Pardon my dose of history, but some brief background information is necessary to explain the jigsaw puzzle that is the typical Burgundy cru, or growth. Following the French Revolution, vineyards previously owned by the Church and the aristocracy were confiscated and auctioned off, mostly to wealthy speculators who in turn subdivided and resold them. The parceling of vineyards was accelerated by the French laws of inheritance established by the Napoleonic code, which ended primogeniture and required property to be equally divided among all heirs.
The result is that today’s typical vineyard is carved up among multiple owners. Thus there’s really no single wine called Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots: two dozen or more growers and négociants (i.e., merchants) offer a wine labeled Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots every year. And these many bottlings normally vary in quality from supernal to downright mediocre. Knowing the grower (or the name of the estate) is job #1 for the wino seeking to get his or her money’s worth from this generally pricey category. READ MORE »
