FRANCE: White Burgundy
2015: Gold 2 Silver 7 Bronze 4 Commended 10
2014: Gold 3 Silver 8 Bronze 6 Commended 6
This was a more or less average year for white Burgundy. Our tasters were looking for minerality and typicity, and they found them, broadly speaking. Certainly, there were none of the stylistic discussions here that there were with, say, Sancerre or Chianti. But for all that, our teams were not especially enthused by what they were tasting.
Maybe this is to do with the pricing. Less than half of the medal winners (neither of the Golds and only two of the Silvers) were under £12. As taster after taster commented, this is increasingly a region bought on reputation rather than necessarily what’s in the glass…
From the Tasting Teams
‘With these wines, you expect minerality, body, length in the mouth – so that you can suggest a number of dishes but also sell by the glass.’ Giuseppe Longobardi, The Cross at Kenilworth
‘Particularly at the entry level these wines struggle with the New World competition. A lot of people still order it because it’s Burgundy, but I would rather turn to the New World and drink good stuff from there.’ Charles Van Wyk, FJB Hotels
‘From the Chalonnaise wines up, you really do want a Burgundian character, it’s really essential.’ Martin Lam, team leader
‘If you want to get something exciting rather than safe, I would choose something else.’ Gergely Barsi Szabó, Bread Street Kitchen
‘I think the pricing in general is just a bit too high. Some of the higher-priced wines don’t quite live up to that. They’re priced like that because it’s Burgundy.’ Sandia Chang, Bubbledogs