Yay!  It’s my favorite day of the month: Wine Blogging Wednesday.  The host this month is Neil at Brooklyn Guy’s Food and Wine Blog and he has named the theme “Silver” Burgundy.  The Burgundy wine that most people think of comes from the Gold Coast (Côte d’Or) and tends to be rather pricey.  If you don’t want to empty your bank account on the Gold Coast, perhaps you should visit the “Silver” Coast of Burgundy.

Neil’s goal with this theme is to identify more affordable (but still tasty) Burgundy wines, specifically from the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais regions.  The rules of this challenge also state no Chablis and no Beaujolais.

I am a happy man when the theme revolves around affordability.  And I was intrigued by venturing into the French aisle of the wine shop.  I admittedly don’t drink a lot of French wine.  I don’t have anything against the French, it’s just a language barrier. 

I do great with Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, but I’m lost with French.  And to complicate it even more, they use the most ornate fonts on the planet to design their labels.  I can struggle through it, but it takes me three times as long to interpret a French wine label as any other region.  And I take way too much time at the wine shop anyway.  But the only was to fix my issues with French wine is to put myself into that aisle and get more familiar with the language and regions… and this was a great opportunity for me to do that.

I managed my way through the language barriers and found a wine from both recommended regions for this challenge. 

Côte Chalonnaise: Mont Avril Bourgogne Pinot Noir

Côte Chalonnaise is considered better for red wines, so I went with a Pinot Noir from this region.  The Mont Avril Pinot Noir is produced by Domaine Michel Goubard & Fils and sold for $16.99.  I was happy to see on their website evidence that they struggled with English translation as much as I struggled reading French wine labels.

I found this wine to be a fantastic pinot noir.  It has a very interesting nose with cherry, mushroom, cinnamon and cigars.  I spent a good five minutes just enjoying the aromas before I even tasted it.  The palate is equally exciting with cherry, rhubarb, leather and cinnamon.  It does have a slightly high acidity but nice smooth tannins.  I gave it an 89.  Although it’s a couple bucks more than I like to spend (I am the cheap wine guy after all) I will probably get this again sometime for a splurge.

Wine: Domaine Michel Goubard & Fils, Mont Avril Bourgogne
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13% 
Rating: 89
Price Paid: $16.99

Mâconnais: “Les Charmes” Chardonnay

Contrary to Côte Chalonnaise, Mâconnais is better known for white wines.  Therefore, I selected a Chardonnay from this region.  The Les Charmes Chardonnay is from producer Cave de Lugny, who own over 98% of the vineyard property in the Mâcon village of Lugny.

This is pretty much a classic chardonnay.  It has citrus and mineral on the nose.  Tart apple and lots of butter on the palate.  It is well balanced, but not too exciting.  I gave it an 85 and wouldn’t be likely to buy it again.  It wasn’t bad, just nothing special, and I think I can find better chardonnay for less.

Wine: Cave de Lugny “Les Charmes”
Varietal: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13% 
Rating: 85
Price Paid: $12.99