Perrine Fenal and Aubert de Villaine, co-directors of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, at Corney & Barrow's offices in London. The photo of Perrine was taken at the tasting on 3 February, and the photo of Aubert, her uncle, was taken at the previous tasting, pre-pandemic, on 29 January 2020. (I didn't catch him in time last week.) Domaine de la Romanée Conti releases its wines en primeur a year after the rest of Burgundy, so the estate's 2019 wines got their first UK showing last

Cleverly branded corks – Château de Pommard is worked organically and biodynamically, as are many of the wines under the Famille Carabello-Baum label I wrote about the Carabello-Baum family and their purchase of Château de Pommard, here, together with tasting notes on seven of the 2018 whites and 2017 reds, so I'm confining myself in this post to four wines: three newly released 2019s that I recently tasted and talked about (on zoom) with winemaker Emmanuel Sala and owner Mic

£32.95, Waitrose In the absence of the assault course of Burgundy En Primeur tastings that I would have done by this point in a normal year (not that I'm complaining about them – I love Burgundy), I'm delighted to have a beauty of a red Beaune to recommend. It's Pinot Noir, but so much more than Pinot Noir, a wine for which the words perfume, silkiness, buoyancy, transparency and harmony could have been coined. Starting with delicate spice and sandalwood on the nose, it opens

Cork talk: is it an instruction? The strikingly branded corks used for all Château de Pommard and Carabello-Baum Burgundies However small, and the vineyards are tiny compared to the great châteaux and estates of Bordeaux, no parcel or domaine in Burgundy ever changes hands unnoticed. So, the sale of Château de Pommard and its 20-ha walled vineyard (clos) in 2014 was big news. Only four families had owned the domaine in nearly 300 years and Marey-Monge is the largest clos and

A hell of a vintage in both senses: a vintage of beautiful wines, or, as Aubert de Villaine, the domaine's co-owner and director puts it, "among the most perfect of these past few years"; but a growing season of often hellish conditions. January to May was the wettest on record, resulting in around 35 mildew attacks (treated biodynamically in the fleeting dry periods). In 2015 there were almost none. Worse was the frost at the end of April. It destroyed almost all the shoots

Eyes and palates have been focused on the 2017 white Burgundies being offered en primeur this month, and it's an excellent vintage in decent quantities, but it'll be a while before most are shipped, so I've tasted half a dozen of the The Wine Society's current wines, four 2016s and a Meursault from each of 2014 and 2013. Stored well, they can be drunk any time over the next fours years, or in the case of the Coche-Bizouard Premier Cru Meursault six or even seven years. Domain

£12.50, The Wine Society This is a stunning white Burgundy at the price and a great achievement for a first vintage in new hands. Fréderic Burrier, head of Maison Joseph Burrier and Château de Beauregard in Pouilly-Fuissé, bought Domaine de la Rochette only the year before. It's from 40–50 year old vines on a steep, limestone-rich clay slope on the sheltered southwest of Mont Sard and it was partly barrel-fermented and partly tank-fermented. The result is a wine combining fre

£17.95, Jeroboams This is one of a handful of wines Jeroboams launched under its own label for the first time this year. It's made in the Côte d'Or by the brothers Pascal and Laurent Borgeot of Domaine Borgeot in Remigny, a village of just four growers lying 4km south of Chassagne-Montrachet, and it's altogether satisfying and authentic. It's nutty and fresh on the nose, with notes of dried flowers and sweet almonds, and the palate is creamy and rounded with subtle lemon-peac

£13.69–£14.50, Penistone Wine Cellars, Just in Cases, TheDrinkShop.com, Sandhams Wine, Hailsham Cellars This is just the kind of thing I want from a Bourgogne Blanc at this price – softly yielding texture, lemon-curd fruit, a suggestion of nutty, spicy oak and a refreshing swish of grapefruit and green-apple acidity. Not deep pools of intensity, but balance, energy, roundness and bucket-loads of charm. 2014 was a very good vintage for white Burgundy, but even so it needs a se

Aubert de Villaine, director and co-proprietor of DRC, at Corney & Barrow's London HQ for the tasting The wines were tasted at Corney & Barrow in London on 2 February 2017. Aubert de Villaine, co-owner and director, was there and, in his modest, understated way, was looking happy, as well he might. The wines showed beautifully. 2014 is not a showy vintage and the growing season was no shoo-in, although it started well enough. In fact, it went very well until the end of June,

£14.99, or £12.99 in a 6-bottle mix, Majestic Seems odd that this is the first white Burgundy I’ve recommended here. I’ve homed in on Chardonnays from other regions but neglected it in its homeland. Time to put that right with the zingy candied-citrus fruit, rich buttery texture, walnut and vanilla flavours of Domaine Cordier’s Jean de la Vigne. Christophe Cordier could label this Mâcon-Villages instead of Bourgogne if he wished, but chooses not to because his wine has so muc

£16, Oddbins There are lots of misconceptions about red burgundy, two of the most glaring being that it’s a full-bodied wine and always costs an arm and a leg. The best red burgundies are fascinating and complex in flavour but never heavyweights. They can’t be cheap, not least because of the tiny quantities they’re made in, but there are alternatives to the hallowed names. From the right grower, burgundies bearing the simple Bourgogne designation can be beautifully pure and g

If you know where to look, there are plenty of wines with modest alcohol but bags of character and flavour Prompted by the UK government's new alcohol guidelines, I've looked through my recent tasting notes for wines that have low to moderate levels of alcohol, but which certainly don't fall short in the flavour and character stakes. The dry whites I'm recommending are all 12% abv, or lower, and the reds are 12.5% abv or lower, but bear in mind that EU labelling laws allow a

Whites to keep the show on the road this Christmas and New Year Wines listed in ascending order of price. I've given a UK stockist for each, but you can find other stockists in the UK and other countries on wine-searcher.com Tesco *finest Saint Mont 2014, France Mouthwatering, tangy lime and quince flavours. A brilliant, snappy fresh alternative to Sauvignon Blanc made from local grape varieties – mainly Gros Manseng – in Saint Mont, south west France. £5.50, Tesco Cimarosa M

Ten red wines to serve with the Christmas feast Wines listed in ascending order of price. I've given a UK stockist (or two) for each, but you can find other stockists in the UK and other countries on wine-searcher.com Cimarosa Carmenère 2012, Colchagua, Chile Crowd-pleasing, fresh, velvet-soft Carmenère with a typical, smoky, green-pepper edge to the blackberryish fruit. A match for turkey, but not up to goose. £6.99, Lidl Domaine Mas Barrau Cabernet Franc 2014, Pays du Gard,

Marine algae sprays, anti-hail nets, a secret vineyard… I was in Burgundy in June and some fascinating things emerged at visits to Louis Latour, a company whose tendrils reach unusual places. As well as being a domaine producer with 27ha of Grands Crus and a négociant with an outpost in the Ardèche, it owns Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis, Henri Fessy in Beaujolais and, rare in Europe, it has its own cooperage (I’ll revisit the latter in a future post). Back to sprays, nets and se