Dinner with Romain Chapuis, 1st March

On Thursday night, I braved the Beast from the East and made it through the slush to the ICA on the Mall, where Rochelle have taken over the restaurant. I've been a couple of times and it has established itself as a firm favourite, not least because of the pies!

We were there for a wine-tasting dinner with Romain Chapuis, hosted by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio. I'm a big fan of Romain's wines and attended a dinner he did previously, two or three years ago (strangely I don't appear to have blogged about it) so was very excited to get one more chance to try them again.

I arrived expecting the tasting to be upstairs in the restaurant, but then I heard familiar voices coming from the left and discovered what one might call an inner sanctum, a little alcove, where a number of people were already gathered and were drinking 2016 Orange Blossom aligote en magnum. After a couple of minutes opening up in the glass this turned out to be a very enjoyable, refreshing aperitif and I was lucky enough to get a couple of refills.

Then we moved upstairs for dinner where I sat with G and the Baron, so our end of the table could certainly not be accused of being boring. We tasted a number of bottles which had been shown to the restaurant earlier in the day. Of the whites, we tried the 2016 Bourgogne Blanc which had a lively acidity and notes of lime, while the Rully 2016 was well-balanced with good grip, and very drinkable. I'd already tasted this back in January and placed an order so was glad to confirm my own opinion.

I managed not to get a photo of my favourite red, the 2017 Coteaux Bourguignons "sans soufre" which is a Gamay, and reminds me of those lovely Beaujolais which I love - Foillard etc. It had a beautiful nose and was light and fruity and very glou-glou. At least nine out of ten. I bought some of the 2016 last year and am really looking forward to drinking it soon if spring ever appears.

I also very much enjoyed this 2016 Cotes de Nuits Villages "Les Chaillots" which was richer, with black fruits.

Two other highlights were this 2015 Maranges which I see I bought last year - this is turning into a very self-congratulatory blog post I'm afraid - and the 2013 Pernand-Vergelesses "Les Belles Filles". I appear to have given up making notes when we got to the Maranges but for me it has an enjoyably rustic quality. Call me old fashioned but I think it would go well with sausages, and is good value for a village red, while the Pernand was more elegant and fruity.

As always, the food at Rochelle was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the rillettes and the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which I remembered to take a photo of before I guzzled it all. Happiness ensued.

Some readers may have noticed a few song references clumsily inserted into this blog post.* The Baron became agitated half way through dinner and clearly wished to communicate something but wasn't being sufficient vocal for me to hear, so he had to scribble it down on his menu. It turned out that Neil Tennant had just sat down at the table next to us. As we're huge Pet Shop Boys fans this was very exciting and I had to resist the temptation not to keep staring at Neil as he was reading his book. Two glasses of champagne had been poured and I was on tenterhooks wondering who was going to join him for dinner; it turned out to be none other than Janet Street Porter! I was delighted to see that they both had pies too.

All in all, a super evening. Thanks ACC and Romain!

*Eight altogether.

Tasting at Domaine Audiffred, 26th June

As if the day hadn't already been very enjoyable, in the afternoon we travelled up to Vosne-Romanee to visit Henri Audiffred at his domaine. This was my fourth visit here, and always a good time is had.

In fact, on the Eurostar trip up on the Friday, we'd been feeling a bit stressed out right up to the point where I opened a bottle of Audiffred Bourgogne Rouge 2011, which I've just got out of storage, and the world suddenly became a much happier place.

We were slightly early, so loitered suspiciously by the vineyards while curtains were twitched in the house across the road. Then Henri came along riding a little tractor thing (technical term) and it was time to begin!

Four wines were laid out for the tasting, and some extras were added in along the way. For once, I made proper tasting notes so can give a more comprehensive report. We started with an Aligote 2016 which had been put in bottle just last week - it still had a slight prickle. This had a lovely nose and was floral and fresh, with great acidity, precision and elegance. I could easily have got stuck in there and then!

Next up was a Beaune Blanc 2015. This had notes of tropical fruit (G said passion fruit, I got mango) and was very attractive. We thought it was one to drink sooner rather than later, as seems to be the case with the 2015 white wines in general.

The third wine was a Nuits-St-Georges Les Argillats 2012. For me, this smelled like summer berry compote and was on the light and elegant side for Nuits, which suited me just fine.

The Pommard 2013 was very different, with earthy notes and, for me, prunes, while ACC mentioned black cherry. It was heavier but still light by most Pommard standards.

Want. It. All. 

Then it was on to the Vosne-Romanee 2012, which is made from three different parcels. "God, that's good," state my notes, while ACC said it was very stylish. There were notes of blackcurrant and it was quite light again and with a great finish. Pure pleasure, and a great expression of the village.

At this point, Henri offered us a mystery wine, which put us on the spot! What could it be? It was very purple in colour and quite sweet with a lovely texture. I guessed that it was a Gevrey-Chambertin. Wrong! It was Cotes de Nuits Villages 2015. Very impressive and, as usual with Henri's wines, playing in a league at least one notch up from its appellation.

Finally, we did get to taste an actual Gevrey, possibly to show us the difference, the Gevrey les Marchais 2012. It was absolutely lovely, relatively delicate and elegant for a Gevrey and I detected strawberries but the classic liquorice thing was also present and correct. G's notes report that "animal noises of pleasure were made" and go on to say "Buy all the wine!" I can't argue with that.

Thanks very much to Henri as always for a wonderful tasting. 

Domaine Joly, 30th October

On Friday morning there was time for breakfast before heading over to Puligny-Montrachet. It was a grey, foggy morning, and I spent an hour walking round the village adding to my collection of Route des Grands Crus photos while ACC visited a potential new grower.

We had a coffee in the little cafe on the main square, and then it was time to head over to Domaine Joly. This was my second visit to the domaine, which makes four wines, all white. We met Sylvie as we were walking up the road - there weren't many people about that morning!

The tasting began with the Aligote which I found enjoyably zingy with a nice weight. Next to it, the Bourgogne Blanc seemed softer but with the acidity to balance this out. The Puligny-Montrachet les Tremblots seemed quite approachable already, with a nice texture and great finish. It made me wonder if the 2014s might be drinking sooner than some other vintages.

Then we moved on to the Puligny-Montrachet les Charmes which isn't a premier cru but is certainly at that level. They made three barrels of this, and the barrels were of different ages (2010, 2012 and 2014) with each contributing different qualities to the mix. I was very impressed with the Charmes, which had a lovely nose, richness and complexity and is very elegant. We tasted some back vintages which confirmed the consistency of the house style and I'll be very tempted come January. Merci to Sylvie for another Puligny masterclass!

Maison en Belles Lies, 29th October

We hopped back into Monsieur Parize's taxi and drove over to Saint-Aubin to Maison en Belles Lies. We were half an hour early but Pierre Fenals kindly interrupted his schedule to meet us earlier than anticipated.

The tasting was conducted entirely upstairs which meant no perilous trip down the spiral staircase on this occasion! The sun was shining in and gave the bottles a beautiful luminosity, but they were quite cold which made the tasting more challenging, for me.

Last year we only tasted 4 wines, as the vines were badly hit by hail, but this year there were a whopping 10. All the wines are biodynamic.

Starting with the whites, the Aligote was very pure with lively acidity, and the Bourgogne Blanc had a nice weight, was ripe and clean, like a baby St-Aubin. The Monthelie had good minerality and seemed very proper, the Santenay was approachable and I liked it a lot, and the Corton Charlemagne was top notch, lovely big wine with a wonderful finish.

Moving on to the reds, the Hautes Cote de Beaune was a bright red colour and had a fruity redcurrant nose, and was quite light and juicy on the palate. I found the Aloxe-Corton a bit tannic - although I am told that I may have been confusing tannin and acidity - I expect it just needs time. The village Maranges was easier to get on with and the premier cru Maranges was bigger and more powerful. Finally, the Corton Perrieres was silky, intense and had a lot going on - sous bois, leather, raspberries. I thought it would be sensational a few years down the road.

It appears that fans of L'Etrange will be disappointed as none was made in 2014 but Pierre made a lot in 2015 so that's certainly something to look forward to. Thanks to him for another great tasting.

I'd love one of these for AduV Towers

Domaine Bony, 29th October

Julien le taxi whisked us off to our next appointment, at Domaine Bony in Nuits St Georges. A new supermarket had appeared across the road since our visit last year! A fine tabby cat and another large yellow dog were hanging around outside. The dog came over to say hello and we were soon all best friends.

Then Fabienne appeared and the tasting could begin. She told us that things had been very busy for her lately and some of the wines were still in barrel, so we didn't taste the full range.

Of the wines we tasted, the Nuits St Georges had a richness and power to it. She uses 20% new oak and there was some discussion of the style - these are not traditional Nuits which is a good thing in my book - they are much more fruity, approachable and generally enjoyable, and don't need to be kept for 20 years to drink.

As usual, I loved the Les Damodes which isn't a premier cru, but feels like one in terms of quality. This had very nice red berries and reminded me of fruit compote, with a lovely silky texture.

Fans of Fabienne's 2009 Passetoutgrains (e.g. me - considerable quantities of the stuff have been glugged at AduV Towers) will be pleased that she made some more in 2014. We tasted this after the Damodes which was unusual, as normally you'd go from lighter to heavier wines, but nevertheless it had a nice fruity nose and was soft, easy-drinking. It's a 50/50 blend of pinot noir and gamay. Fabienne thought the nose was a bit "sauvage" and I knew what she meant but I rather liked it.

We also tasted a couple of whites - an Aligote and a Bourgogne Blanc. The Aligote is made in stainless steel tanks and from vines that are just 4 years old. I normally don't particularly like Aligote but I did enjoy this. It was well-balanced with a nice texture, not thin and acidic like some Aligotes can be. Fabienne told us that a Parisien caviste had compared it to the Aligote made by Lalou Bize-Leroy; having just consulted a certain other wine merchant's website I see the 2010 vintage of this is going for £54 in the UK so hope that Fabienne won't be pricing accordingly... The Bourgogne Blanc is made from 60 year old vines and seemed softer than the Aligote, with a certain creaminess to it. ACC thought it needed some time to knit together, but it was a promising start.

Once again it seemed to me that the 2014s were shaping up well, the quality of the wines from this domaine is consistently good, and thanks to Fabienne for the tasting.

Domaine Perrin and Maison en Belles Lies, Wed 29th Oct

After lunch at Le Terroir, we were picked up by Julien, whisked along various windy roads, through Chagny (past Lameloise!) and back up to the Cote d'Or where the first stop was Volnay.

View from the main square in Volnay

We were visiting Domaine Perrin, and were greeted by Vincent and his wife, Marie-Christine, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I think this was one of the first tastings of the 2013 vintage that they had carried out.

We kicked off with the white Saint-Romain, which ACC told me is an aligoté - I never realised this before despite quaffing large quantities of the 2008, or perhaps I'd forgotten. (Update: it appears I got completely the wrong end of the stick here. The aligote is not the same as the St-Romain, but is aged in St-Romain barrels. Mea culpa.) Must clearly re-evaluate my prejudice against stance on aligoté. Vincent said he had used less sulphur than previously (if I understood correctly) - he is generally moving to a more natural approach, and this seemed to have paid off as the wine had a very nice weight. I found it more difficult to assess the Meursault, which is another wine I've loved in the past, possibly because it had only been in bottle for a month and was still a bit shocked.

On the red side, the bourgogne rouge had a nice cherry thing going on on the nose, and was mouth-tingling with good acidity and crunchy fruit. The village Volnay was clearly related, but bigger and broader, while the two Pommards (Vaumurien and Chanlains respectively) were very elegant expressions of Pommard with a lot of tannin and I thought would need several years to come round, especially the Chanlains. The Volnay 1er cru Carelle sous la Chapelle was one of my favourites, with a really interesting nose, good structure and smoothness, while the 1er cru Gigottes had an enticing nose, great concentration and elegance, and a great finish - it may need the best part of a decade but when it gets there it will be fabulous. I shall have to give some serious thought to which one(s) it's going to be for me this year. Thank you very much to Vincent and Marie-Christine for yet another Volnay masterclass.

Then it was time to head off to Saint-Aubin where we were visiting Maison en Belles Lies. I remembered spending quite a long time hanging around in a car park next to what looked like a deserted factory last year. This year, things were very different. There were two men painting a piece of equipment (technical term) in a cheerful yellow colour, similar to the colour of A du V Towers in fact, and we were greeted by Pierre Fenals who seemed very upbeat. We were also joined by Bill Nanson from the Burgundy Report.

Last year, the domaine had been badly affected by hail which had drastically reduced what was on offer. This year, things were looking much brighter and we descended a tiny spiral staircase - it took me about 10 minutes to get down it, stepping very carefully to avoid a tragic accident - to the lower level where there were lots of barrels looking inviting!

We started with the aligoté which I thought was wonderful - vinified in oak, it had a lovely floral nose and was rich and big, unlike one of those nasty thin acidic aligotes that's only good for making kir. Next up was the white Santenay which brought tears to my eyes, not because it was bad, but because of the acidity level. Or maybe I just tasted it too quickly. It was very pure with good minerality and weight. The Monthelie blanc was less sharp, had a hint of honey on the nose, and was very agreeable. Then, the jewel in the crown: Corton-Charlemagne grand cru. What a treat! Pierre explained that he shares the vineyard with Bonneau du Martray and Coche-Dury so he's in excellent company. This was something very special, complex, rich and mouth-coating.

We moved into a different part of the cellar to taste the 2014s which were still fermenting away. They all seemed to be developing nicely, which bodes well for next year! At one point, Pierre was explaining something and suddenly there was a loud CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK which turned out to be Bill taking a photo with his super-whizzy camera. Pierre blinked and we all pretended nothing had happened.

Then it was on to the 2013 reds. First, L'Étrange, which I famously guessed blind at a dinner last year, admittedly only due to vast prior consumption of it since G is a big fan. It's a bit like a passetoutgrains in that it's a mixture of pinot noir and gamay, but if memory serves, PTG is normally 2/3 gamay, 1/3 pinot whereas L'Etrange is the other way round. Disclaimer: this could be completely incorrect. Anyway, it was very nice, had that slightly whiffy trademark nose, and chewy fruit. A relatively light and approachable wine.

Next came the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune which blew me away with its heady, scintillating nose. Pierre described it as tres jolie and it was just my kind of thing - very pinot, very pretty. The Aloxe-Corton was more serious stuff and had that meatier Aloxe thing going on, which certainly has its place but the Hautes-Côtes had ruined me for it. And then finally, the Corton les Perrieres grand cru which I see I put two stars next to in my notes, high praise indeed. It was very serious, rich, complex, interesting and just generally stunning.

We tasted some of the 2014s again bubbling away in their barrels. Already the unique characteristics of the different appellations were shining through. There's a Maranges in 2014 which will please a certain person I know, but it was very tannic at this stage and Pierre described it as more rustic.

Once again this was a very interesting tasting, it was great to see Pierre looking much happier, and the domaine's trademark style, elegance and purity were all in evidence. I don't really know much about biodynamism but it certainly seems to do the business as far as I'm concerned.

View of vineyards in Saint-Aubin

Afterwards, Julien dropped ACC off in Puligny-Montrachet and took me back to Beaune. I felt very swanky travelling in the black Merc by myself, but this luxurious lifestyle was short-lived. After Julien had gone on his way, I attempted to visit the local traitteur to get something to eat, but by the time I'd figured out how the automatic door worked, the sales assistant had disappeared. After hanging around for five minutes I decided to go to Petit Casino instead and procured a tin of lentilles aux saucisses, the French equivalent of beans and four pork sausages, a childhood favourite. It had been an amazing day and I was happy to have a quiet night in watching French game shows and reading a 1930s mystery novel.

Maison en Belles Lies, Friday 13th Sept

On Friday morning ACC had an early appointment in Meursault and it was agreed that G and I would join him there for lunch. We caught one of the few trains going south that stops at Meursault. The thing to remember is that it's a good half hour uphill walk from the station into the village, but the sun was shining and as we walked past vineyards with rough tracks we were reminded of the previous day's exciting tour of Chablis with Nathalie Fevre.

We passed this road sign, which put me in a very good mood - lots of my favourite things!

Then it was time for lunch at Le Bouchon. Here they do an amazing 12.70 euro three course lunch menu, including a buffet starter which had pate en croute and similar nice things. There's also a good range of wines by the "pot" so you don't have to have a whole bottle, which meant we could indulge in both red and white.

Afterwards G and I had a wander round Meursault. The market was just closing up and unfortunately the wine shop wasn't open, but there was quite a lot of activity and the ubiquitous cyclists wandering around looking lost.

Then it was time for our taxi which took us over to St Aubin where the winery of Maison en Belles Lies is located. Here we were greeted by Pierre Fenals. We sat along a bench at a trestle table and it was rather like being at school. We tasted seven wines altogether, all biodynamic.

The Aligote 2012 had a lovely, quite floral nose and was very appealing and easy-drinking. The other 2012s we tried were all red. The Hautes Cotes de Beaune had amazing red fruit on the nose but needed some time, as it had just had its final blending and wasn't quite knitted together yet. The Aloxe-Corton had very strong blackcurrants on the nose and was very pretty, while the Corton grand cru Les Perrieres was very Corton on the nose (undergrowth, and that foxy thing) and was serious and complex. The finish went on forever. This would be a wine to keep, definitely.

Then we tried some wines in bottle. The Aligote 2011 again was relatively soft on the palate and very drinkable, with a great finish. The Santenay blanc 2010 wasn't my kind of thing but G liked it, while as always the Beaune 1er cru Greves 2011 had a beautiful perfume on the nose and was very elegant, with succulent fruit. The view was that this needs 4-5 years. I have a six pack of this so am looking forward to 2016! Many thanks to Pierre for a very interesting tasting.

Afterwards we had some time to kill before Alain collected us, so we took some photos. I'm more a premier cru type myself but one had to do one's best with the props available. 

Domaine Chaudat, Tuesday 10th Sept

On Tuesday morning, ACC had an appointment in Monthelie while G and I opted for a lazy morning and a spot of shopping. This included a trip to the fromagerie on Place Carnot, Alain Hess.

Here we bought some Bonnat chocolate, as I'm exploring the world of serious dark chocolate, along with an excellent saucisson aux noisettes, and some Comte (cut using the laser-guided cheese-cutter). G hilariously inadvertently asked for some "Flagey Echezeaux" which is our nickname for the little goaty thing on a stick that looks like a flagpole, but didn't mean much to the woman behind the counter. I still don't know what they're actually called!

After lunch at the gite, Julien picked us up and took us to Corgoloin, for our appointment at Domaine Chaudat. I don't think any of us had been to Corgoloin before - it's not a Burgundy wine village as such, but is between Ladoix and Nuits-St-Georges.

This small domaine is run by Madame Odile Chaudat. ACC was scouting it out as a new possibility, so hadn't met her before. I particularly enjoyed the 2012s - the Bourgogne Aligote, which I found charming (not always the case with aligote), the Cote de Nuits blanc which had a lovely mouthfeel, richness and acidity, and the red Ladoix which had a heavenly nose and was very elegant and typique of Ladoix. All in all, quite a find, with some nice goodies off the beaten track.

Afterwards we had some time to kill before our ride was due so I took some photos of the vineyards which had apple trees growing in them. The rural idyll.

Domaine Albert Joly, 31st December

We were up bright and early on the Monday morning, with two tastings in the diary. First was Domaine Albert Joly in Puligny-Montrachet. I hadn't visited this domaine before but ACC told us that they only make four wines, so I was expecting it to be a relatively short tasting. Not at a bit of it. We met Sylvie and the wine-maker, and went down into the cellar of which I took a sneaky photo.

Madame Prévot-Joly in her cellar

We began with the Aligote 2011 which had been bottled in November. It was very pale with a delicate aroma and very acidic and fresh at this stage. Then we moved on to the Bourgogne Blanc 2011 which was like a baby Puligny - my tasting notes say "lean and mean". It had very good length and was made from old vines. One to keep for a couple of years.

Next we tasted a village Puligny from a lieu-dit called "Tremblot" which I initially misheard as "Train Bleu", a Freudian slip. This vineyard is on the border with Chassagne-Montrachet, just slightly down from Batard-Montrachet. We tasted the wine from a new oak barrel and the oak dominated on the nose. I loved it and could see that it would develop into something very delicious. Then we tasted some from an older oak barrel - the barrels will all be mixed together before bottling - which had good weight and was more fruity. All in all, it was going down a treat.

We moved on to the Puligny Charmes 2011, also from barrel. I was under the impression this was a premier cru and it certainly came across as one, but it isn't. It turns out that this vineyard is at the other end of Puligny, up by the border with Meursault. In Meursault, Charmes is a premier cru so I wasn't that far off. I thought it lacked the immediate appeal of the Tremblot, but was in a richer style, more complex, and would need a good 5-10 years to hit its peak, at which point it would be stunning.

These 2011 wines will be available en primeur from the Burgundy Portfolio this week. I haven't seen the prices yet but I imagine they'll be seriously tempting.

We tasted a couple of other Pulignys from bottle which seemed quite light after the Charmes. Then, to our great surprise and delight, a bottle of 1990 Bâtard-Montrachet was produced! This kind of thing doesn't normally happen at tastings. It was a beautiful golden colour and the nose was incredibly rich, almost like a sweet wine. On the palate, I got a big hit of toasted almonds, and the finish went on forever. We were quite blown away by it. Madame Joly gave G a strict look and told him that it wasn't for sale. However, she then gave us the rest of the bottle to take away with us, an act of remarkable generosity. We were instructed to get some foie gras to go with it, which we did, and drank it that evening. It was New Year's Eve after all. G maintains that it was the best white wine he's ever drunk, and I have to agree. Just looking at this photo makes me happy. Merci beaucoup à Madame Prévot-Joly encore une fois!