News from the Vineyard - Domaine Comte George de Vogüé

New blood at Legendary Domaine Comte George de Vogüé

Jean Lupatelli

October 6, 2022
Edouard Bourgeois

With 7.2 ha holdings in Grand Cru Musigny, the de Vogüé plots in Musigny account for 70% of this legendary vineyard, producing one of the most elegant and profound wines of the Cote d’Or. With their seven lieux-dits within Musigny, De Vogüé makes the most complete picture of this prestigious appellation. However, the winemaking style, reviewed further, is the other essential piece to understand Musigny. The rest of Musigny is divided between 10 owners, some of them just lucky to farm a skinny sliver of land, such as Domaine Georges Roumier. Usually around one barrel, and almost two in 2022, Christophe Roumier’s Musigny is as outstanding and refined as it is rare.

The de Vogüé domaine dates back to the 15th century, even though the name de Vogüé first entered the Burgundy history in 1766. The domaine has been under the same ownership for 20 generations, which is very unique even by Burgundy standards. Indeed, most domaines have been established after the revolution in 1789.

Francois Millet has been making famous wines there starting with the 1988 vintage, 2020 being his last. It is now Jean Lupatelli, who formerly worked in the Rhône at Domaine Pierre-Jean Villa, who oversees winemaking at the legendary Chambolle-Musigny domaine, groundbreaking news in the world of wine. Often in Burgundy, change is slow and progressive. The next generation typically spends time learning from the older and succession is a smooth transition. From what Raj, Daniel and I understood when visiting de Vogüé and tasting with M. Lupatelli, he didn’t spend much time working alongside his predecessor and quickly gained the full authority of winemaking, with the crucial support of Eric Bourgogne, the vineyard manager who joined the domaine in 1996. With the challenging 2021 vintage as his first in Chambolle, Jean Lupatelli seems to be on a mission to modernize the domaine. For example, he introduced a new way to manage the harvest that involves small plastic baskets and quicker transportation of the grapes from the vineyards to the fermenters to avoid bruising the grapes and to limit unwanted maceration. Sorting is also very much on Jean’s radar but what appears to be the main update is the use of whole clusters, a practice we are now seeing more often in Burgundy. If in the past, the entire harvest was destemmed at de Vogüé, starting with 2021, up to 50% of the grapes were left whole in the vats. That was the case for the Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru, a wine made entirely from young vines of Musigny Grand Cru. By young vines, the domaine means under 25 years old, which is not so young! Between 2021 being a tiny crop and the fact that these vines are getting older, only two barrels of Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru were made that year, and it tasted lovely out of the barrel.

We were lucky to taste the whole range of 2021, from the Chambolle-Musigny village to the iconic Musigny, all from barrel.

2021 was a challenging year in Burgundy. Mother Nature really threw a curved ball, starting with too much rain and unforgiving snow. The most problematic was a devastating episode of frost that some recalled seeing last in the historic frosts of 1956 across Europe. 2021 was then marked by tiny yields of what seemed a pretty thin wine at first. However I found much charm in the wines I tasted from barrel at diverse domaines such as Vincent Dancer, Henri Boillot, Ghislaine Barthod and Georges Roumier. The overused term “classic” really finds its meaning to describe 2021. I guess we got used to warmer temperature, making wines with deep colours (2020 is a great example) and high alcohol levels. 2021 is more subtle but the fruit can be quite lovely with aromas reminiscent of small red berries rather than the ripe black cherry flavor profile of 2020 or 2019.

We tasted the more dense and robust Bonnes-Mares, a Grand Cru appellation mostly in Chambolle-Musigny but also in the neighboring commune of Morey-St-Denis. The appellation is also known for its two distinct soils with the “terres blanches” at the top of the slope where limestone prevails; the “terres rouges” has a generous amount of clay. The Bonnes Mares 2021 showed the expected power that appellation suggests, even if 2021 is considered a light vintage. In fact, we also tasted a 2020 made by Francois Millet which was massive in terms of color and strength. The Musigny 2020 clearly had a noble and perfumed signature - nevertheless, a big wine.

I have always thought the de Vogüé wines were a bit hard, austere with firm tannins that didn’t quite let the delicate Chambolle bouquet sing. I am excited to see what the future will bring for the domaine with a new winemaker and his new approach. This is no small responsibility when you own the vast majority of Musigny.

Will this old cute pump survive?

What's Pressoir Drinking - Domaine Jean-Baptiste Boudier, Pernand-Vergelesses 2020

Raj Vaidya
October 6, 2022

This week, Edouard, Daniel and I are in Beaune visiting a bunch of producers that are new to us, and so we’ve been lucky enough to have an opportunity to taste a lot of wine we had not been familiar with previously. In that very spirit, I grabbed a bottle from a local shop where I trust the selection of a Pernand Vergelesses Villages from Jean-Baptiste Boudier. Having never heard of the producer, I asked the caviste for a little background on the domaine. Jean-Baptiste’s first vintage was 2015, after he took over a humble 3 hectares from his family holdings (his dad makes the wines at the family estate.) He has a lot of experience for such a young guy, including working for Nico Rossignol in Volnay/Pommard, Vieux Telegraphe in Chateaneuf du Pape and even Château Haut Brion in Pessac-Leognan.

The farming leans towards organic but he is not keen to pursue certification at this time, as his livelihood depends on his meager holdings and he isn’t ready to take the chance. But he confirmed he uses no pesticides and herbicides, and is only keeping the possibility of managing for mildew in a tough year if neccesary in his back pocket.

The wine was very charming. Despite being from the fairly warm 2020 vintage, it had great lift and salinity, a nice mix of citrus and orchard fruits, and decent length on the palate. Jean-Baptiste notes three climats in Pernand which make up this cuvée, a total of 1 hectare and so one of his biggest holdings.

A lovely discovery!

Dinner recap: Châteauneuf du Pape

Edouard Bourgeois
September 30, 2022

Châteauneuf du Pape, « the new pope’s castle » is not a shy wine, to say the least. The Grenache that typically composes the base of the blend receives enough sunlight and heat to ripen every year gloriously, producing wines with big personalities. Of course, Châteauneuf is regarded as a high alcohol wine and that is certainly true, but as always it is the balance that matters, and it is ok to reach 15 +% alcohol by volume as long as the other elements are there to define an harmonious picture. I find that bottle age can have an essential impact on the balance of the wine, as our dinner at Houseman proved last Thursday.

We kicked things off with a surprising flight of white Châteauneuf du Pape. Only about 7% of the Châteauneuf production is white, which explains why this category is often unknown to the consumers. Clairette here is the star of the show. At Domaine Saint Prefert, the Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes pays homage to this grape variety magnificently with a wine reminiscent of honey and profound minerality. The domaine, organic since 2003, uses very old vines of Clairette for that cuvée, some plants in their hundred years of age. We also tasted Chateau La Nerthe white Châteauneuf, this time a blend of Clairette and the more aromatic Roussanne. The beautiful property ferments its wines in large oak vessels while aging takes place in stainless steel in order to keep a clean character. Finally for this flight of whites, we poured Domaine de Cristia and Domaine de la Solitude. Cristia, founded in 1942, shared similar qualities and blend of varieties than La Nerthe while Domaine de la Solitude, fermented and aged in barrels, showed a bit more power. Grenache Blanc represented a good quarter of the blend also in that one.

We then went back to Saint Prefert with a flight of three reds from the two top cuvées produced at the estate. A beautiful comparison of 2019 and 2015 Cuvee Charles Giraud showed what young Châteauneuf can do as far as exuberance and power. The Cuvee Giraud uses the oldest vines of the estate, planted on two different sites, one composed of sand, in a lieu dit named Cristia, and the other covered with the famous pebbles in “les Serres”. Whole cluster is used for the fermentation for the Cuvee Giraud. The other wine from Saint Prefert, the Reserve Auguste Favier, is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Cinsault with a pinch of Syrah, aged in demi-muids. This was a 2010 and proved my initial point that age can make wonders in Châteauneuf. It should be noted that 2010 in the region is considered exceptional, but the decade old bottle showed more refinement and delicious confiture aromas than its younger siblings from 2015 and 2019.

Moving on, the third flight was dedicated to one of the most classic producers in the region, Domaine de Pegau. I really like these wines where all thirteen grape varieties allowed are used in the blend. Fermentation in concrete is also a feature I like, making the wine a touch lighter and very elegant. The aging in 50 hectoliter oak foudres for two years only adds to the beauty. We tasted Pegau’s Cuvee Reservée 2019 and 2010 side by side. Not surprisingly again here, the young one was marked by alcohol while the 2010 was among my favorite wines of the night, explosive with a bouquet of garrigue and other “herbes de Provence”. To close that flight, we opened two “Cuvee Laurence”, named after the daughter, currently in charge of the domaine and aged for 4 years instead of 2 for the Cuvee Reservee we just reviewed. “Laurence 2017” surprised me with its fresh acidity, a feature I don’t find myself mentioning when talking about Châteauneuf. The 2013, served from a magnum, was good but not excellent. I had a magnum of the exact same wine a month prior, and it showed a tad more freshness. Nevertheless, 2013, a vintage known for its early drinking ability was in a good spot before its decade old birthday.

We closed the dinner with three gorgeous magnums. First, a Vieux Donjon 2015 made with very old vines , following the traditional GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) base and considered very traditional in the region, making only one wine, blending all their parcels together rather than bottling them separately. The second mag, a Domaine de la Janasse 2006, seemed so hot that I could barely taste it. I found the wine to be tannic and massively alcoholic. I generally enjoy the wines of Janasse, a large 90 hectare domaine founded in 1973. Fortunately, we finished on a very high note with a magnum of Chateau la Nerthe Cuvée des Cadettes 1998. Of course, the age distinguished this wine among the others, but I was so enamored with the level of distinction and class in this Châteauneuf. Made from 85 to 100 year old vines planted on sandy-clay soils, it was almost Burgundian with refined tannins that made me think of Barolo and an impressively long finish.

Jacques Frédéric Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 2016

Daniel Johnnes
September 30, 2022

I have been very fortunate to be able to drink more than my fair share of extraordinary wines. I learn something different every time I do. Either about the producer, the grape, the terroir, the vintage or maybe the winemaking.

The other night Raj, I and a friend had a bottle of Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 2016 from Frédéric Mugnier. It reminded me of when we visited Burgundy in the winter of 2021 to make a video and do an in- depth study of this extraordinary Premier Cru.

We were joined by our favorite producers (Mugnier, Drouhin, Roumier) to talk to us about Les Amoureuses. It turns out Fred had excavated a small hole (see photo) in his vineyard for a study he was doing and was able to demonstrate the make up of the terroir.

All three winemakers talked to us and shared bottles with us of Les Amoureuses during a lunch that lasted several hours. We learned of the profound respect each have for this really special place and I walked away convinced again how rare and special wine should be consumed in small groups and be given a chance to display its glory. Fred Mugnier has told me again and again, he loves sharing his wine but at the right time and with the right people.

This was the case the other night. We were settled in the elegant and comfortable dining room of Gabriel Kreuther, a restaurant with some of the best food in New York and a Grand Award winning wine list.

After a welcome glass of Dom Perignon 2012, a delicious Chablis Valmur 2018 from Chistrian Moreau and a delicious Volnay 1er Cru Brouillards 2012 from Louis Boillot, it was time for the piece de resistance.

Aukai, the excellent resident sommelier, presented the wine and poured a taste. On first taste, I knew it was a sound bottle but it seemed shy. In fact, it was lurking behind layers of minerality and silky fruit and tannins anxious to emerge from its restrained position. Slowly, as the bottle drew breath and warmed just a touch, it began to blossom and the aromas and flavors unfolded like a flower that spreads its petals in the morning sunshine.

It has that satiny 2016 texture and was enrobed in vibrant cherry fruit, with an almost electric minerality. What struck me the most was how it lingered on the palate long after swallowing the wine. To me, this is the mark of great wines found in the best Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards.

It was not a loud wine by any means but by paying attention, as Fred declares is necessary for a wine like this, it was incredible in its delicacy, confident posture and nobility.

What's Pressoir Drinking: Preview of the Upcoming Calera Session

9/22/2022

Raj Vaidya

In a few short weeks I will be hosting a vertical tasting of the historic Reed Vineyard bottling from Josh Jensen’s Calera Winery. I really can’t wait to pull these corks, as the Calera winery has been responsible for many of the greatest California wines I’ve tasted throughout my career. I had the honor of meeting Josh a number of times over the years, though the most recent meeting was a shared panel at a seminar on ‘balanced’ Pinot Noir way back in 2014. He made a comment that day about how when he started out making ‘Burgundian’ style wines back in the early 70’s, (prior to the rise of critics like Parker, etc, who favored richer and sweeter wines) the taste of consumers leaned more towards light wines with a fruit forward palate. His wines stood out because he was using some whole cluster fermentation at the time, a technique he discovered he loved while working in Burgundy, so they always had a more savory character. Josh passed away this past spring, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of exceptional vintages in California.

We were able to source 12 vintages of the Reed Vineyard directly from the winery for our upcoming Session, and as I started to prepare some notes for that evening I was reminded of the last time I was able to share a bottle of Josh’s wine with friends. Back in the summer of 2021, Daniel and I visited the Lafarge family for a weekday lunch with their team. I always love bringing a bottle of something to surprise the Burgundians from other regions, and on this occasion I brought a 1991 Calera Mills Vineyard Pinot.

We were having a typical summer lunch that day, with several plates of jambon persillé, a parsley studded Burgundian terrine, plus a salad of tomatoes and roasted chicken thighs with garlic. The Calera started out a bit shy, with aromas of smoke and hay, mostly savory. After a half hour of the bottle being open it started to blossom, showing notes of small, mountain strawberries, menthol spice (probably from the whole clusters) and bramble. It had tremendous complexity and length; Fred Lafarge commented that he could easily mistake this for an old fashioned wine from Volnay or Chambolle, with great aromatics but some spice and tannins.
The table was large, as the whole vineyard team joined us that day, and so the bottle disappeared quickly once opened. Fred opened a bottle of Clos du Château des Ducs after we polished off the Mills for good measure. It was a gorgeous, sunny and warm summer day in Volnay, a perfect setting for such special and great wines shared with amazing people!

We sourced 12 vintages in perfect condition from the Calera library to share with you! Tickets available via www.pressoir.wine. I look forward to welcoming you…

La Paulée des Champs

September 22, 2022
Pressoir.wine team

La Paulée des Champs
Once in a lifetime

The team at La Paulée is delighted to announce a very special collaboration with the Troisgros family May 25 & 26, 2023 in France. 

We will be hosting the very first “La Paulée des Champs” by celebrating great domaines of Burgundy at the flagship Maison Troisgros in Ouches and at La Colline du Colombier in Iguerande, France. 

Having attended so many of our Paulées in New York, San Francisco and Aspen, the Troisgros family is familiar with the quality of our clientele and the level of execution and talent we bring to the festivals. We collectively started imagining what this could look like and how we could make this dream come true.

After much discussion and planning, we are proud to announce this Save the Date for La Paulée des Champs in Ouches and Iguerande, France with Michel, Marie-Pierre, César, Léo Troisgros and the La Paulée team.

We will be joined by our friends and legendary vignerons Veronique Drouhin of Domaine Drouhin, Marie-Christine and Marie-Andrée Mugneret of Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, Chantal and Frédéric Lafarge of Domaine Michel Lafarge, Jean-Marc Roulot of Domaine Roulot, Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon and Christophe Roumier of Domaine Georges Roumier.

On Thursday May 25th, we will kick off the celebration with an “apéro” tasting featuring wines from each domaine at Maison Troisgros in Ouches, followed by dinner in the family’s Michelin three- starred restaurant, Le Bois sans Feuilles.  Chefs Michel and César Troisgros will prepare a tasting menu which will be paired with special bottles from the winemakers.

On Friday, May 26th, we will continue the party with a lunch at La Colline du Colombier,  prepared by Chef Léo Troisgros (with Michel & César!), and will follow the format of our Gala event during La Paulée in New York, where we encourage guests to bring wines to share with each other and with the winemakers.  

We are able to offer two different packages, with rooms available both at the flagship hotel in Ouches and in the very special cadoles at Iguerande.  Each package includes the evening’s accommodation in either hotel, the “apéro” tasting and dinner at Ouches, breakfast in the morning at the hotel, and lunch in Iguerande. Each package can accommodate up to two guests and is priced at $10,000 plus tax.

Limited spots are available, contact us to inquire and reserve.

What's Pressoir Drinking

Domaine Dujac Clos la Roche 1988

September 21, 2022
Edouard Bourgeois

Most of the Côte d’Or villages produce wines with a certain signature, or style. Chambolle-Musigny often produced wines described as elegant, lean and perfumed while Gevrey-Chambertin embodies the power and structure Pinot Noir may be capable to express. Between these two communes lies Morey-Saint-Denis, a somewhat misunderstood village, where the wines made are not easy to classify or describe in broad, general terms. I really agree with a common belief that Morey-Saint Denis vineyards will tend to borrow the characteristic of the appellation they’re close to, Gevrey to the north or Chambolle to the south. With seven Grands Crus climats, including a fascinating geological study of terres rouges and terres blanches in Bonnes Mares, wonderful wines are produced in the village each year. Among these Grands Crus is the Clos de la Roche, whose name can have an interesting story. As Laurent Ponsot, an important figure in the village explains, the name could derive from the flat rock in the vineyard that was once used for sacrifices during Druidical times…

Domaine Dujac was born in 1967 when Jacques Seysses bought Domaine Graillet in Morey-Saint-Denis. After an apprenticeship with legend Gérard Potel of Domaine de la Pousse d’Or and with inspiration from his idols Charles Rousseau, Henri Gouges and Aubert de Villaine, Jacques released his first vintage under the label Domaine Dujac with the glorious 1969 harvest. 1968 was technically the first year he vinified; unfortunately it happened to be a mediocre vintage, sold off in bulk. The domaine quickly gained the recognition it deserved and is today considered to be among the very finest in the world.

Organic farming has been intensely developed since 2001 with biodynamic experiments. The domaine has also historically been known for a generous inclusion of stems during the winemaking. Jacques explains that using whole bunches helps keep the fruit intact, without bruising the berries and obviously the style of wine it produces - typically lighter colored but fragrant and delicate is what he adores. Typically lighter in color, I’ve always found these wines to have a ballerina elegance. I had the chance to taste an incredible bottle of Dujac Clos la Roche 1988 (note a different spelling here as the domaine changed to Clos de la Roche with the 1991 vintage) and this wine had a feather touch while delivering impressive presence and so much life for a 34 year old wine.  

Domaine Dujac bought their parcel of Clos de La Roche mostly from the initial 1968 acquisition of Domaine Graillet, adding some parcels in 1977 and 1990.

RECAP - BURGUNDY VINTAGE COMPARISON 2009 & 2010

Raj Vaidya

September 16, 2022

Last evening a group of wine lovers both inquisitive and thirsty assembled at The Dutch in Soho to dig into two vintages which hold a great deal of interest to any serious Burgundy collector: the much heralded 2009 and 2010s.

2009 was the first vintage I tasted in Burgundy from barrel, in the summer of 2010. I was just learning how to understand and evaluate wines at such a young stage for their structure and nuance, in a way learning to decode how the wines in barrel would likely turn out in the bottles. In a sense, I was blessed, because for a first experience I could not ask for a more amenable and easy vintage to understand at that young stage than 2009 - the wines were transparent and expressive from day one. The following summer, only my second such experience, showed me a vastly different vintage and barrel expression; the wines were more pensive and shy in barrel in terms of flavors and aromas, some were even backwards at the stage I tasted them, and yet there was an exciting energy and lift that was apparent from the first glass. Structurally the wines were enthralling, yet more closed and less effusive than the 2009s, which was a great lesson to me in tasting for structure, primarily at that young stage, to learn how the wines will likely progress.

Fast forward past years of extremely high praise for both vintages in press and from consumers and the wines from both vintages remain in high demand and continue to garner great praise. The wine journalists who hailed both as great often simply state that the 2009 is a solar and rich vintage while 2010 is a more classic and Burgundian vintage with restraint and delicacy. Others have found the 2009s boring for their richness and fat. We decided to drink a bit more than a case of wine to hone in on our own opinions…

The Line Up

Domaine William Fèvre, Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots 2009

Domaine William Fèvre, Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots 2010

Domaine William Fèvre, Chablis Grand Cru Clos 2010

This flight was a truly lovely beginning to pair with a duo of oyster sliders, and the wines set the tone for a great evening to follow. The Côte Bouguerots plot owned by Fèvre is a south-facing steep slope just above the river on the Grand Cru hill and always produces wines with tremendous freshness and charm, and this duo did not prove to be an exception. The consensus was that the 2010 was the more delicious wine in comparison before the fried oysters were served, and the 2009 shone more brightly in pairing with the rich first course. We added the 2010 Clos for perspective, a more powerful vineyard and wine which seemed to bridge the gap between the two Bouguerots, richer than the 2010 and leaner than the 2009.

Domaine Matrot, Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes 2009

Domaine Matrot, Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes 2010

A closer look at the vintage’s ‘other’ wines, Côte d’Or whites… I’ve long said that vintage quality proclamations in the press are at best half accurate because realistically it’s quite rare for a vintage to produce great white and red burgundy, though I now believe this is true for 2010 for sure. The 2009 showed its fat and richness, all of the common gripes around ripeness and lack of energy showed in this wine when compared with the 2010, though I have to say the 2009 wasn’t a slouch when tasted on its own, it just seemed heavy when taken in context with the 2010. A lovely flight nonetheless which was paired with a clam fettucine preparation.

Domaine Marquis d'Angerville, Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs 2009

Domaine Marquis d'Angerville, Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs 2010

Domaine Bruno Clair, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers 2009

Domaine Faiveley, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers 2009

Then we dug into the reds and did so with a great example of how the critics of 2009 can be dead wrong. It was not difficult to find the fruitier notes in the 2009 Volnay when comparing with the spicier and more savory notes of the Volnay 2010, but when the group really tasted the two critically and one smart taster in the group posed the question of whether, if tasted blind, we’d obviously know which were 2009 and which 2010, we all agreed this would be very, very difficult. D’Angerville made notoriously amazing 2009s, with tremendous depth and length, and his 2010s perform equally strongly, though with different flavors. The 2009 Gevreys were a great example of how some communes fare better in warm vintages, both showed brilliantly!

Domaine Julien, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2009

Domaine Jean Grivot, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2009

Domaine Jean Grivot, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2010

Joseph Drouhin, Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2010

Louis Jadot, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques 2010

A tremendous flight, with all of the wines showing incredibly well. The vertical of the Grivot Grand Cru caught everyone’s attention in that similarly to the Clos des Ducs, the wines were different from each other but there was no obvious 2009 or 2010 proclamations from each wine, they were both rich, fruit forward and delicious. Served blind I am not sure I would be able to pick out which was which!

I believe the point was proven that even though generalities can be made about vintages, assuming 2009s will always be over the top rich and 2010s will be lean and lighter is mistaken. Both are great vintages for different reasons. And I believe as time goes on and the wines reach towards maturity they are likely to taste more similar than different.

What's Pressoir Cooking?

September 1, 2022
Justine Puaud

Cook a Harvest Meal Like a Winemaker

My first harvest experience was in 2013. I harvested at Château Carbonnieux, a Grand Crus Classé Château in Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux. As it was my first time I couldn’t compare it to anything but I remember being tired for 3 long weeks, picking grapes from 7am to 5pm everyday, eating a sandwich in the vineyard in 20min and going back to work. I worked with a fun team! This year, I really wanted to experience the harvest in Burgundy. Well, I had to change my plan just a little bit as I’m 8 months pregnant… Last weekend, I went to see my friend Camille of Domaine Camille Thiriet in Comblanchien. As I couldn’t pick grapes and carry things, I decided to help her mom in the kitchen. I was quite impressed about their kitchen organization. Nadine has to feed 15 vendangeurs every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She shared with me her calendar with all the different recipes she had planned for the next 10 days: quiches, boeuf bourguignon, salades, blanquette de veau, et cetera…

10am is the morning break. We drove to the middle of the vineyard to find Camille and the vendangeurs and brought fresh croissants, pains au chocolat, madeleines, orange juice and coffee. I could see smiles on everyone’s face. Camille and Matt are super happy about the 2022 harvest so far. To be honest, they are quite impressed about the quantity they are getting even with the drought we had this summer in Burgundy. Friends and family are here too. They don’t seem to be tired, just happy to be around and help. After 1 hour with them, it’s time to get back to the kitchen and cook for lunch. On our way back to the Château de Comblanchien, I saw another winemaker in the back of his truck pouring red wine to his vendangeurs and offering them some charcuterie and cheese. The Bourguignons are generous and take a good care of the vendangeurs…

Back in the kitchen, Nadine explained she did an homemade ratatouille and has tons leftover. She decided to add eggs, cheese, crème fraiche and milk and make delicious vegetable quiches for today’s lunch.

12pm - All the vendangeurs are here and hungry. After living 7 years in New York, I forgot how important lunch is in the French culture. From 12pm to 2pm, the vineyard looks so quiet….

2pm- It is with a full stomach that the vendangeurs are going back to work. Some people are going straight to Pommard to pick for one hour or two and the others are assigned at the table de tri. Rock & roll music and “bonne humeur” are here for the whole afternoon!

Côte de Nuits Les Retraits, tiny parcel next to the Clos de la Maréchale.

When DRC and Henri Jayer met at Domaine Camille Thiriet!!

NEWS FROM THE VINEYARD - THE HARVEST CHEZ ROULOT....

September 7, 2022
Raj Vaidya

As I described last week, I was honored with the opportunity to visit and help with the beginning of harvest in Meursault at Domaine Roulot two weeks ago. It was a life changing experience, and I learned so much in such a short time that I am sure it will take me a year to truly digest all the information. But I thought I’d share a few observations here this week to give you all a sense of what the experience is like.

The first thing that struck me is how big the team of pickers has to be. We started out the first day with thirty pickers and increased that number to nearly forty within a couple of days. Jean-Marc’s nieces and nephews all were in attendance, and his youngest son was strictly instructed to be on time the next day after showing up a bit tardy the first. No special treatment for the son of the boss! The whole picking team at Roulot was fed a casse-croûte, or light late breakfast in the vineyard, along with breakfast and lunch over several courses served every day. Despite the immense amount of work, I could see that the pickers were genuinely having a great time, and it didn’t hurt that they always had some delicious bottles of wine on the table at lunch…

Back in the cellar the work starts at 6:30am, with a quick breakfast followed by set up for the day. Pumps and hoses are assembled to connect the pressoir to the tanks which are used to settle the juice before barreling down to the cellar. After the first day, we also had to decant those tanks full of juice harvested the previous day off the large sediment (called the bourbe) to prepare the blends of juice before barreling. At Roulot, Jean-Marc is quite hands on with this process, making sure that he tastes the juice and decides exactly how much to decant, and what to remove as bourbe. The bourbe is then added to a small amount of juice from the end of the press cycle which has been left unprotected overnight to oxidize completely. Jean-Marc has learned that in that last press there is to be found all of the compounds and proteins which have the highest inclination to oxidize early. As a protection against premature oxidation, this oxidized juice is combined with the bourbe and filtered to remove those now oxidized compounds, then added back to the clear juice that had been decanted prior to going to barrel. Jean-Marc has been utilizing this technique for some years now, and the results are super promising (albeit a lot of work!)

The juice is then blended in one large tank and barreled down to the cellar. Jean-Marc uses traditional 228L barrels but also a variety of larger format vessels for his larger holdings, the Clos des Bouchères, Clos de la Baronne (a village appellation vineyard which is blended into his ‘straight’ Meursault) and Tessons.

Stockinger, a well regarded Austrian barrel maker, is common in the cellar - usually these are 1000L barrels. Additionally, Jean-Marc has been experimenting more and more with glass carboys (called the ‘Wine Globe’, this is hermetic glass in a globe shape the same size as the traditional 228L barrel) and in porcelain amphoras of various sizes. It’s pretty cool that even though he’s been making these wines for forty years he’s still experimenting and tweaking all the time.

The harvest kicked off at Domaine Roulot in a Bourgogne Blanc vineyard named Malpoirières. The team of pickers gets started around 7am every day.

The team starts the day early, around 6:30am in the winery, and during harvest 15-17h days are not unusual.

The juice flowing from the press before heading to the tank for debourbage. Lots of bees and yellow jackets show up to enjoy a sweet drink in the afternoon sun!

The bourbe, or solid matter, left after the decanting. This is filtered along with the last pressed juice and added back to the must before going to barrel.

Jean-Marc watching the last bit of debourbage, or decanting of the clear juice to select how much solid matter to allow to make it into the barrel. These solids offer protection for the juice and must as fermentation begins.

A Night Among Friends

August 31, 2022
Daniel Johnnes

Every so often, I have dinner with a couple of old friends and work colleagues. We each bring a bottle or two of wine. It goes without saying, the idea is to bring something special for this semi annual reunion.

This time we went to CheLi, a great Shanghi cuisine restaurant on St Marks Place.

The wine assignments were agreed upon: that David would bring a Rhone wine, Tim another Rhone and me, a Burgundy. The pressure was on to bring something great.

As we all know, wine has a way of showing differently depending on the temperature, place, occasion, time of day and other intangibles. This day everything was aligned, as everyone’s wine performed even better than expected.

We started with an extra surprise wine I brought as an aperitif. Chartogne Taillet Les Couarres 2010. Talk about setting the tone! With a blend of about 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, the wine blasted out of the glass with sweet fruit aromas and yeasty accents. Rich yet refreshing, it was a perfect centerpiece while waiting for David to arrive.

After a hefty glass for each of us and saving the rest for later in the evening, David was anxious to taste my Roumier Bonnes-Mares 2008. As was I. David doesn’t often display a lot of emotion but with a quick sniff he effusively let out a, “oh wow, that’s great” And, it was. An example of a 2008 shaking off its shackles and relaxing around a core of dense dark fruit. I was so happy since many 2008’s still hide behind a wall of tannin but this was as seductive as could be hoped for from a wine just inching it’s way into secondary aromas of smoke, spice, earth and ripe black fruit.

We had to restrain ourselves from drinking the Roumier too quickly with the duck, as waiting in the wings was a Marcel Juge Cornas 2015. An extra special bottle, not only because of how the wine tasted but also its historic significance, since 2015 was Juge’s last vintage. Marcel Juge, a contemporary of Raymond Trollat, Marius Gentaz and Noel Verset, was one of the “old school” Rhone producers whose soulful wines represented a different time. A time when the wines were whole cluster, old barrels, demi-muids or foudre and sold at local wine fairs or in bulk to restaurants or negociants. Not so any more!

The wine was deep in color, inky black with purple highlights, a nose of dried flowers, spice, damp earth, cardamom and black olives. It was dense on the palate yet surprisingly pure, fresh and silky. No signs of rusticity or gaminess. Truly a wine for the ages and one I will most likely never see again. Quite emotional in that sense.

Lastly was another iconic wine from a historic figure of Châteauneuf du Pape, Henri Bonneau Les Celestins 2006. Châteauneuf can at times show its sunny side with high alcohol and rough tannins but this wine was already developing secondary aromas of leather, game and mulled black berries. For a Pinot lover as I am, I was remarkably seduced by its balance, freshness and well integrated power and superb length. Henri Bonneau was a true master of “lesser” vintages and this one help up his reputation with pizazz.

A true night among friends!

News from the Vineyard - The harvest kicks off in Burgundy.

August 31, 2022
Raj Vaidya

I’ve just landed back in NYC after a week working as a stagière for the beginning of harvest in Meursault, and it was a spectacular experience which I’ll be sharing with you here on the Press in the coming weeks. To start off, a quick recap of the state of the harvest and an early sense of the vintage…

The very first grapes from Domaine Roulot’s harvest of 2022

The first harvest I witnessed at Domaine Roulot was on August 24th with a Bourgogne Blanc vineyard known as Malpoiriéres on the plain of Meursault. Grapes looked incredibly beautiful, and it was an idyllic day to begin, perfect clear weather and sunshine. As the grapes came to the press one bin after another, we quickly got the sense of the size of the harvest to come, which is, to put it lightly, robust. This Bourgogne vineyard has a permittance of 70 hectoliters per hectare for this year, and that was slightly exceeded at Roulot. This isn’t a problem as other Bourgogne vineyards we harvested were more modest in yield, so his blend will allow the average to fall well under the maximum yield. But it did bode well for the rest of the Meursault vineyards and sure enough, there is a large quantity of high quality grapes in great abundance.

I visited Domaine Marquis d’Angerville in Volnay after a full work day last Friday to see how their harvest is going, as I’d gotten wind that they began even before Roulot, on the 23rd. Guillaume d’Angerville and his winemaker Francois Duvivier met me with beaming smiles; the harvest was in full swing and very healthy, and they finished the entirety of picking by Monday evening. Similar story, it turns out, for much of the Pinot in the Volnay and Meursault vicinity, with high yields and exceptional quality. Guillaume also told me that although he was the earliest, the Lafarge, de Montille and Clos de la Chapelle wineries also started on the 25th.

A very content Marquis Guillaume d’Angerville preparing for his post harvest Paulée celebration with his team on Monday, August 29th.

Lafon began on the 24th as well, with nearly all the whites except Goutte d’Or and part of Charmes Premier Crus all in the winery by Tuesday the 30th (Montrachet was picked on the 30th, Volnay Santenots-de-Milieu started coming in on Monday the 29th and partially on the 30th, and with the large harvest and high ripeness levels they used a little bit of whole cluster in the Santenots this year.)

Dominique, Léa and Pierre Lafon watching some whole clusters of Volnay 1er Cru Santenots-de-Milieu being sorted before entering their vats on Tuesday August 30th (fairly early for this vineyard.)

The Côte de Nuits is just about to get started with harvest, and even a short bit north of Volnay, the vineyards in Beaune and Corton were just getting started at the beginning of this week, so I expect that in the far north of the Côte picking will only begin in these early days of September. Judging from Roulot, Lafon, and Genot-Boulanger, we are seeing potential alcohols which are pretty moderate, with nothing exceeding 13.4 degrees ABV thus far, a strong indicator of a very balanced set of wines to follow. Fermentations began in earnest on Sunday at Roulot, another good sign of healthy and stable musts. All in all things are looking great!

I’ll describe my first experiences at Roulot as well as some takeaways and things I found surprising in next week’s newsletter, look forward to hearing more then…

What's Pressoir Drinking

August 31, 2022

Raj Vaidya

A couple of weeks ago, I had some former colleagues over for a night of eating and drinking, and several of them were kind enough to dig very deep in their cellars to share several special bottles. What can I say, I’m a lucky guy!

Over the last two weeks I recounted the profound 1964 Bize Savigny 1er Cru Vergelesses and the memorable 1979 Volnay Caillerets from the Marquis d’Angerville. Clearly there had been a Burgundy theme, but we ended the night with one of the most compelling Rhônes I’ve ever tasted.

The Jasmin domaine has seen some ups and downs over the past decades, with certain eras when the wines are well known to be profound and others where they were underachievers. This 1971 was from an era that I had no experience with at all, and it was the oldest Jasmin I’ve every tasted.

The domaine dates back to the arrival in Ampuis of Alexandre Jasmin at the end of the 19th century. Alexandre showcased his domaine bottled wines in Paris expositions as early as 1909, highly unusual for the era. His son George took over the domaine in 1935 and is hailed as one of the greatest personas in the appellation, and by 1971, George’s son Robert had been working alongside his father for over a decade.

The wine had such delicacy in its structure that I was caught off guard - almost no perceptible tannin, softness and even a slightly sweet fruit (this could have been the remnants of chaptalization, to be fair). The color was reminiscent of Jacques Seysses’ early vintages at Dujac; almost more rosé than the color red. However the savory character of the wine was very intense, deeply gamey and leathery with textbook black pepper spice and a pervasive smokiness. Very long on the palate, it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up the next day. And given that I’m still thinking about it nearly three weeks later speaks to its complexity and brilliance!

Recap - Champagne and Pizza Dinner

August 25, 2022
Edouard Bourgeois

Champagne is very adaptable when it comes to pairing with food. The naturally high acidity revives the palate and the fruity quality may provide enough power to match with hearty dishes. 

I’ve always thought that there is a true love affair between the cold bubbles and the crispy dough and tomato sauce of the world’s favorite food, pizza.  

I believe that last night’s dinner at Marta proved me right! Here is a recap of my impressions on the different cuvées.

We kicked things off with Lenoble Brut Nature, a champagne that received no dosage at all before bottling. It delivered exactly as expected with crispness and good balance of fruit (75% of Pinots, both Meunier and Noir and the rest being Chardonnay) but somehow flew under the radar a bit, maybe because it was the first wine. This first flight was completed with three Blanc de Blancs, by definition champagne made only with Chardonnay. First, the non-vintage from Henriot, served from a magnum. This is made very traditionally in a way that the complex blend of its dozen crus varies slightly according to the base vintage in order to maintain a “house style” year after year. The third champagne was from A. Margaine, a Blanc de Blancs from the celebrated 2008 vintage. Although this producer is surrounded by Pinot Noir because of its location on the Montagne de Reims, its specialty is in fact Chardonnay. Margaine uses a specific clone of over 30 year-old Chardonnay vines that does really well in their village of Villers-Marmery. No malolactic fermentation here to preserve a certain freshness. We closed the first flight with a zippy magnum of Valentin Leflaive Blanc de Blancs, Mesnil sur Oger, non vintage. With strong roots in the Cote d’Or, the Leflaive family approaches their champagne winemaking the same way they do in Burgundy, focusing on site specific cuvées. Here, this bottling showed a classic expression of one of the most respected villages of the Côte des Blancs, famous for its immaculate white chalk, Mesnil-sur-Oger.

The second flight entered the scene with a boom. Complete change of décor with four vinous, deep champagnes where Pinot Noir was the star of the show. First, a gorgeous bottle of Philipponnat Royale Reserve. It should be mentioned that this is the “entry level” cuvée of the house yet in my opinion, it displays the quality of a top champagne. The blend of 65% of Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and a sprinkle of Pinot Meunier makes for a solid wine, proudly exhibiting the style of Mareuil-sur-Ay. Note, 30% of reserve wines, aged in a solera system, are certainly responsible for the depth of this excellent champagne. The second wine in this flight was served from magnum and one of the many show-stoppers of the night. The majestic Cuvée Louis from Tarlant imposed itself, showing vinosity and savory notes from its age, being from two harvests, 1999 and 2000. Perfectly crafted blend of equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the first Cuvée Louis was created in 1982 and is always fermented in Burgundy barrels. No Malolactic fermentation and no dosage. This magnum reminded everyone that champagne is indeed wine. We continued with another magnum of producer Paul Bara, located in one of the most celebrated Pinot Noir villages of the Montagne de Reims, Bouzy. Fermented in stainless steel, this Pinot specialist works with over 30 year old vines and only uses the first and most pure juice that comes out of the press, also known as “the cuvée”. And finally, a true Blanc de Noirs by the great Eric Rodez. This bottling, Empreinte Noire 2009, is a focus of four sites, all within Ambonnay. Eric likes to identify this wine philosophically as an “anti-champagne”. What it means by that is that champagne has a history of blending grapes, sites and vintages but here, he only uses one year, one grape and one village. Again, here the oak plays a great role in winemaking, providing structure and volume and this wine was the favorite of many attendees.

While the irresistible scent of pizza filled the room, we moved on to the last flight, starting with a voluptuous bottle from Fred Savart, cuvée “l’Année” from 2011. Despite the complicated nature of the vintage, the wine’s bouquet of ripe red fruits and juiciness was quite impressive, I found. The blend, 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, didn’t go through malolactic fermentation, was aged in large oak barrels, one of Savart’s signature move, and only received 3 grams of sugar/liter at bottling. Great performance. We followed with Pol Roger’s prestige cuvée, the inimitable “Sir Winston Churchill”. Named after the famous prime minister, known for his hedonism and wit, this champagne perfectly matched the quote Sir Churchill would use: “My tastes are simple, I’m easily satisfied with the best.” Crafted only using Grand Crus Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes across the Marne, riddled by hand in the deeper part of the Pol Roger cellars at 33 meters deep, this champagne is a classic. From the gorgeous 1999 vintage, it was full of savory notes, complex spices and a touch of smoky, toasted quality attributed to the long aging. Another prestige cuvée from one of the most recognizable names, Veuve Clicquot, “La Grande Dame” was served next, from the 2004 vintage. A beautiful bottle also made using eight Grands Crus in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs.

We closed this champagne celebration with Delamotte’s newest addition, a delicate, lacy Brut Rosé. Vinified using a expertly managed maceration of Pinot Noir from Ambonnay, Bouzy and Tours-sur-Marne, this wine was succulent and could make you forget that Delamotte, sibling of Champagne Salon, is known to be a Chardonnay specialist!

What's Pressoir Drinking?

August 25, 2022

Raj Vaidya

A couple of weeks ago, I had a few former colleagues over for a night of eating and drinking, and several of them were kind enough to dig very deep in their cellars to share several special bottles. What can I say, I’m a lucky guy!

Last week I recounted the stellar 1964 Bize Savigny 1er Cru that held the distinction of being the oldest bottle. This week I wanted to reflect on the youngest bottle of the night (I know, this sounds crazy, but it was the youngest…), the 1979 Volnay Caillerets from the Marquis d’Angerville.

The storied history of this estate back to the early 1800’s, though it was in 1906 that Marquis Jacques d’Angerville bought the manor house that sits within the Clos des Ducs, their top holding. His son (Jacques also) took over the domaine in the early 50’s and brought the estate’s reputation to great heights.

The Caillerets vineyard always stands out in blind tastings, with a great deal of mineral stoniness on the palate. This is true of all producers in the mid slope climat on the south side of the appellation, but it stood out even more in this wine which had been (at least as effectively as possible for that era) completely destemmed. While the Bize I spoke about last week showed a surprising amount of fruit for a wine that was likely all whole cluster, this bottle surprised me with the savory and spicy elements, flavors I tend to associate more with wines that have whole cluster.

Guillaume d’Angerville, Jacques’ son, explained this character in older bottlings to me once before. He suggested that even though the bunches were destemmed, there were no vibrating tables in those days, let alone destemmers with the accuracy and efficiency we know today. So while his dad definitely destemmed the bunches, there was probably some small amount of vegetal matter that found its way into the vat, perhaps accounting for that pleasant herbaceous note…

Another tremendous bottle! Next week I’ll share one last tasting note from this magical evening, a Côte-Rôtie that over delivered.

What's Pressoir Watching?

Victoire Chabert

August 18, 2022

To continue in the series What's Pressoir is watching, I wanted to present a documentary this time. 

Three Days of Glory is a must-watch for you Club Members but also Burgundy wine lovers and La Paulée attendees. Indeed, this short documentary retraces the history of Burgundy, interviews some winemakers, shows scenes of what the Paulée de Meursault is and evokes the future of the region. You will also have a glimpse of my family domaine because my uncle is interviewed, as well as Dominique Lafon, Véronique Drouhin, Thierry Violot-Guillemard and Thiébault Huber.

But first, a teaser from the trailer : click here to see the trailer. 

Three Days of Glory tells the story of the world's largest wine festival in the most legendary of wine regions - known locally as Les Trois Glorieuses - including the lunch titled La Paulée in Meursault. This documentary offers a glimpse into aspects of Burgundy never before filmed. Burgundy is home to some of the most legendary wines on the planet. But it took time and hard work to get there. 

You'll see the journey of several Burgundian producers, including Thiébault Huber of Domaine Huber-Verdereau in Volnay, Patrick Essa of Domaine Buisson-Charles in Meursault and Thierry Violot-Guillemard in Pommard, as they deal with April's devastating frost and the many curveballs that the 2016 vintage sent to winemakers.

A series of difficult years in the 1920s and 1930s led to the creation of events called the Three Days of Glory. This is the story of the traditional and age-old La Paulée, its origins, the sharing of fantastic wines, good times, and the winemakers of today's small estates, who faced a series of brutal years that had a real impact on their harvests.

While grappling with the complications of the present, the winemakers - as well as Burghound's Burgundy expert Allen Meadows and Director Scott Wright - reflect on their place in Burgundy's traditions as well as the role they play in the future of their families' estates.

Three days of Glory is Available for Free on Amazon Prime .

What's Pressoir Drinking?

August 17, 2022

Raj Vaidya

I had a few former colleagues over for a night of eating and drinking, and several of them were kind enough to dig very deep in their cellars to share several special bottles. What can I say, I’m a lucky guy!

The oldest bottle of the night was from one of my favorite Burgundian domaines and was the oldest bottling I’ve ever tasted from said domaine, the Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru “Vergellesses.”

Domaine Simon Bize dates back to the phylloxera era, founded in 1890, and has been, over the last 70 odd years, one of the premier estates in Savigny. The domaine rose to great prominence beginning in the 80’s with Patrick Bize at the helm. Known for a heavy hand with whole bunch fermentation, these wines are always ethereal, not deep in color or weight but immensely deep in complexity and spice aromas. Today, Patrick’s widow Chisa makes tremendous wines of quality, and the next generation of Bizes are beginning to get involved at the domaine.

This bottle predated Patrick’s era, which began in 1972, and so little is written about the winemaking or viticulture at the time. I did note a strong sense of whole cluster fermentation aromas but the wine had more fruit than the bottles I’ve tasted from Patrick’s early days, so perhaps the percentage of stems was less in those days. Beguiling aromas of lavender and jasmine flowers dominated the nose, on the palate a distinct red cherry fruit. The fruit was intense, I could hardly believe that such an old wine could have that level of finesse and intensity at the same time. A tremendous bottle!

It was a great wine night and there are a few other bottles I want to share my experience with, so look out for a couple more tasting notes on these in the coming weeks…

What's Pressoir Drinking?

Edouard Bourgeois
August 11, 2022

While getting my notes ready for the upcoming Pressoir.wine Session on the fabulous Jura wine region, I thought the timing was right to offer a brief portrait dedicated to one of the greatest Jura producers, Pierre Overnoy. I remember a recent conversation with my friend and sommelier superstar Pascaline Lepeltier where we discussed her numerous encounters with the greatest winemakers of the world. I asked her what her most memorable visit was and after a minute of reflection, she finally said: “Pierre Overnoy”. She told me about the man, the wonderful bread he had baked that and shared with her that day and how their conversation made her feel, transporting her into a delightful moment, a comfort that reminded her of childhood. Unfortunately for me, I never had a chance to meet the inspiring gentleman, but I was lucky to try his wines more than once.

Born in 1937, Pierre has been making wine his own way in the village of Pupillin for five decades. Early on, as a child, Pierre would skip school to help in his family’s vineyards or with the cows. The mischievous young boy developed an irresistible sense of humor and wit that still defines his unforgettable personality. His wisdom and perpetual desire to question everything quickly led him to reject the chemical herbicides most farmers would use in the early 1960’s. If being organic then was certainly not the norm, it was an obvious choice for Pierre. He didn’t receive formal winemaking training despite a brief attendance in the wine school of Beaune and relied more on his tastebuds than the test tubes, favoring the style of wines made by his family over the more standardized quality taught by oenologists. An important leap for him was to start making wine without the use of SO2, or any other intervention. This led him to meet the pioneers of the so-called natural wine world such as the influential Jules Chauvet and afficionado customers like the prestigious restaurateur Alain Chapel.

Pierre remains known for his kindness, generosity and open-mindedness, never short of helpful advice to younger winemakers who listen to him with the utmost respect. These disciples are now well-known and sommeliers develop great efforts to add their name onto their wine lists. Stephane Tissot, Philippe Bornard or Pascal Clairet are just a few of them.

Pierre is now retired but he has passed the baton to his longtime protégé “Manu” Houillon who became in charge of the domaine in 2001. He had started working for the domaine at age 14.

The wines with the characteristic pink label are extremely hard to find today, on occasion leading to stratospheric prices, although a few mindful restaurateurs still give the opportunity to taste these magical bottles without falling for the temptation of speculation. La Dilettante restaurant in Beaune was one of them, and Daniel and I had a fabulous bottle there a couple years back, pictured below.   

This bottle was enjoyed over the course of 2 days and after being opened for that long, the wine blossomed even more.

What's Pressoir Cooking?

Justine Puaud
August 10, 2022

Peach Season

Summer is the time to bake with beautiful fruits such as peaches, apricots and nectarines. I discovered Chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s cuisine a few years ago and today I recommend his lime and rosemary peach tart.

Delicious, fresh, fragrant and juicy – it is the perfect pie for summer. The peaches are marinated with rosemary, lime juice, and lime zest before being baked in puff pastry. This recipe is very easy to make. Just make sure you plan it ahead of time, as you will need to macerate the peaches for 1-2 hours before you can bake it.

Ingredients

200 g (1 packet) all-butter puff pastry

2 limes

60 g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar

5 large firm peaches stoned and cut into 0.5 cm (0.2 inches) slices

2 large sprigs rosemary, plus ½ tbsp picked leaves

1/4 tsp cornstarch

150 g (⅔ cups) creme fraiche

Instructions

Marinate the peaches

1. Cut peaches in half, remove stones, and cut 0.5 cm (0.2 inches) slices.

2. Peel one of the limes in 7 long strips and place strips in a large bowl. Add the sugar, the juice of one lime, the peach slices and rosemary sprigs. Stir and set aside to macerate for at least 1-2 hours.

3. Strain the peaches through a sieve straight into a small saucepan, and set aside the rosemary. You should end up with about 60ml (¼ cup) peach syrup. Try to leave as little juice as possible on the peaches.

4. Chop the rosemary you just removed from the syrup and set it aside.

Prepare the creme fraîche

1. Mix the grated zest and a teaspoon of sugar into the creme fraiche and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Bake

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry just under 0.3-0.4 cm (0.1 inches) thick. Line a previously buttered 24 cm (9.5 inches) tart ring or pan with the pastry.

2. Arrange the strained peaches in the pastry and bake for 25 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven.

Prepare the syrup

1. While the tart is baking, whisk the cornstarch into the reserved peach syrup. Simmer over medium-high heat until it thickens to the consistency of honey (about two minutes), then pour over the peaches. Sprinkle the chopped rosemary leaves on top and return the galette to the oven for 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden-brown and the filling bubbly.

Serve

1. Remove from the oven and transfer immediately to a cooling rack. Leave to cool slightly, then zest a lime onto the tart, and serve with a bowl of the lime creme fraiche on the side.

What's Pressoir Drinking? Summer Team BBQ

Every summer, Daniel is kind enough to open his home to our team for a little break in the season. In addition to the consistently excellent meal he prepares with Sally, his wife, Daniel also generously opens his cellar. This year again, the wines were superb and as you would imagine, Burgundy oriented, with a couple significant performers from the Loire and Germany.

The festivities started with the most glorious thirst quencher one can dream of on a hot humid day in Brooklyn. Notoriously cherished by Raj, the opening act was from producer Willi Schaefer, in the Mosel. We drank a Graacher Domprobst - the vineyard is planted on a southern exposed slope of slate that the Romans started identifying early on as a precious site. This is still one of the best vineyards in the region. The problem with this low alcohol, mouthwatering Riesling is always how quickly they get drunk as they are so easy and irresistibly delicious. So we moved on to another favorite of ours, Chablis. With no time to waste, we went straight to arguably the best producer in the region, Vincent Dauvissat, of course. The bottle was a 1996 Vaillons in pristine condition. Obviously drier than the German, I found it interesting to compare the minerality between the two wines, especially that smoky, flinty characteristic they share. After a few minutes, I had this revelation that the nose reminded me of one of my favorite desserts, the lemon custard and meringue tart, known in my country as tarte au citron meringuée.

We sat at the table, set up with juicy lamb chops and various grain salads, and opened a magnum of Domaine de l’Arlot Nuits-St-Georges Clos de l’Arlot 2002. Jean-Pierre de Smet, a dear friend of Daniel and more recently each one of us in the team, made that gorgeous wine. After fine tuning his winemaking skills at Domaine Dujac, Jean-Pierre started as the winemaker at Domaine de l’Arlot in 1986 and quickly built the great reputation of this Burgundy estate. Clos de l’Arlot is a vineyard solely owned by the domaine and typically planted with the oldest vines of the property. The jaw-dropping 2002 vintage and the magnum size effect made for a memorable wine moment. We all have had this experience of opening a bottle and after tasting it think, well, it is a bit shy, or muted. This Nuits-St-Georges offered the opposite experience, a cornucopia of complex fruits, both ripe and juicy, with a pitch perfect underlying minerality and more subtle black tea. It was superb, dense and deep.

As you probably know, our team likes to go back to white Burgundy when the cheese hits the table. Victoire, the newest member of our crew, kindly brought a fresh and clean bottle of Meursault Bouches Chères 2011 that her family makes. I was quite impressed with how youthful the wine showed, despite its age. You will note the spelling of the famous Premier Cru Bouchères, poetically refashioned by the producer here.

We finally closed the show with a near meditative and spiritual bottle of Clos de la Coulée de Serrant from 1980. This cult wine is a real gem for a reason. Certified organic and biodynamic since 1981, it was first planted in 1130 by Cistercian monks and has remained a vineyard since! Unapologetically rich, heady with alcohol levels soaring up to 15% plus in some years, the magic of this unique wine is its authenticity as Daniel rightfully pointed out. If you ever wondered what sommeliers mean by modern or traditional style, this is a textbook example of what old school means. No polish, no make up to impress, just the pure and raw personality of Chenin Blanc grown on the schist and quartz slope, bathed in the sun. 1980, Raj’s “vintage” did particularly well for Coulée de Serrant. The wine kept changing on the nose, oscillating between smoky, wet stone minerality and explosive exotic fruits, peach, pineapple and even mango.

We closed out with Daniel’s famous sour cherry pie, a delicious way to end the evening on a sweet note.

This was quite a night to remember, a great opportunity to literally refuel while we are getting ready for a very busy fall program!

The bottle of Rousseau was sadly corked…