WB Q&A Session 2.0 with William Kelley, Friday 5/6 RECORDING POSTED

WINE TALK
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Work meetings got in the way so I couldn’t join. But one question I had/have is around the still wines of Champagne. Is this a movement with real growth/energy behind it like the grower movement of the last few decades, or is it more of a passing fad?

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Indeed - thank you, William!

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Wasn’t able to make this; will there be a recording?

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Recording posted, realizing many had to work:

My favorite quotes:

“vineyards are no longer scenery, but something you read”

“you can live with drinking Richebourg only a few times a year” - totally get it, words to live by…I’m only a few times short of that almost every year!

Furthermore, William has promised to post the ‘under the radar’ Burgundy producers he rattled off in record time (the dude speaks quite quickly, I must say) herein.

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See post #5 and #11.

If this was asked in jest…I’m the clown [oops.gif]

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WILL THERE BE A RECORDING?

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Do we have a recording?

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+1, thank you, William. Apologies for my quickly typed question, but my intent was to bring up some of the sentiment posted on WB re turning to other regions etc. due to the harder access/pricing to top tier Burgundy, and how the industry thinks about it (if at all). Regardless, thank you William for answering the question pretty heads on, and thank you for continuing to flag new producers (I have bought more Beaune/Chalonnaise than I ever previously imagined, and am excited for those wines).

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Even after all the time you have spent here? [rofl.gif]

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Thank you William, really enjoyed it

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While I’m not William, and he’ll correct me if I’m wrong, he listed Didier Fornerol, Cyril Audoin (Domaine Charles Audoin) and Boris Champy.

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Which wine was 47-57 pounds ex-domaine?

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Whose on first? champagne.gif

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I believe that was Coche Meursault. But who needs to buy it from the Domaine when it is available for such modest markups here in California? Money - they literally print the stuff. Cool that we can turn just a few scraps of paper into wine!

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Shhhh, quiet on Audoin. It’s already started to get pricey and hard to find. My wife and I sat with Cyril at IPNC in 2016 where he shared one of his Marsannay blancs (I don’t remember which one) with us and completely opened our previously shut eyes to white burgundy.

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Why bother to print when you can simply make it up out of electrons these days?

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Audoin is the only one of the three Greg listed (based on what William said) that I actually own bottles of. (No dis to William but while I can pronounce some written French in my way, hearing it spoken it is almost impossible for me to take notes.)

My search for Burgundy I can afford led me to Audoin and to buy or keep an eye out for (in no particular order):
Elodie Roy
Jean Javillier
Michel Rebourgeon (in the William Whitehead era)
Pierre Guillemot
Pierre Brisset
Guillemot-Michel (whites) (active here)

I own but have not necessarily tasted some of them.

After I mentioned Pierre Guillemot to William, I was hoping he’d mention some of these and others and was glad to hear him mention Audoin (after Greg interpreted it here).

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Really enjoyed this.
Especially the opening monologue about how Bordeaux estates are corporations; financials that take into account KPI’s (scores) and a corporate hierarchy for the personnel where the owner and wine maker are usually different people.

Whereas in burgundy, well, the hype drives the price and the owner and winemaker are usually the same person, although not everywhere.

Btw, what was in your glass?

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I’ve been picking up some of those WK recommendations as well as a few others. If you read his reviews in RPWA there are quite a lot of producers that William recommends beyond the loftiest of names. Especially if you go beyond the Côte d’Or. Far too many to buy all of them though (sadly for my credit card and wine storage) I have been trying!

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I like two of Audoin’s 2017 reds that I’ve tried: Favieres and Longeroies. Favieres is really full-bodied, like whole milk, bursting with dense fruit, but you can sense the substantial structure underneath. Longeroies is a bit lighter in body, brighter fruit, perhaps more elegant, but still very concentrated in flavor in this vintage and showing some strong tannins on day 2. Favieres probably will age longer because there is just more material there, amped up to 11. If I had to pick one, Longeroies is more my style for drinking today, but Favieres probably has the higher “score”.

I’m sure WK’s tasting notes on these two are much better, but my 2c for anyone taking a look.

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