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Domaine Jean Grivot: Profile and wine ratings
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Domaine Leroy: Profile and wine ratings
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Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Profile and wine ratings
Read about DRC's history and see Clive's top scoring wines...
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Domaine Armand Rousseau: Profile and wine ratings
Clive Coates MW takes us through this legendary domaine...
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Domaine Georges Roumier: Profile and wine ratings
One of Burgundy's greatest domaines...
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Côte Chalonnaise: 5 great value communes
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Cru bourgeois conundrum
Bordeaux’s reds beyond the 1855 classification can offer fantastic value. But ranking them has caused controversy and discontent. A frustrated Clive Coates MW tracks the chequered history of the region’s crus bourgeois
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Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction a barometer for latest Burgundy vintage
Next month’s Hospices de Beaune auction, the 150th, will provide an insight into Burgundy’s 2010 vintage. But what can buyers expect of the wine they are bidding on, and how is it made? Clive Coates MW explains
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Clive Coates on Gevrey Chambertin
Gevrey-Chambertin is arguably the most classic Burgundian expression of Pinot. clive coates mw explores its two most renowned grands crus, and points us in the direction of the star performers
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La Passion Haut-Brion
It was renamed and resurrected, only to be engulfed by a first growth. Now it’s back for good. Clive Coates MW visits La Passion Haut-Brion
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Reality Bites
With no big-names promoting the region, Fronsac can be a hard sell. CLIVE COATES MW looks through the producers’ eyes, and asks how the smaller estates survive
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Dominique Lafon - Decanter Interview
To mark his 25th vintage, Dominique Lafon tells CLIVE COATES MW about the regine he’s installed at his heralded Burgundy estate
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The new stars of the Burgundy region
It’s been 10 years since CLIVE COATES MW last graded the top Burgundy producers. After his latest judgement, he is struck by just how much quality has improved
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Etienne Grivot: Breaking New Ground
Etienne Grivot likens his work as a winemaker to that of a conductor, interpreting the music of great composers. CLIVE COATES MW meets him
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In Focus: Mâconnais
Burgundy's Lighter Side Penniless after spending all your money on cases of Meursault, but need something to drink now? Look no further than the Mâconnais for inexpensive, highly drinkable Burgundy, says Clive Coates MW
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The Curious Incident Of The Oxidised White Burgundy Wine
With a worrying number of bottles of young white Burgundy ageing well before their time, Clive Coates MW assesses a worrying trend
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Burgundian wine scene: winds of change
The quality of fine Burgundy has never been better, but Clive Coates MW still fears for the future of a region vulnerable to corporatisation
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Vintage Report: Burgundy Vintage 2003
2003 was an incredibly hot year, and a difficult vintage across Burgundy. CLIVE COATES MW gives an overview, while our experts look at how conditions affected the various appellations.
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Burgundy 2003 - Vintage Guide
The 2003 Burgundy vintage is short in quantity, the result of an excessively hot summer following on from a savage attack of frost in April. It's largely disappointing for whites, although the red wines are good if not classic, and the Beaujolais are splendid. In the Côte d'Or, only those cooler areas unaffected by the frost have produced white wines of balance and freshness. If it's whites you're after, you're best advised to go back to 2002, or wait for 2004 which is showing early promise. Unless, of course, you're a fan of Aligoté - this usually tart variety has produced some unusually ripe 2003s. For the reds, it's an even more uneven vintage than ususal. Stick to the top estates and you will not go wrong. That said, 2003 is better in the Côte de Nuits than the Côte de Beaune, and at its most successful in those communes which normally produce the most robust wines (as a result of the high proportion of clay in their soils). This means, in general, take Pommard rather than Volnay, Corton or Nuits-Saint-Georges rather than Vosne-Romanée, and Gevrey-Chambertin rather than Morey-Saint-Denis.
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In Focus: Graves in Bordeaux
Graves in Bordeaux is home to some of the world’s favourite châteaux, and yet many of its less prestigious properties find it hard to find a market for their wines. CLIVE COATES MW looks at how the region is fighting back, and recommends his top producers and their wines.
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Red Graves: When to Drink
To drink or not to drink? Clive Coates MW runs through the vintages back to 1989 and gives his verdict on the red wines of Pessac-Léognan
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Graves: class of 2003
Graves is home to a broad collection of estates where quality ranges from the dazzlingly magnificent to the downright mediocre. CLIVE COATES MW ponders the likelihood of a new classification and suggests his own version
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Burgundy estates: Stars in the Making
Twenty years ago Burgundy was in the doldrums. A combination of over-fertilisation in the vineyards, the introduction of clones which gave quantity rather than quality, a series of indifferent vintages and a lack of profitability, led to charges of Burgundy being both not very good and over-priced. Customers began walking away – to the Rhône, to Australia, to California.
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Burgundy 2000
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History in a bottle: Haut-Brion
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French wine revolution
A generation ago the merchants reigned supreme but today's growers domaine-bottle the wine and sell it direct. So how do you make sure you get quality Burgundy at a reasonable price, asks CLIVE COATES MW?
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Finest villages: Burgandy winemakers
CLIVE COATES MW reveals the secrets of Vosne-Romanée, Burgundy's holy of holies and home to the grandest of grands crus, Domaine Robert Arnoux
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Languedoc: Spotting the stars
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Dicing with the Devil
For the Sauternes grower every vintage is a knife edge gamble, but, finds CLIVE COATES MW, the results can be truly worthy of the heartache.
