THE COUCHOIS
The turn of the new millennium was a special time for many reasons, but in particular it marked an important event in the Couchois region, just to the south of Maranges in Burgundy. For here it was that a new Appellation was born – the Bourgogne Côte du Couchois. Continue »
May 20, 2020 at 9:56 AM
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MARANGES AND SANTENAY
At the southern tip of the Côte de Beaune lies the somewhat lesser-known appellation of Maranges. It’s a neighbor of Domaine de Cromey, the home of Elden Selections and illustrates nicely how much things have moved on in this area over the last thirty years or so. When we first arrived in Burgundy, nearby Santenay was considered to be rustic and no one even mentioned les Maranges. Now, producers like Bernard Regnaudot and his son Florian are among the locomotives of quality wine production in the area, and the appellation is the chou-chou of the local wine world. Continue »
May 4, 2020 at 11:07 AM
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AUXEY-DURESSES
Just as in the Chablis region, the growers in the rather discrete appellation of Auxey-Duresses suffer from the cold in springtime and must guard against frost damage like their more northerly cousins. Indeed, being situated in a side-valley of the Côte de Beaune means that the climate of Auxey-Duresses is quite cool, producing a different style of Burgundy than other warmer zones. Continue »
Apr 27, 2020 at 11:11 AM
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IN VINO VERITAS – AUTHENTIC WINES ARE THE REAL DEAL
Looking behind a product’s branding and marketing is what an increasing number of us are doing, it seems. In this era of ‘fake news’, we don’t just want to take a company’s word for a product and what it’s made from – we want details. Continue »
Apr 20, 2020 at 11:14 AM
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Beaujolais
Until Beaujolais Nouveau arrived, it was much easier for Burgundy to consider Beaujolais as one of its own. Despite the fact that it has a completely different soil make-up, uses a totally different grape variety (Gamay), and is in reality not in Burgundy at all, Burgundians have always had a soft spot for Beaujolais. And we at Elden Selections agree. Continue »
Apr 13, 2020 at 11:44 AM
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FINED AND FILTERED – FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY?
Ever since Robert Parker railed against overly filtered wine in his 1999 Wine Buyer’s Guide, we’ve seen ‘unfiltered’ become another of the supposed gauges of quality in boutique wine production. While Parker was right to rail, the reaction to his criticism was predictable. Why is the world so reactionary? Why do consumers now think that because one wine is manipulated less than another that it is superior? Continue »
Apr 6, 2020 at 11:47 AM
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Chablis
Chablis has been, from the earliest days of Elden Selections, by far our most popular white Burgundy. It’s also the region that most easily lends itself to our didactic approach to wine drinking! Continue »
Mar 30, 2020 at 12:36 PM
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ALOXE-CORTON – THE EMPEROR OF BURGUNDY WINES
The village of Aloxe-Corton (pronounced “Alosse”) was mentioned as far back as 696 and is the natural geological link between the regions of Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune. It is dominated by the great Corton Hill. The AOCs of Ladoix-Serrigny and Pernand-Vergelesses share the hill alongside Aloxe-Corton, with some overlap in classification. Continue »
Mar 23, 2020 at 12:38 PM
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CHARDONNAY – THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF TERROIR
It is hard to argue that the chardonnay grape did not originate in Burgundy. There has been a village of the same name in the north of the Maconnais since Roman times. But whether it did or not, one thing is certain. Burgundy is its natural home. Continue »
Feb 24, 2020 at 12:40 PM
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GOUGÈRES – BURGUNDIAN CHEESE PUFFS
Gougères are the nibble in Burgundy. That and a kir (dry white wine with a dash of crème de cassis), and you know you’re in Burgundy. Gougeres are cheese puffs made with pate a choux, one of those mother recipes of French pastry. They should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are easy to make and extremely versatile. Continue »
Jan 23, 2020 at 12:41 PM
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Hitting the Right Notes
Those of you who have been following Elden from the early days will not find this surprising. But I received the following e-mail this week. As we bring our small-production Burgundy to a wider audience, it does my heart good to see that we are hitting the right notes.... Continue »
Sep 1, 2017 at 3:01 PM
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BURGUNDY 2015 VINTAGE REPORT
We have resisted writing the Elden Selections Burgundy 2015 harvest report until now (May 2017), mainly to let the hub-bub and hyperbole settle down, but more importantly to be sure that the claims we are about to make are justified. We’ve seen too many vintages vau... Continue »
May 12, 2017 at 2:35 PM
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James the Wine Guy Review
I met James Melendez (James The Wine Guy) when I was last in San Francisco. We did a little tasting of eldenselections small-production Burgundies, and he was genuinely moved. Since then we have seen a couple of these tasting videos where he shows that he does get it. Thanks to James for the nice co... Continue »
Dec 1, 2016 at 3:17 PM
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Arrete Already!
The 'Climats' of Burgundy Climat Change A beautiful summer’s evening in Burgundy, and for some reason we’re watching re-runs on the BBC of this fellow in the north of England trying to convince us that chips and pies constitute regional cuisine. ... Continue »
Jul 1, 2016 at 3:10 PM
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Not Again!
If all the French you know is ‘deja vu’, here’s your chance to use it. We are sad to report that, for the second year running, the Cote de Beaune has been pulverized by hail. Last Tuesday, at around 3:30 in the afternoon, the skies opened over Pernand-Vergelesses and a violent summer storm... Continue »
Jun 1, 2016 at 3:12 PM
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A Clutch of 07s
Domaine Potinet-Ampeau 2007 Whites 2007. The locals say it was the worst summer in 30 years. We have seen 30 first hand, and this one was undoubtedly the strangest. There was no winter to speak of. We did have a very pretty snowfall in late January; but overall the year started o... Continue »
Sep 1, 2015 at 3:07 PM
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SPAT IT ALL – A VERY DISCREET TASTING
This may be my weirdest tasting ever. An overall lousy morning: my wine pick-ups were all screwed up in one way or another, so the warehouse rejected my Customs paperwork, so I had to spend lunchtime scrunched over the steering wheel duplicating in duplicate. I turned up at the Domaine Rapet Pere... Continue »
Jun 1, 2015 at 2:33 PM
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An Exceptional Tasting
Generous Burgundy This past weekend the Domaine Rapet Pere et Fils in Pernand-Vergelesses invited their friends for a tasting of 30 vintages of their Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru ‘Ile des Vergelesses going back to 1984.... Continue »
Apr 1, 2015 at 3:09 PM
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Dijon. It’s Official!
Ever since French Cuisine was officially inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list, the French government (from the ministries down to the mayors of cities with serious gastronomy credentials) has been planning what they are calling an official ... Continue »
Jan 21, 2015 at 3:02 PM
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Vines in the Auxois Hills Once Again
THEN AND NOW We had a white wine from Viserny last week. That’s Viserny there in the photo. It’s just down the road from where we live. And you would never guess but it’s the most important wine village in the area. The wine we tasted was a well-made-home-made inscrutable, ... Continue »
Dec 1, 2014 at 3:00 PM
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Mighty Neighborly
We’re just in the door from six weeks of tours in the Veneto. It’s always good to be home, to get back to Burgundy. But our long absence means that a huge pile of mail and a long to-do list await our return. So we usually allow a few days to regroup before we announce to the world that... Continue »
Nov 3, 2014 at 2:44 PM
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Burgundy 2013
Burgundy 2013 was yet another small crop. The fourth in as many years. Some of it will be very good, in both red and white. But for some producers it was a disaster. As we always do, let’s start with a run-down of the weather conditions over the growing season (what the locals tellingly call ‘th... Continue »
Aug 1, 2014 at 3:03 PM
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Burgundy 2014: Early July
They always say not to count your chickens. And last week the aphorism hung heavy in the air. The violent hail storms that once again ravaged Burgundy, and pulverized (for the third consecutive year) the vines of Pommard and Volnay, broke the spirit of the region. Until then, a mood of optimism had Continue »
Jul 1, 2014 at 3:13 PM
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Burgundy Vicariously
I'm back in Burgundy after a great (albeit snowy) week in New England and a very fulfilling Boston Wine Expo. As we have been telling you for the past few weeks, we conducted a Burgundy seminar at the BWE. And it went off to great acclaim for a sold out room. The wines were drinking well and the mes... Continue »
Mar 1, 2014 at 2:58 PM
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Scarce, But In No Way Lacking
The 2014 Chablis Concours The 28th Chablis Concours took place last week (yes I am late in reporting on this…), as always at the BIVB headquarters in the Petit Pontigny in Chablis. This event has grown in competence and stature over the years, and is today one of the events in ... Continue »
Feb 3, 2014 at 2:46 PM
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Our Barrel from the Hospices
Nearly 2 months after the excitement of the annual wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune, we went to the Hospices’ cuverie to pick up our prized barrel. It’s a Volnay 1er Cru ‘Santenots’ Cuvee Gauvin (could you have missed our earlier posts?) and we’re as excited today as we were at the e... Continue »
Jan 21, 2014 at 2:56 PM
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Exceptional in Every Way
The 153rd Wine Auction at the Hospices de Beaune It’s always a wild ride. But 2013 was a white-knuckle experience. And Elden was there.... Continue »
Dec 21, 2013 at 2:40 PM
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From the Vine to the Vat
I was down in the Cote d’Or yesterday to see how the harvest finished and to smell that first whiff of fermentation. These past few weeks we have been hearing all sorts of reports from all over Burgundy.... Continue »
Oct 11, 2013 at 2:42 PM
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The New Phylloxera?
This post was scheduled to appear last month, but in light of the recent legal actions taken against Burgundy wine grower, Emmanuel Giboulot, we decided to wait to see how the case would develop. A recent NY Times op-ed piece about the situation and various support groups for Emmanuel Giboulot have ... Continue »
Aug 1, 2013 at 2:43 PM
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What a Surprise – Vintage 2012
Here in Burgundy last year at this time, the mood was dour. We were in the middle of a four month period of rain and miserable cold. Hail storms had machine-gunned huge swaths of the Côte de Beaune. And the threat of rot dangled over the vineyards.... Continue »
Jul 1, 2013 at 3:16 PM
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