“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.

Now, pink-gilled and gasping, I made for the Caveau de Chassagne-Montrachet, beside the mairie, where a glass of water restored equilibrium and a glass of Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey’s excellent Saint-Aubin En Remilly 2010 (my first taste of this vintage) restored enthusiasm. The Caveau is possibly the best wine shop in Burgundy, the great attraction being that they always have a dozen or more bottles open for tasting. For regular customers it functions almost like a wine bar. My credit card quivers whenever I cross the threshold. But not this time – bicycles and bottles of wine are uneasy bedfellows. Time to resume my explorations.

Cycling through one of Burgundy’s wine villages at harvest time can be a fraught experience, until you realise and accept that under no circumstances whatsoever do you have the right of way. That honour goes to any vehicle, no matter how decrepit, that is carrying a cargo of grapes to a winery. Then you will have a great time, as I did, standing back and observing: Noël Ramonet expertly reversing another trailer load of grapes into the winery; Vincent Dancer and Doug Tunnell (owner of Brick House in Oregon) having a relaxed chat nearby; Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey issuing instructions as the grapes arrive at his winery, while maintaining contact with the work in the vineyards by mobile phone. As if by some miracle (the glass of Saint-Aubin?) the rose-tinted spectacles were restored to prime position on the bridge of my nose…

Tags: Burgundy, Chassagne, Ramonet