In part one of our series on the Burgundy wine industry, we wrote about viticulture and the maintenance and harvest of Burgundy wine grapes. Part two covered the winemaking process, from harvest through vinification and bottling, while part three focused on the conventional commercial pathways of Burgundian wine.
In this final installment of the series, we’ll go over the model that we use to get wine from the producer’s cellar to Burgdirect member’s doorsteps.
The Mission
While thousands of cases of Burgundy are imported into the US every year through traditional channels, it can be surprisingly difficult to find retailers that can faithfully promise:
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Reliable quality
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Impeccable handling and provenance
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Consistent supply
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Access to rare wines from very small family producers
BurgDirect was created by founder and Burgundy wine lover, Jeff Rubin, as a way of addressing these issues, circumventing traditional commercial networks to provide fellow wine lovers with a direct line to Burgundy producers.
The result was a simple and transparent Napa-like mailing list offering members a chance at a consistent source of rare and wonderful small-batch Burgundy wines, year after year.
How BurgDirect Works
BurgDirect enjoys relationships with over 25 producers in the Côte-d'Or, the region considered to produce the best that Burgundy has to offer.
Working closely and personally with each producer, we negotiate, cajole and curate wines that our partner domaines wish to offer our customers into bundles. Then we send out an email newsletter to alert our members to the offers and give them a chance to buy. It’s that simple.
Bundles often contain heavy hitters (including Grand and Premier Crus) from top addresses like Gevrey-Chambertin and Puligny-Montrachet alongside lesser-known nearby communes from producers that usually don’t export to the US, and are curated around providing fun and delicious themed tasting experiences to our members.
For example, bundles frequently contain ‘mini-vertical’ tastings, with three or six different vintages from the same producer and vineyard, or ‘mini-horizontals’, with different wines from the same year. Generally, we send out two newsletters per quarter: Haut de Gamme for the high-end Grand and Premier Cru wines, and Prestige for value-oriented high quality Premier Cru and Village wines.
To view our partner domaines in France, you can visit the domaines page on our website.
To view some examples of our offers, you can visit our Prestige or Haut de Gamme past offers page.
BurgDirect Membership
To receive our email offers, visitors just need to sign up. Membership is totally free, and takes only a few minutes.
Why do we require membership?
Well, for one, we can’t send you newsletters unless you sign up!
Membership also allows us to gauge interest in our offers, and helps us secure better deals from our partner domaines in France.
Because of our long-standing relationships, we get great and competitive pricing on our allocations of Burgundy. To keep the details of those deals private, (and keep the offers out of the hands of online bots) we’ve promised our partners that prices will only be available to members of our mailing list. In addition, our partners are interested in giving access to their wines to a broad set of our customers, so every bundle has an allocation maximum per member.
To become a member of Burgdirect, you can sign up for free on our become a member page.
The Newsletter
We work with our wineries carefully to select the best wines that represent what their domaines have to offer, and we typically bundle these wines into six-pack offerings. These bundles usually contain a range of wines from just a single domaine, but we also create mixed bundles with wines from two or more wineries.
When making an offer, we send an email to members that includes a link to the offer on our website. Offers include several different bundles from which to select and are generally open for ten days to two weeks, but occasionally the winery will extend the offer or add additional allocations.
From the offers page, members can select and purchase whichever bundles catch their interest; first-come, first-serve. We also offer a “wish list” function that allows members to request additional bundles beyond their allocations (or for “sold out” bundles), and working with our partner domaines, can often fulfill these requests shortly after the formal offer period closes.
We believe in simplicity, and sell our wines on a prix-fixe basis. Pricing is all-inclusive, and covers everything from the cost of the wine to shipping, tariffs, taxes, insurance and final delivery (except for certain special state-related shipping fees).
For more information on newsletters and bundle selection, you can visit the FAQ section at the bottom of our About page.
Delivery of the Wines
Last but not least, delivery!
After the offer closes, your wines are picked up directly from the wineries by our freight forwarder and brought to the U.S. by ocean freight or air. Then, after passing through customs, the wines are held in our temperature-controlled warehouse where they’re repackaged to your specifications and sent to the final delivery of your choice by a local carrier (usually FedEx). This end-to-end process typically takes 3-4 months.
From the moment they leave the producers’ cellars to the moment they’re delivered, wines are handled by professional personnel, maintained in safe temperature-controlled environments, and insured against all damages.
If you have any questions that weren’t addressed in this article, feel free to send us a message on the Contact page!
Conclusion
This concludes our 4-part series on the Burgundy wine industry.
From a region that’s been making it for over a thousand years, Burgundy is characterized by a pursuit of excellence at every level. Field to harvest to winery to your cellar (or dinner table), all those who participate in the Burgundy generally do it with the same basic motivation - for the sheer love of a great wine. So welcome to the family!
We hope that this series has provided you with a basic understanding of the flow of Burgundy from the vine to bottle to your home. Though it can often be an overwhelming industry to navigate, with the help of a bit of knowledge and experience, it can also promise some of the best damn wine this world has to offer.