The Sex Life of Burgundy (part 2)

Today, 13th September 2021, and the latest gold mine of Burgundy information is at last available for us wine peasants to pick up a copy and delve deep. Jasper Morris MW is one of the world’s great authorities on the wines of Burgundy, and his second edition of Inside Burgundy has finally left for the bookstores. I would recommend you buy a copy sharpish, as this book has a tendency to be sold out, a bit like ´en primeur´ blue chip wine, rapidissimo!

Jasper has been in the wine trade since 1979, becoming a Master of Wine in 1985. He founded the London wine merchants  Morris & Verdin, in Pimlico, which was a leading importer of Burgundy, Red & White, back in the 1980s. M&V was sold to the venerable wine merchant Berry Brothers & Rudd in 2003, with Jasper joining as a director and head honcho Burgundy buyer. Since leaving that role in 2017, he has focused on Inside Burgundy (1st edition), also on his website and over the last year or so has been a regular zoom-buddy for most of us wine-bores, keeping us up to date with what has been going on in his newly adopted province, with all the latest tastings, local gossip and Jasper know how. All first class!

Now and with decades of experience of the wine business, home & abroad. He has cultivated very close ties with Burgundy domaines and winemakers and is extremely well versed on all stages of the process, from the vineyard to the wine drinker. Roll on geekiness, as the 100point system is used for absolute scoring, as per most international publications. On Morris’s website, this is allied with a five-star scale, which contextualizes that mark within the hierarchical classification of Burgundy.

Inside Burgundy is a serious book for serious wine lovers. It offers unrivaled insights on the region´s vineyards, the wine and it’s people.
It is literally written by a man who has dedicated his working life to wine and manages to combine three decades of intimate on-the-ground knowledge of Burgundy with the healthy skepticism of an international wine merchant.

In this latest edition (September 2021) of Inside Burgundy, we still receive the on-the-ground knowledge that only someone based in the region can acquire. Alongside his commentary on the vineyards, Jasper brings out the role of the vignerons and today’s influence on them, and of course their wines.

We learn the histories, their philosophies, their relationships (so many cousins, so many marriages, so many tangled inheritances, as Jasper says, the book really demands the subtitle  ‘The Sex Life of Burgundy’). The wine maps surpass anything previously published in English. I have learnt more about Burgundy thanks to this Cartography than ever before. The maps have been produced to match Jasper’s work in breadth of coverage and depth of detail. Wine lovers, wine freaks and wine bores who crave information and judgment on this subject: Inside Burgundy (Volume Two) offers unrivalled insights into just why this small slice of France yields the world’s most treasured wines, and all the info is pretty much bang up-to-date.

R.R.P. @ GBP75.00 + shipping

Reviewed by Hillary Hancock WM