Cellar Series : Red Burgundy

IWFS Capital Branch’s Cellar Series took us to Burgundy - the pinnacle of collectable fine wine. As vaunted as the region is, falling in love with it is a double-edged sword. The best wines from Burgundy are the best in the world – few would contend otherwise. No other bottle expresses with more nuance, complexity, versatility and finesse than a well-aged pinot noir from the Cote d’Or. And yet, the wines don’t yield up their charms easily. Au contraire! The smallness of the region, the complexity of the soils and climate, the absurdly vexing fractured ownership structure whereby one vineyard can be owned by more than a dozen producers, and the delicate, temperamental nature of pinot noir itself conspire to make this the most difficult wine region in the world to master. Sadly, these factors also result in the top wines from this region being eye-wateringly expensive. A bottle of Romanee Conti DRC for £20,000, anyone?

Thankfully, we had James Handford, a Master of Wine who specializes in Burgundy, on hand to guide us through some of the intricacies of the region. James selected wines from different villages to taste and discuss . The villages were:

Ruchottes-Chambertin

Nuits St Georges

Vosne-Romanee

Vougeot

Chambolle-Musigny

Savigny-les-Beaune

Volnay

Pommard

A Morey-Saint-Denis contributed by a member was corked, sadly. But that was the only mood dampener in an otherwise lively, educational, and thoroughly delicious evening. Wines of this distinction don't come cheap, but my my, are they special!