Bordeaux vs. Burgundy Wines ~ Drops of God #1 Part 2 ~

Burgundy - the most vital facts -

- In French it’s Bourgogne

- Stable and cool weather since it’s inland. Pinot Noir likes cool weather.
- While Bordeaux is predominantly reds, Burgundy does both reds and whites
- No blending
- Reds = Pinot Noir (with some Gamay)

- Whites = Chardonnay (with some Aligote)

- The bottle has sloped shoulders

- The reds are delicate, fruity, floral, acidic, and lighter in color that Bordeaux’s

- So don’t decanter

- Four general sections: Chablis, Cote d’Or, Cote Chalonnaise and Maconnais. Beaujolais is sometimes included into Burgundy, sometimes it’s left separate. I'm keeping it separate for now.

- Soil is limestone based (whites) or marl based (reds) - marl is limestone and clay

- Appellations are based on the four ranking types. They are named for the vineyard, the village, or the overall region.

- Rankings are based on vineyards, not the individual Domaine.

- Labels indicate the appellation but also whether if the wine is a monopole (an appellation owned by a single winery or domaine)

- Domaine = Burgundy (Chateau = Bordeaux)

- Notable Vintages (years) - 1999 & 2002 (best), 1996 (pretty good), 1992 (solid), 1998 & 2000 & 2003 (good)

Here we go with more detail:

Burgundy wines have four rankings. Remember, they are based on the vineyards, not the Domaine that bottles the wine.

Grand Cru - about 2% of the total production of Burgundy wines, from the best vineyards. Appellations are only associated with the vineyard’s name, not the winery. Age 5-7 years.

Premier Cru - about 10 %. Still good, and still from specific vineyards. Appellations are associated with the village, but there are 562 premier grand cru vineyards in the region. Age 2-5 years.

Village - these use a blend of grapes from one of the 42 villages in Burgundy. 44 village appellations. Age 2-4 years.
Region - wines blended from all across Burgundy. 23 regional appellations. Mostly for immediate consumption.

The four general regions of Burgundy:

Chablis - This is the land of the Chardonnay. There is only one grand cru vineyard in Chablis, but it looks like there are seven. Confusing right? It’s because each is from a different climat, or section of the grand cru vineyard. Therefore, the famous names you see will be Chablis Les Blanchots, Chablis Les Clos, Chablis Valmur, Chablis Grenouilles, Chablis Vaudesir, Chablis Les Preuses, and Chablis Bougros. Hopefully that made sense.

Cote d’Or - The general section of Cote d’Or is broken up into two sub sections: Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune. 2/3 of all grand cru vineyards are in Cotes de Nuits.

Cotes de Nuits Notable Towns (8 total)

- Pretty much all reds

- Gevrey-Chambertin (9 grand crus)

- Morey-Saint-Denis (4 grand crus)

- Chambolle-Musigny (2 grand crus--Musigny and Bonnes-Mares)

- Vougeot (1 large grand crus--Clos de Vougeut)

- Vosne-Romanee (6 grand crus)

- Flagey-Echezeaux (2 grand crus)

Vosne-Romanee & Flagey-Echezeaux are two of these towns mentioned in Drops of God.

The eight grand crus to remember are: Richebourg, Romanee-Conti, La Romanee, Romanee-St Vivant, La Grande Rue, La Tache, Echezeaux and Grand Echezeaux.

- Romanee-Conti and La Tache are monopoles, solely owned by DRC.

- As you can see from the map, Echezeaux is one of the largest grand crus of the Cote d’Or.

The first bottle of wine to appear in the series is a 1990 Richebourg, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (DRC). The means the domaine called DRC used grapes from the Richebourg vineyard, or appellation, to make this wine.

The DRC makes other wines too, not just a Richebourg. They own other vineyards and own some Grand Crus fully (monopole). See?

Another Richebourg referenced is one by Domaine Meo-Camuzet. From this, we can see that the Richebourg vineyard has more than one owner. It's the same case with the bottle of Henri Jayer's Echezeaux that is referenced.

As you can see from the picture below, there are a lot of different Domaines that make an "Echezeaux" wine. That's because a lot of different wine makers own the same vineyard.

continuing on with the second half of the Cotes d'Or region:

Cotes de Beaune Notable Towns (20 total)
- Both reds and whites
- Aloxe-Corton (1 grand crus): Le Corton - red
- Ladoix-Serrigny (1 grand crus): Corton-Charlemagne - white

- Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet (5 small grand crus together)

and here are the last two regions in Burgundy:

Cote Chalonnaise

- no grand crus vineyards

- mostly reds

- five appelations/villages:

Bouzeron - Aligote whites

Rully - Chardonnay heavy with some Pinot Noir

Mercurey - mostly Pinot Noit

Givry - mostly Pinot Noir

Montagny - mostly Chardonnay

Maconnais

- no grand crus or premier crus

- mostly Chardonnay

- seven appellations/villages:

Macon

Macon-Villages

Macon-Charnay

Macon-Prisse

Pouilly-Fuisse

Vire-Clesse

Saint-Veran

I think I get it now, but I’m not sure I could look at a label and fully figure it out quite yet. I suppose I’ll just have to start practicing. And memorizing. When it comes to wine, there’s just a lot of memorizing one has to do!

Bordeaux vs. Burgundy Wines ~ Drops of God #1 ~

The biggest takeaway from the first book in the Drops of God series is the difference between Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. First I’ll start with Bordeaux. Can you find it on the map?

BORDEAUX - the most vital facts-

- It’s the largest wine producing region in France, located near the coast.

- That means the weather tends to be humid and unpredictable.

- Mostly red wines made of blends using Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc grapes. A typical ratio is 70/15/15 with the 70 being either Cabernet or Merlot.

- It’s generally split into two regions, separated by the Garonne River.

- The left bank is typically Cabernet Sauvignon based. Cabernet Sauvignon’s like gravel in their soil.

- The right bank is typically Merlot based. Merlot’s like clay in their soil.

- Rankings are Chateau based

- Chateau = Bourdeaux (Domaine = Burgundy)

- The bigger the region listed on the bottle, the lower the quality (and the price). Listing an appellation is much more expensive than the entire region of Bordeaux.

- They come in straight bottles with rigid shoulders

- Use a decanter--they’re full bodied, rich, and less acidic

- Notable Vintages (years): 2000 & 2003 (best), 1995 & 1996 & 1999 (pretty good), 1992 & 1997 (good)

In the series, the wine that introduces us to the Bordeaux is a 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild which is likened to Jean Francois Millet’s painting The Angelus. The Art History buff in me loved finding that each year of this wine has a label painted by a different artist. There’s George Braque in 1955 followed by Dali in 1958, then Chagall (1970), Kandinsky (1971), Picasso (1973), Warhol (1975) and Keith Haring (1988). This 1982 bottle is by John Huston. See here for a full list: http://www.theartistlabels.com/index.html

Stop reading here if you don’t want details.

The Bordeaux region, like all wine regions, is broken into appellations as shown in this map:


Wines are classified by these regions (there are 57 in Bordeaux alone), as well as the estate, and the ranking of the estate. This information, along with whether the wine was bottled by a Chateau or by a negociant (an aggregator of grapes from various vineyards), the year or “vintage”, and the alcohol content, are all listed on the bottle’s label.

Chateau Ranking System in Bordeaux:

5 Premier Grand Crus:

- Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (Pauillac)
- Chateau Latour (Pauillac)

- Chateau Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac)

- Chateau Margaux (Margaux)

- Chateau Haute-Brion (Pessac-Leognan).

14 Deuxièmes Crus (2nd Growth)

14 Troisièmes Crus (3rd Growth)

10 Quatrièmes Crus (4th Growth)

18 Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths)

247 Bourgeois (Everything else)

Below are some notes on the more famous appellations in Bordeaux. Happy reading.

Medoc - The name refers to the general region on the left bank, but it’s also the name for the appelation located the farthest north. Unlike the rest of the region, the soil is rich in clay so there’s more Merlot grown here. La Lagune, La Tour Carnet, Belgrave, Camensac, Cantermerle are some famous names to remember.

St. Estephe - The soil here is more retentive to moisture here than St. Julien, Pauillac, and Margaux. These four appellations are probably the most famous and prestigious in the Medoc region. Montrose and Cos d’Estournel are the biggies.

Pauillac - Remember that 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild that’s supposed to be like Millet’s painting? That one hails from this appellation. In the Bordeaux system of wine rankings, a premier grand crus is the best, and Pauillac has three such estates: Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, and Mouton-Rothschild. These guys are all Cabernet Sauvignon based. A deuxiemes crus (second growth) winery is also mentioned in the book: Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron. Supposedly they are made in stainless steel containers, not oak.

St. Julien - As you can see on the map, it’s sandwiched between Margaux and Pauillac. Talbot is the largest estate. The second largest one used to be the largest but was split into three different ones thanks to those fun french vineyard inheritance laws: Leoville-Las-Cases, Leoville-Barton, Leoville-Poyferre

Margaux - Chateau Margaux is the most famous estate as it’s the only premier grand crus of the region. These are Cabernet Sauvignon based as well.

Haute Medoc - More Cabertnet Sauvignon thanks to the fine gravel soil.

Graves - The name comes from the gravelly soil. Haut-Brion is a famous name to regurgitate later in life.

Sauternes & Barsac - Now we’re hitting the whites of Bordeaux. Remember the term “Noble Rot”. I forgot to look that up in more detail. Sauternes is one appellation. Barsac is another. I just felt like listing them together.

Cadillac - another region for whites.

Saint Emilion - Now we’re on the right bank, which means we’re Merlot based. This appellation is the largest of the right bank at 5000 hectares. The village here is even a UNESCO world heritage site. You know how I like those world heritage sites. The terrior here is more distinctive than most as there are various ratios of Limestone, Clay, Gravel, and Sand throughout. Merlot. Cheval Blanc on gravel, Ausone on limestone and clay. Largest of right bank, 5000 hectares, compared to just 800 in Pomerol.

Pomerol - More Merlot, except this appellation is much smaller than Saint Emilion. 800 hectares. Petrus, Trotanoy, Le Pin are the famous ones here.

There are many many more appellations but I’m not going to remember them all in one try. Are you?

Although I do have to point out one more because the manga references a 2001 Chateau Mont-Perat and likens it to Queen. Yes, the Freddie Mercury-We Are the Champions-Queen. These bottles supposedly are not too expensive so many I’ll go seek out a bottle soon. Anyway, the appelation this one is from is called Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux. It’s across from the Graves section, on the right bank.

Whew. That was a lot to ingest.

Next up is Burgundy.

Drops of God & La Sommeliere ~ Learning About Wine with Comic Books ~

Maybe it's my age or maybe it’s because people know I like food but I feel like I’m often asked whether or not I like wine. I wish my answer was an easy yes or no. Unfortunately, my truthful reply, which I always end up giving even though it’s probably too wordy and more information than anyone cares for, is that I think wine is vastly interesting yet I can’t say I love the flavor of it and crave it the way I do with foods like warm baked bread or juicy ripe fruit or fresh out of the ocean sashimi. I think it might be the alcohol since I’m one of those people who quickly turn red after just a few sips of light beer. But I love tasting different wines and seeing how different flavors are created from a few little grapes. So yes, I like wine, but if given the choice between having $100 worth of amazingly good sushi and $100 worth of a really good wine, I would choose sushi every single time. Or is that not a fair comparison to you, oh wine loving reader?

Just like so many things I've ever expressed a semblance of interest in, I’ve never bothered to learn much about wine. Sure I drink it from time to time and would read about it here and there, but nothing ever stuck and stored itself in my squishy little brain.

Then I discovered a couple of wine based manga (まんが・漫画), or Japanese comic books. I love my manga. I read them all the time. I have series about art history and baseball and cooking, and now I’m going to read about wine, and by writing about it I’m going to really learn about wine for once in my life. There. I declared it.

The first series I’m following is called Kami no Shizuku (神の雫), roughly translated as "Drops of God". It's a current series that as of today is on book 25. Unfortunately, an English translation doesn't exist yet but it has been translated into Korean and Chinese. A couple of years ago, those countries experienced a wine boom just like in Japan, largely attributed to this comic series. See, comic books are educational and good for you. The series was turned into a TV drama in Japan, and I believe a Korean version starring Bae Yong Joon also exists, but I might be wrong on the latter part.

The plotline for Drops of God is a little more intense than the second series I will read. "La Sommeliere" (ソムリエール), as the name suggests, is about a female sommelier Kana Itsuki. Growing up in an orphanage, she was always supported by a mysterious benefactor named John Smith (original right?). Mr. Smith paid for the orphanage and also paid for Kana to learn about wine making. Mr. Smith tells Kana she must return to Japan and work as a sommelier at a restaurant he specifies, otherwise he will close the orphanage she grew up in. Kana agrees, and as she tries to figure out who Mr. Smith is and what he wants, the reader is introduced to various wines.

This second series has been translated into Korean too!

A lot of the bottles in these two series are priiicey, so I definitely won't be drinking everything I learn about. But my birthday is coming up so maybe then I will splurge on something special??