I held a spring Burgundy class Tuesday night at the University of South Carolina. Nice whites, and delicious beef bourguignonne with the Boujoulais. Then on to some very precise and tasty (and typically correct) Bourgogne rouge.
Louis Latour '07 Bourgogne (Pinot Noir): This is drinking nicely now, but show signs of improvement, since it tends to improve over the next two days. A real steal @ $10-$14. Shows the elegance of Burgundy, though on the lighter side.
Ambroise '05 Bourgogne: clearly Cote de Nuits fruit and just below his '05 Cote de Nuits-Villages that is drinking beautifully w/an hours decant.
Sauvestre '05 Savigny-les-Beaune: Lighter in color but showing elegance and finesse. More feminine than the Ambroise but showing the pedigree of a village wine.
Xavier Monnot '05 Marange 1er Cru Clos de la Fussiere: From the little known village(s) of Maranges--the southern most in the Cote-D'Or--the wine is showing its class and worth a purchase if you can find it (a Rober Kacher wine).
All of these wines were technically correct and good examples of the hierarchy in Burgundy. I did double decant all of the reds for about an hour, the afternoon of the class.
I've talked about the Latour as being a good QPR, and it is at $10-$14. The Ambroise is more like $20, but a nice intro into a Cote-de-Nuits wine. The Monnot and the Sauvestre were both $30, but again nice, well priced wines. I will probably buy a few bottles of the Ambroise and Monnot. I already have a case of the Latour, that's a "no-brain-er"!