Burgundy’s Most Wanted Red Wines

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| The letters D, R and C feature heavily in our list of most wanted Burgundy reds.

If you were looking for a place where everything comes together for the dedicated wine collector, you’d have to say Burgundy, right?

Well, yes and no. While the storied region is home to some of the finest wines on earth – as rated by critics – and definitely takes the crown when it comes to high prices, the volume of searches we get each month for Burgundy is surprisingly small.

“Surprisingly” because Burgundy’s top echelon represents the epitome of the unicorn wine – a wine made in tiny quantities and lauded with high scores, resulting in a rare combination of quality and restricted supply that inevitably pushes prices sky-high.

Unusually, given the hype and hoopla around Burgundy – and particularly Burgundy prices – over the past decade or so, only one wine from Burgundy cracks the top 10 in our search rankings. Indeed, there are only two Burgundy wines in the top 25 most searched-for wines on our database. And yet, Burgundy maintains its grip on the imaginations of wine collectors everywhere.

We should also mention aspirational searches. In many cases, people search for wines that they’re not necessarily going to buy, and Burgundy is fertile ground for that. Who doesn’t want to check out a wine that can increase its global average retail price by $20,000 in three months, after all?

Nevertheless, let’s try squaring aspiration with reality. Searches for Burgundy wines are on the rise, as are searches for Pinot Noir wines, generally, but clearly price is something of an obstacle. While Burgundy searches are growing, the number of top-end wines – the ones that can cost as much as a family car – are not making their way up the search rankings. The by-the-glass ceiling is real.

Anyway, let’s get down to business and take a look at the red Burgundies that people are looking for. 

The World’s Most Wanted Red Burgundy Wines on Wine-Searcher:

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti once again dominates proceedings, with six wines on the list. That’s the same as last year, and 2020. Armand Rousseau retains third spot with its Chambertin and adds the Clos Saint-Jacques for good measure, while the Roumier Bonnes-Mares elbows its way into the top 10.

What’s possibly most interesting, however, is the absence of any wines from the Leroy estates. Last year, its Musigny made the top 10, but not this time. That’s unusual, because Leroy tends to dominate many conversations about Burgundy; it’s wines are supremely collectible and invariably expensive, suggesting again that sky-high prices are deterring some wine lovers.

So let’s talk about price. Even without the presence of the soaringly priced Leroy wines, the 10 wines above have shown quite extraordinary returns against even last year. The lowest global average retail price rise was for the top wine, which saw a relatively modest 15 percent hike; not much until you realize that’s another $3312 extra a bottle added in just 12 months. Even the next lowest average price rise – the Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé – was 18 percent.

The top performer was the Clos Saint-Jacques, which saw a 59 percent rise in its global average retail bottle price, while the rest rose by between 34 and 55 percent.

It takes a lot of dedication – and even more hard cash – to be the sort of wine collector who is chasing down these particular unicorns.