Danjean-Berthoux Bourgogne Rouge "Chaume Ronde" VV '22

A sigh of relief escaped when we first tasted this pretty little Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine Danjean Berthoux last week. It is increasingly hard these days to find great Burgundy under…well many price points, but especially $50. This is a joyful “bistro” wine that you can’t help but smile when you drink. The kind of wine that quenches your thirst, yet leaves you wanting maybe just one sip more.

Pascal Danjean is making excellent wine in the small village of Givry in Burgundy’s Côte Chalonnaise. When he inherited the family estate over 20 years ago, he made the decision to stop selling to local cooperatives and begin bottling his own wine. His first vintage was 1993. Since then he has also been busy planting, mostly located in 1er Cru vineyards. Givry’s soil is driven by limestone that has high proportion of iron and minerals lending the wines a mineral depth. Pascal’s great focus is on the terroir, not fining or filtering and rarely using new oak barrels. His wines are soft, but lively, bordering on classical, but with a slight impishness. 

“Chaume Ronde” is an incredible bargain for Bourgogne rouge. On the nose, bright cherry and forest floor. On the palate, a burst of fresh berries evolves into a more serious finish, grounding one in earth and mineral. This is a food wine if there ever was and would play well with a country pâté or a roasted game bird and a bitter greens salad. Everyday wine can be beautiful too.