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If there's ever been a perfect storm for Burgundy lovers, it may be the one gathering force now.

The 2005 vintage, currently working its way through the North American market, by most accounts represents the region's finest red-wine harvest in a generation. Meanwhile, white wines from 2006, recently bottled and about to follow, are the big buzz reverberating in cellars up and down this region of central-eastern France.

I sampled about 700 wines in barrel and bottle this past month, including several dozen in this village at the base of Burgundy's most famous geographical landmark, the hill of Corton. Also known simply as "the mountain," it features the densest concentration of top-ranked, or grand cru, vineyards in the region, hallowed ground for worshippers of pinot noir and chardonnay. Those faithful will have much treasured liquid to toast with over the coming years.

"Two thousand and five was truly the best harvest that I've ever seen of pinot noir," said Nadine Gublin, winemaker since 1990 for Domaine Jacques Prieur, a highly regarded estate in the nearby village of Meursault. "Yet for me the chardonnay grapes from 2006 are much more complete, much richer. They were ripe, golden, sweet, with good acidity. The raw material was perfect."

That doubleheader also comes as Burgundy's international popularity is on a roll. Not counting the geographically connected but commercially separate district of Beaujolais, Burgundy now boasts the highest export rate of all French table-wine regions, with 54 per cent of sales going abroad last year. That's up from 48 per cent in 2005, higher than onetime export behemoth Beaujolais (43 per cent in 2005) and well ahead of publicity-polished Bordeaux (at 32 per cent in 2006).

The main reason: Burgundy sits squarely on the favourable side of today's price divide. Which is to say, it's expensive, typically starting at $16 for the most basic blends, with finer whites starting at about $25 and reds at $40. While the French wine industry struggles as a whole, demand abroad for its luxury products has never been higher.

What struck me most on my recent tour was the quality of 2006 whites from the region. One clear example was Domaine Jacques Prieur Meursault-Perrieres, which Ms. Gublin had just bottled. Like most of Burgundy's finest wines, it's named after a vineyard, which in this case is Les Perrieres, nestled in the white-wine commune of Meursault.

Like most vineyards in this patchwork quilt of tiny properties that is Burgundy, Les Perrieres is shared between several owners, some with a parcel amounting to an area no bigger than a suburban backyard. Rather than selling off their small crop to a co-operative for inclusion in a large-scale blend, these owners will vinify and bottle the fruit privately under their own respective labels. That's why you can have a Prieur Meursault-Perrieres sitting on the shelf next to a Domaine Leflaive Meursault-Perrieres.

Which is better? That's the critical question for most Burgundy buffs, who know that the reputation of a producer can be far more important than the reputation of a village or any of its vineyards. That, combined with high prices and the roller-coaster climate of this cool and often rain-plagued region, is what makes Burgundy among the most frustrating wine regions to love.

I tasted about 10 Perrieres from 2006 and Ms. Gublin's is clearly a standout, silky with a burst of tropical fruit that manages to support but not overwhelm the crisp acidity and delicately bracing mineral notes. Likely to cost more than $100 when released later this year, it should reach its peak in about five to seven years, by which time it is likely to acquire other Burgundian trademarks of hazelnut and honey.

If, like many people today, you harbour a colour prejudice against white wine, you shouldn't dismiss white Burgundy along with cheap pinot grigio and simple Chilean chardonnays. In terms of complexity, elegance and, yes, cellar-worthiness, good white Burgundy will slay most red wine on the planet. It's essentially a great red in a blonde wig.

And 2006 is a good vintage to start your remedial education. You could even impress friends with tales of the great chardonnay harvest that almost never was.

After a depressingly frigid August that retarded ripening that year, Sept. 10 saw a freakish burst of unusually hot weather. The pinot noir continued to ripen as usual, but the chardonnay did something magical. Berries went from acidic marbles destined for distillation to plump, sweet, fully ripe fruit in about four days, prompting a rush to harvest. "The chardonnay went crazy," Ms. Gublin said. "It ripened in a spectacular way."

Ms. Gublin's enthusiasm for 2006 was echoed as I travelled up and down this fertile region between Dijon and Lyon, whose limestone soil imbues the wines, notably chardonnay, with a rare mineral quality.

"Two thousand and six, it's a great one, very precise, very minerally," said Benjamin Leroux, estate manager at the respected Domaine Comte Armand in Pommard. His sublime Auxey-Duresses white is a delicate dance of crisp peach, green apple, minerals and vigorous acidity. A crusty old Burgundian farmer might use the term nervosité, or nervousness. Like all great Burgundies it will be expensive, probably $80 or more, and hard to find when it reaches North America, perhaps later this year or next.

"I prefer 2006 for chardonnay," said Michel Lafarge, an acclaimed producer in Volnay, a town known for gossamer-light pinots with precociously large aromas. Mr. Lafarge also makes several whites, including a third-tier, so-called village-level wine simply labelled Meursault, produced from vineyards below the premier and grand cru levels. Even in the frigid March environs of his ancient stone cellar, it was voluptuously silky, warm and brimming with mineral-like nuances.

Mr. Lafarge, like other producers, believes the 2006 harvest also produced consistently good reds, even though they may not be as deeply flavoured or cellar-worthy as those from 2005.

"It's a very good vintage," Mr. Lafarge, 79, said over a barrel sample of Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay Les Mitans 2006, a premier cru red. "Lots of quality, nice balance, lots of fruit and finesse and tannins."

Tannins, the powdery, mouth-puckering particles from grape skins and seeds that protect wines from air spoilage and enable them to age, were generally softer in 2006 than 2005. That means the wines are more accessible in their youth. "They're nice to drink young but could age in a good cellar for four or five years, whereas with the 2005s, you must forget them for 10 years," Mr. Lafarge said.

Yet many professional wine buyers at trade shows last month organized by the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne, a Burgundy trade association, seemed to care little about tasting the 2006s. They would zero in on the 2005 reds, clearly brainwashed by international critics who had hyped 2005.

"The only problem with 2006 is that it's coming just after 2005," said Virginie Taupenot-Daniel, who runs Domaine Taupenot-Merme in Morey-Saint-Denis with winemaker brother Romain Taupenot. "Two thousand and five, everybody knows about it. But in Burgundy, it's always different. Two thousand and six is a nice vintage, very fruity, very well balanced, very nice for drinking sooner."

I'll drink to that.

Top tastes from 2006

Highlights from Burgundy's soon-to-be-launched vintage. Most wines will be priced well above $50 a bottle and appear either later this year or next.

Joseph Drouhin Beaune

Clos des Mouches

Premier Cru (white)

A great example of this Drouhin trademark vineyard, with a burst of gunpowder presaging a ripe, fruity core.

Alex Gambal

Corton-Charlemagne

Grand Cru (white)

Pure, unfiltered flavours with classic minerals characteristic

of its cool vineyard site on the Corton hill.

Domaine Michel Lafarge

Volnay Clos du Château des Ducs Premier Cru (red)

Tasted from barrel. Very Volnay, delicately floral with notes of fresh raspberry and strawberry and fine tannins exerting some astringency on the long finish.

Domaine des Comtes

Lafon Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru (white)

Tasted from barrel. Simultaneously tangy and silky, this chardonnay has got it going on, with delicate fruit evolving into crushed stone and long yet

clean finish.

Domaine Hubert Lignier Clos de La Roche Grand Cru (red)

Tasted from barrel. Bright, chewy cherry fruit with a hint of herbs and ultra-long finish.

Domaine jacques Prieur Meursault-Perrieres

Premier Cru (white)

Instant classic of the vintage, oozing rich fruit with a silky

texture and bracing minerals.

Beppi Crosariol

bcrosariol@globeandmail.com