The day before I was planning to head to K&L to buy the rest of my Burgundy (having already visited Draeger’s the day before), I received my newsletter in the mail from K&L. Guess what they were holding the very next day? A Burgundy wine tasting! I cleared my schedule.

The tasting was hosted by their Burgundy buyer that goes to France and meets with the winemakers of many of the wines they sell. He was incredibly knowledgeable and pronounced all the French words with an American accent. Made them seem less out of reach for my non-French speaking self!

The tasting was of 13 wines (!!), 7 white and 6 red. What was interesting about this tasting was that many of the wines were labeled “Bourgogne Blanc” and “Bourgogne Rouge”. That means the grapes could come from anywhere in Burgundy (much like a bottle of wine that says “California” could come from anywhere in the state). But, many of the vintages we tasted (2008 & 2009) were years that the economy was struggling. Our host said that many of the winemakers declassified their grapes so they could still sell their wine, but since he had relationships with them, he knew for a fact that many of the wines were actually from specific villages. Read: Wine Bargains.

At any rate, the most interesting thing I took away from the tasting was a further lesson on malolactic fermentation. It seems that most (if not all) red wines go through this, and some whites, especially Chardonnay, do too. This process takes the malic acid (like the tartness of a green apple) and changes it into lactic acid (like in milk). This is what gives Chardonnay its creaminess.

As California Chardonnay has become a bit over the top lately, some producers have specifically chosen not to put their wines through malolactic at all, or they stop it before it finishes, in order to preserve the natural acidity in the wine. These are the California chards I prefer.

All of the white burgundies I tried at the tasting had good acidity and all were noticeably better to me (in that I don’t like super creamy, or oaky, chardonnay) than most domestic examples. I was surprised when our host told us that all seven of the wines had been through a complete malolactic fermentation. Because it’s a fairly cool climate in Burgundy, the natural acidity of chardonnay grapes is quite high. Incomplete malolactic would be the winemaker’s nightmare!

Of course, my two favorite wines of the tasting were the most expensive. The 2008 Maison Jacques Bavard Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Champs Gains” was a five star wine. And at $54.99 would’ve been the most I’d ever paid for a white wine-- if I’d gotten it. I’m still thinking about it... The 2008 Maison Champy Chambolle-Musigny was my favorite red. A four star wine coming in at $46.99.

I also learned a bit more about reading French wine labels, and how to tell if the wine was made by a negociant or not- but this post is getting long. I’ll save that for a future lesson.