Some Wine Scholars nights are about guessing. Some are about debating. Some are about discovering that your “very confident” blind tasting answer was, in fact, extremely wrong.
This one was different.
For our Burgundy: Côte de Nuits — Power & Precision event, the focus was first and foremost on learning. And for the first time, we brought in a guest speaker: Alex Lallos of No Limit Wines, who came ready to teach, guide, challenge, and generously share his deep knowledge of Burgundy.
And wow — did the room respond.
The night centered on the northern half of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, specifically the Côte de Nuits — the home of some of Pinot Noir’s most powerful, structured, and complex expressions. Instead of starting blind, we tasted through five key sub-regions side by side: Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée, and Nuits-Saint-Georges.
That format turned out to be the magic of the night.
Rather than guessing in the dark, we were able to slow down and actually compare the wines in front of us. Gevrey’s darker fruit and firmer structure. Chambolle’s perfume and elegance. Vosne’s spice and texture. Nuits-Saint-Georges with its sturdier, more savory backbone. It was a lot to unpack — in the best possible way.
Every single person had questions. Good questions. Follow-up questions. “Wait, say that again” questions. The kind of questions that only happen when a group is genuinely engaged and realizing there is so much more going on in the glass than “I like this one.”
That may have been the most fun part of the night: watching everyone get excited not just about the wines, but about the knowledge. Burgundy can feel intimidating from the outside — tiny villages, famous vineyards, impossible labels, and pricing that sometimes feels like it was invented by a villain. But Alex did an incredible job making the region feel approachable without watering it down.
We weren’t just drinking Burgundy. We were learning how to see Burgundy.
The lineup gave us plenty to work with. We started with a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir as a reference point, then moved into the Burgundy wines selected for the evening. Tasting the villages side by side helped bring the differences to life in a way that reading about them never could. You could feel the group connecting the dots in real time.
Of course, it helped that the setting was perfect.
A huge thank you to Leo Santini, who was an incredibly generous host. The venue was beautiful, the weather could not have been better, and the whole evening had that rare feeling where everything just seemed to line up: great wine, great food, great people, and just enough structure to make us all feel like we were becoming slightly more dangerous at a dinner party.
Dinner was catered by Mirth, and it was exactly what the night needed: beef bourguignon, pasta, and a beautiful salad. Rich, comforting, and perfectly in the Burgundy lane. There is something deeply satisfying about drinking Burgundy while eating beef bourguignon and pretending, just briefly, that we all live in a French village and own suspiciously well-stocked cellars.
After the reference tasting, we finished with two blind wines. Only two — but enough to bring back the familiar Wine Scholars tension. The group had a couple of successful hits, which we will absolutely be celebrating, possibly more than is reasonable. But the better news is that the blind tasting felt more informed than usual. People weren’t just guessing randomly. They were using what they had learned earlier in the night.
That felt like real progress.
All in all, this was one of those evenings that captured exactly what Wine Scholars is supposed to be. Not a lecture. Not a competition. Not a room full of people pretending to know everything.
Just a group of curious people gathered around a table, asking better questions, learning together, and enjoying some truly memorable wines.
Burgundy gave us plenty to wrestle with. Alex gave us a map. Leo gave us the perfect place to gather. And the group brought the energy that made the night special.
A huge thank you again to Alex Lallos of No Limit Wines for guiding us through the Côte de Nuits, to Leo Santini for hosting so generously, to Mirth for the beautiful meal, and to everyone who came ready to learn.
This one was memorable.
And yes, we are now all just dangerous enough to pronounce “Nuits-Saint-Georges” with confidence.
Wine Flight
- 2024 Rivers-Marie Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir: A California reference point to help frame the Burgundy wines that followed.
- 2021 Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin: A look at Gevrey’s darker fruit, earth, and firmer structure.
- 2020 Domaine Heresztyn-Mazzini Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Les Millandes: A bridge between power and perfume, with structure, spice, and aromatic lift.
- 2021 Domaine François Bertheau Chambolle-Musigny: A chance to see Chambolle’s more delicate, floral, silky side.
- 2020 Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru: A beautiful example of Vosne’s spice, polish, and layered texture.
- 2017 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Saint-Georges: The more serious, savory, age-worthy side of the lineup.