Burgundy, where to start.

I want to start learning and getting into Burgundy more. At the moment I drink mainly Napa Cab, Bordeaux and US Pinot noir.

Any good places to start to at least get an idea about the region.

La paulee

Assuming that you are talking about reds. Buy a mixed case of modest wines from a retailer who you trust. Ask them for a range of styles, from bigger to softer, oakier, whole bunch and from a range of sites and heirachies. Eg Chambolle, Vosne, Marsannay, Bourgogne, Villages, Premier Cru.
Then drink them and form your own opinions.
In the mean time read a good book on Burgundy and attend any tastings that come up. Absorb all of the information that you can.

I did the same, buying a mixed case of 1996 reds and read Clive Coates tome from cover to cover, reading many chapters a dozen times. It really is like undertaking an academic study. I do think that Andrew Jefford’s ‘The New France’ chapter on Burgundy is a good (brief) start, although probably a little out of date today.
It really was very enlightening to see the varying styles and degrees of accessibility.

I was lucky. I read every burg book I could find, loving Remington Norman’s tome, and for many years sat beside Steve Zanotti of the Wine Exchange one afternoon a week as he tasted wines. I proofread his handwritten newsletter and thus got first shot at many wines. His tutelage was invaluable, the most brilliant taster I’ve ever encountered. Some great times. Studying French and going to Burgundy were important next steps. Read lots; taste lots.

A lot of great ideas.

I was lucky to find a local shop run by a guy with a great palate and a tremendous enthusiasm for great European wines. He was a font of information, and he both drank and sold Burgundy from village to GC.

I read Matt Kramers Burgundy book, and tried a range of wines from producers my mentor suggested, from a wide range of Crus.

I tasted quite a bit of Burgundy while buying for a restaurant in Portland, and really came to value the beautiful examples of wines from the smaller villages(places like Givry, Santenay, Pernand-Vergelesses, and Mercurey). The Grand Cru sites deserve their status, but the region is truly special and talented producers can make superlative wines from less storied sites too.

1.Taste, taste, and taste some more. As many as you can. Covid shut everything down, but things will gradually open up. If you are in a big metropolitan area, find the wine shops with a solid Burg program that do regular tastings and sign up for all of them. Get to know the resident Burg expert, and keep an eye out for likeminded folks looking to form / are already in, a Burg-centered tasting group.

2. At the risk of over simplification, there are two basic routes - by region and by producer. Ultimately, both come will together as you’ll be tasting the same vineyard from two or three (or dozens!) of producers (across multiple vintages). That can be overwhelming at the beginning. Starting with a focus on producers is simpler. I.e. if you find a producer you like or love, it’s highly likely you’ll like their other offerings.

3. In addition to the excellent books already recommended, get a copy of a vineyard atlas. It’s enormously helpful to be able to visualize where the specific vineyards are in relation to each other - Grand Crus that are midslope and border each other; premier crus that are adjacent and above / below the GCs, or a vineyard like Clos Vougeot which has all of the above. I like the Hachette Atlas of French Wines and Vineyards, but there are others. Allen Meadows / Burghound is a great source of info as well.

4. IMO, Burgs becomes Burg with bottle age - that’s where all those “I get it!” moments really come from. Put a portion of your Burg budget towards older Burgs. They pop up on Winebid and other sites. They ain’t cheap, but neither is Harvard Med School. And you don’t need an ancient DRC Richebourg or Leroy Chambertin to get something great. Look for great producers with “lesser” terriors.

This topic makes me wish that Faiveley, Jadot, Drouhin, and Bouchard would bottle splits and sell as a boxed “terroir set” each year. Pick red or white, premier cru or grand cru, and re-release 10 years after the initial release, charge a premium. Calera used to do something like this, and I very much enjoyed going through the selection each year.

I thought jadot did that for beaune

They did, but not in 375s

This is great advice, I’d add Irancy to the list as well.

I don’t want to thread drift but can anyone go to this? Assuming its in the $1,000+ range but probably no other way to determine what producers align with your palate in such a vast quantity.

There are several events during the la paulee, but yes, tickets to the grand tasting and the other events are open to anyone who wants to purchase a ticket. Though many of them go fast

The Paulee has quite a number of events. The huge dinner (and some other events) are over $1000 or more, but the Grand Tasting is more like $425 a person. This is a walk around tasting of probably 40-50 producers each pouring four wines from a specific vintage. I have only been to the NYC event (not the SF one) but there usually is pretty good food around and the event is about 3 hours in length. The day before the Grand Tasting is a Verticals event that I have only attended once. In this case, the producers show four different vintages of one of their wines. It is usually the day before the Grand Tasting.