We were ushered to the corner banquette and had a very enjoyable meal - the pork cheeks still on good form as was the assiette du chocolat, and a lovely bottle of red Pernand-Vergelesses from Domaine Rollin to drink.
The atmosphere at Cibbers is always very good, and now that I've installed an audio recorder on my replacement phone, next time I might record the ambient noise so that G can use it as a sleep soundtrack... particularly the bits where the hostess turns away people who haven't booked.
We wandered back via Place Morimont and G took a photo of the old Darviot maison which we all wish we had bought back in the day (not that we could have afforded it)!
On Monday morning, we got a taxi to the outskirts of Beaune to visit Julien Petitjean who runs Domaine de la Roseraie. I was delighted to see a scraggly white cat hanging around and quickly made its acquaintance. Julien said it had turned up last week and was a "chat de garde" which initially I mistranslated in my head as guard cat. This seemed improbable given that it was elderly and wheezing at us in a friendly way.
Anyway, we all got in Julien's car and he drove us out to Corpeau, which is just beyond Puligny, and which we had passed on the train going to Chagny the day before. The train tracks are just where the trees are in this photo.
This was a new vineyard for Julien (named Le Chat Blanc, which seemed quite a coincidence) and he will be making Bourgogne Blanc from the grapes.
The domaine is biodynamic and there were lots of wild flowers and even wild fennel growing in at the ends of the vines. It was really very idyllic in the sunshine, and the day got even better when Julien produced some chilled Bourgogne blanc from the boot of the car.
After that, we returned to Beaune and drove up to the "mountain" to look at more vineyards, in particular, Beaune Montée Rouge, which gets its name from the iron in the soil.
As you can see from the photo, this vineyard was steeply raked and it was extremely hot by this stage - it must have been about midday.
We were able to taste in situ some wines made from the different parts of the vineyard, which was very exciting. The 2015 Beaune blanc had excellent grip and apricots, while the 2014 Beaune Montee Rouge was very fine, well-balanced and with lovely fruit aromas, but would be worth keeping a while. Finally, the 2013 Beaune Vielles Vignes Rouge made from 55-60 year old vines was bigger, with more tannins.
Julien showed us how he was introducing new vines by a very painstaking method, and they won't be ready for about eight years if I understood correctly. No shortcuts are taken here. As we were driving away, he told us about the valerian flower which he uses to make a tea and gives it to the vines. This biodynamic approach certainly seems to be paying dividends.
Thank you very much to Julien for a wonderful morning - this is only the second time I've gone into the vineyards with a winemaker and it gives you a much better understanding of the terroir. Thanks also to ACC for arranging it and for taking this video, which I've borrowed (with permission) from his Instagram. Seeing Julien in action with his shears is a great reminder of the occasion.
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