Thanks again for all the encouragement and kind words, I really appreciate it. I know I’m a bit slow in posting but sadly daily life (and the NFL playoffs) seems to want to get in the way more often than not. I’m working on the next installment now, I should have it up by tomorrow at the latest.
Part 5:
Tuesday promised to be a very busy one. We had visits lined up for Henri Gouges, Domaine de La Vougeraie, and Marchand-Tawse. We started with Henri Gouges at 10am. Finding the domaine was a piece of cake as the day before we had noticed it was next door to Boisset. Too easy! I’ll go ahead and apologise, I didn’t take any formal notes at the domaine. I’m kicking myself for it but eh, what’s done is done. I can only make up for it with copious photos from the visit. Upon arrival we were shown to what I can only describe as a visitor waiting room.
We were then led into the fermentation room. All Gouges wines are fermented in cement tanks. They prefer to use cement as thermally it’s less prone to variation than wood or steel. Also each vat has a stainless steel mesh like grid/paddle device that is used to submerge the cap during fermentation. I can’t help but think their winemaking techniques would be more at home in Piedmonte than Burgundy but their results are so good that I can’t complain!
After checking out the fermentation room we descended into the underground cellar. The barrel rooms were immaculate, each time the wine thief was pulled from the barrel an almost immediate wipe down of the barrel around the bung ensued. It didn’t have a hospital like feel but the cellars were definitely pristine.
All the barrel samples we tasted were from the 2014 vintage and without a doubt all were excellent, from the Bourgogne all the way up to the Les Saint Georges. I was really impressed with both the freshness and vibrancy of the sampled wines as well as the excellent depth of fruit, especially in the 1er Cru’s. The Les Saint Georges and Les Vaucrains were both standouts for me.
After the numerous barrel samples we were treated to a few tastes from bottle. The Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges La Perrière 1er Cru Pinot Blanc was really tasty. I’d love to get a hold of a few bottles but these are extremely hard to source here in Australia. I guess it doesn’t help that production for this wine is so small. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to lay hands on a couple of the ‘14s.
We finished with a bottle that was unlabelled and had been opened the day before. After a couple hints I correctly guessed it was a 2007. Come to find out it was the Les Saint Georges. It probably wasn’t going to get any better after being open for a day but it still was quite tasty and had a lot of life left in it.
Put blunt, Domaine Henri Gouges are making some stellar burgundies at fairly reasonable prices. I plan to buy as much as I can afford when the offers for the 2014 vintage come out and have even been backfilling my cellar with a few of their wines since returning from Europe.
After Gouges and a quick lunch in Nuits-Saint-Georges Cos and I made our way to Premeaux-Prissey for our 2pm appointment at Domaine de la Vougeraie. I hadn’t ever had any experience with Vougeraie in the past but no matter, we were about to remedy that situation! The Vougeraie facilities were quite large and modern. You get the feeling that they’ve been given a huge sum of money and instructed to make the best wines possible above all else. There’s modern equipment, ample floor space, and a cellar that absolutely brimming with new barrels. Here are a few shots of the winemaking equipment.
Down in their barrel rooms they not only had traditional barriques but also 450 litre Puncheon barrels.
Vougeraie’s barrel rooms are huge and electronic temperature control is employed to ensure it doesn’t get too hot or cold. After nearly getting lost among their forest of barrels we settled in to taste a few of their wines from bottle. All were 2013 vintage bar one '12. Here’s a shot of the lineup with tasting notes afterwards.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Savigny les Beaune 1er Cru Les Marconnets (42% whole bunch, 38% new oak) - Red fruit and hint of mineral. Light on tannin but displays excellent acidity.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Volnay (50% whole bunch) - More richly fruited than the Marconnets that preceded it. Also displays more florals and spice. The palate was quite elegant and acid dominant with just a touch of fine tannin.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot Clos du Prieure Monopole (30% whole bunch) - Meaty/sauvage nose. Very pretty palate with fine tannin and good elegance.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru CLos de Thorey Monopole (100% destemmed) - North NSG but still has a very fruit rich nose. The fruit follows through on the palate and is very typical of NSG. Good tannic grip.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (20% whole bunch) - Nose displays beautiful bright red fruit, minerality, and a touch of sauvage. Excellent fruit that is present throughout on the long palate. Good fine tannin and acidity.
2012 Domaine de la Vougeraie Savigny Blanc - Floral airomatics and mineral on the nose. Excellent palate acidity and freshness. Good tart fruit and a hint of oak.
2013 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot Monopole (30% new oak) - Slightly more oaked nose. Beautiful fruit palate that wholly swallows the oak present on the nose. Very richly fruited with good length and acid carrying the palate. Quite lovely.
After saying our goodbyes at Domaine de la Vougeraie we then proceeded to head back to Nuits-Saint-Georges for our appointment at Marchand-Tawse. When we arrived Pascal was still tending to other business so we had a quick look around his facilities. He has a combination fermentation room/tasting room on the ground floor with cellars underneath. Safe to say it was very interesting seeing Western Australia wines being sold in Burgundy, especially at price points marginally lower than their domestic prices. Pascal has a partnership with Jeff Burch from Howard Park wines and the two of them own the Marchand Burch label which is a combination of domestic and Burgundian wines and are available here in Australia. I didn’t ask Pascal much about these wines but maybe I should have, I’m curious to know if they’re his Marchand-Tawse wines and therefore a combination of domaine owned vines and negociant purchasing of grapes and/or must or if they’re a completely separate business and all negociant wines. Maybe I’ll remember to ask him again this year at the Burch Family International Pinot Noir Tasting. Anyway, after having a quick discussion we descended into Pascal’s barrel rooms/cellars. As he put it to us, “I have too much space”. He’s not wrong, I nearly got lost trying to keep up with him as he led us through the labyrinth like cellars. He’s arguably got more space than any other domaine we visited (excluding Bouchard) and most of it is currently just empty space. I guess I’d categorize it as a “good problem” as I’m sure it’d be much more frustrating to not have enough space.
Whilst underground we proceeded to taste through a slew of barrel samples from the 2014 vintage. My favorites would probably have to be the 2014 Marchand-Tawse Beaune Teurons 1er Cru and the 2014 Marchand-Tawse Echezeaux Grand Cru. Sadly I didn’t do much in the way of note taking as the wines were coming quick and my strict regime of not spitting during the day was finally catching up to me. That said in broad brush strokes I’d describe Pascal’s wines as elegant and complex. I’d love to have the opportunity to taste these wines again in future. Below are a couple snaps from the cellars.
Coming up next: Domaine visits to Bouchard Pere et Fils and Mongeard-Mugneret and dinner and escargot and Bresse chicken at Bistro de L’hotel.
Thanks for the photos and notes of wines I know by drinking, rather than visiting the domains. Great to have the connection. Cheers Mike
Nice write up and photos. Keep going.
Part 6:
We started Wednesday morning with a 10am appointment at Bouchard. Full disclosure – when I was initially offered a visit to Bouchard Père et Fils by Domaine Wine Shippers it wasn’t a visit I requested, instead they tacked it on the list of domaines that I had requested that they were going to be able to assist with. I haven’t had the best luck with their wines and have found them a little lumber rich in the past. That said I spoke to Jeremy Holmes about the possibility of a Bouchard visit and he stated without hesitation that given the opportunity he’d take the tasting. He also informed me that from a historical perspective a tour and tasting at Bouchard would be a good visit for the whole family given Bouchard’s large and historic facilities. So we opted in for the tasting. Man, I owe Jeremy. The Bouchard tour and tasting ended up being the highlight of our Burgundy domaine visits!
Upon arrival we were instructed to wait in the Bouchard tasting room and within no time Vivian Jaimon greeted us and we descended into the cellars. To say Bouchard is big is an understatement; the amount of holdings the domaine has is staggering and the Château de Beaune is HUGE. I can’t begin to imagine how much wine they have cellared below the walls surrounding the old part of Beaune but I can say that there’s still plenty of space for more bottles. In fact Vivian had even shown us into a room that would most likely be converted into a tasting / dining room in the near future. Cavernous is an appropriate description and the ceiling even had stalactites it was so old. Safe to say their facilities are impressive.
Obviously given the humidity issues in appropriately maintained cellars none of the wines are labelled. That said Bouchard does individually label each cork with vineyard and vintage details. There’s something incredibly satisfying in wiping away the dust on the neck of a bottle to see what wine and vintage is in the bottle you’re examining. If only they’d let me take one of their many ’78 Baby Jesuses given it’s my birth year!
When down in the cellars you notice pretty quickly that wine is everywhere. Even though there’s heaps of space they do make use of what they have quite well and most nooks and crannies are stuffed with old bottles. Vivian informed us that their oldest bottling still in the cellar is a cache of 1846 Meursault Charmes. They opened one a few years ago and apparently it was still alive and showing fantastically! Now that would be something…
After the tour of the cellars we ascended to ground level and were led to a private tasting room. Vivian had put together a superb lineup of Bouchard wines for us to taste. We started with seven reds, ranging from a simple Bourgogne all the way up to a Grand Cru.
My notes for the reds are as follows.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Bourgogne Reserve Coteaux des Moines – Slightly reserved nose. Quite light on the palate but still has reasonable fruit and tannin.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Monthélie – Beautiful reserved red fruit on the nose. Nice palate but the fruit and hit of spice takes a back seat to the tannin and acid.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune du Château 1er Cru – More richly fruited nose but I’d still categorize it as reserved. Quite tannic on the palate but the fruit still shows underneath. Good acidity.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Teurons 1er Cru – Very expressive nose dominated by bright red fruits. Excellent palate displays a great balance of fruit, acidity and tannin. Lovely and already showing very well.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot 1er Cru – Very aromatic with red fruits in the glass. A fine and elegant nose. Elegant palate with restraine fine tannin, good acidity, and a generous helping of red fruit.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Grèves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus 1er Cru – Beautifully expressive red fruits underpin the quite rich nose of this wine. Hint of sauvage and toast also emerge. Good complexity and fruit but the balance is really what makes it stand out. Good length.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Le Corton – Reticent but rich dark red fruited nose. Quite austere but beautifully put together. Superfine tannin, great acidity, generous red fruit, and lovely balance. Also displays just a touch of toast.
After the reds we were then treated to a flight of six Bouchard whites. My notes for these wines are as follows.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Bourgogne Reserve Coteaux des Moines – Quite expressive fruits on the nose. Restrained and somewhat simple palate but it does have good acidity and white stone fruit notes.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Clous – Excellent minerality, citrus florals. Great acidity and balance.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune du Château 1er Cru – Fruits and nuttiness dominate the nose. The palate is quite rich, has excellent acidity as well as fruits and good length.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Genevrières 1er Cru – subtle nose with hints of gunflint and pineapple. Excellent richness on the mid palate. Quite rich fruit throughout underpinned by great acidity.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru – Gunflint again. Elegant fruits, Meursault typicity. Beautiful florals, fruit richness and citrus notes underpinned with lovely acidity.
2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne – The nose exudes fruit richness. Definitely has a butterscotch/toffee note on the mid palate. Powerful, rich, yet balanced and elegant. Absolutely stunning.
After the tasting Vivian escorted our group back to the tasting room. This was especially beneficial given all the wines we had tasted were available on the spot at very reasonable price points. Even if you don’t get a chance to take of tour of Bouchard I do recommend you drop into their tasting room if in Beaune, they have many wines in Vinomatics and the room is full of Bouchard wines for retail purchasing. Here are some of their Côtes de Nuits Grand Crus for example.
As well as some Grand Cru whites.
And finally some of their 1er Crus.
After the Bouchard tasting Cos, Belinda, and I made our way to Vosne-Romanée for our 2pm appointment at Mongeard-Mugneret. I know that historically this producer has had its fair share of detractors due to their use of new oak but their 2010 Grands Echezeaux was a real wow wine for me a blind Pinot Noir tasting a few years ago. I called it as a Grand Cru immediately and it was easily my wine of the tasting. Ever since then I’ve picked up a bottle or two of their 2010 Grand Crus when the chance arose and the price was right. That said at the same blind Pinot Noir tasting a year later the 2011 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux was poured and was wholly underwhelming to my palate on the day. I blindly called it as a 2011 Burgundy due to its green edge but it didn’t show any of the class and concentration that the 2010 had displayed a year earlier. Regardless, I had incredibly high hopes for this domaine visit and had hoped to gain a better understanding of their portfolio, especially their 1er Crus. I also had a glimmer of hope that we’d get to taste a Grand Cru or two given most other producers we had visited that had Grand Crus had been kind enough to offer a taste.
Sadly my hopes didn’t come to fruition. No Grand Crus, no 1er Crus. It’s funny, I held high hopes for this domaine visit and was completely ambivalent about the Bouchard tasting. After the fact it was apparent that the Bouchard tasting was incredibly special and this tasting left me wanting more. We weren’t shown any cellars and didn’t see a single barrel during the visit (much less taste from one). Instead we were seated in a tasting room, shown 5 wines, and given some promotional literature. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone in with such high expectations. At least we got to taste an Aligote, so we had that going for us. I’m not trying to be condescending and the wines we were shown were very good, I guess more than anything my take away from this tasting was that having preconceived notions about what to expect from a visit can easily backfire on you. I’ll expand a little more on this with the Daniel Rion visit.
Here’s a shot of the wines we tasted. Tasting notes are below.
2013 Mongeard-Mugneret Aligote Bourgogne – Restrained (and probably a little cold temperature wise) but the nose is quite pleasing. On the palate there are floral notes and excellent acidity. A bit short of the finish.
2011 Mongeard-Mugneret Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits La Croix – Quite a richly fruited nose for a Bourgogne. That said the palate is quite restrained. I reckon it would show better with more air.
2013 Mongeard-Mugneret Savigny-lès-Beaune – Nose displays Beaune typicity. Good acid, less richly fruited than the Bourgogne but more complex with floral notes as well.
2013 Mongeard-Mugneret Vosne-Romanée – Spices galore on the very expressive nose. There’s a richness on the nose that’s appealing and with time fruits emerge as well as a touch of wood smoke. Good fruit and tannin on the palate are underpinned by great acidity.
2013 Mongeard-Mugneret Nuits St. Georges Les Plateaux – Very fruit forward nose and easily identifiable as a NSG red. Easily the most tannic of the group. Great length for its level underpinned by good acidity and floral notes.
Finally I’ll wrap up this post with a few notes from our dinner the night before at Bistro de L’hotel in Beaune. For some time now I’ve wanted to taste a Bresse chicken. It probably solidified in my mind after watching Luke Nguyen’s France SBS series where he tried a Bresse chicken dish and was left speechless as a result. I’ve never seen Bresse chicken in Australia and after a cursory look it appears that an attempt to import Bresse chicken eggs into Australia in 2013 ended with the entire shipment (which had hatched into 4,000 birds) was destroyed by the Agriculture Department. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone in Australia having Bresse chicken on their menu. Regardless, I’m not sure if a frozen then cooked in Australia Bresse chicken would do the bird justice from a culinary perspective. So off to Bistro de L’hotel we go for some expensive but amazing poultry!
When we arrived at Bistro de L’hotel we were the only people in the entire restaurant. Granted it was a Tuesday night in late November but I still expected it to have a couple more parties. We were seated at the window and everyone proceeded to peruse the menu while I flipped through the book they call a wine list. Save to say they have a few burgundies available. After a little discussion with the table and the realisation that we were all here for the chicken we decided a white burgundy made the most sense. Given the day before we had tasted an ’11 Coche-Dury Meursault it made sense (to me at least) to look at the 2012 to compare and contrast. So, we ordered a bottle of 2012 Coche-Dury Meursault. It was an incredible wine and while comparable to the ‘11 it was probably just a step behind in comparison. It didn’t have the levels of racy acidity the ’11 had and was a little poorer for it. Regardless, it was a very good wine indeed and the entire table was pleased with the wine in glass.
I started off by ordering a half dozen escargot as I had yet to eat any while in France. Here’s a shot of the goodness.
I really enjoyed the escargot. That said I’m not naive enough to not recognise that it’s the butter and garlic that make the dish, at least for me. Here’s a shot of the empty shells with the Coche. You might notice that the butter and garlic sauce is conspicuously missing as I made short work of it with the bread provided to the table.
And now it was time for the main event. The Bresse chicken came out sizzling and smelling phenomenal. Our waiter deftly carved the finished product at the table on a service trolley and filled our plates. Seriously, this chicken’s aroma filled the room. The breast was superbly succulent, so much so that I actually preferred it to the dark meat. For me that was a first. Normally I’m a straight up dark meat man, have been that way all my life. But this was the first time that a chicken breast’s flavour and juiciness was better than a thigh. The skin was crisped and just amazing. Sure, it wasn’t cheap at 120 euro for a whole bird but given the opportunity I’d be digging into a Bresse chicken quarterly. Oh, the Coche paired incredibly well with it as well as it cut right through the fatty richness of the bird.
Coming up next: Visit to Domaine Daniel Rion and a roundup of Burgundy in general
Great notes and I’ve enjoyed following each stage. Thanks for writing up.
Part 7:
Apologies for the geriatric pace of posting, life seems to be determined to stunt my posting progress.
Thanksgiving Thursday arrived and unfortunately my son wasn’t feeling very well. We had an appointment at Domaine de la Pousse d’Or scheduled for 10am but given his condition we decided to give it a pass. Cos and Belinda took the opportunity to have a look at Autun, so Jodi and I stayed at the house. Our next appointment was for Domaine Daniel Rion & Fils at 2pm. Cos and Belinda ended up not getting back to the house in time and given the fact that Jodi was staying home with our son I departed from Pommard for Premeaux-Prissey at around 1:30. I had already passed the Domaine multiple times as it’s on the D974 and is very visible when driving from Beaune to Nuits-St-Georges so it was a no stress trip.
When I arrived I was warmly greeted by Pascale Rion. She was very welcoming and spoke excellent English. I immediately apologised for the fact that the original booking was for four and yet I was the only person to show. Pascale didn’t appear bothered by the lack of people so we proceeded through the winemaking facilities down to the cellar underneath. All of Daniel Rion’s vinification, ageing, and bottling takes place in this facility. Once downstairs Pascale informed me that we wouldn’t be barrel tasting today as the wines in barrel were a bit unsettled and instead she began going to various bottle bins up against the walls of the room and pulling out 375ml bottles for us to taste. Given the fact that I was the only client in the room I felt this was both sensible and understandable. Here are some of my notes for these bottles.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Bourgogne Pinot Noir – Red fruit/raspberry nose. Very clean. Good palate acidity and fruits. Nice tannic grip on the back palate. Lovely for the level.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Côte de Nuits Villages – (8 months in old barrels) Very expressively fruited nose. Very good palate concentration for a village. Excellent fruit palate that’s complimented by tannin and a hint of spice.
2013 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers – Sauvage nose, darker fruits underneath. Excellent fruit concentration on the palate. Good combination of tannin and acid supporting.
2013 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée – Vosne spice is immediately apparent on the nose. Excellent palate concentration and length for a village. Once again it’s underpinned by fine tannin and acidity.
After tasting through the 375’s something changed and Pascale informed me that we’d taste some of the 2014s from barrel. She was concerned that showing me the ‘14s from a single barrel wouldn’t be representative of the final wine as everything left in barrel was a combination of new and neutral oak. Given this she came up with what I thought was an ingenious solution. Instead of tasting from one barrel why not instead blend “on the fly” with wine taken from a new barrel mixed with wine taken from a neutral barrel. I was very keen on this idea and very thankful for the opportunity to taste their wines from barrel. And the blending of barrels in glass was something new to me and bit of a stroke of genius. In fact I immediately wondered how many of the wines I had previously tasted from the week were from new or more neutral oak.
Here are my notes from the blended barrel samples.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts – Beautiful Vosne spice nose along with floral notes. New wood already integrating and not overwhelming on the nose. Explosive red fruit palate and the balance of tannin and acid combined with the length of palate makes this wine a real joy to drink.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes – More richly fruited nose when compared to the Beaux Monts. Very red fruit driven palate with good balance but I prefer the Beaux Monts spice and florals.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Echezeaux –Beautifully giving fruit nose that displays a richness that’s very appealing. The palate is full of elegant red fruits and just stunning. Can’t wait to try this when it’s in bottle.
2014 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Clos Vougeot – The nose is more sauvage and spice driven than the others and is bereft of fruit. On the palate the wine is in a slightly muted and closed state. That said the quality and depth of fruit is apparent and the tannin and acid are excellently balanced.
After tasting from barrel we strolled back to the office and I grabbed a half dozen of the wines (Echezeaux, Beaux Monts, and Vosne villages). I would have purchased more, a lot more, but the logistics of getting these wines back to Australia aren’t the simplest thing to organise. I’m really looking forward to their ‘14s landing here in Australia, I plan to buy heavy as these wines are easily some of the best QPR 1er Crus and Grand Crus I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. IIRC the 2012 Echezeaux was 70 euro at the domaine. That’s quite a steal for a well made Grand Cru Burgundy if you ask me!
As this will be my last post on Burgundy in this thread I felt it would make sense to use this entry as a catch all for things that weren’t mentioned before in the thread. Firstly I’d be remiss if I didn’t give Cos a quick shout out for the cooking he did when we were staying in Pommard. Below is a shot of his Osso Bucco he cooked for us. It was excellent, as were his other meals.
The local butcher in Pommard is excellent. If you’re around the area you’d be missing out if you didn’t drop in and grab a slice of terrine.
And let’s be honest, the patisseries in France are second to none. We’d routinely stroll down to the local in Pommard to restock on baked goods.
Finally, the vineyards. When we weren’t eating or drinking we spent a bit of time getting to know the surrounding area and checking out some of the vineyards. There’s something wonderful about being able to see with your own eyes something that you’ve been reading and hearing about for years. Furthermore, I’m a fan of using my camera to take a lot of photos and then post processing them via software into a panoramic picture. I know some cameras have this capability inbuilt but the results of those shots seem to be more riddled with artefacts when compared to manually stitched ones. Below are some of the better vineyard and panoramic photos from the week.
We’ll start in Gevrey-Chambertin.
Ruchottes-Chambertin
And a panoramic looking down over the Ruchottes-Chambertin vineyard.
Clos de Bèze
Clos de Bèze panoramic.
Chambertin
And here are some shots from Friday morning in Vosne-Romanée.
La Grande Rue
The cross at the foot of Romanée-Conti vineyard.
And a panoramic of the Romanée-Conti vineyard.
And while we were in Vosne I took the opportunity to propose to my now fiancée. Thankfully she said yes and is excited about the possibility of making an honest woman out of me! And before anyone asks I’ll state that we’re currently building her ring and given this I gave her some diamond earrings instead. 
Coming up next: Valle de Aosta, visits to Grosjean and Vallet Michel.
When I read this , I feel the need to drive to Beaune and eat escargots at Ma Cuisine… great post , thanks .
I’ve said it before , these Australians know how to live .
This gets my vote as one of the threads of the decade! Thanks so much for taking the time to write each entry. Most of all, congratulations on the engagement, Andrew! Awesome news.
Congratulations Andrew!
Fantastic trip, outstanding notes! Congrats on your engagement.
RT
Congrats on the engagement Andrew and fantastic thread
This thread is my favorite in years. Congrats on your engagement Andrew and thanks for taking the time and effort to share! To say I’m jealous of your trip would be a huge understatement.
Thanks for all the responses and congratulations everyone, it means a lot. Now if I could only convince my fiancée that the logical progression of the engagement location dictates a bottle or two of Romanée-Conti on the big day!
Now every anniversary you have to revisit this trip
In my dreams! Right now it’s looking like a return in the next 4-5 years is on the cards.
Part 8:
On Saturday we woke early and left Pommard before most of the village had even started stirring. I’ve got to say it was a bit bittersweet. I was looking forward to the rest of our trip but at the same time I was disappointed that we were leaving Burgundy. I suspect in future I’ll feel this way every time I leave the Côte-d’Or. I can’t adequately put to words how much I loved being in Burgundy but I’m sure many of you feel the same way. It was harder to leave than I expected. That said I’m sure I’ll visit again soon. And given the Perth housing market being roughly twice the price of housing in Beaune and Nuits-Saint-Georges retiring to Burgundy looks more and more financially appealing by the day!
We headed south on the A6 but instead of taking the path we took to get to Burgundy from Barolo we decided to take a different route, the A40. There were two reasons for this; 1) Mont Blanc and 2) the Aosta Valley. Once on the A40 we started to encounter a bit of snow and as we approached Mont Blanc the snow fall was pretty significant. That said it was warm enough to where the snow wasn’t fully accumulating on the road except for over the bridges. I’ve driven in snow many a time in my life but I was the only one with snow driving experience. That said Cos handled the situation admirably with his rental car and our quaint two car convoy reached the Mont Blanc tunnel without issue.
Once on the other side of the Mont Blanc tunnel the snow was nowhere to be seen and the Italian Alps were looming around us on three sides. It really is a beautiful part of the world to visit. We proceeded down from the Alps into the Valley de Aosta and within a short amount of time we were making our way up the winding road that would eventually lead to Grosjean. I had read about these wines in a post on Gargantuan Wine and was keen to taste them myself. We arrived to little fanfare and one of the many brothers in the family took us for a quick tour of the production facilities. They’re currently expanding their winery production and ageing facilities and the facilities are currently best described as a work in progress. After the tour we entered the tasting room which had a gorgeous quaintness about it. We discussed the export market for a minute and it wasn’t until then that I realised just how close the family is with Neal Rosenthal. Apparently he visits twice annually and the family has adopted him as one of their own. His continued loyalty to the producer over successive vintages has been so dependable that they actually make a Grosjean wine solely for export with 100% of the wine allocated to Rosenthal Wine Merchants.
Here’s the winery entrance.
And a fermentation tank inside.
Here’s a shot of the wines we tasted during the visit, followed by my notes.
2014 Petite Arvine Vigne Rovettaz (50% new barrique (6 months) – Florals and a hint of sweetness on the nose. The palate is quite drying with subtle fruit underneath. Good mouth feel and no noticeable oak. A little simple but really nice and refreshing.
2014 Torrette – Very meaty nose accompanied by dark fruits. Excellent palate entry that is much more lighter an energetic than expected given the nose. Great fruit purity, fine tannin, good acid, very tasty overall.
2013 Cornalin Vigne Rovettaz – 11 months in Large oak botti - Spice first on the nose, then fruits underneath. Excellent elegant palate with spice, tannin, and acid all intermingling. Drying finish. With more time in glass fruits emerge, it definitely breathes up nicely.
2014 Torrette Supérieur Vigne Rovettaz – Has a comparable meatiness like the first Torrette but it’s more subtly sauvage. Very elegant and fine tannin on the palate. Lick of minerality balances with good fruit purity. Excellent drying finish.
2010 Fumin Vigne Rovettaz (40 days maceration, 100% barrique, 15 months, 4th passage) – Slightly reduced nose, fruit and mineral underneath. Excellent red fruits on the palate, quite tannic, and quite dark.
And finally, here’s a shot taken from the winery looking back towards the Alps. The Aosta Valley is really quite something.
After a quick bite of lunch we then made our way to Feudo di San Maurizio to meet up with the owner/winemaker Michel Vallet. Cos had read about them in an article penned by Matt Kramer earlier in the year and was very keen to both meet the man and taste his wines. Michel is a bit of a character to put it mildly. He’d have to be given his dedication. He’s quick to inform you of a few facts regarding his wines. Specifically he has 10 hectares of vines in 44 different vineyards and does all the work in the vineyard and winery himself. He has friends assist him with harvest and according to him that’s the closest thing to co-workers he has. Everything else he does himself.
Here’s a shot of the front of the winery.
And here’s a shot of the wines tasted followed by my tasting notes (in order of tasting).
2014 Chardonnay (15% new oak for one year) – Mineral, saline, and fruit driven nose. Palate is very acidic and also has great fruit. Not overdone and quite lovely.
2014 Gewürztraminer – Typical soapy nose that I find in most gewürz. Very lovely palate albeit slightly simple. Acidity underpins the whole palate.
2014 Petite Arvine – Very aromatic nose throwing notes of fruits and florals. Quite a big nose. The palate unfortunately slightly under delivers compared to the nose. Maybe it will develop over time? It’s definitely got the acidity to hold it together for many years to come.
2014 Mayolet – Almost a Gamay/Cru Bojo like nose, but not quite as rich comparatively. Also a hint of smoke emerges. Red fruits on the palate with a pure mid palate held together by linear acidity. There’s a good fine tannic grip on the back palate.
2014 Torrette (70% Petit Rouge, 30% Fumin) – Dark fruits on the nose dominate but there’s also sauvage and even vegetal notes underneath. The palate is somewhat of a surprise given the nose and is characterised by bright red fruits and underpinned by both excellent tannin and acidity.
2014 Torrette Superieur (95% Petit Rouge, 5% Syrah) – Very rich black fruit nose. The Syrah stands out on the palate in terms of the fruit notes it displays and there’s more and bigger tannins and less acidity.
2014 Saro Djablo (Old vine Petit Rouge, Fumin, Premetta, Barbera, Fresia, Ciliegiolo, Docetto e Gamay) – Beautiful red fruits, mineral, and a very pleasing high toned lift on the nose. Excellent bright red fruit driven palate with great acidity, very good length, and a good drying tannic grip on the back palate. Lovely stuff.
2014 Fumin – Slightly reduced nose on pour. Vegetal notes. On the palate this wine impresses with its finesse. Good fruits, excellent acidic spine, and drying tannic finish. Needs time.
2014 Vuillermin – Rose and red fruits on the nose. Clean but exceptionally tannic palate. Also displays bright red fruits. Michel reckons he’s the only person in the world making a 100% Vuillermin.
2014 Saro Djablo Calou (This is another blend but it has dark fruited constituents including Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) – Beautifully fruited nose again, but more dark/black fruit notes. It also throws a hint of salinity on the nose as well as chocolate. The palate has good minerality and is quite structured, big, and serious.
NV Pierrots (early harvest Torrentes with 3 months drying) – Big alcohol, gobs of red fruit. 10% acidity according to Michel. Tannic, rich, long, 15% abv. Jodi enjoyed this quite a bit.
Finally, here’s a shot of the view from Feudo di San Maurizio. I don’t expect there’s a bad view in the entire Valle de Aosta, excluding the trash mountain off the E25 of course.
Coming up next: Ristorante da Cesare
This is a fantastic travelogue and your photos are spectacular! It was a pleasure following along. ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
Cheers!
Marshall ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
Part 9:
Ristorante da Cesare
After arriving in Barbaresco on Saturday night after our day in the Aosta Valley our focus quickly turned to our Sunday lunch reservation at Ristorante da Cesare. If you haven’t heard of Cesare Giaccone or his restaurant before, I suggest you do a bit of reading up on the guy. He’s a bit of a legend in restaurant circles apparently. Here’s a link to an article written about him in the LA Times all the way back in 1996.
Cos had been planning for us to visit Cesare for quite some time. Ristorante da Cesare isn’t really a restaurant as much as it’s Cesare’s house with a few tables for guests. It’s located in the village of Albaretto della Torre which is roughly 22 kilometres from Alba. And village really is the appropriate term; there’s one main road through the village and it services tractors nearly as much as cars, at least that’s what I gathered from what I saw on the day. Cos had made our booking a couple months in advance to ensure we’d get a table. Cesare does one meal a day and how I understand it whoever makes the first booking on any given date gets to choose to have either lunch or dinner. Once the decision is made, it’s done. So for instance we had a party of 5 including my young son and we chose to have Sunday lunch. There was also a party of 6 on the day and they didn’t get the opportunity to choose the dinner option as we had already chosen lunch. We arrived for lunch at 1pm. I believe we were even a bit early but that’s to be expected given our enthusiasm.
Upon walking into the front door the first thing your eyes linger on is the baby goat on the rotisserie in an open fireplace across the room. The smell of roasting goat in the air was glorious and I knew we were in for something truly special!
Here’s a photo of the menu. Each menu is hand made by Cesare’s daughter, both the painting as well as the listing of dishes. The menu changes daily and apparently is completely dependent on Cesare’s trip to the markets. He selects ingredients based on quality and freshness and then builds his menu around his handpicked ingredients. It’s quite an amazing process in my opinion and highlights the culinary skills Cesare possesses.
Before we could get down to the business of starting lunch we had one important task to complete first; the selection of our white truffle. The process was quite fun, the staff brought their truffles out to our table, weighed them on the scales to get an idea of price, and we made our truffle selection to accompany our dishes.
We also opted for a bottle of sparkling white to start with. The decision was pretty easy as Cesare has his own house apertivo, a sparkling nebbiolo. And boy was it good. Cos’s wife Belinda liked it so much he ended up taking a few of the bottles home after the meal! Once we had the sparkling in glass the food started coming out.
First course: Agnolotti with wild herbs
Second course: Cauliflower with cream of castelmagno
Third course: Zucchini, eggplant, and artichoke in meat sauce
I believe it was sometime around this point when we finished off the sparkling nebbiolo and needed another bottle with our meal. We ended up grabbing a bottle of 2014 Bosco Pierangelo Barbera d’Alba. This wine is actually made by Cesare’s son in law and was very tasty, especially given the price point. Here’s a bottle shot.
Fourth course: Duck and pomegranate salad
Fifth course: Bagna cauda
This dish is quite humorous in my mind. The liberal application of garlic and anchovies in it can apparently cause a person who’s eaten it to stink for a day or two (according to the Piedmontese). There’s a Piedmontese saying about it but for the life of me I can’t begin to recall it.
I believe it was around this point where we ordered our final bottle for the meal, a 2013 Giuseppe Rinaldi Langhe Nebbiolo. I’ve had this wine a few times now and it never ceases to impress, especially for the price point. It’s a lovely Nebbiolo that doesn’t quite carry the weight or seriousness of a Guiseppe Rinaldi Barolo but it still has a lot to offer in both nose and palate. I’m trying to hold a few so I can look at them with a bit of bottle age but it’s damn hard given how cheap they are combined with the amount of pleasure they deliver. They show better on the second day of being opened as well so I suspect they have a lot of life ahead.
Sixth course: Traditional langhe risotto
Seventh course: Wood fired baby goat
Trust me, this dish deserves another photo. For the record, the pomegranate seeds on the side weren’t part of the dish, the kitchen sent them out because they were about the only think my son would eat on the day.
Dessert: Zabaione
Cesare making the Zabaione
After we finished the meal Cesare came out and began speaking with us. And by us I mean Cos as he was the only one of us who speaks Italian. It was great listening to them go back and forth as well as to have Cos translate some of the comments Cesare was making. Cesare invited us down to the basement to have a look at his cellar, how could we refuse? He commented to Cos that he doesn’t have anywhere near the cellar he once had but as he said “what little wine I do have down here is very good!” He’s not wrong either as the room is full of names like Giacosa, G. Rinaldi, Bartolo, Gaja etc. I took a photo of some of the many bottles of Romano Levi grappa that Cesare has stashed in his cellar as they’re even rarer than his Piedmontese wines. Besides the museum in Barolo I’d never seen so many original Levi grappa bottles in one place.
Cesare noticed Cos and I were quite interested in his collection of Levi grappa so he grabbed a bottle and poured us both drink when we got back upstairs. It was easily the best grappa to ever pass my lips and one of the best spirits I’ve ever tasted. I was immediately reminded of the saying my grandfather used to use regarding moonshine. According to him there’s two types of shine in the world. Drinking shine and selling shine. You keep and drink the smooth stuff and you sell the hot stuff. If my grandfather was still alive today he’d easily categorise the Levi grappa we had as a drinking liquor. In fact, if it wasn’t for the heat creeping up your chest after the liquor hit your stomach you’d suspect it would be much lower alcohol than what it is. Truly impressive stuff.
Cesare’s also got a few trophy bottles above the fire place. These are wines customers have brought in to have with his meals. Apparently the '61 Giacosa was only opened in the past year or so.
We also had a look a Cesare’s art studio. He has a “bra tree” in there. Yet another reason for a visit, right?!?
As the day wound down so did our meal. We settled the tab, Cesare gave Cos a unopened bottle of Romano Levi grappa (which was borderline unbelievable!) and we walked out the front door to a darkened sky. Our lunch took so long that by the time we left it was dark! Such an amazing experience. There wasn’t a bad dish, nor a merely good dish. Everything plated on the day was superb. It was without a doubt the best culinary experience of my life. I can’t wait to eat at Cesare’s again!
Coming up next: Visit to Giacomo Conterno and lunch at La Coccinella
Holy schmoly, Andrew, awesome awesome write up. Wow.
And congratulations on the engagement!