($89, A Jeanne-Marie des Champs Selection):  To me the talents of a producer shine when they make great wine from less than great sites.  Domaine Parent does that consistently, though they also make great wine from great sites, as their 2016 Les Chaponnières shows. … Read more

($144, A Jeanne-Marie des Champs Selection):  As enthusiastic as I am about Parent’s village wine, La Croix Blanche, Parent’s Les Chaponnières shows the glory of a premier cru.  Although it’s a touch more powerful, it’s really the wine’s elegance and complexity that puts it into a different category. … Read more

($305, Frederick Wildman and Sons):  Given the horrendous weather during the 2016 growing season in Burgundy, it’s amazing that growers made any wine at all.  Sadly, some did not since entire vineyards were wiped out by hail.  Many producers had written off vintage, prematurely, as it turned out. … Read more

($37, Becky Wasserman Selection):

 Becky Wasserman’s name on a bottle is a sure sign of quality.  Her name is never on the front label — that’s reserved for the producer and appellation.  Seeing her name on the back label is a superb recommendation for a producer you may have never heard of. 

($23, Dreyfus, Ashby & Co.):  Mercurey, a small town in the Côte Chalonnaise in Southern Burgundy, is an especially good place to look for values in 2015.  The extra warmth of the vintage helped these less prestigious sites.  Compared to Drouhin’s Rully, from a neighboring village in the Côte Chalonnaise, this Mercurey has more earthiness accompanying its bright fruitiness. … Read more

($17, Constellation Imports):   The Marlborough region on the northern end of New Zealand’s South Island is rapidly becoming known for Pinot Noir.  This one imparts a pure, clean fruitiness that is, paradoxically, both intense and delicate.  There’s not a trace of heaviness. … Read more

($69, Frederick Wildman and Sons):  Pouilly-Fuissé doesn’t get any better than this.  Le Clos, sure to be classified as a premier cru vineyard when the classification system for Pouilly-Fuissé goes into effect in the next year or so, is owned solely — a monopole — by Château de Fuissé, one of the top producers in the appellation. … Read more

($12):  Chaintré is one of the communes that comprise the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation.  If a wine comes exclusively from vineyards in the village, but lie outside of that famous appellation, they can carry the name of village instead of the more generic appellation of Mâcon-Villages. … Read more

($35, Dreyfus, Ashby & Co.):  The 2015 vintage in Burgundy was outstanding for both reds and whites.  Reds belong in the cellar, while the whites are delicious for earlier drinking as this one demonstrates.  Domaine Vaudon is the Drouhin estate in Chablis where they make sensational wines. … Read more

($23):  After tasting this lovely Rully, a word Master Sommelier Andrea Immer Robinson once used to describe a wine sprang to mind: “Delish!”  Fresh and juicy, there’s not a hint of over-ripeness in mid-weight red.  A hint of earthiness adds intrigue to this well-proportioned ready-to-drink village wine. … Read more

($30):  Mercurey, an often-overlooked village in the Côte Chalonnaise, is home to well-priced authentic Burgundy, both red and white.  In this era of stratospheric prices for Burgundies, consumers should search for wines from this village.  Château de Chamirey, one of the finest producers in the Côte Chalonnaise, made a superb array of Mercurey wines in 2016. … Read more

($35):  This is the first vintage that Château de Chamirey decided to bottle wine from this 3.5-acre vineyard separately.  Half went into this bottling, while the other half went into their village Mercurey blend.  Although not from a premier cru vineyard, this 2015 tastes like a premier cru wine. … Read more

($35):  Domaine Salomon is a — perhaps the — star in Givrey, yet another under-rated village in the Côte Chalonnaise.  (Don’t confuse this village with Gevrey, as in Chambertin, in the Côte d’Or.)  This wine, their flagship, hails from a 17.5-acre that they own exclusively. … Read more

($118, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Vaudésir, along with Le Clos, sit atop most critics’ lists — certainly mine — of top Grand Cru vineyards in Chablis.  To me, the wines from Vaudésir, in the hands of the best producers, combine power with elegance and epitomize the stature of Grand Cru classification. … Read more

($48, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Vaillon is a large well-known 1er cru vineyard on the Left Bank in Chablis that is composed of many plots.  Christian Moreau’s plot, where the average age of the vines is 56 years, according to their website, is in the heart of the vineyard. … Read more

($75, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Fabien Moreau, the current winemaker, says that this portion of their plot in the Vaillon vineyard was planted by his grandfather, Guy, 83 years ago and contain the oldest vines of their estate.  Located on the steepest part of the slope, the vines have excellent exposure and drainage. … Read more

($25, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Aviron’s Moulin-à-Vent dazzles with a paradoxical firmness and fleshiness.  The tannins are fine, not hard or astringent. You can almost taste the granitic soil of this cru in this tightly wound wine.  Uplifting brightness in the finish amplifies its appeal.… Read more

($25, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Morgon, along with Moulin-à-Vent, are the two cru that produce the sturdiest wines that often need several years of bottle age to show their true beauty.  The Côte de Py is an area within Morgon made of black volcanic soil that imparts an austere mineral-like quality to the wines. … Read more

($21, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):   While not as ripe and fleshy as the 2015 wines from Beaujolais, the 2016s are racier while maintaining charm for which the region is known.  Aviron’s Juliénas borrows a bit of the density of his Chénas and combines it with an alluring spice. … Read more

($22, Frederick Wildman And Sons Ltd):  Stéphane Aviron makes wines from many of the crus of Beaujolais, the ten villages that have the potential to produce distinctive wines that stand apart from those labeled Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages.  (Indeed, wines from these villages rarely put Beaujolais on the label.)  … Read more

($14):  One of Drouhin’s talents is that, along with their top-notch prestigious Burgundies, they make high-quality wines from appellations with lesser pedigrees, such as Macon-Villages.  This Chardonnay-based wine, while ripe for Drouhin’s style, still does not approach the opulence seen in many New World Chardonnay. … Read more

($20, Louis Latour USA):  Viré-Clessé is an under-the-radar appellation in the Mâconnais that was created in the late 1990s from combining two villages, Viré and Clessé, that made distinctive wines that were previously included under the umbrella of Mâcon-Villages.  It joins St.… Read more

($75, Louis Latour USA):  Simonnet-Febvre, a top-notch Chablis producer, makes classically structured Chablis — tightly wound and linear.  Their Preuses, from their own vineyards, is always one of their best wines. Preuses has the reputation of being one of the least elegant of the Chablis Grand Cru. … Read more

($20, Dreyfus Ashby):  The 2015 vintage in Burgundy delivered outstanding reds and whites.  It’s a rare vintage that is successful for both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but 2015 was.  The reds, for the most part, though engaging now, are best put in the cellar. … Read more

($20):  Domaine Long-Depaquit, owned by the top-notch Beaune-based négociant, Albert Bichot, is one of the best estates in Chablis.  Domaine Long-Depaquit is the sole owner of an icon of Chablis, La Moutonne, a unique Grand Cru that encompasses vines in both the vineyards of Vaudésir and Les Preuses. … Read more

($29, Dreyfus Ashby):  Drouhin’s elegant and lacey style is a perfect fit for the ripe red wines of 2015.  The reds from Santenay, a low-keyed village at the southern end of the Côte de Beaune bordering Chassagne-Montrachet, can have a rustic edge to them. … Read more

($26, Dreyfus Ashby):  The solution to finding affordable Burgundy in the era of the region’s explosive popularity — and rising prices — is embracing village wines from top producers in great years, such as this one.  The 2015 red Burgundies are spectacular. … Read more

($25):  With the current market and demand for Burgundy pushing prices into the stratosphere, it’s rewarding to fine a wine like Latour’s Santenay.  For those who believe that authentic Burgundy is always expensive, I suggest you try this one.  Nature was kind to Burgundy in 2015, providing a touch of extra ripeness and perfectly healthy grapes. … Read more

($26, Louis Latour USA):  Here’s another example of a well-priced Burgundy from the exceptional 2015 vintage.  Mercurey, a village in the Côte Chalonnaise, is home to fine Pinot Noir-based Burgundy.  Latour’s delivers bright cherry-like fruitiness buttressed by a firm mineral edge characteristic of the wines from Mercurey. … Read more

($132, Louis Latour USA):  Although Latour owns portions of Romanée St. Vivant and Chambertin, Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte de Nuits, I consider this Grand Cru from the Côte de Beaune to be their flagship red wine.  Latour has always felt that blending wines from different Grand Cru parcels on the Corton hill, a practice the Domaine de la Romanée Conti has embraced now that they have vineyards in Corton, produces the most compete expression of Corton.… Read more

($29, Jenny & François Selections):  Since the prices for Côte d’Or Burgundy have gone through the roof, Burgundy lovers must look elsewhere.  The Hautes Côtes de Beaune, the hinterland really off the beaten track, is a good starting point if you can find a producer who can tame the inherent rusticity in wines from this appellation.… Read more

($35, Jenny & François Selections):  Chablis remains one of the best values in white wine.  Where else can you find a Chardonnay-based wine, a premier cru no less, with such character for the price?  Nowhere.  Domaine Oudin uses no oak aging, enhancing the complexity and body of this wine by stirring the lees. … Read more

($28, Jenny & François Selections):  Didier Montchovet tames the coarseness found in many wines from the “Hautes Côtes.”  In this Pinot Noir-based example, he has fashioned a charmingly rustic Burgundy than marries earthy and fruity qualities.  Montchovet must be talented, indeed, to produce a red like this from the Hautes Côtes in 2014, a difficult year for Pinot Noir in that appellation. … Read more

($66):  My advice to Chablis-lovers is to snap up this wine.  It’s really no surprise since it’s a trifecta:  Louis Michel is a great producer of pure distinctive Chablis, Vaudésir along with Les Clos are the two top Grand Cru vineyard sites in Chablis, and 2014 was a stellar vintage for white Burgundy in general. … Read more

($29, David Bowler Wine):  Though another one of Piuze’s village Chablis comes from Fontanay, not far from Fyé, it has a very different signature, showing there are dramatic differences between the communes than make up the greater Chablis appellation.  Piuze’s 2016 Coteau de Fontanay has a touch more ripeness and roundness than his Terroir de Fyé, while maintaining an underlying and balancing vivacity and edginess. … Read more

($29, David Bowler Wine):   There is a longstanding tradition of identifying vineyards when making Chablis Premier and Grand Cru.  Fewer producers do that with village wines, preferring to simply label the wine Chablis.  Piuze, who like many relatively new small négociants owns no vineyards, opting instead to buy grapes from local growers, is able to take an intermediate approach. … Read more

($17): Domaine des Gandines, a family run winery located in the Mâconnais, produces a variety of still white wines from that region, Viré-Clessé, and Macon-Peronne, that are available in the U.S.  This Crémant, as good as it is — and well priced to boot — is not available yet, but hopefully that will change.… Read more

($50): As the 2015 red Burgundies begin to hit retailers’ shelves, they confirm my initial enthusiasm for this vintage.  Take, for example, this Volnay, a village wine from one of Burgundy’s top négociants.  Floral and lacey, it conveys the quintessential Burgundy characteristic that I call “flavor without weight.” … Read more

($28, Kobrand Wine & Spirits): This Fleurie comes from two sites within the village.  (Jadot has yet to make a single vineyard wine from Fleurie.)  One site is at a higher elevation and cooler, which Cyril Chirouze, Château des Jacques’ winemaker, says provides grapes that impart elegance to the wine, while the other warmer site provides power. … Read more

($28, Kobrand Wine & Spirits): This Moulin à Vent combines the best of Fleurie and Morgon.  It’s remarkably fresh and approachable with juicy fruitiness and deep mineral-like flavors.  You can almost taste the granite soil.  It has less spice compared to the 2015 Château des Jacques Morgon, but silkier tannins. … Read more