Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
France Part 2, Beaune cont'd
After our weekend of relaxation and exploring in Beaune it was time for our heavy lifting, ground and pound, tasting at the wineries.
Bright and early on Monday we departed for our first stop of the day, Domaine Dainel Rion located in Premeaux, one of the first wine villages in the Cote de Nuits, north of Beaune. Pulling into the parking lot at around 9.20am, Mike looks at me and says something like, are you serious its 9 f'in am in the morning, I hope my tongue is awake cause I'm not (I am really interjecting here as I don't remember exactly what he said but it was something funny). This tasting was really the start of a hospitality trend I had no idea I was to be treated to. Upon arriving I start in on my terrible French, Bonjour Madam, nous sommes ici pour rendez-vous, she responds something back in French, and I immediately switch to Parlez-vous anglais, to which she responds yes, a little. In fact, a little was a lot, she spoke great English. The lady speaking to us was in fact the daughter of the man who started the winery, and a long with her two brothers, run the vineyards and winery now.
We were treated to barrel samples of I think all of their 2010 vintage which included village, premiere cru, and grand cru wines including Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot. They were all extremely complex and superb. I think the most interesting thing for me was being able to clearly see the difference in the villages, meaning one grand cru vineyard to the next, they all had their own unique terroir. This only built to an obsession as we visited each producer.
After Rion we headed north from Premeaux to Gevery-Chambertin for our next appointment with Domaine Henri Rebourseau.
We pulled up to what looked like someones house, which it was, an old open gate greeted us followed by the vineyard dog carrying and gnawing on an old vine!
After petting the dog, we finally found the owner running from what looked like the office (a little old hut) back to his house (an old old house). He ran up to us, and I started in on my awful French, and he said he had to finish something and ran back in the house. Once he came back, he greeted us, and took us over to another building on the property where we just talked about Burgundy, the different vineyards, his philosophies, shared stories and the like. Mr. de Surrel spent a good part of an hour teaching us about Burgundy to which I am grateful. One thing he mentioned is that, in general, the best grand crus come from the sort of "middle bench" of the slope, a good piece of information to have. After our information session, he pulled out one of those old giant keys, to which he had about fifteen of them on his key right for various places on the property, and ushered us over to this littler door, and into the dark, dank, cellar we went. Unfortunately, I don't have picture of inside the cellar, but it was something out of Tales from the Crypt. This is where I really started to enjoy and understand what Burgundy was all about. We tasted his four grand crus, Chambertin, Mazy-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, and Clos de Vougeot with Chambertin stealing the show. Looking at my tasting notes, which were scribbled on the back of google directions I noted that Chambertin was big and manly and that the finish went on and on while Clos de Vougeot was more mineral. Mr. de Surrel says, "you see, the wine comes from the ground." At the end of our tasting Mr. de Surrel said this, "there are two things that I look for in a great wine, that it is all encompassing, no one component sticks out, and that the finish is long."
I am not sure if I mentioned this but I brought over eight bottles of wine from American to share with the best visits that I had. I brought a bunch of Rochioli and Ridge wine. I felt this was an opportunity to share, so I pulled out a Rochioli Pinot and we sat and tasted. Mr. de Surrel, simply said, I can smell the sun in this wine, but it also has acidity. He seemed to like the wine. This visit was one of my most memorable experiences in France and Burgundy.
We were then off to our third and final appointment of the day at Domaine Michel Gros. But first a quick picture break.
After lunch and driving around a bit we arrived at Domaine Michel Gros in Vosne-Romanee. We were greeted by Michel and were given a tour of his facilities by his assistant wine maker. We then went down into the cellars to taste.
We tasted three wines, all were very good.
Next posting, more Burgundy!
Bright and early on Monday we departed for our first stop of the day, Domaine Dainel Rion located in Premeaux, one of the first wine villages in the Cote de Nuits, north of Beaune. Pulling into the parking lot at around 9.20am, Mike looks at me and says something like, are you serious its 9 f'in am in the morning, I hope my tongue is awake cause I'm not (I am really interjecting here as I don't remember exactly what he said but it was something funny). This tasting was really the start of a hospitality trend I had no idea I was to be treated to. Upon arriving I start in on my terrible French, Bonjour Madam, nous sommes ici pour rendez-vous, she responds something back in French, and I immediately switch to Parlez-vous anglais, to which she responds yes, a little. In fact, a little was a lot, she spoke great English. The lady speaking to us was in fact the daughter of the man who started the winery, and a long with her two brothers, run the vineyards and winery now.
We were treated to barrel samples of I think all of their 2010 vintage which included village, premiere cru, and grand cru wines including Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot. They were all extremely complex and superb. I think the most interesting thing for me was being able to clearly see the difference in the villages, meaning one grand cru vineyard to the next, they all had their own unique terroir. This only built to an obsession as we visited each producer.
After Rion we headed north from Premeaux to Gevery-Chambertin for our next appointment with Domaine Henri Rebourseau.
We pulled up to what looked like someones house, which it was, an old open gate greeted us followed by the vineyard dog carrying and gnawing on an old vine!
After petting the dog, we finally found the owner running from what looked like the office (a little old hut) back to his house (an old old house). He ran up to us, and I started in on my awful French, and he said he had to finish something and ran back in the house. Once he came back, he greeted us, and took us over to another building on the property where we just talked about Burgundy, the different vineyards, his philosophies, shared stories and the like. Mr. de Surrel spent a good part of an hour teaching us about Burgundy to which I am grateful. One thing he mentioned is that, in general, the best grand crus come from the sort of "middle bench" of the slope, a good piece of information to have. After our information session, he pulled out one of those old giant keys, to which he had about fifteen of them on his key right for various places on the property, and ushered us over to this littler door, and into the dark, dank, cellar we went. Unfortunately, I don't have picture of inside the cellar, but it was something out of Tales from the Crypt. This is where I really started to enjoy and understand what Burgundy was all about. We tasted his four grand crus, Chambertin, Mazy-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, and Clos de Vougeot with Chambertin stealing the show. Looking at my tasting notes, which were scribbled on the back of google directions I noted that Chambertin was big and manly and that the finish went on and on while Clos de Vougeot was more mineral. Mr. de Surrel says, "you see, the wine comes from the ground." At the end of our tasting Mr. de Surrel said this, "there are two things that I look for in a great wine, that it is all encompassing, no one component sticks out, and that the finish is long."
I am not sure if I mentioned this but I brought over eight bottles of wine from American to share with the best visits that I had. I brought a bunch of Rochioli and Ridge wine. I felt this was an opportunity to share, so I pulled out a Rochioli Pinot and we sat and tasted. Mr. de Surrel, simply said, I can smell the sun in this wine, but it also has acidity. He seemed to like the wine. This visit was one of my most memorable experiences in France and Burgundy.
We were then off to our third and final appointment of the day at Domaine Michel Gros. But first a quick picture break.
 |
| Lunch |
 |
| Tractor in the distance |
After lunch and driving around a bit we arrived at Domaine Michel Gros in Vosne-Romanee. We were greeted by Michel and were given a tour of his facilities by his assistant wine maker. We then went down into the cellars to taste.
Next posting, more Burgundy!
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