Last night I was very excited to be invited to an exclusive evening at the Rochelle Canteen over in Shoreditch. I skulked past the hen parties and queues of revellers already forming in this lively part of London, and made it to the comparatively quiet and civilised Arnold Circus where the Canteen is located. I tailgated another customer into the premises and found a delightful courtyard garden and stylish building where ACC was already installed. A few minutes later we were joined by C and then by Oronce de Beler himself along with his colleague Bertrand.
Oronce is the man behind La Maison Romane, a domaine based in Vosne-Romanee, which I had the pleasure of visiting in October 2014. When ACC first began working with the domaine, we were all enchanted by the story of Prosper, the horse which he uses to plough the vineyards. This, along with the avoidance of chemicals, allows the micro-organisms in the vineyards to flourish and the results are spectacular. The word "vivant" was used several times.
We began with a bottle of red Eaux-Vives 2014, which is made from Gamay grown in the Macon region. Oronce described this as a good aperitif wine, lighter in style, but like Beaujolais I think it would go well with charcuterie and anything pork-related.
Next up was a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice 2015. This was noticeably weightier and more serious. It had some classic Gevrey flavours going on, with red fruits, and Oronce said he would expect it to be still drinking in 10-15 years. He donated the last glass to the chef, who came to our table afterwards full of praise, and comped us an additional pudding!
The third wine was Vosne-Romanee aux Reas 2015. which I absolutely loved, even though it was so young. This vineyard is next to the premier cru Clos des Reas, and the wine certainly seemed premier cru level to me. Oronce said he uses whole bunches and he could taste the stems at the moment, and once he pointed this out, I could too, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it. It had the most remarkable finish, and I'll be first in the queue if the opportunity arises to add some to my cellar.
Finally, we drank a bottle of Marsannay Longeroies 2014, which was powerful and had a lot of acidity. Oronce thought the 2014 vintage will be drinking better in 5 years time, so not so long to wait for that one. I was interested to discover that there are no premier cru vineyards in Marsannay, but if there were, this would be a leading contender.
I had to ask Oronce about the Pommard 1er cru L'argillliere which he used to make, which may very well be my favourite wine of all time, and sadly it seems he is unlikely to make any more as he's focusing on the Cote de Nuits now. He modestly said that the Pommard was all about the terroir rather than him. I think it must be a bit of both! Also, the subject of marc de bourgogne was tentatively raised but this isn't something he does.
It was great to get a chance to learn about Oronce's philosophy. For him, it's all about allowing the wines to express their personality and individual character. This is what makes Burgundy so interesting, as opposed to certain other regions which are more about making industrial quantities of wine. There'll be no rise of the robots at La Maison Romane, as Oronce disdains machinery and everything is done by hand. This year the bottles are sporting black wax seals as an additional protection. I'm hoping it's soft wax rather than the sort that gets sprayed all over the kitchen sink!
C noticed that the labels on all the wines said they were 12% alcohol. It seems that Oronce carries out an analysis for one of his customers, but I got the impression that if this wasn't required, he wouldn't bother. There was a Michelangelo reference at one point about the sculptor revealing the sculpture from within the block of stone. At this domaine, wine-making is approached as art rather than science. The results speak for themselves.
Oronce's UK stockist is the Burgundy Portfolio and enormous thanks to him and to ACC for a fascinating evening and the opportunity to try these remarkable wines.
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