($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

($28, Kobrand Wine & Spirits): Anyone who doubts that Beaujolais can excite needs to taste Château des Jacques’ 2015 trio of Morgon, Fleurie and Moulin-à-Vent, three of the 10 Beaujolais crus.  The crus are 10 villages in the northern part of the region whose bedrock is either pink granite or a blue-black volcanic stone and whose wines are so distinctive that only the name of the village, not Beaujolais, appears on the label. … Read more

($35, Louis Latour USA): Fourchaume is a Premier Cru vineyard that lies on the right bank of the Serein River, adjacent to the string of Grand Cru vineyards.  To my mind, it is typically the most opulent of the premier crus with more ripeness and less minerality than the others. … Read more

($28, Louis Latour USA): Chablis remains, in my mind, the most undervalued area for top white wine.  And for those looking for “unoaked Chardonnay,” it is that style’s birthplace.  Maison Louis Latour, one of Burgundy’s top producers, acquired Simonnet-Febrve, a house established in 1840, in 2003 and a year later installed Jean-Philippe Archambaud as managing director. … Read more

($30, Louis Latour USA): Simonnet-Febvre owns a piece of the Mont de Milieu vineyard, which may explain why it is always one of their top wines.  Mont de Milieu (literally, the mountain in the middle), located on the right bank of Serein River near the strip of Grand Cru vineyards, takes its name from its location in the middle, separating the dukedoms of Burgundy and Champagne of the past. … Read more

($95, Louis Latour USA): In addition to using some fruit from their holdings in Clos du Roi vineyard, Latour also bottles a wine made exclusively from grapes grown there.  Wines from Corton Clos du Roi often have a plushness and luxurious texture — showing it’s good to be the King — that make them especially attractive. … Read more

($117, Louis Latour USA): Latour’s Corton Grancey, a Grand Cru and their flagship wine, is a blend of four Grand Cru vineyards on the hill of Corton: Corton-Perrieres, Corton-Bressandes, Corton-Clos du Roi, and Corton-Grèves.  The proportion each vineyard contributes to the finished wine varies vintage to vintage. … Read more

($41, Frederick Wildman & Sons): Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils labels his Vaillon as the singular, omitting the “s” to emphasize that their grapes come from the original and heart of the vineyard, not an adjacent vineyard that is allowed to use the name Vaillons. … Read more

($29, Frederick Wildman & Sons): With everyone raving about the Chablis and other white Burgundies from the 2014 vintage, those wines from 2015 may be overlooked, which would be a shame.  Domaine Christian Moreau made an exceptional village Chablis in 2015, a year that produced riper whites compared to 2014. … Read more

($17, Kobrand Wine & Spirits): This sensational bargain is clearly marketed to New World wine drinkers with the word Chardonnay in large type emblazoned on the label.  Marketing aside, with zesty energy and a hint of seductive creaminess, its flavor profile and character shouts — in a refined way — white Burgundy. … Read more

($25): The 2014 vintage for whites in Burgundy across appellations is exceptional, ranking with 2010 and 2008.  The across-the-board quality is a boon for consumers because even wines from the lowliest appellations from top producers, such as Alex Gambal’s Bourgogne Blanc, shine. … Read more

($18): Consumers should snap up as many 2014 white Burgundies as they can.  It’s a great vintage across appellations, from Chablis in the north to the Mâconnais in the south.  And it’s in the south of Burgundy where you really find bargains in 2014. … Read more

($32): Auvigue is one of the very top producers in the Mâconnais.  Their name on a label is an assurance of quality.  They make a range of wines from area including several from Pouilly-Fuissé that express the enormous — and wonderful — diversity of that appellation. … Read more

($96): Bouchard Père et Fils, one of Burgundy’s top négociants, is also a grower, owning over 300-acres of vineyards in the Côte d’Or, including 30-acres of Grand Cru and about 180-acres of Premier Cru.  They consistently excel in their Meursault.  This magnificent Meursault Genevrières is a blend of two plots, totaling over 6-acres, that they own. … Read more

($300): Bouchard Père et Fils, owns over 1/3 of this Grand Cru vineyard that sits just above Le Montrachet, making them its largest owner.  Their roughly 6.5-acres are located in all four terraces of the vineyard, which helps explain why their Chevalier-Montrachet is so complex. … Read more

($17, Jeanne-Marie de Champs Selection): Chateau du Basty, situated a stone’s throw from Régnié and Morgon, two of the Beaujolais cru, has been in the same family since 1482 so it’s safe to assume they know something about the area.  When I tasted there last November, there was no electricity because of a wind storm. … Read more

($35, Louis Latour USA): This is what everyone is looking for in white Burgundy — an affordable overachiever.  Three elements come together in a “perfect storm” to create this overachiever.  First, there’s the village itself.  Pernand-Vergelesses lies “behind” the hill of Corton (to the west) and is often overlooked since it is hidden as you drive the main road of the Côte d’Or. … Read more

($190, Jeanne-Marie de Champs Selection): White Corton is a rarity, since most producers label it Corton-Charlemagne.  Indeed, Anne Parent, who runs the eponymous domaine with her sister, Catherine, says she legally could label hers as Corton-Charlemagne, but since it comes from the east-facing portion of the hill in the Ladoix-Serrigny commune, she prefers to label it simply…Corton. … Read more

($70, Becky Wasserman Selection): Seventy bucks for Pouilly-Fuissé?  That’ll get your attention, but so will the quality of this wine.  It’s a joint venture between two Burgundy super-stars, Dominique Lafon from Meursault and Olivier Merlin from the Mâconnais, who purchased the vineyard together. … Read more

($21, Becky Wasserman Selection): I first became aware of Domaine Merlin’s wine when I tasted — no, drank — his stunning Moulin-à-Vent in a Paris bistro.  I’ve been a fan ever since.  It turns out that the Domaine makes stunning white wine as well. … Read more

($49, Becky Wasserman Selection): The producers in Marsannay have petitioned the authorities to elevate some of their vineyards, all of which now are lumped together and sold under the village name, to Premier Cru.  Clos du Roy is a prime candidate for promotion as this wine demonstrates. … Read more

($57, Becky Wasserman Selection): Sylvain Pataille, a terrific producer based in Marsannay, produces this Bourgogne rouge from vines that average about 35 years of age.  Indeed, a third of the vines in this 2.5-acre vineyard date from 1950s.  The old vines explain the gorgeous complexity and density you rarely fine in Bourgogne Rouge. … Read more

($12, Louis Latour USA): Though the appellation is just Saint Bris, the wines are often referred to as Sauvignon St. Bris, incorporating the name of the grape into the appellation.  Saint Bris, located just southwest of Chablis, is an anomaly in Burgundy because it is the only area where Sauvignon Blanc is allowed, indeed, required. … Read more

($135, Louis Latour USA): Louis Latour, the largest owner of the Grand Cru Corton Charlemagne, consistently makes superb examples of that wine.  They show their glory with a decade of bottle age.  I’ve not tasted all producers’ Corton Charlemagne so I can’t say Latour is “the best,” but for the price, there’s nobody even close. … Read more

($20, Louis Latour USA): The 2014 vintage was superb in Chablis and the rest of Burgundy for white wines.  Prices have nowhere to go but up because of the short crop in 2016, so I advise friends to buy as many 2014 white Burgundies as they can afford. … Read more

($21, Louis Latour USA): With the prices of Burgundy going through the roof, it’s always a delight to find authentic red Burgundy, especially from the revered Côte de Nuits, that is affordable.  Marsannay, the most northern appellation of the Côte de Nuits, is practically a suburb of Dijon, resulting in a constant battle between vineyards and suburban housing. … Read more

($55, Louis Latour USA): Village Burgundians, those wines made from vineyards that are not classified as Premier or Grand Cru, are often overlooked.  Burgundy collectors typically scramble to buy the wines from those more revered appellations.  Wise consumers, however, should look for village wines from top growers or négociants, such as this one. … Read more

($90, Kobrand Wine & Spirits): Maison Louis Jadot, one of Burgundy’s top négociants, is also a “grower,” owning vineyards under a variety of Domaine names, such as Domaine Héritiers Louis Jadot (i.e., the heirs of Louis Jadot), throughout the Côte d’Or. … Read more

($102, Esprit du Vin):  Les Caillerets, one of the grandest premier cru vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet, lies further south and further up the slope from Les Blanchots. Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay’s 2014, a bit closed at this stage, is tightly wound and racy, showing a dramatic stony minerality in contrast to the chalkiness from Les Blanchots Dessus. … Read more

($104, Esprit du Vin):  Les Blanchots Dessus (upper Blanchots; note the slight difference in spelling and, at least according to the French, but not this Anglophone, an enormous difference in pronunciation) comprises the upper part of the Blanchots vineyard and lies immediately to the south and adjacent to the Grand Cru vineyard, Le Montrachet. … Read more

($64, Esprit du Vin):  The Domaine Coffinet, established in 1860 in Chassagne-Montrachet, has been passed from one generation of the Coffinet family to the next.  In 1989, Fernand and Cécile Coffinet split their 30-acre domaine between their two daughters, giving rise to Domaine Coffinet-Duverney, now run by Laura Coffinet and Philippe Duvernay.… Read more