Day 2 - Cote de Beaune
The Cotes de Beaune is the southern part of the Cote D'Or where the best whites come from as well as some very good very reds. An early start takes us a short drive south from Beaune to the small village of Chassagne-Montrachet where we visit DomainePhilippe Colin to try some outstanding white wines. The Colin's own just 9ha, mainly in Chassagne, with some in the neighbouring village of Saint-Aubin. Yields are 35hl/ha for the whites and 45hl/ha for the reds. The first wine is a tank sample of 2006 Chassagne Blanc which had been racked just the day before. The flavours were creamy, appley and nutty with a touch of marzipan, a little bit 'tanky' but very good. We tried several more of the Colin's Chassagne-Montrachets including a 2006 Chenevottes which had more oak apparent on both nose and palate, a 2005 Chaumées, which comes from lower slopes with lighter soils, and was leaner with hints of yellow fruits and creme anglaise. The 2006 Embrazées was leaner than the previous wines with a great smokiness and a characteristic custard and yoghurt flavour. We were lucky enough to taste the 2006 Chevalier-Montrachet of which the Colin's only make 5 barrels. It was very lean with not much going on yet but with a fabulous texture and obvious class, it will be very good.
We left Domaine Colin feeling very positive about the 2006 vintage; after initial reviews we had read about the 2006 vintage the fruit was far better than we had expected, not as rich as 2005 but pretty and very focused. We drove straight to Domaine Marc Morey where things just got better. Bernard has vineyards in Chassagne and the neighbouring village of Puligny-Montrachet.The 2006 Bourgogne Blanc is all from Chassagne and is a cut above most generic Bourgognes with a rich nutty and creamy character. We tried eleven more wines, the best being an amazing 2006 Batard-Montrachet which had just been bottled, even so it was full of beautifully creamy, with aromas and flavours of flower petals, loads of minerals, fresh nuts and so much more. It comes from a parcel of just 17 rows of vines (or 0.13ha) of which Bernard only gets 2 barrels. Bernard's other wines were all very good; others that stood out were his 2006 Chassagne Premier Cru Vergets which is a vineyard just below the more famous Chenevottes with more limestone making a more concentrated and very open wine, and the 2006 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles which is far leaner than the Chassagnes, elegant and very crisp. Bernard's wines confirmed what we found at Domaine Colin that the 2006 vintage is very good for the whites, with refined classic flavours.
The next stop was a very short drive to Domine Jean-Claude Bachelet, a highly regarded producer that likes to keep the wines in barrel for a year longer than most Domaines, as a result we were lucky enough to get to taste a lot of 2005 barrel samples as well as the 2006's. Jean-Claude has vineyards in Saint-Aubin, Chassagne and Puligny. The 2005's were excellent showing more richness and potential for longevity than the 2006's we had tried up to that point. The bad news being that most of them had been sold already, the good news being we managed to get fifteen cases of the excelllent Village Puligny-Montrachet which comes from a great plot that is very close to the Grand Cru vineyards. Aged for 18 months in 16% new oak the wine has very good body, minerality and great length of flavour. Twenty eight wines later, which involved some very interesting barrel clambering in the tiny cellar, we were beginning to need some lunch. Bachelet's wines were wonderful and we left very happy.
After a bit of lunch overlooking the most expensive white wine vineyard in Burgundy; Le Montrachet, the next stop was Domaine Henri Prudhon et Fils in Saint-Aubin where we had a marathon tasting. S-Aubin is not as highly regarded as Puligny or Chassagne but in the best hands some of the vineyards can produce wonderful wines. The Prudhons only have 14ha of vineyards yet make over 25 different wines, ranging from an easy-drinking Bourgogne Blanc to an excellent 1er cru Puligny La Garenne of which they only make 2 barrels. We tried a lot of barrel samples of the 2006 vintage, as well as bottles from 2005 and some 2004's. The wines showed greater complexity with a couple of years of ageing, unfortunately the Prudhons had sold nearly all of their older wines but it showed us the potential of the lovely 2006's and the excellent 2005's.
From Saint-Aubin we drove north to the village of Pernand-Vergelesses, another lesser-known area in the north of the Cote de Beaune where we visited Domaine Remi Rollin et Fils. This was the biggest surprise of the whole trip to us, we didn't have great expectations for this Domaine as they are based in a less sophisticated part of the Cote de Beaune. We loved most of Remi Rollin's wines especially the Pernand-Vergelesses which are excellent value for money by comparison with more expensive wines furher south. The best wine of the visit was the Rollin's Corton-Charlemagne 2005 which is from a hilly Grand Cru vineyard; a fantastic nose of cereal, hay fields, oaky toastiness and amazing flavours of brioche, biscuit and gorgeous fruit. An expensive wine at £50 a bottle but it was fabulous.
Up to this point the Domaines we visited were very typically burgundian; small, very dark, mouldy and in some cases complete chaos. The next visit was to the immaculate cellar of David Moret at Moret-Nominet, a negociant based in right in the centre of Beaune. Generally in Burgundy negociants are not as good as Domaines as they do not own the vineyards their fruit comes from and therefore do not have complete control over the quality of the fruit. But there are a few exceptions to this and David is one. Before he decided to become a wine maker he sold agricultural equipment to the wine industry during which he got to know many vineyard owners. Through his contacts he is able to source amazing quality fruit from vineyard owners who do not want to make their own wine. Moret-Nomine has not been around for very long, especially by Burgundian standards, but he has been buying from the same sources since 2000. We tried several 2006's fom barrel, many of which were from the only barrel David had, and some of his 2005's from bottle. All of the wines were a revelation to us, from the humble Rully to the truly outstanding Le Montrachet 2005 which was one of the best wines I have tasted.
We left David having tasted over 120 wines during the day, so it was off for a big and very boozy dinner.