Burly Burgundy

Alain Burguet was one of the very first Burgundy producers I visited as an undergraduate. I’m pleased I was educated enough to like his wines; they are still good. His sons may have largely taken over, allowing him to dedicate his life to hunting, but the impressive, manly house style remains.

This old vines cuvee of the village wine, which became ‘Mes Favorites’ about a decade ago is in many ways the flag-bearer for this estate. It has a great depth of old vines concentration and complexity that out-perform its village appellation. It’s a bit of a bruiser, to be sure.

Gevrey-Chambertin Mes Favorites 2006 from Alain Burguet

Gevrey-Chambertin Mes Favorites 2006, Alain Burguet

This is a dense, almost meaty wine on the nose, but that intensity is in terms of fruit and earthiness rather than alcohol and over-ripeness. There is a lot to it, that much is certain, and it is very assertive. But as it is complex and stylish, showing this personality with élan I have no problems with that. The palate asserts its personality with forceful confidence, which is to say it is a bit tough. You’d sort of expect that from a big 2006, but there is plenty more going on here to like. The fruit is deep and powerful, I love the rich earthy character and the acidity is really lively. It’s odd I feel I would prefer a wine significantly older than when I pop them, but this would be better in another five years, or four years ago. As it was I did enjoy it, particularly with what we drank it with, but did feel a slight lick of severity from its attentions.

Gevrey, steak and Kisu

We had a couple of sirloins from Woodlands Jersey Beef and, as I have mentioned on this site on numerous occasions, I think their beef is just the raccoon’s rude bits. These steaks were really flavoursome, and cooked frighteningly rare they had plenty of unbound protein to match the heroic tannin of the Gevrey. A totally successful match, but I might lean toward saying the steaks were finer than the wine tonight. As you can see from the picture, it was the steaks that attracted the attention of third member of the Elitistreview team, which is to say Kisu the cat. He loved his little nibbles!