The 2019 Domaine Ballot Millot Bourgogne

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“This Bourgogne Blanc is “the cheapest good wine you can buy”.“

Wines labeled Bourgogne Blanc can come from white grapes grown anywhere within the 74,260 acres of Burgundy vineyards. It can be good or bad: good because producers have a wide range of options for sourcing fruit; bad because some of these sources might be irrelevant or worse.

The Burgundy classification system is built on a hierarchy of vineyards classified at several different levels. At the top are the wines from one of the 33 grands crus. Then come the wines of the Premier Crus, much more numerous (662) and more varied too. Then come the village wines, made in a specific municipality or village. Then regional wines, such as Bourgogne Côte d’Or or simply Burgundy.

The quality of a Burgundy depends entirely on the talent of the winegrower and the quality of its original vineyard. Certain origins of the vineyard can be located in prestigious appellations such as Puligny-Montrachet phone number library and Meursault, or just outside a great appellation but still worthy of mention. For example, the famous Chablis winemaker Patrick Piuze discovered a vineyard east of Chablis named Les Boutots which he liked so much that he made it the source of his formidable 2019 Patrick Piuze “Les Boutots” Bourgogne Tonnerre ($ 26), an impressive full-bodied white with hints of citrus and stone fruit.


And yet buyers of Domaine Leflaive’s grands crus like Le Montrachet aren’t necessarily looking for a good, inexpensive wine, according to Geoffrey Troy, Burgundy expert and owner of the New York Wine Warehouse in Long Island City. “Our ultra-rich buyers are not buying Bourgogne Blanc,” he wrote in an email. “It’s below them.” He added that he found it sad. The buyers of Domaine Leflaive Bourgogne at Wine Warehouse are “low budget” wine drinkers who cannot afford the wines of Leflaive village, which cost hundreds of dollars. As one of those budget buyers, I admit the $ 100 price tag got me thinking. But if I were to spend three figures on a Burgundy, I would spend it on the Leflaive.