What's New in Burgundy

This week’s newsletter covers the full spectrum of what’s exciting right now, including a once-in-a-century Chablis collaboration celebrating La Chablisienne’s 100th anniversary and a deep look at the expressive, mineral-driven 2024 white Burgundy vintage. You’ll find standout values from Chablis and Pouilly-Fuissé, a focused selection of collectible benchmarks for the cellar, and details on our all-store White Burgundy tasting this Saturday, where we’ll preview the 2024 vintage side by side with a mature counterpoint. Whether you’re buying for tonight, the next decade, or tasting to learn, this edition is built to guide you through Burgundy’s most compelling releases right now.

The Great White Vintage: 2024 Burgundy

The white Burgundies of 2024 are flush with beautiful, delineated fruit with great acidity, drive, and cut. There’s wonderful precision and balance with excellent complexity and integration of all parts. Another wonderful aspect of the 2024 is that most alcohol levels are in the classic 12.5 to 13.5% range. The first batch of 2024s just landed in our stores, and they live up to the hype!

Finding the Values in the Mâconnais with Domaine Renaud

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: the Mâconnais is where the preponderance of white wine values in Burgundy resides. Luckily we are flush with many great producers in Mâconnais, and one of our greatest is Domaine Renaud. The family team of Mirielle (mother) and Pascal (father) along with their children Guillaume (son) and Amandine (daughter) makes incredible value-oriented whites that fit any budget—especially when we’re talking about the under $20 space. The Renaud family draws from their impressive vineyard holdings that run from humble Mâcon-Village all the way up to 1er Cru Pouilly-Fuissé.

Domaine Renaud: Setting the Bar High in the Mâcon

The Mâcon is just a quick 90-minute drive south from the town of Beaune, which essentially functions as the mid-point of Burgundy and divides the Côte de Nuits (north) from the Côte de Beaune (south). Once you arrive in the Mâcon you are greeted with rolling hillsides, quaint small villages, and a farmer-driven culture of winemaking. The Mâcon is home to approachable, ready-to-drink, and affordable wine values, which makes it incredibly important—and rare—in the Burgundian ecosystem. Domaine Renaud has been fashioning some of the best values to be found in Mâcon from an array of vineyards scattered throughout the many appellations located within the Mâconnais.

Château Vitallis: The Future Looks Bright in Pouilly-Fuissé

It’s an exciting era in Pouilly-Fuissé, as the region finally gets awarded premier cru status for some of its best vineyards. Historic families with excellent holdings like Denis and Maxime Dutron of Château Vitallis are exemplars of the quality coming out of the region.

Burgundy 2017s Are Out, and the News Is Good

For Burgundy lovers, there’s a lot to be happy about with the 2017 vintage, especially for fans of whites. After frost damage and small yields in 2016, crops were back to normal in 2017, and quality was pretty consistently strong—meaning there’s some great wine out there and more of it. Neal Martin says of the vintage: “Some quite brilliant whites that, many growers are beginning to opine, equal or even surpass the haloed 2014s”—a lofty pronouncement, but the only way to find out is to drink!

burgundyKate SotoJanuary 28, 2019burgundy, burgundy 2017, burgundy whites, chardonnay, pouilly fuisse, macon

K&L Wine Merchants

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