Hey guys!
This week we’re giving a quick rundown of Burgundy after a few questions came in following last week’s DRC post. We’re also highlighting a new wine bar opening in Brooklyn and one of our favorite producers from Austria, Gut Oggau. Enjoy! 🍷
Burgundy, Explained 🇫🇷
The history, the vineyard hierarchy, and a few legendary producers to know
Last week we talked a bit about Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and a few people reached out asking for a quick breakdown of Burgundy itself. Totally fair.
Pictured: Burgundy, France. Image by Wikipedia
Burgundy is one of the most famous wine regions in the world, but it’s also one of the easiest to overthink. People talk about it like it’s impossibly complicated, when in reality the core idea is straightforward: great wine comes from great places. The Romans planted vines here thousands of years ago, but it was the monks in the Middle Ages who really started mapping the vineyards and noticing that tiny differences in slope, soil, and exposure produced different wines. That obsession with place, otherwise known as terroir, is really the foundation of Burgundy.
Pictured: Burgundy Vines. Image by Revigorate
The region is also organized into a simple hierarchy. At the base are regional wines, labeled simply as Bourgogne. A step up are village wines, which carry the name of a specific town like Meursault, Gevrey-Chambertin, or Chambolle-Musigny. Above that are Premier Cru (1er Cru) vineyards, which are standout sites within those villages. And at the very top are Grand Cru vineyards, the historic plots that have been recognized for centuries as producing some of the most profound wines in the world. You can almost think of it like zooming in on a map, the more specific the vineyard, the more distinctive (and usually expensive) the wine.
Pictured: Burgundy Hierarchy. Image by Last Bottle Wines
What’s funny is that for a region with such a complicated reputation, Burgundy is actually pretty simple when it comes to grapes. It’s Pinot Noir for the reds and Chardonnay for the whites (there’s a tiny amount of Gamay and Aligoté sprinkled in the mix sometimes). The real magic is how differently those grapes behave depending on where they’re grown. A Pinot from Chambolle-Musigny might be delicate and plush, while one from Gevrey-Chambertin can feel darker and more structured. Same grape, different hillside, completely different personality.
Pictured: Burgundy Grape Breakdown. Image by Burgundy-Report
And then there are the producers people covet. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is probably the most famous estate on earth, and the one I was able to try last week, producing tiny quantities from some of Burgundy’s most legendary Grand Cru vineyards. Armand Rousseau is a benchmark in Gevrey-Chambertin, making powerful but incredibly elegant Pinot Noir. And Coche-Dury in Meursault has achieved near-mythical status for its Chardonnay.
Pictured: Burgundy Wines. Image by Decanter
Burgundy can look intimidating from the outside, and can sometimes we pretty price prohibitive, but at the end of the day it’s just grapes, vineyards, and centuries of people obsessing over them. If you want to dive deeper, Wine Folly has a great map detailing all the villages:
Pictured: Burgundy Map. Image by Wine Folly
Brooklyn’s Newest & Most Exciting Wine Bar 🍷
Bodega Nights officially opens its doors on Thursday, March 12th
As the weather starts to turn in New York City, it finally feels like the right time to be drinking wine outside again, and I have a feeling Bodega Nights in Bushwick is going to be a place I find myself returning to a lot this Spring and Summer.
Pictured: Bodega Nights
Opened by the team behind Lower East Side favorite BabySips, Bodega Nights brings the same energy but on a much, much bigger scale. The space is beautiful and airy, with tall ceilings and giant doors that open to the massive front patio, and it’s just a short walk from the Jefferson L train stop. The wine list is already shaping up to be very impressive, and the food leans into Brazilian and Spanish inspired dishes you actually want when you’re sitting around sharing bottles with friends.
Pictured: Bodega Nights Interior
The owners, David and Zoe, are good friends of ours, and it’s been really exciting watching this project come together. Opening a new spot in New York is never easy, but they’ve built something that already feels like it’s going to become a neighborhood staple. If you’re in Bushwick this weekend, or anytime soon, it’s definitely worth stopping in for a glass, or a bottle.
Address: 425 Troutman St, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Producer Highlight ⭐
One of our favorite parts of wine is the discovery: we’re constantly being put on to new regions, producers, and cuvées from our friends. We’ll never be able to try EVERY wine, but we want to take a moment to mention some producers that excite us!
Gut Oggau 🍷
Location: Burgenland, Austria 📍
Pictured: Burgenland, Austria. Image by Wikipedia
In the small town of Oggau in Burgenland, Austria, Gut Oggau was founded in 2007 by Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe. Eduard had previously made conventional wine alongside his father in Styria, while Stephanie grew up in a family rooted in hospitality, her parents run the Michelin-starred restaurant Taubenkobel. When the couple discovered an abandoned 17th century winery in Oggau, they decided to bring it back to life, restoring everything from the cellar to the estate’s original grape press. The vineyards surrounding the property had been left untouched for nearly two decades, which turned out to be a blessing: years without chemicals meant the vines were essentially reset, allowing them to begin farming biodynamically from the start.
Pictured: Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe. Image by Jupe Wine
From early on, they noticed that each cuvée seemed to carry its own personality. That idea eventually led to one of the most recognizable label concepts in wine: an entire fictional family living across the bottles. The “children” wines, Atanasius, Theodora, and Winifred, are lively, energetic, and expressive. The “parents,” including Joschuari, Emmeram, Timotheus, and Josephine, come from riper vineyards and tend to show more depth and structure. And finally there are the “grandparents,” Mechtild and Bertholdi, sourced from older vines and single vineyards that produce the most classic and contemplative wines in the lineup.
Pictured: Gut Oggau Family Tree. Image by Gut Oggau
Most of the vineyards at Gut Oggau are field blends, so grape varieties rarely make it onto the label. Still, the estate works primarily with six grapes native to the region: Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), and Gewürztraminer. The result is a range of wines that feel deeply rooted in Burgenland yet unmistakably their own, bottles that capture a sense of place while carrying the playful spirit of the family on each label.
Pictured: Gut Oggau Wines. Image by Wine Travel
Like many people, these were some of the wines that first sparked our curiosity about natural wine. Our local wine shop at the time, Court Liquors, carried both the Winifred and Atanasius cuvées, and honestly the labels alone were enough to make us pick them up.
Pictured: Eduard Tscheppe
I still remember how blown away we were by the Winifred; salty, bright, floral, with this white cherry note that felt completely different from anything we’d had before. Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to try almost the entire lineup and even spend time with Eduard and Stephanie during trips to Austria. They’re some of the kindest and most generous people in the wine world and we’ll always support their domaine. If you ever come across a bottle, it’s definitely worth grabbing.
Wine Club Updates 🍷 📦
We’re getting together March’s shipments this week, and aim to have them out by the end of next week. Working on getting the theme together and we’ll let you know what we land on soon! If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to [email protected] and they’ll help you out.
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That’s it for today! Hope everyone is enjoying the early signs of Spring. Patio season can’t come soon enough.
As always, thank so much for reading, and as always, drink responsibly! 🥂