Burgundy Club: July 2026

This midsummer, mid-World Cup Burgundy club brings the goods! Next month is the 2-year anniversary of the creation of Burgundy Club, and we have the same excellent white wine from that club but two vintages later. The red is one of the best values in Burg and has been resting in our climate-controlled storage for a full 12 months.

White Wine: Fontaine Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 2024

In the two years since this was first in the club, we've since visited this outstanding domaine in Chassagne. Céline is an excellent vigneronne and spectacular host; she opened all 3 Grand Cru wines for our group, including Le Montrachet proper. Stunning!

This wine will show much differently than the 2022, which was in the inaugural club solely because of the vintage. While 2022 was a hot, drought year, 2024 was relatively cool and wet. The whites and reds show incredible freshness and vivacity, but for me the whites get the nod as the wines to buy from this low-quantity vintage. Thanks to a spring frost that hurt yields, the wines won't be cheap, but the best whites will reward lovers of aromatic, acid-driven Chardonnay. While this will age well, there's no reason not to enjoy the youthful energy it has now. I encourage everyone to open this before the end of summer with an appropriate meal. 

Red Wine: Pernot Père et Fils Côte de Nuits-Villages Croix Violette 2023

Coincidentally, I was able to taste the 2024 of this wine yesterday, and they are very different wines. As mentioned above, 2024 was a cool year, and that wine is both fresh and reductive, needing some time to settle down after its journey across the Atlantic. Another notable fact on the 2024: it's labelled as Fixin, as the Côte de Nuits-Villages appellation is being phased out for this stretch of vines on the north side of Brochon, sandwiched between Fixin and Gevrey-Chambertin. That's a great development for the Côte de Nuits in my view, since it was often unclear whether this area or the narrow stretch between Prémeaux-Prissey and the hill of Corton was the source of a wine carrying that appellation.

As mentioned, the 2023 sat in our cellar for a year before now being released to this club and in the shop. The value here is spectacular for a wine labelled with a "lesser" appellation. This site sits at prime midslope, directly across the small town of Brochon from Gevrey-Chambertin's Jeunes Rois vineyard, which Pernot also makes - for roughly double the price of this wine.

The wine shows a ripeness on the nose that seems to be a hallmark of Pernot's style, and while it's not super-classic Burgundy, it's quite attractive. This can still spend a couple more years finding itself in bottle, but there's little reason to wait in my view, as it's already drinking so well. This is an ideal red Burg for a summer evening BBQ - serious enough to think about, fun enough to just enjoy.

That's it for July; next release for this club is September.