Wine Blogging Wednesdays #39: Silver Burgundy

November 13th, 2007

wbw39.JPGThis week’s Wine Blogging Wednesday is put on by Brooklyn Guy, who challenged us to taste wines from less-hyped regions of Burgundy: the Cote Chalonnaise and the Maconnais. He added to the challenge by not only excluding Beaujolais and Chablis but also encouraging us to be frugal, to explore Burgundian wines at realistic price ranges. The Gold Coast wines, he says, are where the splurges are, but gems can be found in Silver Burgundy.

You’ll know you’re in the Cote Challonaise if your bottle carries the words of the village: Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry, and Montagny. Otherwise it will simply say Bourgogne Cote Challonaise if it isn’t a higher level village wine.

As seems to be the pattern with me, I waited until the last minute and stopped off at Manor House Cellar on my way home tonight. I picked up a bottle of A Et P. de Villaine Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise Les Clous 2003 for $29. The bottle also states Proprietaires a Bouzeron, signaling it’s from the Bouzeron village. Frankly I’m not sure that I’ve had a Bouzeron bottle though it’s quite possible that while I was abroad in Paris I snatched one up at the grocery store, unbeknownst to me. I wasn’t paying much attention at that point in my life ;)

Though the Cote Challonaise is often a region for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Bouzeron wines are typically made from Aligote and this wine is no different. Though not commonly heard of, Aligote happens to be the fourth most commonly planted grape in the world. Oddly similar to my first WBW in which I chose a still Xarel-Lo wine (typically used for Cava), Aligote is more commonly made as a Cremant de Bourgogne or a sparkling wine.

This wine is a pale straw color with some mild effervescence. The nose is delicate with some green apple. On the palate this is a medium bodied white with continuous apple notes, some citrus and a nice minerality. When I first tasted this wine I really didn’t care for it. It grew on me slowly as the mineral notes developed further. It’s certainly subdued and falls a bit flat on the finish. I don’t think it’s worth the 29 bucks, 15 would have been more reasonable. Maybe next time I’ll plan a little further in advance and sample more than one. I’m sorry, Brooklyn Guy, I’m sure there’s better out there!

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Wine Blogging Wednesdays #37

Wine Blogging Wednesday #61: At the Source

Rapper Lil’ Jon Starts His Own Winery: Crunk and Class Unite!

Filed under , Wine Blogging Wednesday | Comments (15)

15 Responses to “Wine Blogging Wednesdays #39: Silver Burgundy”

  1. Brooklynguy on November 14, 2007 3:18 pm

    Thanks for participating Erika. I like this producer very much, by the way, and yes, it’s not a cheap wine by any means. Too bad it wasn’t a better value. I wonder also…in my understanding, only wines labeled Bouzeron are Aligote. Their winery is in Bouzeron, but could this have been a Chardonnay…?

  2. Erika Strum on November 14, 2007 3:21 pm

    Hey Brooklynguy. I believe that when I searched for the wine it was listed as Aligote. If you’re familiar with the producer though– maybe you know something I don’t know?

  3. Brooklynguy on November 14, 2007 4:25 pm

    then aligote it is – i was just guessing. i didn’t love Country either, by the way, i didn’t realize you are a nyc based blogger – nice! where do you do your wine shopping?

  4. Erika Strum on November 14, 2007 4:55 pm

    I’m pretty lucky in the way that I get left overs from the magazine on a pretty consistent basis. When I do go shopping though I’ve checked out some smaller places like Appellation which is mostly organic and near me on the west side or a couple of the places on 23rd. BottleRocket is fun too. What about yourself?

  5. Andrew on November 15, 2007 12:07 am

    Hey Erika,
    Appellation is 2 blocks from where I work. That shops does carry a few unique wines. Another unique shop to try is VinoVino at Tribeca. They specialize in artisanal wine producers and they also have a wine bar where a lot the wines they sell are available by the glass.

    By the way, now you are the 2nd person that tried the Les Clous and this has aroused my interest, can you please tell me where you get it?

    Nice blog.

  6. Andrew on November 15, 2007 12:10 am

    Never mind, found the retailer when I re-read your post. I’ll check it out there.

  7. Erika Strum on November 15, 2007 7:48 am

    Thanks Andrew, let me know what you think of it. I finished off the bottle tonight with my Mom and she didn’t really dig it either. Curious what others think.

  8. Brooklynguy on November 15, 2007 10:43 am

    my current favorites are Chambers Street Wines and Prospect Wine Shop in Brooklyn, but i’ve been really into Champagne lately and Astor (ugh) has good prices. I’ve never heard of Appellation – where is it exactly? You don’t work for WE then?

  9. Erika on November 15, 2007 10:50 am

    I need to get into Astor- I’ve never even been there!

    I do work for WE. Appellation is at 156 10th ave. Near 20th or so.

  10. Martin on November 15, 2007 10:11 pm

    Your wine was indeed Chardonnay. The producer’s aligote is labeled as Bouzeron, and the producer is really cool–they’re essentially the same folks that run DRC. The also make some Pinot Noir-based Chalonnaise wines. But Les Clous is their Chardonnay cuvee. And the ‘05 is nice, and not that pricey. The Bouzeron is one of the few “serious” aligotes I’ve had.

  11. Erika Strum on November 16, 2007 12:01 am

    Hi Martin–

    I’m confused. You say my wine was “indeed Chardonnay” but then you discuss it as an Aligote, as I thought it was. Are you meaning to say it was in fact, a Chardonnay (making me mistaken) or an Aligote?

  12. Martin on November 16, 2007 7:51 am

    Check out the WineTerroir’s blog about his visit to the Villaine estate. [http://www.wineterroirs.com/2006/03/de_villaine.html] and he notes that the “Les Clous” is Chardonnay. Also, if a wine is labeled “Bourgogne” and is white, it must be made of Chardonnay unless it says “Bourgogne Aligote”, with the singular exeption of a wine labeled as simply “Bouzeron.” The wine you tasted only lists Bouzeron as the locaiton of the winery, but says Appellation Bourgogne Controlee. If it was aligote it would say Appellation Bouzeron Controlee. Villaine does make an aligote from the Bouzeron AC as well as your Chardonnay.

  13. Erika on November 16, 2007 7:54 am

    Thanks Martin! I stand corrected. I must have seen a bottle that looked identical on the web, discussed as an Aligote, and thought this was it. I did see that post at Wine Terroirs, you’ll see I linked there within mine. Thanks for the info.

  14. Joe on November 20, 2007 7:15 pm

    And I thought I would be the only one with “Les Clous”! I actually tried de Villaine’s Bouzeron, but posted it a while ago. Cheers!

  15. Property in Burgundy on March 25, 2008 12:19 pm

    Youre lucky to get it for that price! We have to pay twice that in the UK :(

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