Day 3- Burgundy Again

Wines tasted/consumed: 58

I'm really not sure how I managed to make it to breakfast that morning at 8:30am. I really felt like I was looking out at the world through coke bottle lenses. It took me a while to realize that there was another person joining our party. At first I thought he was just another guest at the hotel, but then he started to follow us out the door. Scott worked with Nate and Stuart helping them find talented wine producers and this morning we were going to a few of his picks.

Our first stop was at 9am at Domaine Pillot in Chassagne-Montrachet, located a bit south of Cote de Beaune. While still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, a wine glass was handed to me and we were led down into the cellar. Paul's son Theirry took over a few years ago and is the 4th generation to run the domaine. It was really interesting to watch the dynamic of father and son when we first entered and when we left. Paul stayed completely out of the way and didn't even come downstairs to taste with us, but took orders from his son to get glasses.

There was no wasting time as we had our first drops of wine within 15 minutes. We started out easy with their entry level 06 Blanc Bourgogne and quickly moved into some heavy hitters. Anyone who says they don't like white wine has not had one from this producer. They were all so good, that my tasting notes just fell to the wayside. If I really liked the wine it got a star and on one, the Cailleretes made me go weak in the knees from the nose alone. Even his red wines delivered. It's rare that a producer can make such great wines both red and white. Theirry spoke English very well so we were able to ask a lot of questions and I wish I could remember what they were. I know he spoke about how they tended the vines into a cordon system, meaning that the vines are attached to the top wire of the trellis. We were then led out their vines to see for ourselves. It truly was an inspiring experience being at the Pillot's winery and I was even moved enough to want to go back in September to participate in the harvest for a week. And some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

And then some video:


Waking up and tasting Pillot's wines was a great way to start the day and it was only getting better.

Our next stop was Billard-Gonnet, an incredible Pommard 1er Cru producer who's domaine dates back to 1766. Scott was the complete leader of this introduction as he was pretty reserved and didn't speak much English. He brought us down to the cellar, where he had a nice little tasting room with a heat lamp. I was so happy to see one of those but it didn't really help the freezing damp that cut right through me. It wouldn't have been so bad in the cellars, but the wines were so cold my teeth hurt. Most of my time was spent breathing hot air into cupped hands so I could warm up my glass.

This meeting started off all business...went right into the whites which were clearly not his forte and quickly moved into the Pinots. Even the entry level Bourgogne rouge was fabulous. Rustic and strong, totally packed a punch. I was falling in love with Pommard. We went through all of the 05 and 06's and then Billard asked us what we wanted to try. Woo hoo! We asked to try the 99 1er Cru and were not disappointed. Then we tried the 98 Pommard, but the 99 was definitely the big winner. I guess Billard saw our enthusiasm for his wines and decided to quiz us and we played name that vineyard and vintage. It was a 66 Clos des Vouches and it was like drinking pure gold. This was my first time tasting what a Burgundy can do with a little time and patience. Note to self....must get a wine fridge and start putting some of these away.

After having such an intense wine I think all of us were feeling rather excited about why we were in Burgundy. Billard let us roam around his cellar and what stood out most to me was the amount of glorious mold that was covering EVERYTHING. I guess he uses indigenous yeast. And the end of each row of barrels were shelves housing bottles from the last 10 decades. While the other guys in the group were squawking about bottles from the 60's, I was staring at bottles that had been there since the late 1800's.

It was a bittersweet visit as we learned that Billard was planning on retiring soon, but didn't have any children to pass his domaine to. He might have another relative to take over, but who knows what will happen. Anyone want to buy a winery? Anyone?

It was now getting into lunchtime and we were running late to meet our next broker. I'm starting to notice a trend in running 30 minutes behind. In Miami there's Cuban time...in France, there's wine time. Luckily most people seemed to be pretty relaxed about time and Don was waiting for us patiently at the restaurant. He even took the liberty of having our food ready and wines on the table so we didn't waste much time. Still had lots more to taste. My favorite part about this restaurant was the waiter asking the chef to make me an omelet au natural, but getting an omelet with ham & cheese in it.

We had lunch here:

Auberge du vieux vigneron à Corpeau près de Beaune
by medianet

Don was a great guide through Burgundy as we went from Beaune to Alain Chavy in Puligny-Montrachet then to Pascal Pernier in Meursault. It's unbelievable how close all these appellations are to each other....literaly feet! I tried to take some video footage of Don pointing it out as we stopped along the vineyards...

At Chavy, we got to try three of his wines from the top down...in other words we went from the highest point of the vineyard to the mid-point on the slope and then to the flatlands. Even though it only spanned 100's of feet, the tastes were much different. The Champ Gain had more acidity, leanness and punch while the Folatieres which was midway down the slope was much more expressive (i even gave it two stars). The Clavoillons was at the bottom and was good, but just didn't have the same impact as the Champ Gain. Terroir is almost everything. It keeps getting driven into my brain with each wine I get to taste. After trying those wines it was off to Pascal Pernier who's well known for his Auxey Duresses. His style was very well structured. I noticed that both Chavy and Pernier have immaculate cellars. Well organized and clean. It definitly carries through in their wines as well.
It was at this point of the day where I started to collapse with exhaustion. My palate was fine, but the rest of me wanted to sleep badly. I was sitting on the bench in Pernier's tasting room, holding a glass, my pad and paper and trying to write notes...and falling asleep. My eyes kept closing. I looked down at my page and saw the ink sort of scribbled across the lines. Game over. I was so happy to finish up that visit and get to take a disco nap in the car as we went to Don's office where apparently we would be trying more wines. Can we please taste some water! I was parched.

I woke up a bit at Don's office when he poured us some Pouilly-Fume...after days of nothing but chardonnay, that sauvignon blanc tasted like gold. I'm not complaining about the chards I had been drinking, because they were increadible, but it was nice to have a change of pace. Eleven more wines at Don's and then we were off to Le Montrachet, an inn that was built in 1824, for dinner. After all that wine...I was certainly ready for some food.

I think this was one of my favorite meals because I was over it with just the cheese and bread meal. I got the nerve to ask the waiter if the chef could just make me something vegetarian and wound up getting the most amazing pumpkin soup. Then I was served roasted vegetables which included endives, something I really hadn't eaten before. My wine buddies were eating pigeons and was fascinated by the strange meat eater food. Had to take a picture. Then I was so moved by my cheese plate, I took another picture.


I think we managed to get back to the hotel by 1:30am, full and ready to hit the hay...

Day 4 begins in just a few hours.