Greetings!
Burghound.com is the result of a lifelong passion for the wine of Burgundy. For more than 30 years, I have been collecting the wines and visiting the region. Each year I spend more than four months visiting, researching, tasting, exploring and evaluating. Burgundy is my obsession really. Expanding on my coverage of the coveted pinot noir grape, each issue includes reviews of both Oregon and California pinots providing continuous coverage. (See what the media has to say about us.)
What I'm offering is what we've always wanted: Quality advice on what to buy. Answers to: 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 Journal that offers real breadth and depth of coverage (the average Issue is 175 pages). I decided to write this journal 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 is also 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, and hundreds since reviewed in each issue. 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 a subscription) that contains over 50,000 burgundies, pinot noirs and Champagnes from nearly 2,000 producers dating back to 1845. This is a powerful tool that makes finding what you want to know fast and easy. You can search on a variety of parameters, such as vintage, score, producer, appellation, color and issue number. Each year subscribers conduct over 3 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 January, 2011, is 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!
- Mobile Edition. Subscribers may access the database from their smartphones to get guidance at a restaurant or retail shop with its handy “drink now” search field. Click here to learn more!
- Back Issues of the Quarterly Journal are available for separate purchase, either individually or by volume in either printed or electronic format (PDF). However, subscribers have access to EVERY wine ever reviewed in ALL Burghound issues through the database - going back to Issue 1! View summaries of the contents of all back issues! Subscribers never have to purchase back issues if they neglected to download them during the active term of their subscription or have otherwise lost them. Just write MrsBurghound@Burghound.com and request a duplicate electronic issue.
Here's the deal:
The Journal and Database are combined as one product. The Travel Guide, available in PDF electronic format only, is a separate product that is available for purchase or can be obtained at no charge with a 2 or 3-year subscription. If you have any questions, please do let me know.All rights reserved and unauthorized reproduction, including by office copy machines or postings through the Internet, is strictly prohibited. Subscribers who are in the news media or wine industry may use limited portions of this material, specifically limited reviews and scores, provided that Burghound.com is properly credited. Commercial exploitation of Burghound.com content is strictly prohibited.
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 a couple of quality 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 strive to provide.
The annual cost for four quarterly electronic issues (and unlimited access to the database for the term of receipt of the four issues) is $125. Two years is $225. Three years is $325. Two and three year subscriptions include the complimentary electronic Travel Guide.
Click on the subscribe/renew link at the top of the page to get all of the relevant details, including the option to receive professionally printed versions of the journal if you prefer. And feel free to poke around the site and be sure to voice your opinions to let me know how you think.
