What seemed to me to make white Burgundies worth the effort was the fact that they tended to have more character, to be better balanced, more elegant … more, how you say in English … more Catherine Deneuve. More Jules and Jim than Die Hard; less top-heavy and more food-friendly than New World wines. On the other hand, it was and is quite possible to spend forty bucks on a bottle that tastes like it has been barrel-fermented with a big clump of terroir, or with Pierre’s old socks, or possibly his former cat. Yikes! Rather too much character, mon cher.
Jay McInerney, Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar, 2002.
