WTN: good $30 Burgundy (blanc)

Last night I sauteed some red snapper, with (storebought) spinach ravioli in a simple sage/butter sauce, with braised cabbage and a salad. Wine was the 2002 Chandon de Briailles “aux Vergelesses” Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru (blanc). I love Savigny rouge, but have little experience with the whites. If this is a typical example, I should remedy that. Absolutely lovely bottle of white Burgundy. Ripe pear fruit with a hint of summer peaches, hints of earth and honeycomb. As evening wears on a more citrus note appears in fruit. Medium to full-bodied, good acids, very good length. No obvious oak, just a clean pure Chardonnay fruit with a bit of chalky minerality. Punching way above its $30 pricetag. Wish I had more. A-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Chandon de Briailles

I had never even heard of CdB until a few months ago, when I had one of their reds in a tasting at a restaurant.

Now I'm seeing the name crop up all over the place.

To the extent that they haven't been "discovered" yet [at least by the American press], they're still kinda affordable.

And almost all their Wine-Searcher hits are in the UK - do they even export much to the USA?

[David M. Bueker]

The reason CdB doesn't show up on Winesearcher is that the wines have been discovered. Both Meadows and Schildknecht gave their wines very good reviews for the 2005s, and Meadows had been supportive for a good while before that.

The wines have mostly sold through.

I agree with David. It took to getting to know a few retailers to get my hands on his Chandon de Briailles, Corton Bressandes Grand Cru. Almost like allocations.

I dunno - I'm seeing some phenomal prices at Wine-Searcher.

I gotta git into this Wine Hunter bidness.

Sounds great! There is oak, but not new. I described a very interesting (to us) visit to CdB in my recent Core d'Or trip report, and the 2006 Ile de Vergelesses blanc that Marcia and I tasted from the barrel was excellent. The 2004 vintage in whites was also recommended by their winemaker, Claude de Nicolay. They consider their whites as a sort of "hobby" (Claude's word) because production is so small.

I really like Chandon de Briailles reds (the Ile de Verg PBV rouge was maybe my favorite value from the '02 vintage), but prices are up. Used to be Corton Bressandes was $40ish, now only under $60 prices I see are imperfect bottles and Corporate Wines ghost listings.

FYI, Brentwood Wine just sent out an email ["Our Weekly Wine Nugget List"] with 4 bottles of 1993 Corton Bressandes [Chandon de Briailles] at $70 per.

Might be an interesting wine.

Of course, it might also be vinegar, but I guess you never know until you pop the cork.

More and more I go to Jura for my Chardonnays (and Savagnin): young, fresh wines at a great price point. They aren't built for a long time in the cellar (and unfortunately some use those darn plastic corks) so I don't worry about pre-ox. I've never been part of the ABC club, but I do find it hard to drop much on Burgundy Blanc given the track record of the last few years. A shame really.

No obvious oak, just a clean pure..fruit with a bit of chalky minerality. Punching way above its $30 pricetag. Wish I had more

Interesting. Sounds like what one would expect given the red wines.

Nice.