This month, we have a great  White Burgundy:  Domaine Marc Morey Rully, premier cru en Rabourcé.

Domaine Marc Morey is located in the heart of the Côte d’Or, in the center of the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. Although the Morey family name can be traced back for more than five generations in Chassagne, it was in the 1950’s that Marc Morey established this domaine. He constructed the original cellar beneath the family’s 100 year-old home and began vinifying his own wines. His daughter Marie-Jo and her husband Bernard Mollard are the current proprietors. They now own almost 10 hectares of Villages, Premier and Grand Cru vineyards and have twice expanded the domaine and modernized the vinification equipment. Bernard and Marie-Jo’s daughter is studying oenology and has joined her parents to work the estate.

This Rully 1er Cru - En Rabourcé is nuanced and stylish, with a beautifully ripe but precise and mineral fruit.  This Côte Châllonais Burgundy offers great value for the quality. 

For much of its existence, Rully was largely a producer of simple, sparkling wine. Its red and white table wines were labeled as either simple Bourgogne or (particularly the reds) as Mercurey, the name of the most popular wine of the Châlonnaise.

When the appellation laws were discussed in the 1930's, the growers of Rully aimed to officially attach their vineyards to those of Mercurey, securing their reputation as well as the associated premium prices. The growers of Mercurey balked, leaving Rully temporarily in a netherworld. Rather than remaining a source of merely Bourgogne Blanc, Rully began on its own. Today, the whites, which make up the vast majority of its production, are well regarded and are on many consumers' hit list for value whites. There is a multitude of vineyards that have been given the title of Premier Cru, but the producer is most often the best indicator of quality. The wines in general feature balanced tropical fruits and perhaps a touch of honey or vanilla.  Rully is today a fine source for crowd-pleasing white Burgundy's that exceed Bourgogne Blanc in quality.


The great wines of Burgundy are uniquely complex, compelling and just darned tasty. Above all they are evocative, transformative but like all creatures, temperamental and anything but dependable. Two grapes dominate this agricultural masterpiece, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Both grapes achieve their greatest elegance when planted in cooler climates, to which Burgundy is the coolest and most Northern climate of all the major regions famous for red wines. When winemakers talk about Burgundy, they generally speak of terroir, the compilation of the vineyard's soil, slope, orientation, nuance of climate, etc. This concept of terroir is what makes wines produced from grapes even in the same village or vineyard strikingly different. Burgundy is a place of legend, awe and adventure, a place that wine lovers call home.

Recipe:  Poached Maine Lobster Salad Serves 4

• 2 Maine lobsters, about 1 1/2 pounds each
• Zest and juice of 2 limes
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 6 baby Gem lettuces
• 3 pink grapefruit, peeled, segmented and pith removed
• 2 avocados, peeled and diced
• 3 mixed heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts

Plunge the lobsters into rapidly boiling salted water, bring back to the boil and cook for 
5 to 8 minutes, until no sign of blue/black color remains and everything is a pinky-red. Remove from the pot and leave to cool.

Take out the tail meat, then crack open the claws and remove the meat, discarding any bits of shell. Cut the meat into 1 inch dice and keep cool.

Mix the lime zest and juice in a plastic bottle with the oil and honey.

Arrange the lettuce leaves 
on a large tray and top with the grapefruit segments, avocado cubes, hazelnuts and cherry tomatoes. 
Place the lobster meat on top 
and drizzle the salad with the honey-lime dressing.

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