A week in Burgundy

[AlexR]

It’s a 7 and a half hour drive to Beaune from here, and not a real turn-on to do on your own… However, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Côte d’Or a month ago.

The gîte option is a very good one. Not only cheaper, more spacious and better-equipped than a hotel, but you can also do your own cooking. So I stayed with a Dutch friend and an Australian importer in the center of Meursault in a house belonging, and adjacent to the winegrower Latour-Labille.

After my long drive with just a 10 minute stop, I went into a café in Beaune for a well-deserved glass of wine and was immediately hailed by a friend from Bordeaux, Joseph Sublett of the hotel-restaurant Château de Roques in Puisseguin Saint-Emilion. Shows that you need to make sure to behave yourself even when you’re a long way from home! Joseph told me that he had just come from a tasting in Nuits-Saint-Georges called “Les Nuits au Grand Jour”, so I immediately high-tailed it over there. I hadn’t expected to be able to do much of anything on a Sunday!

I tasted a number of wines at Nuits and was quite taken with the 2010s of several domaines and bought a few bottles. Among other producers, I sampled the wines of Chicotot, Daniel Rion, Domaine de Perdrix (and couldn’t resist buying a bottle of their white Nuits), Ch. de Chamirey, Cruchandeau, Domaine de l’Arlot, Ambroise, Moillard, Lecheneaut, Dupasquier, Chezeaux, Gavignet-Béthanie, Machard de Gramont, Dubois, Gouges, Legros, and Fleurot. As for the last one on the list, Domaine Louis Fleurot, they sell a very creditable Nuits for 15 euros a bottle and a Vosne-Romanée for 16. Values like this are not easy to find in Burgundy…

The next day was spent attending the Trilogie en Côtes de Nuits tastings held in three villages: Morey Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée. Virtually all the wines were from the 2011 vintage, which was the purpose of the whole operation.

At Morey, I sampled wines from Hubert Lignier, Stéphane Magnien, Marchand Frères, Frédéric Magnien, Philippe Charlopin, Gérard Raphet, Ponsot, Clos de Lambreys (surprisingly poor showing), Castagnier, and Dujac.
I was surprised to find gunpowder aromas in some of the wines, and it was explained to me that this was due to some insect that was crushed along with the grapes.

The Chambolle tasting also included wines from Clos de Vougeot. I sampled wines from Ch. de la Tour (not impressed), Bretagna, Michel & Patrice Rion, Méo-Camuzet, Fougeray de Beauclair, Capitain-Gagnard, Hudelot-Baillet, Roblot-Marchand, Ambroise, and Amiot-Servelle.

The Vosne tasting was pretty wonderful and I sampled wines from Jacques Prieur, Robert Sirugue, Georges Noëllat, Jacques Cacheux, Forey, Clos Frantin, Bizot, Méo-Camuzet, Louis Latour, Ligier –Belair, Michel Noëllat, Grivot, Sylvain Cathiard, Bouchard Père et Fils, Mugneret-Gibourg, Daniel Rion, Dominique Mugneret, A.F. Gros, Cécile Tremblay, François Gerbet, Mongeard-Mugneret, Manuel Olivier, Armelle & Bernard Rion, Jadot, René Cacheux,and Confuron-Gindre.

So, I was a busy boy that day… I took notes, but this post would be a mile long if I shared them all. Let it suffice to say that the 2011 vintage has some real treasures alongside some slightly lean and hollow wines. I won’t mention the color, because my Burgundy-loving friends keep telling me that this means little i.e. a superb wine can have a very pale hue.

The rest of my trip consisted of visiting domaines: Jean-Marc Bouley in Volnay, Bruno Clair in Marsannay, Castagnier in Morey Saint-Denis, Jadot in Beaune, Ligier-Belair in Vosne-Romanée, Lafarge in Volnay, Chevillon in Nuits Saint-Georges, Faiveley in Nuits, Hubert Lignier in Morey Saint-Denis, and Dujac in Morey.

Burgundy is small, but fascinating. I very much enjoy the food there and the one-on-one relationship visitors have with growers that is often missing from the great estates in Bordeaux.

I asked about the influence of the Chinese in Burgundy (they have just bought Ch. Loudenne in the Médoc, which now makes 30-something they own) and was told that there just isn’t enough wine to go around. Producers give priority to their traditional customers – so long as they pay the price – and do not envisage allocating wines to China.

Once again, please forgive me if I do not post thousands of words of tasting notes.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[JimHow]

Great report, Agent Rychlewski.
Sounds like Burgundy has their act together more than Bordeaux.

[jmccready]

Excellent. I have been to Burgundy quite a bit and visited numerous domaines but I never had the pull to taste this
many producers. Nice to hear some of the 11's showed well. I stay away form most average vintages now as your
other post on the 06's suggest. But the best vintages from the better producers still keep burgundy beside Bordeaux.
And Beaune has become a second home. JM

[stefan]

>>
I was surprised to find gunpowder aromas in some of the wines, and it was explained to me that this was due to some insect that was crushed along with the grapes.
>>

Note to self: Avoid 2011 Burgundy.

[dstgolf]

Japanese Ladybugs?? They release a chemical thats weird and off putting to most when crushed. Has been a big problem certain years in Ontario and Upstate NY wines.

Sounds like a fun trip but solo... I think it could have been better. Always fun to share your experiences with someone else.

[AlexR]

Danny,

The long drive was solo, but I was with my Australian and Dutch friends most of the time otherswise.

Alex