Why are wine drinkers leery about red Burgundies?

Because they’re smart.

The inconsistency of these wines — from vintage to vintage, producer to producer and even bottle to bottle — and their hefty price tabs are a daunting combination for most consumers, present company included. Yes, it’s profound beyond words to sip on a red Burg at just the right time; the prhase “better than sex” can come to mind when savoring one of these wines. Unfortunately, it’s almost as difficult to discern when to drink a bottle as whether to buy it in the first place.

And it’s just about as easy to get burned at the lower price points as the higher ones. There are very few under-$20 pinot noirs from any locale, much less Burgundy, that are good values.

Which is what makes the Domaine de Saint-Pierre Sancerre Rouge such a revelation. Yes, Sancerre, bastion of wonderful sauvignon blancs, is also home to a bit of vin rouge. And if this wine is any indication, they should be growing more of it on the eastern end of the Loire region (actually not terribly far from Burgundy).

It’s a fresh, lively wine, dry but refreshing. It’s more quaffable than transcendent, a surprisingly suitable wine for summer or fall, for a fried-chicken picnic or roast-chicken indoor dinner, sipping on the patio or later in the evening by the fire pit. It’s under $20, and a fantabulous introduction to French pinot noir, even if it’s not from the place where that grape makes us crazy — in both good and bad ways.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.