Bourgogne Rouge
Learn more about Bourgogne Rouge
Bourgogne Rouge is the term used to apply to red wines from Burgundy that fall under the generic Bourgogne AOC, which can be produced by over 350 individual villages across the region. As with Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rosé, this is a very general appellation and thus is hard to pinpoint any specific characteristics of the wine as a whole, due to the huge variety of wines produced.
Around 4,600 acres of land across Burgundy are used to produce Bourgogne Rouge, which is around twice as much as is dedicated towards the production of generic whites.
Pinot Noir is the primary grape used in Bourgogne Rouge production, although Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and in Yonne, César grapes are all also permitted to make up the rest of the wine. These wines tend to be focused and acidic, with the fruit less cloying than in some New World wines also made from Pinot Noir, and they develop more floral notes as they age.
Although an entry-level wine, some Bourgogne Rouges can be exquisite depending on the area and producer, and yet at a very affordable price.
Prices:
Bottle
£16.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 362cs
Bottle
£16.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 203cs
Bottle
£17.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 169cs
Bottle
£21.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle
£22.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 50cs
Anne McHale MW - Wine Education Specialist
Bottle
£22.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 21cs
Bottle
£22.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
One of the brightest talents in the northern Côte de Nuits is Laurent Fournier who runs the estate which carries his father’s name, as well as being the man in charge of the dossier for defining some Premier Cru vineyards in Marsannay. We have been hugely impressed with his wines for several years and are now offering them En Primeur for the first time. There is a quality of fruit here which fully reflects the joys of the Côte de Nuits, yet at rather more affordable prices.
Bottle
£22.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
Bottle
£23.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 44cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
With prices in Burgundy still rising, even if often for understandable reasons, the appellations Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge are great places to look for affordable wines. You get the opportunity to drink wine from a top winemaker, from vines which are adjacent to the famous villages, and which will be accessible earlier. The 2005 Bourgognes Rouges are still delicious and youthful more than 10 years later, but most wines have been drinking well for a few years now.
Bottle
£28.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 15cs
Bottle
£28.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 18cs
86-89/100 Allen Meadows, burghound.com, Jan 2016
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 14cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Christian Sérafin is very happy with how 2013 worked out in the end, though yields were once again 25% below normal, even if a touch more than in 2012. The team removed rot and unripe bunches in the vineyard, then waited to pick until after the wet weekend which helped both sugar and acidity.
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 18cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
The Sérafins (Christian, his daughter Karine and niece Frédérique) do not rack their wines before bottling, having separated out all but the fine lees after the fermentation. Such is the concentration of the fruit in these wines that they can easily handle the new barrels in which they are being matured. The Sérafins take particular care to apportion particular forests and coopers to different cuvées. Overall, their crop is down by 30% in 2012.
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 18cs
Bottle
£36.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle
£46.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 10cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
2010 is the first vintage to be made in the new cuvérie at this domaine, but it will be the last that is vinified by Sylvain Cathiard himself, he is handing over responsibility to his son Sébastien in 2011. The harvest began on 25th September with volumes just a little down compared to previous years, but as ever, Sylvain and his son have produced a most seductive range of wines.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Despite this being a very late season, Patrice compares 2013 to the fruit of early vintages such as 2007 and 2011, but with more stuffing. It also reminds him of 1980, a particularly successful vintage chez Rion. The 2013 crop is a small one though, a touch more than 2012 but less than 2011. They employed two sorting tables, and since the grapes which reached the vats were all healthy, they used less sulphur during vinification.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director
Christian Sérafin notes that 2011 was a surprising year, with results much better than expected. These are elegant wines even by Sérafins standards and since Frédérique, Christian’s niece, has been responsible for vinification, the wines have been showing a fresher style, with slightly suppler tannins. Christian is partly retired, though he still looks after his favourite Cazetiers vineyard, as well as conducting tastings in the cellars. There is a bit more volume available than in the 2010s.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
There is a marvellous sense of energy in Thibault Liger-Belairs 2010 wines, perhaps his finest vintage to date. This is a vintage where the wines express the characters of their terroirs very well. Thibault decided on a longer than usual vinification but with very little active extraction and fewer stems than in 2009. Where Thibault purchases grapes (Aloxe-Corton, Chambolle-Musigny) his team manages the vineyard work after the initial pruning.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Director
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director