No Oxymoron: Affordable Burgundy

BY NEAL MARTIN | JUNE 19, 2019

Following on from articles dwelling upon the more expensive Burgundy crus, allow me to redress the balance with a tranche of Burgundy wines shown by Flint Wines in London that specifically focused upon that great oxymoron: affordable Burgundy. I wrote this introduction after the latest offer of Armand Rousseau landed in my in-box, touting a private cellar of mature vintages with prices that looked as if they were scraped from a realtor’s list of houses currently available in my area. Each one of these offers begs the question: When will the bubble burst? In the meantime, those of us who are not super-rich must forage in less fashionable appellations and among less-well-known growers. Thank goodness the clamor for Burgundy coincides with a general upswing in quality at all levels of the hierarchy and in all subregions. The truth is that there are always less expensive alternatives.

The common thread throughout all these wines is affordability. Unsurprisingly, a good proportion of them come from more rationally priced enclaves of the region, not least Chablis and Mâconnais.

The Roche Vergisson in the Mâconnais, which dominates the region and exposes the terroir for everyone to see.