A Burgundy showcase

Jan 18 2008 by Helen Savage, The Journal

THERE’S something decidedly sexy about good red Burgundy. Its rich red colour has an invitingly luminous quality; it smells of softly ripe red fruits, with a hint of spice and the subtle bouquet of violets; and then it slides down with a silky, seductive texture and the grown-up flavour of morello cherries in alcohol.

If I were stuck on a desert island with just one bottle of wine for comfort, it would have to be red Burgundy.

I’m not alone in using purple prose to describe Burgundy wine. The locals do it even better, as I was reminded when I interviewed Pierre-Henry Gagey, the president of the Burgundy wine growers (BIVB) and president also of one of the truly great Burgundian houses – Louis Jadot. “The 2006 vintage has produced pure, elegant, very beautiful, emotional wine,” he told me. “It has a wonderful perfume, even though it doesn’t quite have the density of the 2005 vintage.”

I met Monsieur Gagey at the annual Burgundy trade tasting in the UK. For the first time, it was held at Lord’s cricket ground. Representatives from over 100 leading Burgundy estates arrived well-armed with samples, and almost as many quips about the incomprehensible nature of cricket, (though some seemed slightly disappointed not to see any play in progress).

The UK is Burgundy’s biggest export market and the January tasting provides the growers with an invaluable opportunity to showcase their wines. For many people in the British trade, it’s an equally welcome introduction to the latest vintage to be offered for sale. The top wines are aged for at least a year in small oak casks, and this was the first time I’d been able to sample the best 2006s.

The impression I get is that although Monsieur Gagey is right to point out that 2006 hasn’t the rich concentration of 2005, each wine, when well-made (as most were) really shows the character of the individual site where the grapes were grown. Soil texture, slope and altitude, as well as the weather during the growing season, all affect how the grapes ripen, and for me this variety is one of the great fascinations of Burgundy.

As Monsieur Gagey says: “In 2006, the wines show the tipicity of the terroir.”

Generally speaking the whites, which represent roughly two-thirds of the total production of the region, have a lovely clean balance between fruit and acidity. Chablis, for example, is just as it should be – crisp, reminiscent of ripe green apples and with lovely lingering minerality. The reds have juicy acidity and firm tannins, but no lack of fruit.

Monsieur Gagey is honest enough to admit that “in 2005 you had to be an idiot not to produce good wine.” In 2006 and 2007, the skills of the winemakers were given a much sterner test. The tasting at Lord’s showed that in 2006 at least, most estates passed with flying colours.

The UK market for Burgundy grew considerably in 2007, but Monsieur Gagey is looking to consolidate sales rather than go all out for further growth that might not be possible to sustain. “Now’s the time to stabilise our export markets. We can’t afford more growth.” (There might not be enough wine to satisfy demand – less wine was made in 2006 than 2005 and 2007 is another smallish vintage.)

“What we do want to do is to work more with restaurants and hotels, to help them choose the right glasses to show off our wines and to suggest the best dishes to partner them.”

This, says Monsieur Gagey “is ant’s work,” which I think means quite a long hard slog.

Despite Monsieur Gagey’s concerns about the need to stabilise the market, some smaller growers are still keen to squeeze in and get a slice of the action. Franck Buisson managed to sell some of his family firm’s superb white wine to Majestic last year (it’s my wine of the week), but he admitted to me that his main reason for coming to Lord’s was to find buyers for the rest of his range.

I first visited his winery in the pretty village of Saint-Romain over 20 years ago and fell in love with the carefully crafted wines from their 26 hectares of vines scattered in small plots across five or six different villages. I would dearly love to be able to buy them here. He was thrilled to sell to Majestic but realises that he’ll have to work hard to maintain his sales figures in what is a fiercely competitive market.

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Wine of the week

Saint Romain 'Sous la Velle' 2005, Majestic, £11.99

Classy white Burgundy with a clean smell of lemony fruit with a hint of peach and honey and a lingering, dry, lemony flavour. Superb with grilled fish.

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Wine Shorts

A DAY’S drive south of Burgundy, the pioneering Val d’Orbieu company is now the biggest producer of quality wine in the Languedoc.

Val d’Orbieu is a dynamic partnership of 15 co-operatives, which shows that big can sometimes be very beautiful indeed.

They have just launched two new wines in the UK, one a red, the other a rosé, but both a blend of Syrah and Grenache grapes. They are great value at the normal price of £4.99 but irresistible at the special offer price of just £3.79 at the Co-op. The rosé is on offer this month, the red next month.

Duo Mythique Rosé 2006 is a pretty salmon colour with a vibrantly fruity smell of creamy raspberries and strawberries and a dry but equally up-front fruity taste.

Duo Mythique Red 2006 is juicy, ripe and packed with soft blackcurrant and cherry fruit.