Domaine Morey-Blanc Aloxe Corton Clos du Chapitre 2003

Ever meet someone with a name that was hard to pronounce, but that inspired you to practice until you got it right because you thought they were totally hot? I lived a pretty insular life through High School and I remember being exposed to (or exposing myself to) a great diversity of beautiful people that seemed exotic to me, if for no other reason than I was raised in a somewhat impermeable incubator full of pasty, incestuous, xenophobes whose primary fault was that they simply didn't heed the 'Carpe Diem' battle cry when they declared the Dead Poets Society to be life-changing.

Up until very recently, Red Burgundy was not something I appreciated as much as it deserves. The main driver of this is a simple lack of exposure. When I was younger and my resources were more meager, my access to Red Burgundy was of the "hearty" varietal. My mom often included this Hearty Burgundy in the weekly stew I ate growing up, but this qualifies me as an expert on Red Burgundy about as well as reading Old Man and the Sea qualified me to be a Geriatic Encologist.

Initial explorations of the Cote de Nuits with travel guides such as Jadot, Faiveley and Louis Latour piqued my interest. Further investment of time and money negated any doubts I had about a linear relationship existing between price and quality. If you don't agree, then I encourage you to drop a couple thousand dollars on a wide range of Bourgogne, Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines from the Cote D'Or and think again.

My palate was raised in the New World. As a result, I have less of an appreciation for French terroir and more of an appreciation for french fries. Also, my friends typically give me the stink-eye when I try to explain to them the advantages of subtleties found in a deftly guided old world wine v. the brashness found in a heavy-handed, strip the enamel off your teeth and flesh off your ovula higher-octane equivalent from California or Australia.

But I reflect on a time when Pamela Anderson was thought by many as the best thing going. Her over-the-top (literally) appeal was compelling, yet fleeting. I think the same will be true for many of these unnatural wines that were not made in mother nature's viticultural uterus, but were tweezed, tucked, sucked, augmented and waxed to sing in a glass for a few brief moments in time. If you ask me, their time is up.

The 2003 vintage was quite warm in Burgundy, as it was throughout many wine regions. It was so warm, that riper wines were made in France than one would expect, conveniently providing many liberals with the perfectly appropriate, sufficiently aged, palatable libation for their "Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize" celebrations. If global warming is making Old World wines more attractive to the uncivilized West, than this indeed is an inconvenient truth. But the good news is that there is a better way to appreciate Red Burgundy than inventing the NASCAR Hummer Circuit and waiting another 50 years for the greenhouse gasses to do their dirty deed. It's called drinking, though pious bleeding hearts would call it education and exposure, as education and exposure lead to appreciation and tolerance. It only took me three rounds of water-boarding to memorize that mantra.

For your consideration, I present exhibit number one - Morey-Blanc's 2003 Aloxe Corton. Savor the way the plush mouthfeel caresses your tongue. Enjoy all that this wine has to offer - cherry blossums, plums, new leather and cocoa; but notice how the underlying mineral and damp earth persist. This is the perfect wine to give less-than-fully enlightened people (such as me) a better appreciation for Red Burgundy - not because it is a freakish meterological anomaly, but because it presents the merits of a more sophiticated product in an easy-to-appreciate and understand format. The 2003 vintage screams what it typically whispers. And if you have had a hard time appreciating wines like this in the past, the message will be clearer to you after this revelationary tutorial, because this wine will help you understand what to listen for.

If you are feeling generous, grab a few friends and open a bottle of your favorite Russian River Valley or Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir to serve as an enlightening foil for the intellectual virtues of a truly divine 2003 Premier Cru such as this lovely example. Or call me, I'll be your friend for a night.