Saint Georges, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanee)
2) Cote de Beaune (Famous cities: Pommard, Volnay, Meursault (more on white wines))
3) Cote Chalonnaise (Famous cities: Mercurey)
Puligny Montrachet, Pommard, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanee, these are the names of a few villages where every inhabitant has a vineyard. The whole region lives around this one and unique activity: making sure next year’s production will be the best.
The general atmosphere is more down-on-earth than in Bordeaux, in my opinion, where there is not so much of a pretention to be the best in the world, but rather the passion and hardworking of a people who loves their soil.
There is no classification of Grand Cru wines as there is in Bordeaux, so it does make it more difficult to understand which Chateau is the best. Or rather, there is, but it is not as codified and official as the Bordeaux classification. On the other hand, wines are much more affordable, and much more drinkable for the non-educated palate, as Pinot Noir is much lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon, yet still complex in its flavours.
