Ep. 944 Map 5 Burgundy No. 1 | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This episode is brought to you by Vinitally International Academy, announcing the twenty fourth of our Italian wine Ambassador courses to be held in London, Austria, and Hong Kong from the twenty seventh to the twenty ninth of July. Are you up for the challenge of this demanding course? Do you want to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Learn more and apply now at viniti international dot com. Welcome to jumbo shrimp wine study maps. We have specially created this free content for all our listeners who are studying for wine exams. This has been a journey of development since Stevie Kim discovered Rosie Baker's hand drawn maps on Instagram through two years of work by our in house editorial and graphics team, and now the maps are available to purchase in beta form while they undergo the final briefing and editing by our expert advisory board. It's a three layered project because we know everyone learns differently. We now offer the complete box set of thirty nine maps, this series of podcasts with the maps narrated by our crack team of wine educators. And finally, the study guide book, which will be published later this year. Our map project is in no way a substitute for the material set out by other educational organizations. But we hope all the wine students out there will find our map project, a new exciting and useful tool for learning. For more information and to buy the maps, please visit our website at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to the jumbo shrimp wine study maps podcast. In this episode, we'll be looking at Burgundy map number one. Burgundy can often seem challenging for people first coming to study wine. However, I promise it's actually much easier than it seems, particularly if you can break it down into smaller areas, which we'll do in the following podcast. First off, let's just have a look broadly at what to expect from the region of Burgundy. Burgundy is a relatively large region to actually quite spread out across France because it starts in Shabbly in the north central area of France, which is actually quite close to the area of Champagne. You then need around a hundred and twenty kilometers to travel south before you really reach the heartland of Burgundy, which is called the coat door. Now this area is also split into two regions. So we have the larger coat door within which we have the northern coat inui, and the southern coat de bone. Each of these is particularly connected to one grape variety, broadly speaking, and we'll take a look at that in the next episode. Head further south from this coat door, we have the coat chardonnay and then the macrame. After which, we really reach this area of beaujolais, which although technically in Burgundy, is considered a separate region. Now all of Burgundy has a continental climate. So this climate where we have a significant shift between the temperature in the winter, and then in the growing season. The difference is that when we consider shabbily, so this area in the very far north, this is cool continental. Whereas as we get further south, so into the coat door, The chardonnay, the macrame, we're looking at moderate continental. This is just because as we get further south, just gets warmer, and there's more sunshine. One of the things you really need to be thinking about when you consider this cool continental or moderate continental climate in Burgundy is what impact this has in terms of weather, and micro climates on grape growing. So particularly in areas like Shablley, where it's cool continental you have this real risk of spring frost. Therefore, early budding varieties may have problems with flowering. Unfortunately, the key grape variety here, the only grape variety, in fact, is the white grape of Chardonnay, which is an early budding variety. So you really need to be making connections between what growers can be doing to try and mitigate against this frost issue. For example, thinking about planting on slopes to gain aspect and also to gain airflow through the vineyards. This movement of air that stops moisture settling on the grapes and therefore prevents from frost. Getting into the more central area of Burgundy is moderate continental. We have real problems with localized summer hailstorms. This means that you can get damage on the crops. From hail. And, obviously, as you get further into the ripening season, this leads to a potential loss of harvest. Another potential problem in these climates is rain during the growing season. It can disrupt summer flowering here and also harvest. Particularly for the more northern area of the côte d'or, this côte de nuit, where we have a concentration of pinot noir. This can be a real problem as pinot noir is very sensitive to gray rot which develops when there is a lot of moisture settling in the vineyard. So continuing our discussion about climate, let's think about microclimate and soils. Because really here, we're going to have a difference between the fertile soils at the bottom of the slopes or on the flat lands where it's easier to grow grapes, but you might have more risk of damage due to frost or moisture. And then moving into the slopes, you're going to have shallower, infertile soils with better drainage. You also, at this point, have better exposure to the sun. Hopefully, you can use this knowledge to make this logical connection between where we would find the Appalachian wines. So the regional Apolacian wines, the basic wines of the area, the more simple, less complex, which you would find on the lower slopes or the flat lands, Moving into the premier crew and then Grand crew on the best southeast facing slopes, which offer protection from the westerly winds, but also good drainage, good sun exposure. And longer ripening, which is particularly important for the development of complex flavors and aromas being grapes. Also, tannins in the skins of pinot noir. So speaking of grape varieties, Let's take a closer look at chardonnay and pinot noir, the two key varieties for burgundy. Chardonnay represents around half of the plantings in burgundy. Shabbly wines can only be chardonnay, And then moving into the coat door, there is a specific focus on chardonnay wines in the coat de bone, the southern area, and then into the coat de chardonnay and the maccony. What I love about burgundy is that really for chardonnay, You can see very clearly a progression in the great variety as you move from the cool continental climate of Shabbali into these warmer, more moderate continental climates as you get further south. You can really make this logical connection between the climate, the area getting warmer, more sunshine, and the impact this has on the great variety, and therefore potentially the style of wine. Shablis wines, it's cooler here. So you have more focus on these less ripe flavors. You also have higher acidity and lower sugar levels in the grapes, so potentially lower alcohol levels in the wine. They tend to be very steely focused on apple and citrus flavors and not with a lot of fruit intensity, so winemaking tends to be focused really on stainless steel. You might find a little bit of gentle oak, but only really in the grand cruise sites where you've got a little bit more exposure is potential for aspect warmth, complexity, intensity in the wines. Are you enjoying this podcast? There's so much more high quality wine content available from mama jumbo shrimp. Check out our new wine study maps. Our books on Italian wine, including Italian wine unplugged, the jumbo shrimp guide to Italian wine, Sanjay, Lambrusco, and other stories, and much much more. On our website, mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Now back to the show. As you head into the coat bone, the coat chardonnay, the macrame, it's gradually getting warmer. We're seeing more ripeness in the grapes. We're seeing a longer growing season. So more potential for complexity and intensity, slower longer ripening. So they become very complex and expressive, still retaining this lovely refreshing high acidity. This allows for winemaking techniques such as oak fermentation, barrel aging, malolactic conversion, lees, all of these things which add extra flavor and complexity to wines more structure. Also adding to the potential here for some age worthy wines might begin to develop this mushroom truffle character. We'll dive deeper into the individual styles in the next episode when we look at the specific appylations. Now let's look at Pinot noir. So, really, the pinot noir is focused in the coat du nuit handy to remember because coat du nuit, pinot noir. It's the black grape of the area. It's nuit like the night. Now pinot noir is actually only a third of all plantings in burgundy. Pineau not only likes a cool to moderate climate doesn't like a lot of heat. It's got these thin skins, which are very sensitive to both rot and sunburn and wind. It's very particular. It thrives in this cote de Nui area, where it's protected from the wind by these southeast exposures, and also in the best sights on the slopes away from frost. Because like chardonnay, It's also an early budding variety, so you have problems with spring frost. The best examples of wines here are suitable for aging. Again, trying to make this logical connection between grapes that have more opportunity for ripeness, focusing on these Southeast slopes, longer growing season, more complexity, and winemaking techniques, which might provide more extraction. Again, we'll dive into that in more detail in the following episode. Let's take a very quick look at labeling in Burgundy before we consider some key factors that might be coming up on exams and things that really examiners are looking for. Burgundy uses a very common French system of labeling starting with the regional appylations. So bourgogne, whether it's rouge or Blanc is a general regional appelacian for the whole of burgundy. Now you must remember that this is a PTO level. So there's already quite strict controls here on yields, on grape varieties. Etcetera. Broadly speaking, however, these are the grapes that are grown on the flattest sites and tend to be the least complex, early drinking wines, with just fresh fruity flavors. So citrus, maybe some stone fruits, some apple for chardonnay, some simple strawberry and raspberry, maybe a little bit of cherry for your pinot noir, not a lot of oak use here. Once we get up from this regional appelastron, we go to village level. So we start talking about the names of villages on the wines. These tend to be a little bit more complex, a little bit more expensive, and beginning to see potentially some possibility for aging. From here, we then enter the crew system. So we have premiere crew wines. Quite often, these are grapes that are picked from a whole selection of premiere crews if it just says premiere crew on the label. However, in some cases, it will be labeled with the specific premiere crew and all of those grapes must come from that specific vineyard. The very highest level is the ground crew, and these must be from a specific vineyard that is designated ground crew in the area. And quite often you will see these with just the crew labeled on the wine. So, for example, you will have chambotam. Before we take a look at the Appalachian in more detail, I just wanted to mention a couple of things that are key in terms of knowledge when thinking about taking your wine exams. What are examiners looking for you to understand in Burgundy? Now there's the obvious things, the labeling systems. That's really important. Then we really get into climate. What we're really looking for is this connection between climate and wine style, but also climate and decisions that need to be made in the vineyards. For example, what winemakers could be doing to protect their grapes against frost against hail. And which of their grapes they would be doing this with? It's much more important that they protect their grand cru, their premier cru, then maybe some of their village level wine grapes. Another really interesting thing to consider is how much burgundy and the various styles within burgundy from the cool austere lean steely wines of Chablis, right through to the incredibly powerful complex wines of Puyfrieze, right down in the Maconnay, how these have influenced wines around the world. It's very common to get questions that are asking you to consider what we call regional switch. So asking you to describe a wine from a particular Appalachian could be burgundy, what happens with other regions of France as well, and then trying to get you to connect that to a wine style somewhere else in the world. Quite often, they will ask you about if somebody likes this particular style of wine from Puyfusse, what could you recommend them from a new world country? Really trying to get you to think about where the different styles are copied around the world. And again, these climatic influences that are at play. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast, brought to you by Vineetale Academy, home of the gold standard of Italian wine education. Do you want to be the next ambassador? Apply online at benetale international dot com. For courses in London, Austria, and Hong Kong, the twenty seventh to the twenty ninth of July. Remember to subscribe and like Italian wine podcast and catch us on Sound flat, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods. You can also find our entire back catalog of episodes at Italian wine podcast dot com. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love and we are committed to bringing you free content every day. 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