Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Thurs 30th October

On the Thursday morning, Alain le taxi collected us at 9.10 and took us to Jean-Claude Rateau's domaine on the outskirts of Beaune. I'd expressed doubts as to whether a taxi was necessary, as it's not really that far, but in the end I was glad we did as it was quite a cold morning and it would have been a strenuous uphill walk first thing. Last year we were late getting there; this year it was nice to be early and we killed some time sitting on a wall by the property overlooking the vineyards. Once again, it was very foggy.

The post van dropped off some post, Jean-Claude appeared and we cracked on! As with Maison en Belles Lies the previous day, it was a very different story from last year, and things were looking much brighter with a cellar full of barrels. Was it our imagination or did Jean-Claude's wonderful moustache even look less droopy?

As usual, we were tasting the 2013 vintage and commenced with the reds. First up, Beaune les Beaux et Bons, which is wine from two adjoining vineyards, les Beaux Fougets and les Bons Feuvres. It had a lovely strawberry nose, nice weight and good acidity, and I liked it a lot. Coincidentally, I'm looking forward to drinking some of the 2012 vintage this evening, and the label says that it has aromas of black cherries. Whatever fruit it smells of, it's delicious.

Then it was on to Beaune Les Prévolles, which was also lovely - more serious, elegant, more floral (I think Jean-Claude said) and with a great finish. Very pretty again. Next was a Gevrey-Chambertin; I wasn't expecting that! I'm not normally mad about Gevrey but this seemed to me to be Gevrey in the style of Beaune and it was very perfumed, elegant and succulent.

2014 looks promising...

The Beaune 1er cru les Reversées was noticeably more serious than the first two and very "soyeux" (silky). If I understood correctly - 50/50 chance - it was made from very old vines, and it seemed more powerful than the others. So was the Beaune 1er cru les Bressandes, which Jean-Claude described as more rich. This was heavier, and for me had an interesting hint of the farmyard thing going on on the nose. It would be one to tuck away for a few years.

Hidden treasure! 

Finally, we tried the white Beaune 1er cru les Coucherias. This was the first wine I encountered from the domaine, when G bought it back from France a couple of years ago, and it wowed us - an instant 10 on the Premier Cru Project scale. The 2013 had that distinctive white Beaune nose that I love so much. It had a nice weight, was complex, and with a great finish. I seem to have put 2 stars next to it which is high praise indeed. All in all, Jean-Claude said he thought 2013 was a very pretty vintage and he has certainly made some very attractive biodynamic wines that I can't wait to drink in due course.

Afterwards, we'd been planning to walk back into the town centre but Jean-Claude kindly offered us a lift in his van, so we squashed up three in a row in the front and were deposited in Place Carnot with time for a coffee before our next appointment. The day had got off to an excellent start!