After sucking in and spitting out the entire contents of the Gironde estuary over the past few decades, wine collectors have set their sights on Burgundy. If you’re a fan of Old World Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, it may be alarming to see cases of wine selling for prices that exceed the value of your house. You may think, “Ah, that’s only DRC/Coche-Dury/Henri Jayer,” but those stratospheric auction prices definitely have a trickle-down effect.

Against that background, it’s reassuring to find a property such as Domaine de la Vougeraie. Yes, it’s owned by Jean-Charles Boisset, a flamboyant and theatrical empire builder. He may be someone who sells Beaujolais in cans and markets wine from Southern France in tetrapaks, but he’s serious about Burgundy. He comes from a winemaking family, and the Vougeraie vinyeards are his heritage. The wines from those sites may not be cheap, but they are extremely well-made and not outrageous either. In other news, we explored the eternal oxymoron of organic booze, and provided background and a recipe for Pimm’s Cup. If you can’t make it to Wimbledon or the Henley Royal Regatta, console yourself with a few of those.

One final note: going forward, you’ll be receiving this newsletter on Tuesday rather than Monday. The simple reason is that not enough subscribers were reading it. We can go up against the best lifestyle websites out there, but we can’t compete with Monday.

Here are last week's posts:

Square One Organic Vodka

Domaine de la Vougeraie: Burgundy at its Best

Pimm's Cup: The Rites of Spring