DAY TEN | Morey-St-Denis, Beaune, Rully, Meursault | 6.15.16
The sun was out before breakfast this morning, an odd sight of late. We drove north to our first appointment in Morey-St-Denis, as clusters of sunlight chased each other among the rows of vines. Our producer in Morey-St-Denis made excellent wine this year — the 2014s are juicy and croquant, with attractive mouthfeels and great refinement. We caught up on the news of the day, nearly all of which concerns the catastrophic damage from the late April frost.
We headed back to Beaune for lunch, and decided to eat at home while working through some samples. We collected provisions — Brillat Savarin, nicely affiné Brie de Maux, Serrano ham, and a baguette — and enjoyed a meal chez nous. After lunch we tasted through a half-dozen Muscadet samples and some Châteauneuf-du-Pape, then drove south to Rully.
Our Rully producer is our source for delicious sparkling wine at excellent prices, and their 2013 collection of wines is exceptionally good. The final wine — a blanc de blancs raised in barrels and aged on lees for three years — was extraordinary, and one we’d happily put next to several Champagnes. We took a quick tour of the degorging / bottling production, and then headed north to Meursault.
The standout wines from the day were the 2014s from Meursault. Perhaps the finest wines we’ve had from our producer here, these were perfectly balanced, rich, golden, vibrant glasses that were frankly hard to spit out. We began with what must have been the most delicious, drinkable Aligoté we’ve ever tasted, and finished with Meursault 1er cru “Perrières,” an extraordinarily complex and delicious glass of wine. These are some of the finest white Burgundies we’ve tasted, and we’ll be bringing back as much as we can get our hands on.
After the tasting we climbed up to the hills above the town of Meursault, for a lovely view of the countryside. The Côte d’Or stretched out leisurely in either direction, punctuated by tiny hills and slow-moving rainstorms in the distance. For a week with very little consistent sun, this was a pleasant half-hour spend among the vines.
Dinner back in Beaune — a few excellent dishes: stewed beef shoulder with black rice and lemon, escargots in creamy crushed potatoes. Four more tastings tomorrow.
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