Home Winners > Winners 2018 > FRANCE: White Burgundy

Winner Details

FRANCE: White Burgundy

2018 Gold 6        Silver 4                 Bronze 4              Commended 5
2017 Gold 8        Silver 9                 Bronze 3              Commended 11

Curiously, while most of France provided our teams with the slimmest of pickings when it came to value for money, Burgundy was rather better. Yes. Really.

Obviously, there was nothing below £10, and yes, our cheapest was an Aligoté rather than a Chardonnay (our first ever Aligoté Gold). But still… prices here were no more outrageous than usual – and nobody was really expecting anything else, in any case.

Interestingly, taster after taster spoke about the growing necessity to search out lesser-known or less-fashionable villages or sub-regions, just to keep the wines under £100 on a list. Were they angry about this state of affairs? Not really. More resigned to the inevitable…

FROM THE TASTING TEAMS

‘Most wine suppliers are introducing Aligoté to replace Bourgogne Blanc as their entry-level white Burgundy since the price of Bourgogne Blanc is going up. There has always been Aligoté, but it’s had a bit of a bad reputation. They haven’t made the effort to make high quality wines from them – until now.’ Petri Pentikainen, Three Chimneys Restaurant

‘White Burgundy should be refreshing and approachable. Very food-friendly wines: rich and complex at premier and grand cru level. The south always gives good value, and prices are fairly stable here.’ Erik Simonics, La Dame de Pic at Four Seasons

‘We’re fighting for well-priced Burgundy. It’s difficult to have a Meursault under £120 these days. So we’re looking at a bit more unknown white Burgundy, from smaller appellations. And I tried to bring some customers a Marsanne from St Joseph or something like that, but they often just want the big names they know.’ Yohann Pinol, Wiltons

‘All our Golds were between low £20s and £30 – we found them refreshing, with good complexity and good value. At the moment Burgundy is exploding in terms of price, you should always be on the look-out for good value Burgundies.’ Sumita Sarma, Sumilier

Award winners

Found 19 wines

France: White Burgundy

Domaine Ferret, Pouilly-Fuisse 2016, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

‘A smoky nose, with notes of cooked apple and spice,’ began team leader Angela Reddin about this Pouilly-Fuissé as it took its Gold medal, going on to describe ‘a lovely, layered palate with tight mineral notes leading to a classy finish’. The perfect match with a Moroccan tagine, thought Sumilier’s Sumita Sarma, who praised this ‘complex wine with its waxy texture and honeyed, spicy finish – with mouthwatering acidity too’.

£19.38 Hatch Mansfield

Lequin-Colin, Back to the Roots, Bourgogne Blanc 2015, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

‘A generous wine, with ripe, almost bruised fruit character, and some minerality, too,’ said Mattia Mazzi off Lutyens Bar & Restaurants of this Gold medal-winning Bourgogne Blanc, while Glasshouse’s Adam Michocki found ‘peach, ripe lemon, melon and vanilla, with an intense, complex and buttery palate’. Sumilier’s Sumita Sarma enjoyed its ‘rounded texture and mouthwatering acidity with mineral undertones, and a hint of nuttiness underlying the flavours’, imagining it perfectly matched ‘with spaghetti bolognese’.

£14.99 Top Selection Ltd

Lequin-Colin, Clos Devant, Chassagne-Montrachet 2015, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

Not only the second in a pair of Gold medals for Lequin-Colin this year, but also the second year in succession that this wine has made it on to the SWA Gold List. Praised by Mattia Mazzi of Lutyens Bar & Restaurants for its ‘nutty and intense’ nose, describing the palate as ‘fine and elegant, with minerality and good concentration of fruit, and well balanced’, team leader Annette Scarfe MW thought it a ‘superb example of Burgundy – rich, opulent, and with elegant use of oak’. ‘A lovely wine with great potential for ageing,’ added Adam Michocki of Glasshouse.

£28.88 Top Selection Ltd

Philippe Bouzereau, Château de Cîteaux, Les Grands Charrons, Meursault 2015, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

This Gold-winning Meursault was ‘a sapid wine with citrus peel and hemp aromas, as well as some oyster shell notes’, began team leader Angela Reddin, going on to describe it as ‘complex, with beautiful oak and balance, and a fab finish too’. Fellow team leader Laura Rhys MS was similarly generous with her praise, finding ‘good weight and acidity’ with notes of ‘orange rind, melon, ripe apple and grapefruit’, and considering this a perfect match for ‘roasted quail with creamy potato risotto and toasted hazelnuts’.

£30.75 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Sylvain Loichet, Bois de Gréchons, Ladoix Blanc 2015, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

‘Massive but classy’ was Lutyens Bar & Restaurants’ Mattia Mazzi’s first impression of this Gold medallist, going on to describe it as ‘intense, fine and concentrated’, while team leader Laura Rhys MS noted ‘ripe citrus, toasted nuts, spice and mineral notes’. Yohann Pinol of Wiltons summed all of this up as ‘very complex and well-textured, with well-integrated oak’, which made it the ideal partner for ‘Dover sole, either meunière or grilled’.

£37.76 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Louis Jadot, Domaine Gagey, Bouzeron 2016, Burgundy, France

Gold medal winner

Adding a Gold to Louis Jadot’s pair of Silver medals, this had a ‘mineral, oyster-shell nose’ that led to a ‘lovely linear flow in the mouth’, according to team leader Angela Reddin in her description of this 100% Aligoté, going on to praise its ‘subtle yet beautifully elegant balance and length’. Three Chimneys Restaurant’s Petri Pentikainen found ‘buttermilk and lemon on the nose’, while enjoying ‘peaches and cream, as well as some honeysuckle on the palate’.

£11.66 Hatch Mansfield

Domaine Laurent Boussey, Meursault 2015, Burgundy, France

Silver medal winner

Enjoyed by all our judges, this showed aromas of ‘golden Russet apples, crème anglaise and roasted nuts, with a palate that’s deep, broad, spicy and honeyed’, said team leader Angela Reddin, with The Don’s Carlos Ferreira highlighting ‘a very citrus nose with vegetal hints and oak, rich and smooth palate with a long, creamy finish’.

£21.25 Top Selection Ltd

Château de Chamilly, Montagny 1er Cru, Les Burnins 2015, Burgundy, France

Silver medal winner

For Mattia Mazzi of Lutyens Bar & Restaurants this was ‘generous and rounded on the palate, with nutty notes and a persistent finish’, while Sumilier’s Sumita Sarma found ‘refreshing apricot and ripe pear character, with vibrant acidity and richness’. ‘Massive, powerful and intense,’ concluded team leader Laurent Richet MS.

£23.17 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Domaine Jean Rijckaert, Mont Châtelaine, Viré-Clessé 2016, Burgundy, France

Silver medal winner

‘Ginger spice’ led to ‘peach, apple and white chalk’ on the palate, according to The London Cookhouse’s Michael Moore, while Janusz Pawel Sasiadek of Bottles & Battles went on to describe this as ‘an easy-going wine, with rich stone fruit and good acidity, body and balance’.

£14.51 Bibendum

Domaine Latour-Giraud, Cuvée Charles Maxime, Meursault 2015, Burgundy, France

Silver medal winner

‘A taut and expressive wine,’ began Gold List coordinator Christine Parkinson, going on to describe ‘vanilla and lime on the nose, and then a broad, creamy palate full of cashew nuts, citrus pith and clotted cream’.

£37.22 Bibendum

Domaine Antoine Olivier, Les Côteaux sous la Roche, Santenay 2015, Burgundy, France

Bronze medal winner

‘A beautifully approachable nose of fresh citrus and tropical fruit, and a mouthwateringly fresh, balanced palate,’ said an impressed Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot, with team leader Angela Reddin adding that this represented ‘a very particular and individual style, with incredible complexity on both the nose and in the mouth’.

£26.98 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Domaine René Monnier, Bourgogne Chardonnay 2015, Burgundy, France

Bronze medal winner

A ‘fresh, lemony, mouthwatering wine’ thought Adam Michocki of Glasshouse. Team leader Laura Rhys MS agreed, describing it as having ‘fresh, crisp citrus fruit’, while Yohann Pinol of Wiltons thought it a ‘well-balanced wine, with good acidity and minerality’.

£16.72 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Oedoria, Accord Majoeur, Réserve Particulière, Blanc 2016, Beaujolais, France

Bronze medal winner

‘A clean and vibrant wine showing lovely structure and good winemaking, with some yellow plum notes,’ began team leader Laurent Richet MS, with Mattia Mazzi of Lutyens Bar & Restaurants praising it for being ‘vibrant, with apple and chalk notes, and good concentration’.

£11.00 Bulles Blanc Rouge

Henri de Villamont, Prestige, Bourgogne Chardonnay 2014, Burgundy, France

Bronze medal winner

This opened with ‘ripe yellow fruits and some nutty, buttery aromas’, according to Adam Michocki of Glasshouse, who went on to describe a palate that was ‘refreshing, with some yoghurt notes’. Mattia Mazzi of Lutyens Bar & Restaurants, meanwhile, praised its ‘good intensity, clean fruit, light oak and good length’.

£13.32 Berkmann Wine Cellars

Boutinot, Clos de l'Eglise, Mâcon-Charnay 2016, Burgundy, France

Commended medal winner

£8.84 Boutinot

Sylvain Loichet, Les Belles Filles, Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc 2015, Burgundy, France

Commended medal winner

Domaine de la Jobeline, Mâcon-Villages 2016, Burgundy, France

Commended medal winner

Albert Bichot, Les Charmes, Mâcon-Lugny 2015, Burgundy, France

Commended medal winner

£8.00 Fuller's

Louis Jadot, Château des Jacques, Beaujolais Blanc 2016, Beaujolais, France

Commended medal winner