Author: Thomas Wilcox

DAY ELEVEN  |  Chassagne-Montrachet, Santenay, Nuits-St-Georges, Auxey-Duresses, Beaune | 6.16.16

We started the morning in Chassagne-Montrachet, home to rich, beautiful, elegant wines with silky golden texture and balancing freshness. As it has often this week, the conversation centered around the dismal outlook for 2016. With warm sun and cool rain going punch for punch all day long this week, the specter of mildew is ever present. Happily, the 2014s in the bottle and 2015s in the barrel are as good as ever.

Our second tasting was just five minutes south in Santenay — more bad news about 2016, and more delicious reds and whites from 2014. Juicy, punchy tannins for the reds, and crisp, refreshing mouthfeels in the whites. We stopped by a truck selling charcuterie and cheese in the town square in Santenay, then headed north back to Beaune for lunch. Over saucisson, chèvre, Beaufort, and crusty baguettes, we tasted through samples from a new producer in the Rheingau.

We began the afternoon in Nuit-St-Georges, tasting 2014 reds from the bottle and 2015s from the barrel. The 14s are lovely and croquant, as elegant as ever for this source; the 2015s are exceptionally dense and beautiful. We picked up some more German wines sent to us at the local post office, and then headed south to Auxey-Duresses. Our producer here fell in like with the trend of the day: more bad news, more delicious whites, and more juicy reds. “Qu’est-ce que on peut faire?” they say.

After another 6 samples from Germany, we headed out to dinner at Levernois, a one-star to the east of Beaune. This was one of the nicest meals in recent memory, beginning with a coup de champagne on the terrace, and continuing through an exceptional meal — a 2008 premier cru Chassagne-Montrachet was a highlight.

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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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DAY NINE  |  Gevrey-Chambertin, Ladoix, Monthelie, Beaune | 6.13.16

We dodged large raindrops this morning running from our car to the domaine in Gevrey-Chambertin. Situated in a majestic mansion dating to 1700, this domaine makes fine, elegant red Burgundies that are delicate and finessed. Tasted some beautiful 2014s, which should both require and reward some patience.

In the pursuit of photos, we managed to get ourselves quite muddy between tastings — it turns out that clay-rich soil of Gevrey-Chambertin is no joke. And our second tasting of the morning involved a hose and some shoe-washing before the start.

The whites here — 2015s all from barrel — were across the board fantastic. In a vintage where ripeness was a given, the retention of acidity became the game, and the Ravaut’s have succeeded mightily. But the star of the second tasting may have been the 2014 reds. Bursting with juicy tannins and clean, elegant fruit, there are some of the most drinkable 2014 reds we’ve seen. Can’t wait to get them into our cellars this fall (probably September Futures).

Lunch back in Beaune — steaks with green pepper sauce and frites — then south to a new producer in Monthelie. These were remarkably complex wines, both white and red, made biodynamically with low sulfites and low intervention. The quality of fruit was unusually brilliant, and accompanied by lively mouthfeels from red and white.

Dinner back in Beuane — a Chorey-les-Beaune 2014 is a standout glass. A full day tomorrow — CDN in the morning, CDB in the afternoon.

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DAY SIX  |  Juliénas, Verzé, Givry, Beaune

Up early again today for our trip south — it’s about an hour drive to the Beaujolais, and the region greeted us with sunny skies, a pleasant breeze and an impressive morning of discovery.

Our first tasting was with a tiny-scale winemaker in Juliénas. We had little to go on besides a few notes in a journal we follow, but his wines would have exceeded even the highest expectations. These were crisp, crackling, juicy, unoaked, pure gamays — bursting with the joie-de-vivre spirit of the Beaujolais. With affordable pricing and an exceptional vintage, these will appear in our warehouse and on our email list sooner rather than later.

With such a morning, our second tasting was set up to disappoint; which makes how good the late-morning’s wines were even more impressive. These are a different style of Beaujolais — careful use of oak, 100+ year old gamay vines, with complexity and depth to match many a Côte d’Or red. Our host finished the tasting with a 2005 Juliénas from old vines that near perfection.

We grabbed a quick lunch in town — foie gras salads and a bottle of Badoit — then headed north to the Maconnais. Our source here is one of our most exciting new producers — one we discovered several years ago, and who already has many fans among our readers. His wines continue to be excellent, and we’ll be adding an elegant new Pouilly-Fuissé from him in the months to come.

Between tastings three and four we took the back roads and passed through our old neighborhood around the village of Cluny. We spent a year living here in 1998, and the pastoral green hillsides and gently winding roads brought back many a memory and smile. Tasting four took us up to Givry, where we sampled 2015s from the barrel — nearly a year away from bottling and they’re already pleasant. Quelle millesime.

Dinner in town at a new bistro — boeuf carpaccio, and cuisse d’agneau — with les Bleus on in the background. Tomorrow Chablis.