Domaine dujac - clos saint denis dinner recap

Edouard Bourgeois
December 18, 2024

We were lucky to taste superb wines at Gabriel Kreuther last Thursday. Domaine Dujac needs no introduction, and I never miss an opportunity to taste those wines. The fact that we were able to collect ten vintages of the Clos Saint Denis Grand Cru was truly exceptional. Below is my recap and notes about the different vintages.

While Dujac is known for its incredible red wines, whites made by the domaine shouldn’t be overlooked, as the two vintages of Puligny Combettes proved here. Starting with a great 2016, a year with a tiny crop after devastating episodes of frost in April. It was very fine, elegant and had evolved very gracefully. 2014 was even better in my opinion, offering more energy, zesty acidity and intensity with a long finish.

We started the long vertical of Clos Saint Denis with 2017, a year known for its freshness, signature of a cool, early season followed by nice and dry weather through the harvest in September. Besides an episode of hail in July, 2017 went well and produced healthy fruit, both for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I loved the iron character on the nose, a particularity of the site where iron oxide is present. A polished wine with silky tannins, great start.

The 2015 was served with the same course and showed superb aromas of chocolate and espresso. Quite incredible and surprising in my opinion as I tend to find 2015 red Burgundy still quite close and hard, but not with this one. 2015 is known as the ideal year in Burgundy. Just enough rain and sunshine, perfect temperature throughout the growing season, it was considered an “easy” vintage besides some oidium pressure.

2014 is typically the shy one. It was comparable to 2017 in terms of finesse and body but I found it to be a bit green. I don’t think it was “the wine of the night” for anyone and it flew under the radar. Still a great bottle but it suffered from the comparison with more expressive vintages.

Along with the 2014 was 2012, a year that produced a small crop with important millerandage (small berries). The high proportion of skin compared to the amount of juice played a role in concentrating the must and eventually the wine. This bottle was a tad reduced and needed plenty of air to open up. I think the wine was still developing when I tasted it by the end of the night after being opened for 4 hours!

2010 offered deliciously refined secondary aromas of underbrush with a hint of earth. Again, a rather small harvest was recorded in 2010, this time due to a serious frost episode before the year even started, impacting the vigor of the plant and its ability to produce fruit.

The next course, a wonderful squab and foie gras dish specially designed for this menu, was accompanied by three vintages starting with 2008, a rather difficult year with both mildew and oidium playing a part. Luckily for vignerons, northern winds helped clean the vineyards to produce healthy fruits for a nice harvest under the sun. This Clos Saint Denis was not as fruit forward as I would have liked but I really enjoyed its graceful evolution and similar noble secondary aromas we had with the 2010.

2005 was another happy surprise, comparable with the superb 2015. I couldn’t stop smelling this wine. I am a fan of the black cherry one can find in red Burgundy and there was plenty in this one. Incredibly deep and complex, the nose kept on giving. I even got a hint of smoke. Impressive. Dujac is known for using a high proportion of whole cluster and I think here, it provided the perfect touch of freshness and vibrancy.

2002 quickly became the conversation piece at the table with mixed opinions from the guests. I really enjoyed it, with its hints of tertiary aromas, tomato skin and lighter color. Although not as intense as the 2005 fruit bomb, 2002 had a touch of Brettanomyces (a yeast strain that in too high proportion is undesirable) but I found it beautiful and charming.

The last flight arguably offered the best wine of the night but also the least enjoyable. 1998 was unfortunately disappointing; the nose never recovered from what appeared to be maderization.

But we were able to close with a grand finale provided by an exceptional bottle of 1995. This was the only wine made before Jeremy Seysses arrived at the domaine, so entirely made by his father, founder Jacques Seysses. Jacques is known for making wines lighter in color, less extracted but somehow very expressive! It was exactly the case here. The balance was pitch perfect and the aromas intriguing and sensual. Still juicy after that many years, spicy and mineral, I even found hints of menthol on the nose. Incredible!

The Superb Wines of Domaine Alain Graillot

While working on the upcoming Pressoir dinner featuring the wines of Domaine Alain Graillot, I felt inspired to write a few lines about these great wines. This is one of my favorite producers when it comes to everyday wine, simply delicious and affordable. In fact, I still can’t believe how accessible this wine is and for me that makes it a true gem. If you attended La Tablée, you may have tasted the wines and hopefully met the new generation running the winery, represented by Maxime and Antoine Graillot. Their father, Alain, was the man who founded the domaine, back in 1985, and brought the humble appellation of Crozes Hermitage to new heights. After training with Burgundy legends such as Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac and Patrick Bize in Savigny-les-Beaune, Alain came back to his native Northern Rhône wine region and started crafting Syrah of incredible elegance. While many wines in the area are still seen as rustic and too often ordinary, Domaine Graillot, whose use of whole cluster fermentation is a signature (time spent at Dujac definitely paid off…) embody great finesse.

Alain passed away in 2022 at the age of 77. His two sons, Maxime and Antoine, mentioned earlier, took over and have clearly proved that the style of the domaine would remain the same.

Following organic farming and no chemicals from the field to the bottle, these wines are made very clean, they are very balanced and pair easily with many dishes on the table. To me, that is a no brainer for the holidays and if you can find magnums, don’t hesitate.

Beginning with the 2008 vintage, Alain’s son Maxime took on the role of running his well-respected father’s domaine in addition to his own (Domaine Equis). The red wines that Maxime produces under his father’s label maintain a traditional appeal of using stems and whole-cluster to add structure and longevity. 

Of the different cuvées made by Graillot, the "La Guiraude" cuvée is not a specific terroir, but a selection of the year's best lots, chosen after each barrel is tasted. it usually offers great concentration and density.

The Saint-Joseph is made the same way as the Crozes, but from destemmed grapes. The Hermitage grapes are also destemmed, and then fermented in a small, shallow vat with pigeage by foot.

La Tablée Highlights

December 4, 2024

Nikita Malhotra

As I walked home from the La Tablée after party a couple of Saturdays ago, it dawned on me that this was our last festival this year. It was a moment that made me reflect on the experiences this year that will no doubt return to me as insightful and significant memories, and, as all things that signify a sense of finitude, it was a chance to reflect. Now we are now in the midst of planning the 25th anniversary of La Paulée, so that was a fleeting moment of unoccupied time that, although brief, compelled me to at least write down some impressions from the weekend of La Tablée.

David Combier is someone that really progressed the narrative of what is going on in the Rhône; the family’s top cuvée Crozes-Hermitage “Clos des Grives” comes from an enclosed vineyard whose soil is rich with red clay and chalk, along with plenty of alluvial stones. This is a serious wine, bold and with a long finish. Juxtapose this wine with their purple labels, considered entry level, a good wine to introduce the wines of Crozes-Hermitage. These wines showcase fruit; a purity of fruit that is both elegant and refreshing. Unlike their neighbors, the Graillots, the Combiers use destemmed fruit, and their purple label wine is aged in a cement egg (œuf) for 8-10 months. I adore the purple label, because at its core it represents a well made everyday drinking option, something that should be appreciated. For many years Graillot stood as the place holder for this region, and that continues to this day, but I hope Combier gets a chance to be printed next to them on wine lists and have bottles next to them on wine shelves. I saw many who interacted with David come away with a better understanding of the region and a preview of the next generation there. I also must comment on the fact that David brought one of his father’s vintages, and his father Laurent is still very much involved today as well. A bottle of 1996 Crozes-Hermitage displayed a variety of spices that lingered and clung to the glass, and this was all enhanced as David had a chance to relay that he was all but one year old when this wine was made. A playful moment, but also a chance to recognize how entwined the vineyards and wine are to these families, the 1996 wasn’t just a glimpse into the aging potential of these wines, but a taste from this bottle was also a chance to experience a family’s story, as the wine in the glass was being taken care of and raised much in the same way as the baby David was.

David Combier talking about Crozes-Hermitage

It’s always a pleasure to be in the presence of Laetitia Barrot, she is kind and patient, and her Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Fiancée" 2016 that was poured at the Mâchon event at Bar Boulud was stunning. A blend of Grenache and Syrah; the Grenache comes from the 100-year-old Terres Blanches plot. This cuvée is only bottled in exceptional years, and it is complex, there are so many notes that come off ranging from lavender to leather. The Barrot family have been making wine since the 14th century, and Laetitia makes the wine alongside her brother Julien. Elegance is what comes to mind, and the past years of La Tablée has shown how producers are moving away from the bold and powerful element that garnered them attention and accolades in the 1990’s, and Barroche, with its rich history and excellent vineyard holdings, has been emblematic of a fresher and more vibrant style of wine from this region.

Mâchon at Bar Boulud

Our team with Chef Daniel Boulud and Chef Daniel Guzman

I sat with Yves Cuilleron during the Gala Dinner, and there were moments peppered throughout the evening where he delivered such fascinating stories and provided historical framework, and the generosity and warmth of the Gala was such a lovely backdrop to that. The magic of these festivals is the potential to discover something new, to catch up with old friends, and to share wine personal to you with those who you know will appreciate your story. The wines from the Rhône feel personal to me, they remind me of my early days being a floor sommelier doing inventory in a whole cellar space devoted to Châteauneuf-du-Pape at Tribeca Grill. They remind me of holiday dinners with friends and family throughout the years, and for the sommeliers working the events, this is a time where we get to geek out about wines that we don’t always get to serve and talk about. I have nostalgia wrapped around these wines, and so seeing everyone celebrate this region feels comforting and joyful. La Paulée is the festival where I leave gaining so much insight, as conversations with winemakers, collectors, and sommeliers foster a really productive and educational week. La Fête du Champagne is the festival where there is just so much joy and enthusiasm, it’s hard not to escape the week without a smile. La Tablée is my personal favorite way to kick off the holidays as there is something warm and comforting about these wines. Whether it is Burgundy, Champagne or the Rhône that graces your table this holiday season, I hope one of our events provided a memory that will make that bottle allow for a similar moment of reflection as I had here. Looking forward to forming more memories with Italian wine in the new year as well.

Château Grillet: Understanding the Myth

November 1, 2024

Nikita Malhotra

My journey with Château-Grillet is a bit strange, it starts with Maison des Joncs, a Burgundy project from Jae Chu, the current winemaker at Château-Grillet. She only made Maison des Joncs for two vintages, 2017 and 2018, before she took on her current role at the historic and esteemed Château-Grillet. The wine was presented to me as a blind, a charming and rustic red wine, simple but with a simplicity that implies craftsmanship and care. This was her Savigny-les-Beaune Les Vergelesses 1er Cru - and the person who blinded me, happy to have stumped me, continued his victory lap by telling me about how rare it is to find these wines now that Jae Chu had relocated to the Rhône. I tried to imagine what she could do with Syrah or Grenache, thought about how balanced and fresh and delightful the wines would be - and then my friend presented me with the kicker, Jae Chu was the winemaker for Château-Grillet, one of the great wine estates, a monopole we all learn about in our wine education. With all that history and the distinctions, all I could concentrate on was that the woman who made the glass of red Burgundy in front of me, which I was ready to wax poetic as being the next voice of the region, was now making wine with Viognier.

Jae Chu

Viognier is often a maligned grape- not many sommeliers go out of their way to endorse it - and in a world where we are chasing acid and freshness, a grape described as floral and rich and intense often doesn’t get the spotlight. But, and there will always be a but, with Château-Grillet, the balance between richness and weight and acidity defines this wine. Château-Grillet is located entirely within the already small appellation of Condrieu, and is one of the few single-estate appellations in all of France. The ancient Romans first cultivated the vineyards, and you can still find evidence of that amongst the ruins scattered around the vineyards. The first plots of vines at Château-Grillet are said to have been planted by Emperor Probus in the third century, with plants brought from Dalmatia. The name is a reference to the roasted hillside; the site forms a south-facing natural amphitheatre, which is protected from the La Bise north wind.

Thomas Jefferson visited Château-Grillet during his time in France, proof that the wines were quite notable during the 18th century. It passed into the hands of the Neyret-Gachet family in 1823 and became the first estate in the Rhône Valley to produce, bottle and sell their own wines, starting in 1830. In the 1930’s France’s Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée were being recognized and categorized and Lyonnais gastronome Curnonsky had distinguished five white wines as the best in the world. Château-Grillet was featured on the list alongside Le Montrachet, La Coulée de Serrant, Château Chalon and Château d’Yquem. It has a single owner, François Pinault, owner of Château Latour in Pauillac and Domaine d’Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée, after buying it in 2011 from the Neyret-Gachet family, who owned it for almost two centuries.

André Canet took over in 1961, and bought out the rest of the family between 1965 and 1970. His daughter Isabelle Baratin-Canet took over after his death in 1994, and she was the last of the Neyret-Gachet descendants to have ownership, as it was then sold to François Pinault.

How much wine was opened at La Fête du Champagne?

by Max Goldberg Liu
November 7, 2024

With La Fête du Champagne in the rear view mirror, it is always fun to look back at our records from the Gala Dinner to see just how much wine was opened.

We had a full house of 385 guests, and everyone came to party.

Total amount of Champagne at the Gala Dinner
283 bottles
149 magnums
10 jeroboams
4 half bottles
…which is the equivalent of 623 bottles or more than 1.6 bottles per person. Hats off to our amazing team of sommeliers for keeping everything organized and the bubbles flowing!

Most common producers
Krug was very well represented with a total of 32 bottles, 4 half bottles, 7 magnums, and 2 jeroboams
Next was Dom Pérignon, with 16 bottles, 8 magnums, and 1 jeroboam
In third place, Louis Roederer with 13 bottles, 5 magnums, and 1 jeroboam

House/Grower balance
Incredibly, the breakdown between House and Grower was nearly EXACTLY 50/50 - 224 bottles from houses and 222 bottles from growers - a perfect reflection of La Fête’s philosophy!

Oldest wine
A bottle of Louis Roederer Vintage Brut 1928 - did any of you taste it?
Other rare older wines included a bottle of Salon 1955 (!!!), Billecart-Salmon Brut 1966, Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1969, two magnums of DP 1970, and a jeroboam of Bollinger RD 1979.

Most common vintages
2008: 23 bottles - highlights included a great bottle from the now retired Marie-Noëlle Ledru, multiple bottles of Cristal 2008, and magnums of Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon
1996: 20 bottles - highlights included Jacques Selosse Millésime, magnums of Tarlant Cuvée Louis from the estate, and Krug Clos du Mesnil

Non-bubbles
Alongside magnums of Burgundy brought by our visiting winemaker friends Antoine Jobard, Thibaud Clerget, Anne Morey, and Marc Bachelet, guests also brought bottles of Sauternes, Sake, and Chartreuse as a change of pace from all the Champagne.

The rest of La Fête
It was an intense week leading up to the Gala Dinner, and at this largest-ever edition of La Fête, we opened a grand total of:
32 Jeroboams
294 Magnums
1,227 Bottles

If you were there with us, you know no one went thirsty. We are now eager for some red wine - on to La Tablée!

Sneak Peek at the 2024 Vintage in Burgundy

10/4/2024

Raj Vaidya

I spent the third week of September in Savigny-les-Beaune working the harvest with storied Domaine Simon Bize and thought I would share a few takeaways as a sneak peek at the nature of this harvest and the wines it is likely to produce.

2024’s crop is certainly one for the record books, but in an unfortunate sense. The quantities of grapes, specifically in Pinot Noir, were extremely tiny. The growing season started somewhat poorly with cold and rainy weather prevalent in the months of April and May, which caused major problems with flowering and subsequent fruit set. In the week I was picking grapes or processing fruit I rarely saw a truly full cluster, as the spotty flowering caused lean clusters which had lots of millerandage, or tiny berries. Often when cutting fruit in the vineyards I would pick a small cluster or two from one vine and then pass over two or three vines with zero fruit before finding the next cluster down the row. In Savigny for reds, Chisa Bize estimated that we harvested less than 20% of a normal crop. This turned out to be pretty good numbers for the region, as several vignerons in the Côte de Nuits have told me they’ve made less than 10% of normal crops in several places. For Chardonnay, it was also somewhat smaller, but not nearly as dire, with yields between 60 - 80% of normal, though the Corton-Charlemagne at Bize was probably smaller in yield, judging from my experience harvesting there.

The rest of the growing season was very rainy, causing pressure of rot and mildew which further reduced the crop. Sorting was super important this year, and at Bize there is a dedicated crew of Japanese ladies who come for harvest every year and are experts at sorting. For the most part, we did not see too much rotten fruit on the sorting table, those grape clusters which were really unhealthy were dropped on the ground in the vineyard by the pickers. But we did see a lot of partially dried up clusters, and had to trim many of the clusters to avoid having dried or botrytised fruit end up in the fermentation vats.

The sorting table at Bize

The Latricieres-Chambertin harvest was the most stark in its minimal volume, barely filling a tiny fermentation tank about halfway. Savigny 1er Cru Vergelesses was more plentiful thankfully, as this is one of the most important cuvées at Bize. Sadly, it will be the only 1er Cru with the parcel name bottled (in both white and red) as the Talmettes, Marconnets and Fourneaux were all blended to make one large tank of Savigny Premier Cru without a name.

Latricieres Chambertin harvest being loaded into its tiny Cuve.

Savigny 1er Cru blend, Marconnets, Fourneaux and Talmettes, all vinified together.

All in all I had a tremendous experience. The wines will surely be high quality despite the small amounts, and I’m sure it will be a light, easy to drink vintage without harsh tannins of ‘18 or high alcohols of ‘19 and ‘20. At Bize the totals were a little higher in production than ‘21, though at other domaines I visited while in the region the opposite was the case. I’ve heard from Didier Fornerol that 2024 (his last vintage as he’s set to retire) will have been his smallest harvest ever. I heard similar things from Ben Leroux, Jean-Marie Fourrier and Domaine Dujac. It is, of course, too early to tell as to the longevity of these wines; tasting them next summer and into winter 2026 will give us better perspective, I imagine. I look forward to tasting this fresh, vibrant and delicate vintage in the years to come!

Untangling politics and wine

Nikita Malhotra
September 20, 2024

“Once you reach a certain detailed awareness of everyday life, absence of wine is shocking, like something exotic.” ~ Roland Barthes

Election day is fast approaching - this means there is a barrage of memes featuring cute puppies in pots with a scoop of mirepoix being dumped on their confused heads and references to the iconic question of whether or not you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? The media is unrelenting and for many of us a glass of wine offers a refuge from this chaotic onslaught.

But politics pierces and punctuates spaces that we would rather categorize as unpolitical. As wine lovers, the debate on tariffs seems to be encroaching on a safe space, a space that seemed safe of being determined by the whims and tantrums of politicians. America’s tenuous relationship with wine in the 20th century plays a large role in our contemporary understanding. The quote from Barthes is from his essay ‘Wine and Milk,’ a unique essay analyzing the cultural symbolic nature of wine to French identity. Milk, on the opposing side of this dichotomy, represents the American identity. This essay was written in the 1950’s, a time where the milkman would, I imagine, still drop off bottles of milk at your doorstep.

Mapping America’s history with wine is to witness many swerves and curves. We admire Thomas Jefferson’s cosmopolitan taste and impressive cellar and are fascinated that LBJ only served American wine at the White House. We know that Trump doesn’t drink any alcohol, a decision made due to his brother’s issues with addiction. Biden also doesn’t drink. But Kamala Harris is a wine enthusiast and was a member of the Congressional Wine Caucus. In this century we have only had one president who drank alcohol, and that was Obama. Wine has certainly presented itself in moments of history in our country, but it will never be as symbolic as it is for the French. In France, wine is political in a way because it is part of what it means to be French. In America about one third of the population doesn’t really drink. I don’t think milk has the same symbolic relationship to Americans as it once did, and I can’t imagine one beverage being representative of America.

In the coming days, even the most mundane things in our lives will have the potential to become political. But maybe we should understand wine in this political world. Barthes wrote about wine in a terms of capitalism as well in his essay, exploring the layers of meaning that it has for France. This ties into a basic understanding of what a commodity is in Marxist terms and how in turn that can be fetishized. But there is also something silly about how various factions have used wine as a means of defining their world views. We hear things like liberals drink natural wine and conservatives drink Bordeaux, and it might not be as transparent as that, but when you begin looking at the world in this political way, everything is coded a certain way to make sense of value. Simply put, I will always ascribe value to wine in a capitalistic sense whether intentionally or not. Imagine if I try to sell you a ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ wine from a lesser-known region, I would focus on farming practices and talk about egalitarian sensibilities and in doing so you would find more value to the wine.

Maybe I read too much Fukuyama - but my love of wine is also very much attached to my understanding of free market capitalism. I live in New York City and have access to great wine from around the world. Supply and demand is expressed by the desires of people, by buyers and sellers. What does it mean when the government or an external authority intervenes? And is this what is at stake when we look at policies that favor a regulated market?

More and more importers, hospitality professionals, winemakers and friends are voicing their concern for what proposed policies will mean for their future lives. I might not be French, but my identity is quite wrapped up in wine and so my political mode of being is very much entangled by the wine world. The point I want to make is that although we like to adhere to the notion that some things, like the wine world, should remain neutral in terms of politics, sometimes it’s ok to discuss policies and debate with one another because of how much it can affect our so called neutral world.

Recap of the Clos Vougeot Session

Edouard Bourgeois
August 22, 2024

Unlike the typical Burgundy vineyard, the Grand Cru of Clos Vougeot is as large as it is synonymous with powerful wines, another atypical trait for Burgundy wines. For that reason, also, Clos Vougeot is not always associated with the most elegant style of Pinot Noir. Take another magical Grand Cru, Musigny, just a stone’s throw away from Clos Vougeot - the two wines will be polar opposite. I think that focusing a session entirely on Clos Vougeot allowed us to highlight what Burgundy is all about: nuances. Anselme Selosse uses his own expression “l’autre même” that can be translated into “the other same”.

For those who couldn’t attend the Pressoir Clos Vougeot Session that took place on July 16th, here are a few discussion points.

As mentioned above, it is impossible not to mention the size of the imposing Clos Vougeot, this 50 hectares vineyard, surrounded by walls and put together piece by piece by the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of Citeaux, founded in 1098. While the date of the first mention of the name Clos Vougeot is unclear, old manuscripts make mention of “Clausum” and “Grand Clos de Citeaux” back in the beginning of the XIIIth century. It is believed that the last plots were acquired in 1336.

It is worth mentioning that the Citeaux Abbey was founded after the Cluny Abbey, with the goal to represent a stricter version of Christianity. Interestingly enough, some Burgundians may refer to a wine as “Cistercian”, the adjective for Citeaux, to describe a wine that is austere. On the other hand, a wine defined as “Clunisien” displays more fruit forward flavors and elegance (Chambolle Amoureuses comes to mind!). The Citeaux Abbey had the goal to become a powerful political entity and the high quality of the wines of Clos Vougeot quickly became evident. Barrels of Clos Vougeot were used as gifts to the cardinals and even the pope. That was until Pope Urbain V declared that no such bribe should continue! But it didn’t stop the abbot at that time from sending 30 barrels to pope Urbain V’s successor, which made the abbot a cardinal not long after the generous donation…

The history took some extreme turns after, fast forwarding to the French Revolution that dispossessed the monks from the vineyard in 1789. The Clos was then sold as an auction piece in 1791 and was exchanged a few times between different businessmen, including Napoleon’s banker. The change of ownerships lasted for a hundred years and in 1889, six Burgundian negociants (including Liger-Belair) became the owners of the Clos. More divisions and complex ownerships followed resulting in 40 owners in 1920 and 80 today.

Are plots better at the top of the Clos? The slope is not that steep and the total elevation gain from the bottom of the slope by the road to the top near the Chateau is just about 50 meters. However, this is the most asked question around the wines of Clos Vougeot. Back when the monks made the wine, they would make one wine as a blend of the whole Clos but they also started to vinify plots separately and started to distinguish and isolate the better parcels, making different cuvees with a different use:

Wines made from the top of the Clos would be used as a gift to popes and kings, while the mid-slope would be reserved for bishops. Wines from the lower part of the Clos were deemed inferior in quality and given to everyone else.

I don’t know if wines are better at the top but my favorite Clos Vougeot is from Mugneret-Gibourg and their parcel is in fact at the top, near the Chateau. But location alone isn’t everything and we should not forget how the talent of the producer affects the wine.

Here are the wines we tasted at the session with my tasting notes:

Domaine Faiveley, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2018

3 plots are blended here. Interestingly, two at the bottom of the slope and the last one at the top. According to Faiveley, it gives them a great representation of the Clos as a whole and in dry years, the plots at the bottom help the blend because they retain water.

I thought the wine had a touch of rusticity which I often associate with both Clos Vougeot and Faiveley. 2018 is a concentrated vintage with enormous structure. A true Clos Vougeot with broad shoulders.

Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2016

Here we go! The elegance of the wine was obvious here. According to the Mugneret sisters, their Clos Vougeot offers the power of Ruchottes Chambertin with the elegance of Echezeaux. I couldn’t agree more. The story of the Mugneret-Gibourg parcel in the Clos is quite amazing. Founder Georges Mugneret was a fan of a Clos Vougeot made by his grandfather in 1929, coincidentally George’s birthyear. However, the family had sold their plot in Clos Vougeot. Georges reclaimed it as soon as he could afford to buy a parcel in the Clos; it is still in the family today. The wines was fabulous, even from an uneasy vintage like 2016.

Joseph Drouhin, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2017

Made from 2 plots with east exposure on a mild incline, one of them is owned by Drouhin while the other is purchased fruit.

I am a fan of the wines of Drouhin. Despite the large production, this emblematic negociant founded in 1880, who in fact owns 100 hectares in Burgundy, manages to produce elegant wines and this Clos Vougeot appeared to be one of my favorite ones in the session. I do love 2017 as a cool vintage that gave birth to fresh wines with bright red fruit aromas.

Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2016

Founded in 1902 and based in Vosne-Romanée, the name of Méo-Camuzet is regarded as a classic producer in the Côte d’Or and of course famous for the expert guidance of legendary winemaker Henri Jayer who had also been farming for Méo for forty years. Jean-Nicolas Méo, a true disciple of Jayer, continues to make exceptional wines one might describe as old school. No exuberant fruit bombs but maybe a more “cistercian” style, to refer back to that descriptor mentioned earlier in this article.

We revisited 2016 with this wine but this time, I found the earthy character of the vintage and almost a squareness in the wine to be more obvious. I really enjoyed the complexity of the wine however and the many layers if offered.

Domaine d’Eugénie, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2015 and 2011

Interestingly enough, this plot was once owned by the large negociant Leonce Boquet who was forced to sell in 1920 to Philippe Engel and Méo-Camuzet. Fast forward to 2006 when the Engel holdings were acquired by the Artemis Group, led by French billionaire Francois Pinault.

I find the quality of Domaine d’Eugénie to be very high. Of course it helps to own stellar plots like this one in the Clos Vougeot, one of the largest single parcels in the Clos! The wines are polished and close to perfection, which in many cases can in fact appear to be “boring”, but not here. The fruit is very expressive and tannins beautifully integrated. A wine of haute couture, it was very compelling to taste both 2015 and 2011 side by side. Each vintage very different with 2015 being the powerful, structured beast we could expect while the delicate green vegetal notes of 2011 offered a refreshing touch in the aromatic palette, dominated by black fruit.

Joseph Drouhin, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2005

We want to thank Andy Shapero for sharing his very own bottle of Drouhin 2005 to close the session. The wine showed its age beautifully, displaying secondary aromas of forest floor and earthy notes.

Château de Clos Vougeot

An introduction to the wines of Hokkaido

8/9/2024

Raj Vaidya

A few weekends ago I had the good fortune to be able to visit the island of Hokkaido, in northern Japan, to attend the inauguration of Etienne de Montille’s shiny new winery in the hills above Hakodate. Etienne found a passion for this area after spending some years visiting sites and tasting wines from around the island, motivated by the belief that it would be possible to produce world class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here. He told me his senses were awakened by a blind taste of a wine poured for him on a visit to Tokyo, a Pinot Noir from a label called Coco-romi. The wine had all the spice and incense aromas he loves from Pinot Noir, and from then on he was committed to learning the wines of Japan in an effort to see if he could replicate such quality in this old version of the new world.

Etienne set about tasting as many wines and visiting as many wineries as he could, and he came to the conclusion that the warm climate of the main island of Honshu was not ideal for the style of Burgundy varieties he planned to produce. So he started, in 2016, with a small negociant project purchasing grapes from around Hokkaido to come to learn about the nuances of the different growing areas. He found some good Pinot Noir, a fair bit of Kerner and Zweigelt (which, oddly, have a pretty long history of viticulture in Japan) and a plethora of hybrids. Eventually he identified the hills above the small bayside town of Hakodate in the South of Hokkaido as the ideal place to put down roots. He purchased a property which was mainly farmland and started planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and has since made the first wines from the estate in 2023 (from 2016 on he’s been buying grapes from the Yoichi region, closer to Sapporo.)

I have had, on previous occasions, some of the negociant Pinot Noir and found it very tasty. But I was truly impressed with the quality of his white and red estate wines from 2023, very elegant and with lovely texture and aromatic complexity. There is tremendous potential here and I’m very much looking forward to following these wines as the project matures and evolves.

Etienne had gathered a fairly large group of Burgundians, some winemakers, some in the wine trade and others enthusiasts, to celebrate the opening of the winery, and so he was kind enough to arrange for us all to taste a big swath of wines from Japan after the celebration. We drove out to the Nikki Hills Winery, a picturesque site in the Yoichi Valley about an hour east of Sapporo, where he had gathered samples from 12 different high quality wineries in Japan, a total of 30 plus wines.

I thought I would share a few of my favorites, described below:

Takahiko Soga Nana-Tsu-Mori Pinot Noir 2019, Yoichi Hills; this was the best example of ‘old world styled’ Pinot Noir from Hokkaido along with Etienne’s 2023, very aromatic, whole-cluster sort of nose with depth of flavor and some really delicious fruit at the core of the palate. This has become something of a cult wine from Japan and is imported into the US in tiny quantities.

Nora-Kura Rouge Zero 2022 and Fumizuki Blanc 2021, Yoichi Hills; this is a winery working in organics and with only native yeasts and no additives, making some of the most compelling wines on the island. Initially, Ken and Kazuko Sasake started producing wines in the Hakodate region, right next door to where Etienne is farming today, and today they’ve moved operations to the Yoichi area. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in a very transparent and fine style, very ‘Burgundian.‘

10R Winery Pinot Noir Mori 2021, Yoichi Valley; This winery is a combination of a custom crush and estate winery founded by Bruce Gutlove, a UC Davis trained American transplant who has been making stellar wines in Japan (first Honshu, now Hokkaido) for 35 years. He is, in Etienne’s mind, the father of the modern, quality minded winemaking style in Japan today, and has mentored nearly all the other vignerons in the country. This Pinot Noir had tremendous depth and salinity, not super common in the country as mostly all the soil is rich and volcanic.

Funny enough, the wine that first turned Etienne on to the quality potential of Japanese wine was a wine that Bruce at 10R made, under the label Coco Farm, the Hokkaido wines from whom are today produced at Bruce’s winery by another team. When Bruce was first tapped to come to Japan, it was to create this wine label, Coco Farm, as a social experiment underwritten by the Japanese government to employ neurologically and learning impaired citizens to produce wine. All of the workers on the project are afflicted with Down Syndrome or similar learning disabilities and the farm and winery give them an opportunity to find purpose through working with the agricultural and technical elements of wine making. Bruce led this initiative after 1989, and still consults and oversees operations to some degree.

As it turns out, Daniel and myself had a similar epiphany moment with these wines to Etienne. Last year we were visiting Singapore and had dinner with a Japanese sommelier there whom we knew from his time in NYC, and he brought a bottle of a whole cluster Pinot Noir from Japan to serve us blind. It was fantastic, and Daniel and I were both guessing it to be a whole cluster Nuits-Saint-Georges, so we were super surprised and humbled to learn it came from a vineyard that Coco Farms works in Honshu, close to Mount Fuji on its western slopes. We had no idea at the time the noble nature of the winery and its mission, but were blown away by the quality of the wine. And just a year later, I was able to meet the winemaker behind it, purely by chance!

Burgundy Mid-Summer 2024

Daniel Johnnes
August 8, 2024

I hopped over the ocean for a quick visit to see first hand the state of the vineyards after hearing all kinds of news reports of rain, hail, mildew and other less than desirable conditions challenging the Burgundy landscape. Fortunately I enjoyed three days of near perfect weather. Hopefully, the weather that greeted me was an indication of what the rest of summer and early fall would offer the vines.

Up until now, from March on, it has rained nearly every day and most everyone I spoke to lamented how they had never experienced such a wet season. Rain was not the only culprit as hail did some damage as well but that was mostly limited to Chablis where they experienced 3 devastating attacks this Spring and will surely have a lower than average crop.

Harvest is still 6-8 weeks away, making it far too soon to make a projection on this vintage. Journalists and others alike are too quick to proclaim what a vintage will be like when such powerful forces of nature intervene during the growing season.

True, this year will most likely be a shorter crop than both ‘22 and ‘23. Those were fairly abundant with ‘23 being even more generous than the precedent. In fact, with no relief in sight on escalating Burgundy prices growers were actually expressing concern on what impact a bumper ‘24 crop would have on the market. This is a topic for a future article as more than one person expressed to me an imminent crisis in the region.

Back to the quality of the ‘24 vintage. Because of the difficult conditions through July there could be a tendency to condemn the vintage. This is far from reality. A sunny dry August and September could erase any memories of the previous months. The last two weeks of the season can have a profound impact on the maturity of the vines.

With that in mind, at lunch with Fred Mugnier, he once again told me how his favorite vintages are those that have had to struggle a bit. He and I are in agreement about how we are loving the ‘07, ‘08, ‘12, 13, 14, 17, 21 vintages now. Vintages in their individual ways were challenging and were not declared “great vintages”.

What about ‘05, 09, 18, 19, 20? Those were declared in the press as exceptional. Yes, exceptional for some reasons. Mostly for their ripeness, something you need in Pinot Noir, but not extreme ripeness. Those “exceptional” vintages are the ones I rarely choose to drink. They are either too powerful (alcoholic), tannic, closed, or just lack finesse, which is the hallmark of a great white or red Burgundy.

They can be great but demand more time - as evidenced by the great fortune I had in drinking some of the most magnificent Burgundies of my lifetime last week - thanks to the generosity of a friend: Richebourg 1961 Louis Gros, De Vogué Musigny 1935, Romanee-Conti 1998, DRC, Romanee-St-Vivant 1971, DRC Richebourg 1952.

These wines were made before the journalists raced to declare great or bad vintages. Some may have been condemned after release. No matter how these wines were when young, it made no difference. Time paid off. Today the true expression of their place and grape was shining through brilliantly.

Year of the Comet: The strangest Movie

Nikita Malhotra
July 26, 2024

I relish the times I am asked about my favorite wine related movie, because unlike with a book recommendation, I embrace the kitschy and utterly ridiculous film, the 1992 ‘Year of the Comet’. Whereas Ian Maxwell Campbell’s ‘Wayward Tendrils of the Vine’ is a book I constantly pick up and contemplate, with each paragraph demanding my attention and forcing me to negotiate between remembering the details of a wine from the particular growing season of a vintage to the winemakers choices pertaining to that vintage and the universal themes and sweeping philosophical notions that inspire a person to pick up a glass in the first place. I don’t usually recommend this book, even though it’s creased spine and dog-eared pages gives away its ranking on my bookshelf. Wine books are difficult in that there are those that are more reference based, others that are memoirs and travelogues, and then there are novels (I have at least 6 wine-related graphic novels as well). I prefer something in between all these formats, literary prowess with nuggets of information. And every year there are wonderful books that are published that fit my criteria, and so my list grows longer and longer.

But film is tricky, wine just doesn’t translate well on celluloid. We witnessed the death of Merlot in Sideways and felt patriotic about the judgement of Paris in Bottle Shock. I actually like both films, but there are times where scenes that were meant for entertainment veer into cringe territory, these moments are where the theme of wine is belabored and forced. Maybe I just want more cringe, because Year of the Comet really never comes up for air in terms of how ridiculous it feels. I guess I should preface that I adore John Waters, and my four years of living in Baltimore combined with my formative years as a resident of the East Village renting movies at Kims off Saint Marks definitely informed this choice. But I can’t think of another wine adjacent film that I will joyfully watch over and over again. It currently hold 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes! It’s incredible that this is a Peter Yates film and was written by William Goldman, same screenwriter of the Princess Bride and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It’s redemption is truly that it is singular in how off the rails it presents.

The film starts with the line “owning a great bottle of wine is like owning a piece of history, you can’t ever own too much history.'“ This is said in a faint Southern drawl in a dark steam room between two men. In the next scene we are in London, where the heroine, Margaret Harwood, is the daughter of an esteemed connoisseur in the wine trade. She is a better taster than her half brother Richard, but he’s British, and she’s American, and I guess there weren’t a lot of women in the wine trade then? He mentions that he looks forward to her being a bitter old spinster. Although this takes place in the 90’s this initial sequence feels more like it’s from the 40’s, or maybe I have transposed Katharine Hepburn in my internal quest to make this film more manageable for my brain. There is an undertone of British snobbery; we are meant to understand that Americans don’t have taste when it comes to luxury goods like fine wine. This concept is reinforced with this wine tasting scene, watching men in suits spit expensive wine into spittoons. Unprompted, after overhearing a suited man sigh that he thought that 1964 was a good vintage, Margaret describes how the 64 vintage was better for those in Bordeaux that picked before the morning of September 17th, before the rains started, and she mentions Petrus, but the stuffy British man ignores her, and we are left to ponder what else she could have rattled off about this vintage. Defeated, she walks away holding a tray of half empty glasses and is asked by an American man, clearly an outsider, clearly the man who will be her romantic lead, if they have any Budweiser at the wine tasting. There is so much to unpack in the first 5 minutes of this movie!

The Budweiser man follows our heroine into a kitchen area where she is slicing cheese and buzzing around the small space. She is passionate and resolute in her appreciation of wine and the decorum that comes with it. It's as if she doesn't realize that her presence to this outsider is that of a domestic woman. But he is the only man so far to recognize her in this space and to listen to her. Always trust a man who drinks Budweiser? 

Margaret's father seems to pity his daughter. He alludes to the fact that it is not his fault her mother escaped with her to America. Although he recognizes a true acolyte of wine, and his proper heir, her brazen American sensibility is alien to the man. When he gets a call about a cellar in Scotland to be appraised, he throws Margaret a bone. And so begins the adventure! 

So our heroine is now in the highlands. She settles into her room at the inn and as she mentions that she is going to the McPherson Castle, the sweet old Scottish innkeeper is about to warn her but ominously ends the scene, with fear in her eyes, by saying, ‘never mind.’ And then we cut to a torture scene, at what the audience can surmise is said castle. As the villain, a sinister and well dressed French man, is about to plunge a needle into the victim’s eye with promises of pain and suffering, he is interrupted by his lackey who points out of the window to an approaching car. In the next scene Margaret is greeted by our villain in a butler disguise and she proceeds, with American gumption, to demand that he open the door for her ‘cause she has a job to do! She must inspect the wine in the cellar. 

Realizing she has no idea of the nefarious events taking place at the castle, our villain/butler acquiesces, and Margaret is allowed inside. Immediately she is disappointed by the bottles she finds in the dusty, abandoned looking space. She says to no one in particular  “looks like the wine selection of a 7/11!” To the viewer it looks like a bunch of dusty Bordeaux bottles, but as the audience we trust her assessment. Alone, she begins to look around… a small oriental carpet seems suspect, and as she uncovers what is hidden underneath, we are just as giddy at the prospect of treasure as Margaret is. Down a short set of stairs, in this hidden part of the cellar, is a rather large wooden box. Upon inspecting the bottle inside this box, Margaret notices two important things about this methuselah of Lafite: first this is supposedly from the glorious 1811 vintage, the year of the comet, and second, Napoleon's seal is on the bottle. When she calls her father to inform him of what she has found, he is convinced they can sell the bottle for $1 million, in the end it sells for $5 million.

This is where I will stop from further plot spoilers, but will impress upon the reader that after this scene romance, action, suspense and, maybe unintentionally, humor proceeds to take over. Multiple chases in Scotland involving numerous bad guys and cars, helicopters and planes lead us to the French Riviera where the chase continues. 

From a wine perspective, comet vintages are unique, there is no scientific understanding of how the sight of a comet right before harvest benefits the vines and the resulting wine. Throughout the history of wine, winemakers have attributed successful vintages and ideal weather conditions to the unexplained effects caused by the comets. 

When I think of the 1811 vintage, I think of Veuve Clicquot's vintage bottling from this year, and how this wine ushered in the modern concept of Champagne to the world. Implementing techniques such as remuage, also known as riddling, this Champagne was the first to preserve its bubbles and yet be rid of all the sediment. The 1811 Veuve Clicquot was also a wine that took wine marketing onto another level, with Louis Bohne, the lead sales agent for Veuve Clicquot, sneaking the wine into the Russian market whilst Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the widow, distracted the Prussian soldiers, who occupied the region, by opening up her cellars with all the Champagne they could drink. With the introduction of Champagne to foreign markets, the charm and success of Champagne was solidified. 

Widow Clicquot is in theatres right now, a movie that is completely the opposite of Year of the Comet. A film that tells the story of a strong, resilient and fearless woman. And this is a film that is more relevant to 1811 and how important of a vintage it is for the wine world. I hold out hope for more films like Year of the Comet, but maybe if our heroine, Margaret, had seen a film such as Widow Clicquot, she wouldn't have to go on a wild goose chase to prove her worth in the wine world.

Climbing Clos des goisses

By Edouard Bourgeois

July 11, 2024

Ever since I started working in wine, first as a sommelier in Reims, Champagne, I became a fan of Champagne Philipponnat and particularly impressed with their prestige cuvée “Clos des Goisses”. I still remember opening these old bottles from the 1970’s with their distinctive shape (see picture below this article). It made me truly understand that Champagne is a wine that can really age. 1935 was in fact the first vintage of Clos des Goisses and back then, making Champagne from only one site was unheard of. Although this single vineyard bottling mentality is more common today, Champagne is historically known for being the result of a blend. Blend of sites but also different grape varieties and of course, different years, something unique to the region.

But Clos des Goisses also sets itself apart from other Champagne cuvees in many other ways. First, the vineyard is completely unique, with an incline that can reach up to 45% gradient, exposed due south! The total surface area is 5.8 hectares, roughly the same size of La Tache in Burgundy… The family house Philipponnat is the sole owner of Clos des Goisses and is known for its focus on Pinot Noir, which surprisingly only accounts for a small majority of the plantings in Clos des Goisses, the rest being Chardonnay. It is a short five minute walk from the Philipponnat headquarters in Mareuil-sur-Ay, in the Vallée de la Marne to the Clos des Goisses. Once you reach the site, you get instantly mesmerized by the imposing steep slope that bathes in sunlight. Cables are in fact needed in some parts to bring the workers’ equipment up the slope.

As far as winemaking is concerned, the 14 plots within the Clos (4 planted in Chardonnay and 10 in Pinot Noir) are vinified separately in a mixture of stainless steel vats and large oak casks. Then, the best wines are kept and blended. What doesn’t make it to Clos des Goisses is used to make the cuvée Grand Blanc (Blanc de Blancs) and the cuvée Blanc de Noirs, both excellent wines as well by the way. So, Clos des Goisses is never the same blend every year and the quantity produced obviously varies, along with the exact blend. That is how only 7,000 bottles were made in the difficult 2001 vintage and in 2008, the Chardonnay was so fine that it dominated the blend for the first time, accounting for 55% of the blend.

If you dare (and get the authorization!) you can venture to climb the steps (some call stairway to heaven) to the top of Clos des Goisses. I was lucky to do just that last month on a blazing hot afternoon and wanted to share the beautiful pictures I took.

I hope you enjoy!

Stairway to Heaven

plenty of life in this vineyard that has been certified HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale) since 2012

Each plot within the Clos is identified by a “Borne” like this one. There are 14 plots total

The flowering is over and grapes start to form

Evolution of the bottle shapes and style

Part of the scenery!

What’s pressoir drinking - domaine de la parentiere muscadet sevre et maine 2020

Edouard Bourgeois
June 21, 2024

Whenever I go back to my hometown, Troyes, I make sure to stop by one of the first natural wine bars in France: Aux Crieurs de Vins. This wine bar/retail was opened in 1998 and since day one, the team who runs it has been focusing on offering their patrons organic wines made with minimum SO2. Unfortunately, I was still too young to care much about this place back when I was living in the area. At the time, I was more occupied by my skateboard and cheap beers… If only I had known (and until recently!) you could just pop by and buy Overnoy for a couple dozen of euros…

I spent a few nights in Troyes last week and bought a mixed pack of bottles from producers I never heard of.  I wanted to highlight one of them: Domaine de la Parentière, Muscadet Sevre et Maine 2020.

no tablecloth, no problem

To be clear, this bottle didn’t change my life but it did comfort me with the feeling that one doesn’t have to spend 3 digits on a bottle to get a really pleasurable drinking experience. A little precision here, and a great little insider’s tip if you visit Troyes. While Aux Crieurs de Vins still runs their original spot in town, they opened another location more recently in the Marché aux Halles. Their wine selection at the second location is not as large as the wine bar,  but you’ll surely find some gems. My tradition is to go to Les Halles with my family and order a few dozens oysters from “Chez Pascal”, ideally located right in front of the wine shop, and order a cool bottle of wine.

No 2 oysters - Fines de Claires

I had never heard of this producer, Domaine de la Parentière, but apparently they have been organic for 40 years and they work in polyculture, farming onions, potatoes and cereal along with their vines.

As far as the wines made there, seven cuvées are produced by the domaine, mostly whites of course, being in the Pays Nantais of the Loire Valley, where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. The grape variety is the melon de Bourgogne, now renamed “Melon B” on the back labels after some grumpy Burgundians decided that the precious word “Bourgogne” should be their monopole to use…

Anyway, this delicious Muscadet offered everything I love from the appellation: balance, saline minerality, and texture.

Chez Pascal (who can be seen in back…)

While the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation allows harvest by machine, Domaine de la Parentière picks by hand and the fermentation is spontaneous thanks to indigenous yeasts, naturally present in the environment of the vineyard and the winery. The traditional method of “élevage sur Lie” consists of aging the wine on its own lees which the domaine conducts for 8 to 10 months, and even 25 months for their special cuvée, which I am going to hunt down! The law indicates that in order to write “sur lie” on the label, this élevage needs to be at least 6 months. I was surprised not seeing that mentioned on the bottle I drank. These lees add texture and depth to the wine which is essential to balance the natural acidity. This specific aging method also allows for CO2, a byproduct of the alcoholic fermentation, to remain in the barrel. Producers intentionally bottle their wine with some of that CO2 remaining, which allows the use of less, if any, SO2 at bottling. This very delicate effervescence is a signature of Muscadet sur Lie and quickly dissipates after the bottle is opened. 

Oh, and I never mentioned the price of the bottle. I paid 11 euros at “Aux Crieurs de Vins” and you can buy it at the domaine directly for 8,70 euros…

simplicity

rosé: Popular yet Misunderstood

by Nikita Malhotra
June 21, 2024

As the heat and humidity continues to saunter and creep around us we can glimpse flashes of pink in glasses at bars and outdoor patios around the city. And during these months the city feels saturated in choices ranging from classic Provençal style to natty co-ferments to pretty serious winemakers from around the world releasing a rosé. The oddest part of this deluge of rosé is the public perception that one should only drink current releases, as if older vintages are in the same category as expired milk. Some sommeliers are trying to showcase a range of vintages on their wine lists, and many retail stores now have previous vintages due to heavy discounts from the distributor. If I were pressed on my true opinions on rosé, I would deflect by choosing rosé Champagne, but I am using this article as a means of proving to myself that I have had lovely moments with this category.

On our recent Bike to Care trip in Beaune, a glass of current release Jadot Marsannay rosé, was delightful, especially after 42 kilometers. It was exactly what I wanted, fresh, exuberant and a lively beverage. Someone from the Jadot team asked me what I thought. She later admitted she was one of the assistant winemakers at Jadot for six years, and that she has made this rosé cuvée since she arrived at the estate. All the fruit for this rosé came from parcels from the original Domaine Clair-Daü, which was considered one of the great domaines, founded in 1919. Besides a cold beer, this was the perfect way to enjoy a break on a bike ride. Rosé need not be serious, its allure lies in its ease and freshness.

But then there are those in the category that confound this claim, for their gravitas and impact have none of this simplicity. Valentini’s Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo comes to mind, and if you can find one with 15 or 20 years of age it is quite the experience. Valentini is almost a mythical producer in Abruzzo, with a long history of the family tending to the vines a well as a tradition of guarding secrets pertaining to the winemaking. They vinify all their wine in old oak barrels, and so the texture of their Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo is rounder and more vinous. Since this wine is rare to seek out, I have found that their neighbors, Amorotti, produce a similarly intoxicating rosé. Aged for one year in old Slavonian oak barrels, this Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo shares a similar texture to that of Valentini’s, and aromatically there are classic strawberry notes and a deeper kirsch component, with the palate featuring more citrus notes like blood orange and a touch of salinity. I have to admit, this wine has proved its worth at the Thanksgiving dinner table for two years now, so not a summer guzzler in my mind.

I find myself drinking a lot of domestic rosé during the hotter months, Angela Osborne’s A Tribute to Grace rosé made 100% from Grenache is always at hand if I need a good rosé option. Clean, crisp and very much alluding to a Provençal style, albeit with a bit more fruit, which to me adds some more dimension. Maybe now I must admit I do drink more rosé then what I originally thought, and really it was the glass of Jadot rosé that inspired this examination, so I would recommend a glass of clean and crisp rosé after a long bike ride.

A glass of Jadot Rosé at a rest stop

navigating the northern rhone

Edouard Bourgeois
June 7, 2024

I spent a couple days in the Rhone and visited a few producers in various appellations. mostly tasting 2022 and 2023s. Below are a few notes I gathered.

Domaine A et E Verset

After endless rainy days, if not weeks, the warm June sun emerged suddenly on Tuesday June 4th while I picked up my suitcase to leave Valence- direction Emmanuelle Verset in Cornas. Emmanuelle’s bubbly energy is found in her wines. This is a nice time of the year to visit as you get to taste two vintages from barrels. In this case, 2022 and 2023. 2022 was another hot year but Emmanuelle’s Syrah fared beautifully, with freshness she attributes to her whole cluster fermentation strict policy. Emmanuelle’s great uncle was Noel Verset and although she is proud of this heritage. She is on a mission to dust off the image of Cornas, often associated with rusticity. Her farming is also a model of regenerative agriculture where cover crop (every two rows one year, and every two other rows the next year) consists of plantings of strawberry, clover or rye to fight erosion. I am usually not seeking white wines from the Rhône but I was really pleased with Verset’s Saint-Peray. This pure Marsanne was very aromatic and peachy but not heavy. Even her Vin de France Viognier was feather light and refined, and being from the hot 2022 vintage, that is quite impressive! Verset produces different Cornas, including her top cuvee she calls “Signature” and typically 100% from the great lieu dit of La Geynale. However, Geynale doesn’t appear on the label since she wants to give herself the option to blend in some fruit from Champelrose, the lieu dit she inherited from Noel Verset and located on flat terrain at the foot of Geynale.

An old sign from the 1980’s at Verset’s

Domaine Pierre Gonon

It is my second time visiting Jean Gonon, the undisputed champion of Saint-Joseph. What a treat. I never had a bad bottle of Gonon. Old or young, the wines always amaze me. Sure, the vintage leaves its mark but the house signature embellishes any rough angles a difficult year may bring. One element that contributes to explain this finesse and consistency is the use of Massale selection instead of clones. Jean explained that the latter tend to over ripen in recent hot years. We started the tasting with Iles Feray (a vin de France from young vines planted on flat land) from 2022. Always a treat but with less complexity than his Saint Joseph. Note: Gonon is known for using whole cluster but 50% of the fruit is destemmed in Iles Feray. M. Gonon then generously opened Saint Joseph 2021, a cold vintage with great finesse and no vegetal note whatsoever. We moved to Saint Joseph 2016, a cooler vintage that was delicious and Saint Joseph 2012, more delicate because the grape skins were thinner that year. After the reds, Jean poured his Chasselas. In the past, I was not moved by this wine but the 2022 we tasted was quite impressive. The Chasselas is a grape variety known for its use as table wine, since it is very aromatic and juicy. The fruit comes from a plot once owned and farmed by another legend, Raymond Trollat. Back then, M.Trollat used to blend the fruit with the Syrah in his Saint-Joseph, against the regulation of the appellation…

The serene atmosphere of Jean Gonon’s cellar

Domaine de l’Iserand

After a frightening climb in our underpowered Renault SUV up the hill of Saint Joseph, we made it to the top and were greeted by Jean-Francois Malsert (he goes by Jeff) with his piercing green eyes and Yankees hat. We immediately jumped in the back of his beat-up Land Rover from another era and he drove us with the confidence and agility of a mountain goat to his nearby vineyard. It is important to remind the reader that Saint Joseph is a very long appellation that stretches from north to south. However, the vineyards in the north were added later in the 1970’s. The initial appellation area to the south is considered to be the best one, with steep hillsides overlooking the Rhone and rich with Granit. This is where Domaine de l’Iserand grows its Syrah at the highest altitude permitted by the appellation, on sand and gneiss as well as Granit. Interestingly, in 2021, he had to declassify some of his Saint Joseph to Vin de France because it was too high in altitude at 480 meters while the limit for Saint Joseph is 460! The cuvee is now called “décanonisé” a reference to the pope being de-canonized (no longer a saint!) Reds are fermented whole cluster style here and Jeff likes to use a combination of Spanish Amphorae and barrels (one of them colorfully decorated) Jeff explains that his life is mostly in the vineyard and he went on a long explanation to explain his grafting technique. His mules, used to plough, are what he is the most proud of and they even became the staple of all his wine labels. I don’t have detailed tasting notes but the wines were juicy and delicious. Funky labels like those of Domaine de l’Iserand can be off-putting and might suggest mousy, weird natty wine but make no mistake here, everything I tasted was clean and pure, even with teeny tiny doses of SO2. I was totally charmed by his pet nat’ rosé. A curiosity made with the grape Dureza (a parent of Syrah) fermented just once and roughly disgorged for a final juice bomb at 11% ABV. I couldn’t spit this one! Too bad it doesn’t make it to the US.

The best way to get to the vines

Matthieu Barret

Don’t judge a book by its cover! I now understand the idea behind the playful labels of Barret and his Domaine du Coulet. Matthieu is a jovial and generous man who produces twenty-two different cuvees, as well as a marc, different orange wines and even vinegar (the only product at the winery that spends time in oak!). Sparkling wine is not produced but of course, he’s thinking about it.

Matthieu is the largest land owner of Cornas with eleven hectares and that is great news because his work for the appellation is tremendous and just like Emmanuelle Verset or Jeff of Domaine de l’Iserand up north, these creative young guns bring nice, fresh energy to the region. As Matthieu explains, he makes wine to drink and he likes to define himself as a winemaker in constant movement, inspired to create a special cuvée each year, fun stuff! Most of Barret’s wines are affordable, full of life, juicy and incredibly fresh. Who said Cornas was rustic? His 2022 was incredibly fresh with a snap. Biodynamic, his farming uses Massale selection and Matthieu does not believe in phenolic maturity, certainly the first time I heard a winemaker say that! Instead, when the potential alcohol reaches 12.5%, he sends his pickers for a swift harvest. Another thing that surprised me is that most grapes are destemmed.

The bear on the wine labels makes so much sense now!

Domaine Clape

One of the most famous producers of Cornas and certainly an example of one might call traditional, the Clape family farms nine hectares and has been bottling under their own name since the 1969 vintage, although the first wines were made in 1956. It started with Auguste, then his son Pierre-Marie, who received us, and now Olivier, (Pierre-Marie’s son). The cellar felt like a cave from ancient times. Tasting through the 2023 out of casks, I noticed high volumes of volatile acidity in some of the wines, which didn’t seem to worry Pierre-Marie at all. I have been lucky to taste older vintages from Clape and I am guessing the wines find their balance overtime and shake off this V.A sharpness (I had a fantastic bottle of 1992 not long ago) At Clape, the juice ferments in cement and always in whole bunches.

Pierre-Marie Clape, a gentleman full of wisdom

La Paulée Des champs ~ Maison troisgros

June 6, 2024

Raj Vaidya

Our team is slowly getting back into the groove of ‘business as usual’ after a tremendous few days working alongside the team at Maison Troisgros outside of Roanne, France. We hosted three days of festivities during our second edition of La Paulée des Champs, a Burgundy extravaganza that spanned the course of two dinners and two lunches, including a La Paulée style BYO, and as I begin to come down from the high of the weekend I thought I should share some of the vinous highlights.

The first evening kicked off with a tasting of the 2022 vintage, a really stellar and delicious introduction to what will surely be an excellent range of wines for decades to come. We followed this up with a dinner focused on the 2017 vintage (a nice corollary to the ‘22’s, similar in many ways) at Le Central, the family’s casual bistro. The following day kicked off with a Delamotte lunch and several bits of fun entertainment, a classic French quartet, pétanque and lots of merry-making. Friday evening was the main dinner, featuring Cesar Troigros’ delicate and nuanced cuisine at its finest.

The six domaines in attendance (plus Champagnes Delamotte & Salon) put their very best foot forward with the wine selections. The absolute highlight for me were the flights of Roulot (Charmes 2011 and 2008 from magnum) and Roumier (Bonnes Mares and Amoureuses 2007 from magnum) but every wine showed incredibly well, and contributed beautifully to the ambience of a very fine evening.

Saturday was our La Paulée BYO lunch, and the attendees and vignerons (with many of the new generation) came strong, with some truly memorable bottles, some highlights of which are represented in photos below. Too much great wine!

A couple of fancy bottles shared on Friday evening.

A pristine bottle of ‘72 Clos des Chênes

Impromptu vertical tasting of Roumier Chambolle Villages

Another wonderful Lafarge, this time not direct from the domaine but in amazing shape!

It was truly a magical weekend. Thanks to all of you who joined us and can’t wait to do it again!

Glorious White Burgundy

I must admit with my deep history in going to Burgundy, being friends with Dominique Lafon, Jean-Marc Roulot, Anne-Claude Leflaive, working 20 years at restaurant Montrachet whose namesake is the greatest of all dry white wines and 25 years of La Paulee, I have been privy to many a great white Burgundy.

However, the last several months have offered an embarrassment of riches that have reaffirmed for me just how great the expression of chardonnay can be when grown on the right terroir and guided by a master craftsman.

This cluster of great white Burgundies began in February with a historic tasting of Leflaive flagship wines, notably Puligny-Montrachet les Pucelles and Chevalier-Montrachet with a few Folatières and Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet.

The standouts for me were the Pucelles 2010 with its intense minerality, fine grain texture, saline, electric palate and long almost salty finish. The 1996 was a great ‘96 that escaped the dread of premature oxidation. Au Contraire. It was sparkling clear just entering a secondary phase yet sweet lemon blossom aromas and delicious texture. The 1995 was the surprise of the tasting for me. A vintage not known for its excellence but this one over delivered. Brilliant light gold reflections, orange, lemon peel and honeysuckle aromas, energetic and balanced. The 1989 was glorious for its youthful vigor and balance. The weight of the vintage was kept on a tightrope and like Muhammed Ali “The Greatest”, it “danced like a butterfly”.

Then the grand dame of the Domaine, Chevalier-Montrachet, that magical strip of gravelly limestone just above Le Montrachet itself. The best Chevaliers can rival a great Montrachet. They just are a little more wispy, ethereal and stony but maintain the complexity and intensity of its close neighbor. 

The ‘99 was pale gold and had a hint of lemon blossom and flint. Very noble, saline and persistent on the palate. The kind of salinity that kept calling for another sip. The ‘96 was a touch disappointing showing signs of age before its time. The ‘95 was another great ‘95 with notes of honey, citrus, chamomile and mandarin. It reminded me of a warm summer day just after a long luxurious dip in a lake. The 1983 was golden in every way. Color and award winning. A nose of summer peaches and melon, flower blossoms. Palate coating with so much to say and ever changing with time in the glass. Forever young!

And then, last week I got to taste the heavyweight champions of the world. It is such a rare and precious honor to taste and drink Montrachet. Three legends in the making or, already legends. Comtes Lafon 2014, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2002 and the rarest of the rare Leflaive 2004. I am still pinching myself. 

The Montrachet vineyard totals just under 8 hectares almost equally divided between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.

A fitting description of this wine comes from Abbé Arnoux writing in a treatise “Situation de Bourgogne” in 1728, “This wine has qualities of which neither Latin nor the French language can explain the sweetness…I am not able to describe the delicacy and excellence”.

Lafon Montrachet is a small ⅓ of an hectare parcel at the southern tip of Montrachet leaning ever so slightly to the south with great exposure and old vines. It was noble and if a taste could express itself as an image, it would be the crown emblem on the Lafon label. Classy.

The DRC, twice the size of the Lafon parcel, had the gravitas deserving of the Domaine. Its vines are just north of Lafon with the largest plot oriented east/west while Lafon is north/south. There are actually three parcels but both on the Chassagne side of the vineyard. The texture was so incredible, I could imagine chewing it. Often this wine has a late harvest aspect to it as it truly is one of the last to pick but this bottle was quite delicate for a DRC Montrachet.

The third of this trio was the Leflaive Montrachet, also on the Chassagne side.. They acquired this parcel in 1991. It measures 0.08 hectares. Just large enough to make about 250-280 bottles in an average year! I feel lucky to have tasted this wine. Few people have. This one did not disappoint. Sorry to not add tasting notes. Some things are best left unspoken. Like Abbé Arnoux said earlier, perhaps the English language is also lacking the proper words.

On Jacques Frederic Mugnier and Musigny

Edouard Bourgeois

May 10, 2024

The wines from Domaine JF Mugnier never cease to amaze me.

A couple weeks ago I was lucky to taste mind-blowing wines from the legendary estate during two different occasions. The mind behind the success of the domaine is Frédéric Mugnier, who took over the reins in 1985. While still an airline pilot at the time, “Freddy” started making wines that quickly became known as a reference in Chambolle-Musigny and later Nuits-st-Georges when the estate grew from about 4 hectares to roughly 15 with the addition of Clos de la Maréchale.

During our exceptional Pressoir Musigny Dinner, we were lucky to taste four vintages of Mugnier Musigny from 2006, 2005, 1999 and 1988!

Domaine JF Mugnier was founded in 1863 and has had holdings in the Musigny appellation since 1892. With a bit over one hectare in Musigny, it makes Mugnier the second largest owner of Musigny after the giant Comte Georges de Vogué. The Mugnier plot was planted in 1948 and 1962. Fred made an experiment in the late 1980’s with a separate cuvée vieilles vignes from the 1948 vines but felt that neither version of 1989 was as good as the blend from the whole holding.

Here are some of my impressions on the wines tasted:

And some Drouhin too! These were also phenomenal

2006: This is among my least favorite Burgundy vintages of the decade. But Mugnier managed to produce a very compelling and delicious wine from that difficult year. Still very young, I was enchanted by the dual personality of the wine, being juicy while suggesting concentrated and slightly “raisiny” aromas.

2005: Unsurprisingly explosive. 05 is always a powerhouse. Here the red cherries dominated and this baby monster will continue to grow for many decades.

1999: I found similarities with 2006 with that same density but a few more years gave this 99 a more ethereal character. Stunning bottle.

1988: I am still a bit puzzled with this bottle which at first showed a very intense nose. It was irresistible for a while but showed signs of fatigue in the glass after a couple hours, revealing more dry rusticity. Nevertheless, an immense source of pleasure and a more meditative experience perhaps.

Mugnier’s Musigny is simply magical and its Grand Cru status undisputable. Even in the so-called “off vintages”, Fred’s wines shine. This is also true for Musigny’s little sister, the majestic Premier Cru “Amoureuses”. This neighboring climat is another exceptionally fine wine. I tasted his Amoureuses from the polarizing and bizarre 2003 vintage, a year marked by scorching heat waves. After too many disappointments from other wines made that year, I have made it a habit to simply avoid anything 2003. But I was glad to revisit it with a wonderful bottle of Amoureuses from that year. I was so impressed by the freshness that remained, clearly not the usual descriptor for 2003. At Mugnier’s, the harvest started on September 1st because, and I quote Fred Mugnier himself: “August is for vacation!” The palate showed a bit more of the heat, a characteristic of the vintage, but through an intense dried flower intriguing aroma.

Great food too at Jean-George’s newest restaurant FourTwentyFive

Nuits st Georges Clos de la Marechale Blanc 2017

I don’t taste the white Marechale often because there is not that much made. The clos has always produced more red than white wines and for a while, exclusively red. Chardonnay was replanted again for the 2004 harvest. This 2017 had the beautiful texture of a white Nuits-st-Georges but plenty of freshness. So unique and beautiful!

Marechale 2022 and 2010 :

It is amazing to taste these side by side. While the 2022 will need a few more years to digest the oak, it already showed splendid vivacity. Mugnier compares it to “2020, but more approachable, and not too bad after all!”. Note that 2022 was one the five hottest vintages since 1893!

The 2010 Marechale was stunning. “One of the best imperfect vintages” according to Fred. That’s the thing I like about his approach to what some call the good and the bad vintages. When defining the universally lauded 2005 vintage, Mugnier qualifies it as “boringly perfect” while the 2010 was “charmingly imperfect”. This totally resonates with me!

Chambolle Musigny 2017

This early vintage is described as “joyful” at Mugnier’s. This cuvée has been a blend since 1985 of the Chambolle 1er Cru “Les Plantes” as well as a parcel in the combe d’Orveau, ranked at the village level. Pure pleasure.

Musigny 2008 A show-stopper. Fred Mugnier strongly believes that wine should age. That’s why he decided to hold his Musigny a few extra years before releasing them to the market, adding much anticipation among consumers! The current release is 2016…

Amazing lunch with François Moriamez, Fred Mugnier’s right arm

Pressoir Dinner - Côte Rôtie - Recap

Did you know? Côte Rôtie is an appellation that went through some really difficult times and in fact almost disappeared back in the 1940’s after the WWII. Combine the lack of labor, unprofitability and extremely hard working conditions and you end up with a mere few dozens of hectares still in production back then. But luckily, the Phoenix rose from the ashes and today, it is around 230 hectares of vines planted under the appellation Côte Rôtie. If 230 hectares doesn’t speak to you, well, Prospect Park in Brooklyn is 213 hectares, you’re welcome.

This is a recap of a fabulous dinner Nikita and I hosted at Hearth on April 15th. Here are our notes!

Domaine Clusel Roch, Côte-Rôtie Les Grandes Places 2005 :

EDOUARD: Still very young, the wine was marked with the firmness of the vintage and it took half an hour to start detangling the tight structure. Nevertheless a serious wine. Les Grandes Places was the first vineyard purchased by the Clusels in 1935, a great name in Côte Rôtie with their winery located at the northern end of the appellation.

SURPRISE BOTTLE FROM OUR FRIEND BRIAN ORCUTT: Rostaing, Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde 2010:

EDOUARD: A powerful style with notes of oak still perceptible, really interesting to compare with the 2005 magnum

Domaine Jean Michel Stephan, Côte-Rôtie Coteaux de Bassenon 2018

EDOUARD: Very unique Côte-Rôtie born of a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Serine and 20% Viognier! Note: Serine is difficult to define but can be considered as the old cousin of Syrah, some will say the real Syrah of the Rhône, whose birthplace is in fact in the steep hills of Côte Rôtie. 20% Viognier is the maximum amount allowed in the blend but is rarely seen. Cool! The wines certainly showed floral notes and aromatic exuberance.

NIKITA: Côteaux de Bassenon is the most southerly vineyards in Côte-Rôtie and the majority of Jean-Michel’s vines in this parcel were planted in 1896. I don’t have much experience with a Côte Rôtie with 20% Viognier, so I was excited to open this up. The nose on this wine was unique,

Maison Stephan, Côte-Rôtie Coteaux de Tupin 2018

EDOUARD: From the same self proclaimed natural producer, Cotaux de Tupin is a different beast. This vineyard is all Serine, planted on gneiss and showed a more blackfruit, earthy personality.

Francois Villard, Côte-Rôtie Le Gallet Blanc 2018

EDOUARD: Change of scenery with Francois Villard, who owns 40 hectares and buys from another 24! Adept of whole cluster fermentation, Villard became certified organic in 2019 and his vineyards are mostly planted on schist rather than granite. I thought it was a very pretty wine, curiously not so much reminiscent of the black olives and bacon fat often found in that part of the appellation. I think the whole cluster fermentation provided a certain freshness and airiness. Quite floral too.

Domaine Jean Michel Gerin, Côte-Rôtie Vialliere 2017

EDOUARD: The vintage was tough with hail storms that dramatically reduced yields but what remained was wonderful and concentrated. Alexis Gerin today runs the show as the 3rd generation and he is a buddy of Guillaume Clusel from Clusel Roch mentioned above. Gerin prefers to use a destemmer and that parcel is from rather young vines (18 years old). Good wine but a touch reduced and the oak was still not very integrated.

Domaine Jean Michel Gerin, Côte-Rôtie Le Champin Seigneur 2017

EDOUARD: Similar notes regarding oak and reduction here.

Francois Villard, Côte-Rôtie Le Gallet Blanc 2017

EDOUARD: Back to Villard with again this elegant style and floral notes of violet.

Domaine Clusel Roch, Côte-Rôtie 2010

EDOUARD: A flight dedicated to Clusel Roch was a must! 2010 was exceptional in the region and this cuvee, now called cuvee Schist, is a blend of parcels all around the property in the northern portion of Côte-Rôtie. I always like this wine. Clusel partially destems and does a really good job with that process, finding perfect balance.

Domaine Clusel Roch, Côte-Rôtie Vialliere 2010

EDOUARD: Vialliere is located directly under Les Grandes Places and sits at 200-230m of altitude. The vineyard is rich in mica-schist and gives a more powerful wine. We are back to the more concentrated style of Grandes Places although a bit more “easy” and approachable. Here, the black olive notes were present.

SURPRISE BOTTLE FROM OUR FRIEND BRIAN ORCUTT: and what a surprise because it was Domaine Jamet, Côte Rôtie Côte Brune 1999!

EDOUARD: I have had some of my most intense wine emotions with Domaine Jamet. The wines are always intriguing and as they age, become simply dazzling. The first nose suggested those floral notes mentioned earlier but going back to the glass, I found a hint of smoke, later, another aromatic layer blossomed to unveil curious spices, cigar box and damp earth. Simply incredible and I know for a fact, still young because I was lucky to taste a bottle of 1990 that provided even more depth! It should be noted that 1999 was outstanding in the northern Rhône, with a few critics comparing it to 1947…

The wine of the night (so far!)

E. Guigal, Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 1989

EDOUARD: How to finish with a bang? Open a flight of old Lala’s…

Guigal is a highly respected northern Rhone producer (now also in the South) that did so much to revive these once abandoned vineyards. Another influential personality who played a crucial role in the reputation of these wines was wine critic Robert Parker who fell in love with the iconic Cote Rôtie of Guigal in the 1980’s he playfully rebaptized the Lala’s (La Landonne, La Turque and La Mouline)

Today, Guigal is responsible for a third of the Côte Rôtie production.

1989 was a year of drought that gave rich and opulent wines, especially here with La Landonne, a particularly steep vineyard (45% incline) nestled in the northern portion of the Côte Brune and high in iron oxide. Rarely destemmed, La Landonne is typically a powerhouse, but its decades of age helped taming the beast. Excellent, brooding wine.

NIKITA: Angular, that was the word that kept coming to me when I tried this La Landonne. Felt like this could just keep aging.

E. Guigal, Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 1988

EDOUARD: Interestingly, 1988 lived in the shadow of 1989, deemed exceptional. But this 1988 La Mouline was in fact my favorite wine of the night. I found it Burgundian and extremely refined. It is almost irrelevant to compare it to La Landonne 1989 because the vintages were very different with 1988 a cooler vintage. The two vineayrds are also very different. If La Landonne is located in the Côte Brune, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde to the south where granite reigns supreme. It is also the oldest vineyard of Côte-Rôtie. It is mostly destemmed by Guigal and around 10% of Viognier is co-planted with Syrah.

NIKITA: This was an enticing wine from start to finish.

Patrick Jasmin, Côte-Rôtie 1988

EDOUARD: A beautiful comparison of the vintage with an excellent bottle from Jasmin. A pioneer when it comes to bottling its own wines, Jasmin started doing so in 1909 after starting working as the chef of Chateau d’Ampuis! While he was working in the kitchen and always loved the wines of the region, a vineyard nearby became available and he bought it, literally throwing his apron! I find the wines from Jasmin very elegant. Whole cluster was the rule there until 1996 when destemming started as the newer generation took over the winery. This 1988 was youthful and beautifully perfumed.

NIKITA: Jasmin from the late 80’s and early 90’s somehow always deliver, a great example of why so many lovers of Burgundy appreciate Côte-Rôtie. Quite elegant.

Sommelier Scholarship Fund's Champagne Immersion 2024 Recap

4/25/2024

Raj Vaidya

I’m fresh back from spending a week with our friends and colleagues in Champagne during which I had the honor and pleasure to share my love for the region, its vignerons and its wines with four young sommeliers from around North America who are forever impacted and changed by this experience. It was undoubtably the trip of a lifetime, with visits to the top maisons and growers and lots of time spent in the vineyards, truly digging into the terroir and the work that these amazing Champenois do every day.

Sommelier Scholarship Fund is a non-profit organization founded initially in 2014 and formalized into tax-exempt status in 2021 by Daniel. The mission is simple, to expose wine professionals who otherwise would lack the opportunity to travel to the regions we love and promote through our work at Pressoir and the festivals, so that they can truly understand the big concepts at play. They discover firsthand Terroir, viticulture and farming, the craft of wine making and the French identity in these wines via the people, cuisine and weather local to each region. This is the best way for a sommelier to get educated; I’ve long said that I have always learned a ton more standing next to a barrel and listening to a winemaker than in front of a book reading some interpretation of the real thing.

I thought it would be nice to share some of the photos of the various visits we scheduled with the scholars, with a little annotation on the experiences. As most of you cherished Club members probably know, Daniel, Edouard and Nikita are leading a fund raising bike ride to support Sommelier Scholarships this June in Burgundy, riding 200KM over two days with a goal of raising enough funds to cover next year’s trip to Burgundy. We would be honored and greatly appreciative if you can support in any way! Here is a link to support our team and the Fund:

Here are some of the highlights of the experiences we shared with the scholars…

Cedric Moussé introduced us to his herd of KuneKune pigs. These super cute fellows plough the soil and trim the grass for Cedric, meaning less tractors and less soil compaction and fossil fuel use.

Raphaël Béréche took the group through a tasting of the 2023 Vin Clairs, (still wines), prior to bottling and beginning the second fermentation. This gave the scholars an incredible look at how intensely different each terroir he produces as wine actually are. We needed a little bubbly after that intense tasting (Vin Clair tends to be super high in acid, so our teeth were screaming bloody murder at the end of that.) Raph gladly obliged with this superb Aÿ Grand Cru from the excellent 2016 vintage.

Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, who is both the vineyard manager and Chef de Cave at Louis Roederer, spent a whole afternoon with the scholars showing us the innovations in pruning methods being used at Roederer, amongst many other details of the vineyard and winery. In this Premier Cru vineyard in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Jean-Baptiste shows us how by training the vines here vertically rather than the tradition of training the cane meant to bear fruit horizontally along the wires, the plant’s sap flow is uninhibited, and this allows the plant to deal with stresses and virus pressure at the far ends of the plants more effectively while also increasing photosynthesis efficacy.

Vincent Laval took us for a walk in Les Longue Violes, a somewhat unique vineyard his family has owned for generations in Cumières which has never seen any chemical fertilizers or pesticides at all, and has been certified organic since 1971. He encourages cover crops that grow here naturally without being sowed, and these help maintain a bacterial and fungal life in the topsoil which encourages the exchange of minerals via water intake in the vines. The cover crops also force the vines’ roots to dig deeper into the chalk to find sustenance and water, resulting in more mineral expression in the champagnes.

We walked through many galleries of cellars carved from chalk under the villages in Champagne. This one in Mailly shows us the storage of bottles where riddling has been completed and the bottles are stored ‘sur point’, or on their heads, with the dead yeast cells’ remnants resting in the neck of the bottle ready for disgorgement. In the background you can see the bottles still being riddled in the traditional way, by hand in those wooden frames. The bottles are turned slightly every day to agitate that sediment further and further towards the neck of the bottle over time.

A very special visit and tasting with Anselme Selosse, one of the most thoughtful and philosophical winemakers in the world, which afforded the scholars a chance to taste his phenomenal champagnes and to learn a bit about his approach to his craft. Truly an honor!