·        Beaujolais Village - comes from certain villages in Beaujolais, this is a bit better quality and a bit more expensive.

·        "Cru" - There are ten crus in Beaujolais that produces the highest quality wine of this region. They are:

1.     Brouilly,

2.      Regnie,

3.      Morgon,

4.      Moulin-a-Vent,

5.     Fleurie,

6.     Chenas,

7.    Chiroubles,

8.    Saint-Amour,

9.      Julienas, and

10.   Cote de Brouilly.

Learn them they will reward you. These "Crus" don't make it obvious that they are Beaujolais wines as they want to be considered apart from the crowd, so, therefore by glancing at them in a wine store you might not recognize them as Beaujolais, but they are in fact the state of the art! The third Thursday in November is Beaujolais Nouveau day, a time when everyone tries to offer the consumer the new wine that has been taken from the grape crops that year. Save your money for the "Crus" of this region, you will enjoy it a lot more, and probably won't get that new wine headache. Southern Burgundy consists of the Cote Chalonnaise and the Maconnais and produces wine that offers good value as they are not well known. Try

1.      Rully,

2.     Givry ,

3.    Mercurey or 

4.  Pouilly­ Fuisse.

This region is the southern most white wine producing area in Burgundy and in general are pleasant, light and uncomplicated. In Burgundy the most important factor in making wine is the soil. Think of the vine as a straw that brings all the goodness to the grape from the soil it is planted in. The vine does nothing but transports what it finds in the earth. Seeing it this way you can understand the French term "terroir", which creates all the nuances and tastes you find in your glass, and thereby explains why there can be so much difference in just a few miles of grape fields. Right smack dab in the heart of Burgundy is the Cote d'Qr. loosely translated it means the slopes of gold, no doubt because of the income it produces for it's owners and producers. Here we find the highest price of farm real estate in the world, that is only some thirty miles long and about one half a mile wide. Every time I visit I am amazed at how small and compact this holy ground is, and how diverse the tastes and crops are. To understand this region you need to know there are four levels of quality.

They say a little knowledge is dangerous, and here is a perfect example. You glance over this blog and you remember that

Burgundy is great wine so next time you go into a wine store you buy a bottle of "Burgundy" wine as it isn't cheap and it

has a nice label. You are disappointed, if that is great wine then you will stick to that Canadian stuff or Chillian you have drinking for the

past 20 years.. Don't be fooled by the lights and mirrors that lure the unexpecting into. You must learn the difference between the four levels of quality, and read a Burgundy label. Save yourself from all the mistakes I made when I was attacking the retail shelves of the wine stores in my initial zeal. I am not saying that there isn't good generic or village wine, because there is, but when visiting the Burgundy wine in the store or restaurant some in-depth knowledge saves you a lot of pain. Lets look at my favorite wine Montrachet. There will be a least four qualities of wine based on aforementioned. The generic wine label looks a lot like the grand cm label. It says Montrachet, it has the Appellation Controlee label and has the negociant or importer name on the label. The Village wine has the actual name of the village, Puliny-Montrachet, the negociant's name and the A.O.C. label. The premier cm has the name of the village, Puliny-Montrachet, the A.O.C. label the negociant's name and the vineyard's name. There are hundreds of premier cm vineyards to choose from. The grand Cru has only the vineyard, the A.O.C. label and the negotiant name. It helps to know the grand cm vineyards, there are only 28 in the Cote d'Or. From the label you can tell it is from France, that it is a Burgundy wine, that it is from the Cote d'Or, that it is from the Cote de Beaune (internal region of the Cote d'Or), the village it is from, the year it was made and the vineyard it is from. All the thrill of rolling the dice is gone! but the result of the wine you select is pretty much for sure. Remember, unlike Bordeaux the Grand Cru is the best, with the premier crus rating very, very high. Following is a list of the grand crus in the Cote d'Or.

For me to describe the pleasure of drinking some of these wines I would defer you to Alexandre Dumas (1802- 1870)

who upon being asked of his opinion of Montrachet, a grand cru, said   "Montrachet should be drunk kneeling, with one's head bared". 

 Although some Burgundy wines are estate bottled, over eighty percent of the wines are sold, like Alsase, through shippers.

The following list are, in my opinion, the better shippers.

Bouchard Pere & Fils Joseph Drouhin

LouisJadot Louis Latour

]affelin Moillard

Jean Chartron

The wines of Burgundy can be expensive because there is limited supply and much demand. At one time in my personal wine cellar

85% of the wine is from Burgundy. Upon a choice in a restaurant I will choose a Burgundy, I love the “female” qualities it presents to ll my senses. Treat yourself to a bottle and you will understand why someone called this “bottled Poetry”.