La Tache photo © Jim Dove

What I'm offering is what we've always wanted: Quality advice on what to buy. Who's got the goods? And what makes them so good? In other words, this is a site for Burgundy and Pinot enthusiasts - whether newly enthusiastic or grizzled old guzzlers.

Because Burgundy is so fiendishly complex, so frustratingly inconsistent and maddeningly difficult to separate the real deal from the look alike pretenders, I've created several features to make understanding Burgundy easier and help consumers with their Burgundy and Pinot purchases as well as suggested drinking windows.

• A comprehensive and detailed Quarterly Newsletter that offers real breadth and depth of coverage (the average Issue is 150 pages). I decided to write this newsletter the way I had always wanted to see one but could never find. Sure, it offers plenty of guidance on what to buy, and what to avoid. But it also is packed with the important details that put the wines of a given domaine/producer in the right context. There are also lots of retrospectives that offer excellent guidance on when to drink your collected treasures. Click here to see a sample review!
• California and Oregon Pinot reviews are incorporated with a comprehensive quarterly review such as the 350 pinots reviewed in Issue 28. Click here to see a sample!
• Progress and/or Special Reports are included in each issue. Just to name a few, "Current Release Champagnes and Sparklers (covering over 60 producers with nearly 150 reviews)," "19 Vintages Spanning 40 years of Henri Jayer Richebourg, 1987-1957," "20 Vintages of Grands-Echézeaux from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, 2002-1937," "Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg Echézeaux Vertical, 11 wines from 2000-1953," "A Series of 6 Special Tastings from Maison Bouchard Père & Fils, 86 Wines from 2003-1846," "10 Decades of Romanée St. Vivant, 37 Vintages and 135 Wines from 2001-1911," "Domaine Georges Roumier Verticals – Bonnes Mares, 33 Wines from 32 Vintages Dating 2004-1923 and Musigny, 14 Wines from 14 Vintages Dating from 2003-1934," and more.
• A fully Searchable Database of tasting notes (included with the quarterly newsletter) that contains more than 37,000 Burgundies and Pinot Noirs from over 1,500 producers back to 1846. This is a powerful tool that makes finding what you want to know fast and easy and you can search on a variety of parameters, such as vintage, score, producer, appellation, color and Issue number. In 2007 subscribers conducted more than 2.0 million searches proving this to be an invaluable tool! Click here for more information and a sample!
• The Insider's Guide to Visiting the Côte d'Or and Chablis, updated August 2007, filled with information about the best hotels and restaurants plus other important tips to make your visit the best ever. Click here for the details!
• The Selection of the Week. Each week we feature a different Burgundy or Pinot that I rated as a top value. While there will be a mix of vintages, most wines featured will be those that can normally be found at a variety of fine wine retailers. Each wine will be described and rated with a suggested window of peak drinkability indicated after the numerical score. Click to view this week's selection!
• Back Issues of the Quarterly Newsletter are available for separate purchase, either individually or by volume in either printed or electronic format (PDF). View summaries of the contents of all back issues!

Here's the deal:
The Newsletter and Search Engine are combined as one product. The Travel Guide is a separate product that is available for purchase or can be obtained at no charge with a 2 or 3-year subscription (available in PDF format only). Back Issues of the Quarterly Newsletter are available for separate purchase as well. If you have any questions, please do let me know.

And Now A Word About Money ...
It's not news that anything connected with Burgundy ain't cheap. Anyone suggesting - as I am - that they can give you the skinny on what you really ought to buy (and know) about Burgundy-and says that they can do it for free - is, well, being less than honest. Something's got to give. Either the information is way too old (as in some magazines), inexpertly judged (no names, no names!) or just plain shallow.

All of which is to say that this site costs money. Each product has a price and while that price is reasonable compared to the value delivered, it's still not free. For example, a year's worth of the quarterly Journal will run you the equivalent of about four bottles of Bourgogne rouge, or 1 1/2 bottles of Sonoma Pinot, or not even one bottle of grand cru, if you like to think that way. Any way you look at it, it's not much money compared to the painful cost of landing on bad Burgundies or Pinots; consider that it's only one bad bottle of grand cru avoided and you've paid for an entire year. The best edge you can get as a Burgundy/Pinot buyer is timely, well-judged knowledge. That's what I intend to provide.