Wine from Bourgogne Part II

Back in November, I wrote about our wonderful trip to Bourgogne in 2010 to do some wine tasting and about our visit to Louis Jadot. I also wrote that the 2010 vintage was reported to be very good (that was certainly our experience even then, tasting wine still in the barrels) and that the bottles were not available when I was there in October of 2012. They are out now, and here in our local wine store in the US, they are VERY expensive, which goes to show that good vintage years are expensive, even in the early release years. I was determined to find a wine store in Paris where I could buy a couple of bottles of the Louis Jadot, for remembrance sake, but also to see if it was still as good as I remembered. I was hoping that if I bought it  in France, it would also be a more reasonable price. So of course the first thing to do was to go online to the Louis Jadot site and see where in Paris their wines are sold. I found a GREAT store- Cave Bossetti at 34 Rue des Archives in the 4th arrondisement. Their website is www.caves-bossetti.fr/. I went with a girlfriend and the first thing we noticed on walking in was that there was an informal wine tasting going on. Everyone was very friendly (maybe slightly assisted by the free flow of wine) and the man that helped us was very knowledgable and helped us understand the various vineyards and offerings. They had the largest selection of Burgundies that I’d seen in Paris.

Interestingly, the prices were definitely still higher than I would have expected for such a “young” vintage, but they were much more reasonable than in the US. Also, what you start to learn about the Burgundy vineyards is that the price varies enormously by the vineyard as well as the price variance you’d expect based on whether it’s a “village,” a “Premier Cru” or a “Grand Cru”. The rating system in Bourgogne is based on the “terroir,” specifically the dirt that the grapes are grown in, and each plot of land is given its designation, so the grapes of that particular plot of land are ALWAYS given the same designation. The “Grand Cru” wines, which is the highest designation, are usually grown on the middle and upper slopes, known to have the best sun exposure and best drainage, the “Premier Cru” from the slightly less well-placed areas, and finally the “village” are generally from the flat areas near the villages.  Any and all of these levels of wine can be absolutely delicious, so don’t turn your nose up at a “village.”

Anyway, we had a long talk with our new best friend at Cave Bossetti and I ended up buying a couple of bottles of Louis Jadot and also a couple of other 2010 bottles on his recommendation. One was from Vosne-Romanee, one of the best known and most expensive vineyards, but this bottle was, in his words, the “most economic” (cheapest) bottle I would be likely to find of the Vosne-Romanee vineyard (shown below). It was 31 euros. The other was from an area called “Irancy” (also shown below) and he said that Irancy doesn’t have any “Premier Cru” designated vineyards, but if they did, this one, from “Palotte” would be it. I will let you know if he was accurate in his description after I try it!