The Road to Burgundy
14 May 2013
I first met Ray Walker at Domaine Dujac in Morey-Saint-Denis during harvest 2010, Tuesday 28th September to be precise. I was talking to Jacques Seysses, patriarch of the domaine, and Walker was standing off to one side. Read More...
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Oh No - Nouveau!
15 November 2012
It is upon us again, one of the greatest marketing scourges ever visited on the wine drinking public, though I believe it has backfired on the producers in a way they would never care to admit. I speak of Beaujolais Nouveau. Read More...
Burgundy Harvest 2012
13 October 2012
It rained in Burgundy on Wednesday 26th September. Then it rained some more. And then some more. In all, about 50mm fell in 24 hours and, in the darkness of the early morning, it was accompanied by crashing thunder and sweeping flashes of lightning. Read More...
Burgundy 2012
14 September 2012
I called to see Michel Lafarge in Volnay on 26th July last, with only one question that I really wanted to ask: Had he ever seen a year like this before? He didn’t have to consider long before answering no. And this from a man who started work at the family domaine in 1946. Read More...
Meursault Mass
16 July 2012
The church bells boomed out over Meursault yesterday morning, just prior to the weekly mass at 10.30, as a dazzling sun vied with a brittle breeze to warm or chill any exposed flesh. Inside, the congregation ranged from youngsters of just a few vintages to stooped old-timers whose memories stretched way back into the last century. Read More...
Burgundy Blues
21 June 2012
“When sorrows come…” Poor old Burgundy! As if the battering endured for the last decade – thanks to the scandal of premature oxidation – wasn’t enough, she now finds herself in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons. Read More...
Burgundy UNESCO Bid
20 June 2012
Readers familiar with John B Keane’s play The Field have an advantage when it comes to understanding the wine region that can easily claim to be the world’s most fabled: Burgundy. Burgundy is a state of mind as much as a name on a map and its citizens are characterised by a visceral attachment to the land; you could be forgiven for thinking that if some of them stood still for long enough they would put down roots. Read More...
Burgundy - UNESCO
21 May 2012
Readers familiar with John B Keane’s play The Field have an advantage when it comes to understanding the wine region that can easily claim to be the world’s most fabled: Burgundy. Burgundy is a state of mind as much as a name on a map and its citizens are characterised by a visceral attachment to the land; you could be forgiven for thinking that if some of them stood still for long enough they would put down roots. Read More...
Bonneau du Martray
02 December 2011
The hill of Corton sits, serene and squat, above the villages of Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton and Ladoix-Serrigny in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. Topped by forest and swaddled by vineyards it rises to a height of 350 metres and is the most distinctive natural feature for miles around. It lends its name to one of Burgundy’s most fabled white wines, Corton-Charlemagne, and also a red, Corton, whose reputation is less assured. The emperor Charlemagne is said to have owned vineyards here but today the most famed proprietor is the Domaine Bonneau du Martray whose holding extends to 11 hectares. Read More...
Beaujolais Noveau
14 November 2011
In all of recorded history has there ever been invented a more effective two-edged sword than Beaujolais Nouveau? Beaujolais’ image was plumped up into the stratosphere while its reputation had the legs cuts from under it. The result was that, yes, the whole wide world got to know of a wine called Beaujolais – while also learning that it was cheerful quaffing plonk and no more. And sometimes not that cheerful either. Read More...
Burgundy Harvest Fare
14 September 2011
The harvesters’ dinner at Aubert and Pamela de Villaine’s eponymous Bouzeron domaine takes place at 7.30pm each evening and is announced by a hand-held and enthusiastically rung bell – of the sort that used to do service in schoolyards across the world. Unlike the pupils’ reluctant retreat from the schoolyard, however, the bell here summons an immediate response and soon a veritable United Nations of harvesters descends on the long table. They come from Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Canada, Italy, Spain and France and on the evening I visited they sat down to a meal of white bean soup, girolles tart, cold roast pork, salad, cheese, ice cream and chocolate sauce. Read More...
Chassagne Cycle
13 September 2011
“Écouter moi!” barked the vineyard supervisor as a dozy grape carrier failed to respond quickly enough to instructions about precisely which group of pickers he should be collecting grapes from. The shout had the dual effect of emboldening the hapless worker and shattering the rose-tinted spectacles through which I had been viewing proceedings up until then. Picking grapes is hard, grinding work, only imbued by dewy-eyed onlookers with some sort of bucolic romance, not by the pickers themselves. It was late afternoon on a baking day in Burgundy, with the mercury touching 30ºC and I could partly empathise with the pickers, as I had rashly decided to explore the village and vineyards of Chassagne-Montrachet by bicycle. Read More...
Conkers and Richebourg
12 September 2011
The wind was whipping the conkers from the chestnut trees at Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair in Vosne-Romanée last Wednesday morning as I walked past, prompting a wimpish dash to the other side of the road to escape them. (You might have done the same if you had seen them bursting apart as they hit the road.) My destination was just a few yards further along rue du Château, where perhaps the most diligent sorting team in the world was hard at work, picking out anything that was sub-standard amongst the bunches of grapes that today are now well on their way to making Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Richebourg 2011. Read More...
Boisset Harvest
07 September 2011
“This year the sorting table will be the key.” So said Gregory Patriat, wine maker at JC Boisset, when I called to see him last Friday morning in Nuits-St-Georges, just a few hours before he was due to commence the 2011 harvest, starting in Beaune Grèves. With him having only 15 minutes to spare I managed a few rapid-fire questions before he dashed away again to see that was all was in order prior to the off. In terms of the amount of sorting that will be required Patriat reckons that 2011 is similar to 2004. Continuing, he expressed bewilderment that some people had already finished harvesting: “They must be magicians.” He could have started the previous Monday but was glad that he had waited a few extra, sunny, days – necessary to dry the grapes after the 30mm downpour a week earlier. Read More...
Good Grapes
06 September 2011
“À table!” hollered Mark Haisma in French yesterday morning at 11.49, prompting his sorting team to move from the makeshift table they had been using back to the more conventional mechanical one, now repaired having ground to a halt earlier. With the noise from the ghetto blaster at conversation-drowning volume it’s a wonder anybody heard him. That, together with the Coopers Original Pale Ale in the fridge, might leave you thinking you had stepped into an Australian winery, and not one on the outskirts of Gevrey-Chambertin. Don’t be fooled. Haisma knows his stuff and his wines are far removed from the brash palate-thumpers you might expect. Read More...
Montrachet for Breakfast
05 September 2011
If I said that this bunch of Montrachet grapes fell off the back of a passing truck no one would believe me but that is what happened last Saturday afternoon. I picked them up and hollered, sotto voce, after the driver but he didn't hear me (that's the untrue bit). Could I make a few centiliters of wine with them? What to ferment it in? The bowl of an unused pipe made of oak? No, I didn't think so either. And they taste so good. Perfect for breakfast, in fact, intensely juicy and mouthwatering, sweet ‘n’ sour all in the one bite. Impossible to stop eating them. Read More...
Burgundy Dawn
04 September 2011
These 6.00am starts are not easy, particularly now with the days shortening and the sky still dark at that hour – save for a scattering of stars on a clear morning. But I was rewarded yesterday as I drove through Chassagne-Montrachet, crossing the D906 that links Saint-Aubin with Chagny, before climbing up the small hill between Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet on the right and Blanchot-Dessus on the left. Cresting the rise, the colours changed from muted greys to opulent reds, pinks and oranges and the vineyards went up a few notches in quality too; Bâtard-Montrachet now to the right and Le Montrachet on the left. Read More...
Remoissenet Revival
03 September 2011
When I first became interested in Burgundy Remoissenet was a name to be avoided, along with others such as Mommesin, Chanson and Maufoux. However, the great thing about Burgundy is that, despite appearances to the contrary, it is always changing, like a slowly turning kaleidoscope. The result is that a correctly held opinion, written in stone today, can be turned to dangerous fallacy by the events of tomorrow. And ‘tomorrow’ arrived at Remoissenet a few years ago when long-time patriarch Roland Remoissenet sold the business to a group of American investors, with Louis Jadot also taking a small holding. Read More...
Montrachet Ladybird
02 September 2011
This is a ladybird with impeccable taste, nestled snugly on a bunch of Montrachet grapes at the Drouhin winery on the outskirts of Beaune yesterday. And you needn’t worry that she soon met her doom in the press. Far from it. Having first noted that her presence was evidence of the success of their biodynamic practices, Véronique Drouhin then carefully removed her and brought her outside where she was placed gently on a white rose. The cellar hands get a good laugh out of Drouhin’s concern, though ladybird rescue is not all that she does during harvest. Read More...
Burgundy Harvest Begins
01 September 2011
After a growing season that witnessed extraordinarily variable weather, harvest is gradually getting underway in the Côte d’Or. It is an early harvest, about three weeks earlier than last year, mainly thanks to the summer-like weather experienced in April. This continued through May and into June, with the mercury creeping towards a furnace-like 40ºC at times, leaving the ground parched and the vines badly in need of a drink. Which they certainly got in July, when the temperature plummeted and the rain came down, and down. Read More...
Burgundy: Harvest Approaches
24 August 2011
Weather-wise, it has been a roller-coaster year in Burgundy. Scorching heat in June, cool and rainy in July, better in August, with the harvest now due to start in about one week’s time. It’s anybody’s guess how 2011 will eventually turn out and I have never pretended to be one of those soothsayers who, with confidence unbounded, pronounce judgement on a vintage before hardly a grape is picked and then carve that judgement in stone. No wine region deserves to have a whole vintage pigeon-holed in such cavalier fashion and to do so in Burgundy is just plain stupid, so I am not about to try. Read More...
McDonalds in France
22 August 2011
At a recent wine tasting in the Ramonet cellars in Chassagne-Montrachet I met a gentleman from Beaune who protested vigorously when I casually mentioned that the historic old town now boasted its own McDonalds. He set me straight by pointing out that it was not IN Beaune but on the outskirts. Once that hair had been split we settled down to tasting the wines but it set me thinking for, contrary to what might be expected, McDonalds is phenomenally successful in France. A few days later I was in the city of Dijon, hungry at lunchtime and in need of a casual bite. Eschewing a thronged McDonalds on rue de la Liberté I searched instead for something more Gallic. Read More...
Beaune Market
05 August 2011
One of the most sacred rituals for holidaymakers in France is a visit to the local market to stock up on fruit and vegetables, bread and cheese, meat, fish and fowl. Critical judgement will usually be abandoned and in its place will come a dewy-eyed Arcadian vision, which always results in first time visitors buying far more than they need. Arms will be dragged nearly from their sockets as ton-weight bags are lugged laboriously between stalls and the throng of other shoppers. And that is when you spot the clever market shopper, nonchalantly pulling a trolley bag, stopping to examine everything carefully before making a purchase. Read More...
Ma Cuisine - Beaune
17 July 2011
Any lady who has successfully negotiated the cobblestones of Trinity College Dublin’s Front Square in high heels should have no difficulty making her way along the Passage Sainte-Hélène in Beaune (off the Place Carnot) to dine at Ma Cuisine. Others may wish to approach from the Rue Poterne end where the traverse across the cobbles is but a few paces. Either route shouldn’t be too much of a trial for the gentlemen and both will lead you to this gem of a restaurant, long-time favourite of wine producers, merchants and writers. Read More...
Bastille Day Food & Wine
14 July 2011
What to eat and drink on Bastille Day, or ‘quatorze juillet’ as the French usually refer to their national holiday? You could spend a whole year debating that topic, and I suspect that some people do, but for me it is a no-brainer: it has to be a poulet de Bresse with haricots vert, ratte potatoes and, dare I say it, my own wizard gravy, made with a half-litre of frozen stock extracted from the bones of the last poulet. It is a simple meal, without much elaboration or ‘make up’, so the basic ingredients have to be top-notch, starting with the poulet de Bresse.
Read More...Lunch in Beaune
14 July 2011
The Wednesday market in Beaune, wine capital of Burgundy, is not the grand affair that takes over the heart of the town every Saturday. Come Wednesday, it has shrunk back on itself, out of the adjoining streets and the Place Carnot, and huddles outside the Place de la Halle, venue for the annual Hospices de Beaune wine auction. For the auction the hall is robed in scarlet, and every Saturday it is crammed with stalls, but yesterday the solitary butcher’s stall belonged to Pascal Gravelais, the best butcher in town. With a steady drizzle falling from a pewter sky we were not tempted to linger; the necessary purchases were made and after a brief confab under dripping brollies it was agreed that we should cheer ourselves up with a light lunch in Le Gourmandin. Read More...
Bonjour Aligoté
14 July 2011
Aligoté is a rubbish grape – correct? That is a point of view to which I largely subscribed for many years, until I had the chance to taste and drink numerous examples more recently. As with everything Burgundian the mantra when searching for good Aligoté is: ‘Producer, Producer, Producer.’ (Just like the equivalent phrase from the property world.) Three of the best are Pierre Morey, Bernard Moreau and Marc Morey and I have never failed to be satisfied with the wines they produce from this humble grape. Read More...
JC Boisset 2009
25 May 2011
If there is one thing worth remembering about Burgundy it is this: despite appearances to the contrary it is always changing, like a slowly rotating kaleidoscope, as I am fond of saying far too often. Thus you should never let your opinions about vintages, producers, vineyards, or anything else for that matter, get too entrenched. A case in point is the house of JC Boisset where change (in the right direction) has been in the air for a couple of years now. Read More...
Seeing Red: Chassagne-Montrachet
20 April 2011
What is the most overlooked red wine from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or? That’s a no-brainer in my book; it simply has to be red Chassagne-Montrachet. Mention the name to almost anybody outside the immediate region and they will start licking their chops in anticipation of glorious white wines, with nary a thought of reds. It is the ‘Montrachet’ in the name that does it. Read More...
Wine at Kelly's
05 April 2011
For many people Kelly’s Hotel in Rosslare is Ireland’s premier resort hotel offering, as it does, a huge range of activities for every member of the family. I take a narrower view and return year after year with just one purpose in mind – to meet the roster of top-notch winemakers that proprietor Bill Kelly (above) brings over from France in the spring and autumn to present a week’s worth of wine tastings. Read More...
White Mischief
01 April 2011
You can tell by the colour. Honey-gold when it should be no deeper than full yellow. And the smell. Caramel, marzipan and nuts. In other words heavy, sweet and full, like a cheap perfume, with no ‘brightness’, no fruity tingle. The taste follows on dismally from this sad litany: lacking in life and ‘bounce’, usually low in acidity, plodding rather than fresh, fit only for flinging down the sink, certainly not to be sipped and savoured. I speak of prematurely oxidised white Burgundy. Read More...
Needle... Haystack... La Ruchotte
29 March 2011
My first attempt to find La Ferme de la Ruchotte, buried deep in the Burgundian countryside, almost ended in failure a few years ago. It lies between the villages of Bligny-sur-Ouche and Bessey-en-Chaume, about 15 kilometres north west of Beaune. It was well worth the search for it is one of France’s gastronomic jewels. Read More...
Allez Chambolle-Musigny
18 March 2011
Yesterday being the feast of Saint Patrick I dug deep into the cellar and came up with a gem that a friend had given me some five years ago. It was a Chambolle-Musigny, Les Cras 2002, Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion (13%). Read More...
Gambal Expands
15 March 2011
The latest news from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or is that Alex Gambal, originally from the Washington DC area, but with his own domaine and negociant business in Beaune since 1997, has completed the purchase of some prized parcels of vineyard in the grand cru Bâtard-Montrachet, along with Puligny-Montrachet ‘Les Enseignères’ and Chassagne-Montrachet ‘L’Ormeau’. Read More...
Tasty Trio
28 February 2011
Sometimes you hit a winning streak, when a succession of bottles, drunk over the course of a week or two, all deliver complete satisfaction. Such was my luck in recent days and here are three that were particularly memorable. Read More...
At Liberty
24 February 2011
Discovering a new wine, something never encountered before, is always a bit of fun, especially if it has a good ‘back story’. Such was the case at yesterday’s Liberty Wines tasting in Dublin when Gregory Patriat of JC Boisset poured me a sample of his Mâcon-Igé, Château London 2009. Read More...
Domaine Leflaive
21 February 2011
An offer, received today from Corney & Barrow in London, for a mouthwatering array of white burgundies straight from the cellar of Domaine Leflaive prompted an indulgent bout of wishful thinking and brought back some memories too. Read More...
Volnay Visit
21 February 2011
Obtaining an entrée to the cellars of top winemakers in Burgundy is notoriously difficult. Many of them operate on a tiny scale and simply are not set up to receive visitors. Others simply like playing the cussed curmudgeon and, anyway, “We have no wine to sell.” Read More...
Burgundy Harvest 2010
01 November 2010
Harvest, or la vendange, is the summit of the year’s work, a period of frantic activity that is curiously at odds with the normally well ordered pace of life and work on the Côte d’Or. It follows on from one of the quietest periods in August when vineyard work ceases, holidays are taken and winery equipment is cleaned and checked. There is nothing to do but wait. Then, the normally sedate villages come alive with activity and noise. Read More...
Grand Tasting at Clos de Vougeot - March 2010
01 July 2010
Built by the Cistercians over 450 years ago the Château du Clos de Vougeot sits hunkered down amongst the vines of its eponymous vineyard, a foursquare and forbidding testament to their industry. There is no architectural decoration to speak of, no flights of fanciful design whose only purpose was to catch the eye, no Disney-esque embellishment à la the Loire Valley. Read More...
Hospices de Beaune Auction - November 2009
01 May 2010
It is early afternoon on Sunday 15th November 2009 in Beaune, wine capital of Burgundy, and a gentle drizzle is falling. By rights the streets should be deserted, with all good citizens comfortably enjoying the family lunch, perhaps breaking out a runny époisses or a fragrant comté once the main course has been dispatched. Read More...
Breakfast in Pommard
01 April 2010
It is 8.50am on Thursday 28th January last in the Burgundy village of Pommard and the mercury is tucked two or three degrees below freezing. A needle-sharp wind makes it feel a lot colder and the mothers dropping their children off to school don’t tarry for a chat. Read More...
Driving to Burgundy
01 April 2009
Those vineyards qualify as some of the most fragmented and parcellated in the world. Thanks to the Napoleonic code of inheritance, holdings are continuously divided between all heirs. Add to this changes of ownership through marriage and purchase and the whole patchwork becomes baffling in the extreme. Read More...
Fowl Play
01 June 2008
It is Easter Monday in Burgundy and the temperature is hovering around zero. Snow has been falling gently since midnight and now the fields and vineyards are generously blanketed. The bare branches of the trees carry a thick icing of snow too, but the roads have remained clear and traffic is moving easily. Except, that is, for those hardy gastronomes who are driving to La Ferme de la Ruchotte for their lunch. Read More...
