I’m in London for ten days, attending the first importers’ wine fairs of the year. I’m trying new wines, gauging the success of the latest vintages, and talking to winemakers about what’s exciting them. In the coming months we’ll use the notes and memories from these tastings to refresh the wine lists of the restaurants we supply, as well as what’s on our shelves. Although they’re enjoyable, these events are also very serious. The quality and interest of what we offer throughout the year is determined by the careful attention paid at these events, and by the detailed analysis of our notes once we return home.

The most important tastings cover a broad range of countries of origin, but this year I’ve slipped in one specific to a single area: Burgundy. Despite Burgundy being one of the most revered wine-producing areas, we don’t offer a wide choice in the shop. To be exact, it’s because it’s such a famous area that we stock very little: it’s just too expensive for us to hope to sell many bottles per year.

I entered the tasting with my eyes peeled for value. In Burgundy terms, that means anything around the £25 mark. Writing that feels bizarre. When there are so many good wines for £10 or £15, why scrabble round looking for something that might be acceptable at £25? The answer is that, if you’re serious about selling wine, you just have to stock some Burgundy. It’s an area that’s honed its production using its proven grapes – Chardonnay for whites, Pinot Noir for reds – for many centuries. Great wines are made from these grapes all around the world, but nowhere else do they achieve the magical balance of power and finesse that they do on the ‘golden slopes’ of this part of eastern France, between Dijon and Mâcon.

There’s no choice: we must have Burgundy on our shelves. But not very much. Overstocking on Chambertin or Meursault would be an easy way to tie up money in expensive bottles which we’d have little prospect of selling. So I didn’t have a sip of Domaine Chevalier’s Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru ‘Les Valozières’ (RRP £87) and I didn’t even look at Domaine de Montille’s Volnay 1er Cru ‘Les Taillepieds’ (RRP £175.) They’re delicious, I’m sure, but they’re destined for wines bars frequented by London bigwigs and bankers, not for Kirkness & Gorie. Why? They fail that one crucial test: value for money.

*…you have to find a quiet spot to concentrate.*

Enough of the negatives. Did I take away anything positive from the tasting? Yes! For a start I had some excellent Crémant de Bourgogne. The crémant style – sparkling wine made using Champagne methods, but not actually from Champagne – has fine examples from several parts of France. But none better than JCB21 by Jean-Charles Boisset. And at £22 it’s a well-priced celebratory fizz.

For whites, it’s hard to find value in the famous appellations of the Cote d’Or and Cote de Beaune, but if you continue further south to vineyards around Mâcon, there are excellent winemakers crafting delicious wines at more reasonable prices. Domaine Perraud, for instance, whose Mâcon Villages has an RRP of £20.

For reds I’m going to cheat a bit and suggest you consider Beaujolais, Burgundy’s less-suave southern neighbour. The grape here is Gamay rather than Pinot Noir, but at its best Beaujolais can achieve a Burgundian combination of delightful aromas, generous fruit and silky texture. A great example is Jean-Marc Burgaud’s Beaujolais Lantignié (RRP £20.) Beyond the quality of the wine itself, it represents a genuinely exciting development in the area. There are ten Beaujolais ‘crus’, small areas that produce the best wines, including Fleurie, St Amour and Chenas. Could it be that Lantignié deserves to be added as an eleventh cru? Jean-Marc certainly persuaded me it did. Or, to be exact, the finesse and character of his wine did. If it does get elevated in that way – and moves are afoot – the other thing that will elevate is its price. Buy now before it becomes famous!

Except, don’t come to the shop asking for it, or any of these wines: we don’t have them. This is a report from the front line on what impressed me at the tasting. The next stage – careful assessment and final choices – awaits.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 24th January 2024. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.

Diary of a Shopkeeper, 21st January 2024