Chassagne-Montrachet {shah-san-yuh-mon-rah-shay}

As a wine educator, and in particular one of 7 French Wine Scholars (FWS)  in Georgia, I’m a little embarrassed by the way I have been botching the pronunciation of this profound wine region within Burgundy, France.  Profound in that the red and white wines from this region are so elegant and distinctive, mispronouncing or Americanizing the pronunciation of this place is somewhat disrespectful and for this I apologize.  Now, to my defense, I am American and most Americans pronounce letters when they see them.  The French elegant-ize their words and there is nothing wrong with that so we all need to just get on board.  Now on to the fabulous wine from one the worlds most famous plots of land, Chassagne-Montrachet {shah-san-yuh-mon-rah-shay}.  One of easiest things to remember when you see this name on a wine label is that if the wine inside the bottle is red, it’s Pinot Noir and if it’s white, it’s Chardonnay…..how simple is that!  The glory of Burgundy is the uncomplicatedness of using only two grape varieties expressed from different points of view through different plots of land.  The bottle pictured is what we sampled in class, Chateau de la Maltroye 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet (red).  My class and I felt it had the most perfect balance of deep berries, tannin and earth; a perfect expression of pinot noir.  Now there are other expressions within other famous plots of land in Burgundy; Chambolle-Musigny {shom-bowl-moo-sih-nyee}, Corton-Charlemagne {cor-tawn-shahr-lih-mahn} and Vosne-Romanee {vone-roh-mah-nah}…..those we’ll tackle later.  Mastering the proper pronunciation is half the battle :)

enjoy

Value Wines from Burgundy?

Burgundy is a confusing wine region. Their wine classification system can be quite daunting ...French named appellations and so forth. At least with Bordeaux the Chateau name is on the label. Burgundy's wine/vine/plot of land ownership system, put in place during the Roman era, is confusing also. One plot of land with 15 rows of grapes could have one individual owner for each row. And you know what? Each row could produce wines that are distinctly different even if all of the rows are planted with the same grape variety (this has more to do with terroir). But the resulting wines from that plot will be bottled with different names. You have to love it. To simplify things, somewhat, an appelation is a plot of land and Burgundy on the whole only uses 3 grape varieties; Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Gamay (Beaujolais). That’s pretty much it. These grapes grown in this region produce some of the worlds most prized and sought after wines, and can be quite expensive. With this being said Burgundy has done something I feel is an opportunity for them to showcase the region and allow the average consumer to experience wines that are inexpensive and still express that Burgundian charm. They’ve added two new names to represent value wines from their region. The first is Coteaux Bourguignons, this is a replacement name for wines that fall under the Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire appellation which represent wines made from grapes throughout Burgundy as opposed to a specific plot of land. It will fall under the Bourgogne classification and will be considered “value wines”. The second name is Bourgogne Cote d’Or. These wines will be low cost wines with grapes sourced from the Cotes de Nuit and the Cotes de Beaune areas. Prized wines such as Pommard and Romanee-Conti come from these areas. So, we wine consumers have a lot to look forward to with the upcoming 2010 and 2012 Burgundy vintages and who doesn’t love a great value!

I suppose I should, at some point, open my bottles of Burgundy.   I know! I’ll plan a party celebrating Burgundian wine and food and invite some of my closest friends...after all wine was meant to be shared.

Here's a recipe I found to go with your red Burgundy    Beef Bourguignon

enjoy