Inside BurgundyThe vineyards, the wine & the people

Jasper Morris MW

Profiles of over one thousand vineyards, hundreds of descriptions and appraisals of domaines and their wines, 35 highly-detailed full-colour maps of every wine area from Chablis to Pouilly: Inside Burgundy unlocks the secrets of one of the world’s most acclaimed wines. Jasper Morris, Master of Wine and burgundy specialist for three decades, conveys his infectious delight in the quirks of character, both human and geographic, that make memorable Burgundian bottles.

InsideBurgundyThe vineyards, the wine & the people

Jasper Morris MW

forewordI have known Jasper Morris since the early 1980s, having met him with his‘mentor’, Becky Wasserman, in the Burgundy hamlet of Bouilland, where shelived and where Jasper, his wife Abigail and their various cats now themselveslive. Almost three decades in the Côte d’Or might seem sufficient apprenticeshipto write this book, but added to them is the author’s natural flair for far moreresearch into the region which is his business (and, clearly, his passion) than hisprofession demands. He knows the place – literally – from the bedrock up.

From the opening sentence of the Introduction ‘First, I developed a love ofwine – and then came Burgundy.....I found something special in Burgundy that Ihad not found elsewhere’, his delight in his subject is plain. Add to Jasper’s thirstfor knowledge Becky’s philosophy of ‘the appreciation of wine as somethingenormously more worthwhile than merely a product in which to trade’, and youhave the basis for this book.

Fired by this enthusiasm, Jasper has since 1981 made his living from buying,selling and understanding burgundy. This gives him the perfect alibi for aresearcher, scholar and writer: he can knock on any door, visit any cellar as atrusted, knowledgeable yet candid insider. He has built up what I suspect isunrivalled knowledge of every aspect of life in the region, from the quirks ofgeology to the complex patterns of cousinage, inheritance and personality thatdecide why Domaine A has the vineyards it has and makes the wines it does.

Jasper asks in his introduction ‘Why another book on Burgundy?’ Most otherbooks on Burgundy, on any wine region for that matter, are compendiums of facts:what is grown where, who makes it, how good is it and how does it compare towhat else is being made. These are invaluable as works of reference, necessary forknowledge, but often lack an historical perspective, preferring what is now towhat might have gone before.

Burgundy is unique, and Jasper states openly that what sort of wine to makeis less of a problem for a Burgundian than it might be for a pioneer of ‘brave NewWorld Pinot’, adding ‘though if another one of those tells me again that he makeshis wine in the Burgundian style, I cannot answer for the consequences. Ifnothing else, I hope that this book will show that there is no such thing.’

What there are, and have been for centuries, are the vineyards – and eachsingle one is described in historical, geographical, geological, vinous and factualdetail. Refreshingly, what also comes through these descriptions is that they have

been written by someone who has and does walk the land: you can stand withhim, look to your left, spot the dip that was a quarry, note how the slope turns justhere towards the morning sun...

These insights extend well beyond the glories of the Côte d'Or: we are guidedthrough the increasingly serious and interesting hills of the Côte Chalonnaise,and into the heart of Pouilly-Fuissé, where as Jasper observes thoughtful andpainstaking vignerons are making better and better wines.

To each vineyard Jasper has given his ranking, through village to premier cruand grand cru quality, comparing it with those of Dr Jules Lavalle in 1855 andCamille Rodier in 1920 (with whom he is often, but not always, in completeagreement), stating modestly that he hopes such commentaries will be useful tothe reader and consumer. Then, in each commune, he covers in detail the ownersand the wines they produce.

If this were not enough, there are the maps, which draw upon and extend thework of Burgundian cartographers Sylvain Pitiot and Pierre Poupon. I have neverseen vineyard maps so exact and so explicit, illustrating to perfection the denseyet always elegant, unbelievably informative text.

The knowledge in this book is encyclopaedic and every page widens one’sunderstanding of Burgundy: did you know that inhabitants of Gevrey-Chambertin are known as 'Gibriaçois', or that the first Ban de Vendangesdeclaration was in 1212 near Tonnerre? Then there are the insights, still relevant,into why area A has so much premier cru land (to keep the wartime Germansfrom requisitioning the wine), or why vineyard B is not grand cru (the thenowners didn’t want to pay the tax). With Inside Burgundy Jasper Morris hasgiven his readers, and his adopted Burgundy, the book they deserve.

To sum up, Jasper Morris has found a way to illuminate the bafflinglycomplex relationships between people and place, vigneron and vineyard, whichare at the heart of Burgundy. Authors have tried before and superb books haveresulted; none, however, has suceeded quite so well in presenting the detail, in making clear the pattern, without drowning the reader in nuance, exceptionand ambiguity.

Steven SpurrierLondon, June 2010

Côte de Beaune •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 266The Hill of Corton •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 272Beaune •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 294Savigny- & Chorey-lès-Beaune •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 323Pommard •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• • 337Volnay •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 353Auxey-Duresses, Monthélie, St-Romain • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 373Meursault & Blagny •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 386The Montrachets •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 414Puligny-Montrachet •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 424Chassagne-Montrachet •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 439St-Aubin •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 467Santenay •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 477Maranges •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 486

Greater Burgundy •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 492Generic Burgundy •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 496Crémant de Bourgogne •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 501The Hautes-Côtes •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 503Chablis •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 512The Auxerrois •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 541Côte Chalonnaise • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 553The Mâconnais • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 582Pouilly-Fuissé •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 600

Reference & Index 616Appreciating Burgundy • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 618Understanding vintages •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 619Bibliography • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 640Index • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 644

contentsForeword • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 6List of maps •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 10Introduction •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 12How to use this book • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 16Glossary • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 17

Part One: Background to Burgundy 18The historical background •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 20The Burgundy wine trade •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 30The geography: terroir, geology & soil • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 38The weather: wind, rain, hail, frost & sun •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 43White grapes • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 47Red grapes • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 51Viticulture • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 55The harvest •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 66In search of a style • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 69Making white wine •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 72Making red wine •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 78

Part Two: Vineyards & Vignerons 86Defining the vineyards: appellations & classifications •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 89

Côte de Nuits •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 96Côte de Nuits–Villages • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 102Marsannay •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 108Fixin •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 117Gevrey-Chambertin •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 123Morey-St-Denis •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 161Chambolle-Musigny • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 180Vougeot • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 197Vosne-Romanée & Flagey-Echézeaux •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 206Nuits-St-Georges • •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 239

12 Inside Burgundy 13Introduction

Why Burgundy?I did not grow up in a burgundy-drinking family. I did not even have a moment ofepiphany when one single earth-moving bottle of burgundy convinced me of theroad to follow. First, I developed a love of wine – and then came Burgundy.

When I originally set up as an independent wine merchant I had at the timeno predisposition in favour of one part of France over another, though I doubtedthat with our limited means our young company could make much headway inBordeaux. In fact, I came to Burgundy almost last in my anti-clockwise tour ofFrance, taken at various moments in 1981, having begun in February in the Loirevalley. Yet even from the first trip I found something special in Burgundy whichI had not found elsewhere.

One person was the key. My first guide in Burgundy was Becky Wasserman,1

who had recently withdrawn from her first business as a barrel broker, sellingFrançois Frères barrels in California, and was now concentrating on distributinggrowers’ burgundy in export markets. It was the start of the great movementtowards domaine-bottling, and I was fortunate enough to be in at the beginningand to be introduced to some of the most passionate exponents.

Becky has played an immense role in the development of Burgundy’s currentGolden Age. Not only has she encouraged so many young growers to develop theirbusinesses, she has fed the enthusiasms of countless wine writers and importersover the past 30 years, conveying her philosophy and appreciation of wine assomething enormously more worthwhile than merely a product to trade. Herhusband Russell Hone supports her with his exceptional palate and unparalleledmemory of wines tasted and drunk.

Working with Becky back in 1981, doing an apprenticeship on the commercialside of wine before returning to his family domaine, was Dominique Lafon, whosoon became and remains a good friend. Part of his job was to prospect for newgrowers on the scene, several of whom became our suppliers. Many householdnames today had never exported before, and were thus unknown in the UK andUSA. It was even possible to pick up an allocation of Lafon wines. Dominiquewas also able to accompany me to certain more established cellars where theetiquette of the day made it difficult for him to invite himself to go and taste.

A budding young wine merchant of 23, however enterprising, cannot possiblyhope to make sense of tasting barrel-samples so as to be confident of how the

wines will turn out, given that he has no back catalogue of reference points.However, what he can do is make a judgement of the producer himself: is thevigneron who has been responsible for growing the grapes and making the winecompletely passionate about what he or she is doing? Do they respond withinterest and honesty to the questions one might ask? Are they driven by thequality of the product, or by the desire to sell me some wine? Time and again inBurgundy I found that their focus was on how they could make the best possiblewine. Every tasting was suffused by their huge enthusiasm for what they weredoing; only after that, if I wanted to buy some cases, they may – or indeed maynot – have had something available to sell.

There may be other, more fanciful, reasons which help to explain my love ofBurgundy. I cannot help but feel that there is a link between the chalk and claysoils of my native Hampshire, and the famous clay-limestone argilo-calcaire ofBurgundy. I feel much less at ease on sandy soils. Might there be scope for a shortmonograph on the terroir of Basingstoke, drawing parallels between my twopassions for wine and cricket and that of another more famous Basingstoke Boy,2

John Arlott, who shared the same passions?

Why this book ?There have been many fine books on Burgundy already written – please see thebibliographical essay on p.640 – so why another? But most of these in recenttimes have concentrated on producers rather than on the vineyards. Domaineschange, but the vineyards remain more or less immutable: a compendium of theircharacteristics seems a useful addition. Over nearly 30 years of visiting BurgundyI have picked up a vast amount of information – for which I have as great a thirstas I do for the wine itself – and I wanted to collect this together and makeconstructive use of it.

I thought at first of writing this book about the vineyards only, since there arealready numerous publications detailing the lives and wines of the majorproducers of Burgundy. However a chance encounter with Aubert de Villaine atthe annual meeting of the Centre Historique de la Vigne et du Vin in Beaunechanged my thinking.

Terroir is nothing, he suggested, without man – both l’homme and l’Homme.An individual man puts his imprint on the wine, interprets the terroir; andMankind has shaped the vineyards across the centuries, making decisions whichhave resulted in the various terroirs being as they are today. It has been suggestedthat the human input might even be considered part of terroir itself. I would notgo this far, but I would agree that terroir alone has no significance without humanintervention and interpretation to make something of its fruits.

The vigneron as heroFor all that the stamp of the vigneron is crucial to the nature of the wine (a pointexplored in the chapter on stylistic choices), we should resist the temptation ofplacing the growers on pedestals, investing them with hero status. They arehuman beings like the rest of us: some are better at the job than others, all arecapable of making mistakes from time to time, and of moments of sublimeachievement when everything comes together as it should. The cult of the

1 For a superb appreciationof Becky, see MargaretRand in The World of FineWine Magazine No. 19,2008 pp 168-170.

2 Basingstoke Boy, the titleof John Arlott’sautobiography, BoundaryBooks, 1990.

introduction

15Introduction14 Inside Burgundy

4 E M Forster, Howard’s End,Edward Arnold, 1910.

5 Maurice Healy, Stay mewith Flagons, MichaelJoseph, London, 1940, p.167.

3 I can think of someexamples which I will notquote. We wereconsidering sub-titling thebook ‘The Sex Life ofBurgundy’.

6 Thomas Hobbes,Leviathan, 1660.

individual grower as a demi-god in his or her own right is dangerous.Our vigneron will change too during the course of a career – which may last

as long as 50 years in the case of a Jacques d’Angerville, Michel Lafarge or JeanMongeard. Leaving aside the obvious development of knowledge and expertisealong the learning curve, the vigneron is just as susceptible to the ups and downsof life as any other human being. There may be a rocky patch after the break-upof a relationship or a mid-life crisis, perhaps even a change in style when a newpartner influences some changes in techniques.3

Conflict of interestThe three major British books on Burgundy published in the 1990s were allwritten by Masters of Wine, of whom one, Anthony Hanson, was still involvedwith a commercial wine-selling company and the other two, Clive Coates andRemington Norman, had previously been. Their close links with the region hadoriginally come about for commercial reasons, but only thus had they developedthe depth of knowledge which enabled them to write about Burgundy.

I also have a primary career within the wine trade. From 1981 to 2003 I ran awine importing company, Morris & Verdin, which fairly early on came tospecialise in burgundy. Since 2003 I have continued to work in the commercialsector as Berry Bros & Rudd’s burgundy buyer.

It is therefore appropriate to address the question of a potential conflict ofinterest between this commercial activity and the other role I have chosen here,as author. The most important point is that this book is not a guide to individualwines, and there is no attempt to rank the region’s producers (see p.16 for exactlywhat I have attempted). There are inevitably some implicit judgements, and itmay well be that some wine enthusiasts will make the acquaintance of somevignerons and wines with which I work through reading this book. But that is notthe point, and certainly not my motivation for wanting to create this work.

As a specialist in this region I feel that I have developed a body of knowledgeand more especially a depth of understanding of burgundy that I want to share. Ihope this book will transmit my enthusiasm for all the fine wines of the regionand encourage readers to explore more widely.

Understanding burgundyEverybody tastes wines in different ways. I am regularly reminded of the start ofChapter 5 in E M Forster’s Howard’s End4 in which many of the protagonists havegone to a Beethoven concert:

‘Whether you are like Mrs Munt, and tap surreptitiously when the tunescome… or like Helen, who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the music’s flood; orlike Margaret, who can only see the music, or like Tibby who is profoundly versedin counterpoint, and holds the full score open on his knee….’

I can just hear one or two of our more fanciful wine commentators invoking‘a goblin walking quietly over the universe from end to end’ as Helen does, whileTibby’s transitional passages on the drum would be mirrored by the oenologicalanorak who needs to know the exact pH of the wine, percentage of new oak andother technical details before he can appreciate the glass in front of him.

But the ideal is of course meant to be the approach of Margaret Schlegel, who

would just see it as wine. In theory. Actually, flights of fancy while appreciatingwine are an absolutely vital part of its appreciation, even if they do not alwaysbear close examination the following morning. Evelyn Waugh’s portrayal of youthfirst experiencing the delights of getting drunk on fine wine in BridesheadRevisited, when Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte vie with each other for evermore fantastical poetic descriptions, remains incredibly vivid.

The classic tradition of British writers in the first half of the 20th century isa rich field. I have chosen to quote from time to time from George Saintsbury,Maurice Healy and others. They often got facts wrong and they certainly werenot interested in the intricacies of winemaking, but they absolutely made theirsubject come alive. To reproduce this style today would invite derision, but it hasgreatly enriched the literature of wine over the years. Here is Maurice Healy ona bottle of Volnay Caillerets 1889, the finest burgundy he ever drank, edging outvarious Richebourgs and other famous names:

‘And so the moment arrived when it was proper for me to raise my glass. Thiswas nearly twenty years ago but I still remember the magnificent shock of thatbouquet, rich in mellow perfection and entirely free from the infirmities of age.I took one sip; I closed my eyes and every beautiful thing that I had ever knowncrowded into my memory….’5

Among the beautiful things in my life have been some wonderful bottles ofburgundy. Not necessarily grands crus, not always great vintages – but wineswhich, from first sniff, have demonstrated that the vigneron has done the bestpossible job with the grapes available from that vineyard, in that year.

Burgundy does not respond well to being put in a straitjacket. There are no setrules to making burgundy; there are no set rules to appreciating burgundy. It intrigues, fascinates, delights, infuriates, disappoints, charms, enraptures andpuzzles. Very like the life of man, as long as it refrains from Hobbes’ definition –‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.’6 This book aims at lighting the waytowards bottles which are rich in flavour, delightful, civilised and long – andcertainly plural.

Jasper Morris MWBurgundy, 2010

35The Burgundy wine trade34 Background to Burgundy

test to prove competence. There were doubts about the ability of would-becourtier Claude Hugault in 1607 after he failed the tasting test first time. So theygave him two ‘tasses’ of wine to taste and he correctly spotted that they were fromthe same bottle.3 An early precursor of the training for Australian show judges!Courtiers had to live within the walls of Beaune; they could not buy wines on theirown account; they could not solicit for business, but had to wait to be approachedby external merchants.

Today, the courtiers continue to act as intermediaries. Their job does not onlyentail matching buyer to provider; they also need to have a sufficiently goodunderstanding of the styles of wine from different villages and vineyards so thatthey can be confident of the authenticity of the samples on offer.

How the system worksA merchant wishing to offer wine from a vineyard where he has no vines himselfhas options as to how and when to buy – as grapes, as must, as wine in barrel orthe final article in bottle. One or two merchants exist who specialise in this last,effectively just bringing to market bottles created by somebody else that theythink are good examples of sellable wines.

However for the most part merchants want as much control over their wineas possible, so the ideal is to fix a contract to buy grapes well in advance of harvest.In some cases these contracts may run for years. It is also possible to make anagreement with the grower as to how he farms his vineyard, and in these cases itis normal to agree payment according to the maximum permitted yield perhectare rather than by the actual volume of grapes delivered. This encouragesthe grower to concentrate on quality rather than maximizing his revenue.

Normally the grower will harvest the grapes (hopefully when the purchaserthinks they are ripe), after which the buyer will collect from the vineyard gate. Itis starting to become more common, though, for the purchaser to send in his ownpicking team. For white wines, many growers prefer to deliver the contract asmust – unfermented grape juice fresh from the press. It is said that this is tosatisfy the amour propre of the grower, as it will not be known that he isimmediately selling his crop on to another – but it can also simplify cheating if thegrower is unscrupulous. You know that he has a vineyard in St-Aubin premiercru En Remilly, but is that what he has delivered as juice, or could it be somethingfrom a less-good vineyard?

Reds may well be bought in barrel after the alcoholic fermentation, andindeed wines of either colour may be bought at any time in barrel either to satisfythe need of an under-provided négociant, or if the original producer wants to slimdown his inventory for reasons of excess quantity (or inadequate quality).

At least at this stage both players in the transaction probably know the priceof the deal. This is not true of the transactions in grapes earlier in the cycle.

The classic négociantsWhen the Edict of Nantes, originally decreed by Henri IV in 1598 to allowreligious tolerance, was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685, it caused an exodus ofProtestants out of France to areas such as Germany, England and theNetherlands where their religion could be practised. There had been a significant

Protestant community in Burgundy who could, in exile, spread the fame of thewines they had left behind.... By the early 18th century merchants from outsidethe region were coming to Burgundy to prospect for good wines, which were soldto them by a breed of specialised tasters, known as courtier-gourmets. Later inthe century these fledgling négociants began to travel abroad to search for clients.In many instances wine was added to an existing portfolio, frequently to do withthe cloth trade.

Maison Champy opened its doors in 1720; Bouchard Père & Fils in 1731. Andmany others among today’s larger négociant operations have antecedents whichdate back to the 18th or 19th centuries. Famous houses may also change handswhile retaining their original names: thus Bouchard, Jadot and Drouhin are allowned in whole or in part by concerns from outside the region.

Today many négociant houses have developed significant vineyard holdings, as the table shows. Several claim to be the largest landowners by using differentmeasures: vineyards overall; vineyards in the Côte d’Or; premier and grand cruvineyards.

Classic négociant houses Foundation Vineyards Turnover4

Champy 1720 17ha unknownBouchard Père & Fils 1731 130ha €35.0mChanson 1750 45ha €8.0mLouis Latour 1797 50ha €54.1mLabouré-Roi 1831 6ha €35.7mAlbert Bichot 1831 100ha €33.6mJoseph Faiveley 1825 120ha €13.5mLouis Jadot 1859 154ha5 €59.8mJoseph Drouhin 1880 45ha €29.5m

The new négociantsThe world of trade is never static, so it is no surprise that new players set up inbusiness at regular intervals. The most dynamic of these over the last generationhas been Jean-Claude Boisset, now quoted on the Paris stock exchange, who hasswallowed up many less-successful but longer-established names not only inBurgundy but elsewhere in France (and abroad). This group’s turnover exceededthat of all the classic négociants cited above put together. Former Burgundyhouses now owned by Boisset include Bouchard Ainé (founded 1755) andJaffelin, both of Beaune; Louis Bouillot, Mommessin, Morin and Ponnelle fromNuits-St-Georges; J Moreau (Chablis); Mommessin and Thorin (Beaujolais).

Meanwhile Olivier Leflaive, once it became clear that Anne-Claude Leflaivewould be running the family domaine, developed his white-wine specialist house,Olivier Leflaive Frères in Puligny-Montrachet. Another white-wine specialist,Vincent Girardin, expanded from his original Santenay base into a thrivingnégociant operation in Meursault –though he is now downsizing the merchantside of his business in favour of developing his own vineyards. Jean-MarieGuffens developed his négociant concern, Verget, in the Mâconnais, thoughreaching as far north as Chablis for some of his grapes. Other smaller-scale whitespecialists include François d’Allaines and Maison Deux Montille.

3 J Delissey & L Perriaux, op.cit. p.3.

4 The figures are taken fromthe 2009 Enterprises &Performances supplementof Le Bien Public

5 Not all in the Côte d'Or

68 Background to Burgundy

• The grape is sweet and the juice which runs from it is sticky.• The pip changes from bright green to a dark green, almost brown colour.

However Jacques-Marie Duvault Blochet, 19th-century owner of LaRomanée Conti, Clos de la Pousse d’Or and many other famous vineyards, wasadamant that you should always wait for full ripeness. Assessing his 53 vintagesat the helm, he considered that he had only lost out on four occasions by decidingto pick late, and had won the gamble the other 49 times.7 He had come to theconclusion that unless the onset of rot dictated otherwise, you should wait for 13per cent potential alcohol. Then you should start picking – because beyond 13.5 per cent, though the wines might seem exceptional at first sight, they wouldhave difficulty in fermenting out and would lose some of their finesse.

YieldsThe size of the crop is determined in part by the weather conditions, which mayreduce it through frost, hail or disease, or swell it through rain. However thevigneron can and should exert control too, starting with choice of rootstock andplant material when the vines are planted, continuing through nutrient controlin the vineyard and, most obviously, his pruning decisions, his debuddingprogramme and perhaps green harvest.

What is a reasonable yield? The generalisation that quality and quantity areinversely proportional is only partially true. Large crops sometimes come aroundbecause excessive summer rainfall has swollen the grapes and diluted the fruit,but healthy, problem-free vintages such as 1990, 1999 and 2009 also tend to begenerous. However the vigneron whose yields are generally below average willclearly do better than he who pushes his crop too far. This latter is more aningrained conservative attitude – if some grapes get damaged by an accident ofweather or disease, other bunches will remain to fill the full quota – than out-and-out greed.

It can be hard to pin down a Burgundian to a definite figure. ‘I haven’t evenmade a feuillette [half a barrel] per ouvrée [a 24th of a hectare],’ moans one in a difficult year. I calculate this to be about 27hl/ha or around one and a half tonsper acre. If I am in any doubt as to the yields practised at a given date, I find outthe surface area of the various vineyards and then discreetly count the numberof barrels on offer.

If yields are consistently ultra-low, this may indicate exceptionally stressedvines, or a significant number of dead plants in the rows – neither of which isdesirable, while the latter is in fact illegal now if above 20 per cent. As a rule ofthumb, Pinot Noir can produce magical quality at around 35hl/ha, whileChardonnay can still thrive at yields up to 10-15hl/ha higher.

7 J-M Duvault-Blochet, Dela vendange, 1869, reprint2007, Terre en vues, p.13.

69In search of a style

in search ofa styleWhat sort of wine to make is less of a problem for a Burgundian than it might befor a pioneer of brave New World Pinot. Though if another one of those tells me again that he makes his wine in the burgundian style, I cannot answer for the consequences. If nothing else, I hope that this book will show that there is no such thing.

In Burgundy the majority of producers will have inherited their positions anda house style will already be in place – though of course the incomer may wish totinker with it, or possibly even introduce dramatic changes. But it may not be theright idea to search too deliberately for a style.

It is equally a temptation for critics and consumers alike to impute the qualityor style of a producer’s wines to one or another of various key decisions during thegrowing, or more often winemaking, process. I very much doubt if this is reallythe case, though of course certain choices such as including stems or otherwisedo have a major part to play.

But more importantly, the style of a producer’s wines depends on the myriadminiature decisions which he or she is making throughout the day and all yearround. These choices are a combination of temperament and technique, and willinform his or her wines throughout.

I suspect that it is also for this reason that domaine wines almost always seemto be superior to négociant cuvées in the cellars of those who make both. Even ifthe purchased grapes have come from an impeccable source, they will not havebeen grown in the image of the man making the wine, whereas those from hisown vineyards will have been.

Much depends also on the balance between an intuitive understanding ofwhat needs to be done and a reliance on prescribed techniques, in the way thatsome cooks use their cookbooks for instruction, others just for inspiration.

Faut-il suivre le millésime ?This is an age-old question – should the vigneron follow the style of the vintage,or do what is needed to countermand its failings or excesses?

My immediate reaction – perhaps an emotional rather than intellectual one– to this conundrum when I first heard it discussed in the early 1980s, was thatit would be much better to follow the vintage. If the vintage is sunny and thegrapes ripe but low in acidity, so be it. If the season is cooler and the wines a littleon the lean side, then we just accept that they will be stylistically different fromanother year.

I suspect that the great majority of producers, if posed the question in itssimplest form, would also say that you should follow the vintage. But thenconsider – would it not be better if one compensated for the shortfall of the

71In search of a style70 Background to Burgundy

and I have never been in sympathy with those importers who believe that theyknow better than the vignerons how to produce great wine, prescribing from afarwhat techniques they want their suppliers to use. (Surely the role of the importeris to identify suppliers who know what they are doing? And to ship wines madein different styles to appeal to the different palates of their various customers?)

If you were to shadow a talented winemaker for a season or even a week orperhaps just a day, it would soon become apparent that he or she is taking tinydecisions at every moment. If these are conscientiously made, with intelligenceand flair to boot, the overall quality of the final wine is likely to be good. But moreimportantly, it will have been imprinted with the style of the person making allthose mini-decisions.

Christophe Roumier and Frédéric Mugnier live next door to each other. Theyhave vines in many of the same vineyard sites, have a broadly similar philosophyon winemaking and use many of the same techniques. Yet their wines arestylistically miles apart, and they do not necessarily succeed in the same vintages.Both growers are pretty consistent now, but earlier on I felt that 1988 and 1995were Christophe vintages where Frédéric fared less well, but that 1989 and 1993were triumphs chez Mugnier.

Who a man is and where he comes fromThere is no reason why winemaking talents should be restricted to those in theprincipal villages, though in the Côte d’Or it is remarkably rare to find a producerof quality who is based in the Hautes-Côtes or down in the plain, even if workingwith some of the principal appellations of the Côte.

Is there something in the air (or the water) in Gevrey-Chambertin that makes it difficult for a Gibriaçois1 vigneron to produce a fine, gentle, gracefulChambolle-Musigny? Certainly in a line-up of Chambolles, those made in Gevreytend to stick out for their deeper colours and more assertive tannins. Even whenthe wine is tasted in the grower’s own cellar, his Chambolle will clearly be moreelegant and less structured than his Gevrey-Chambertin.

This may be because different cultures and traditions grow up in the variousvillages. Or it may be to do with a different form of culture: that of yeast cells. Wespeak of the natural yeasts coming into the winery on the skins of the grapes, butit is not entirely clear whether the work is really done by these yeasts, or bypopulations which have developed over time in the winery itself. If the latter, then– to follow our example – the Chambolle grapes being vinified in Gevrey-Chambertin may be fermenting away with Gevrey yeasts.

particular year? If there are significant tannins already present, most vigneronswill try to extract less. Certainly, if the aim is to provide a consistent product year-in, year-out, there will be more need to resort to techniques and technology.

Techniques and technologyEvery so often a new technique is discovered – or often rediscovered afterresearching 19th-century texts. Next, a vigneron in the limelight or an oenologicalguru promotes the use of said technique. Many disciples follow and critics praisethe results.

So far so good; but the following crowd, reasoning that if occasional use ofthis technique is good, decides that greater use of it must be better.

Eventually the pendulum swings back the other way as people begin to seethe drawbacks of the technique, now restored to where it should have been allalong: a useful tool in the vigneron’s locker to be brought out when circumstancesindicate that it would be of use to that particular wine in a given vintage.

Obvious cases in point are the cold soak (maceration à froid ) technique forred wines and lees stirring (bâtonnage) for whites. Oenologist Denis Dubordieuintroduced this latter technique for the dry white wines of Bordeaux, havingresearched its use in Burgundy in previous times. Burgundians had rather lostsight of it, but suddenly a new enthusiasm flooded the region. Stir up those leesto nourish the wine and prevent oxidation. But if a little stir from time to timecan be beneficial, regular and forceful bâtonnage denatures the individuality ofthe wine and can itself lead to oxidation. Nowadays most talented vigneronsprefer to stir a little, if they feel that the vintage is likely to benefit.

Il faut avoir le courage de ne rien faireOthers prefer to eschew intervention as much as they possibly can. ‘You shouldhave the courage to do nothing ’ was the great dictum of René Lafon, stillfrequently quoted on the Côte.

Of course, we have to intervene somewhere. Even the most ‘natural’winemakers in the movement for ‘natural wine’, eschewing the use of sulphur atany stage, must intervene to the extent of picking the grapes and pressing orcrushing them. Even René Lafon was not advocating leaving the wine untouchedin barrel without topping up, for example. And he was prepared to intervene incase of crisis, such as encouraging his 1963 whites to ferment by adding the leesof subsequent vintages, or extracting some colour in rot-infused 1975 redsthrough heating.

However, exceptional circumstances aside, he liked to leave the wine to doits own thing without constant nannying, chivvying or tweaking. It does takecourage. But, to return to an earlier metaphor, the cook who keeps pulling a dishout of the oven to see if it is done will not achieve the perfect roast of the one whorelies on experience.

The infinite capacity for taking painsThere is a tendency to think that there are some key secrets to winemaking. Youmust filter or not filter, use 100 per cent new barrels or none at all, rack by thelight of the moon or avoid racking altogether…. It is clearly not as simple as that,

1 as inhabitants of Gevrey-Chambertin are known.

131Gevrey-Chambertin130 Côte de Nuits

the ideal exposure of the vineyard. There was anothervein of rock apparent just below the Clos, showingclearly on the track which separates this part of thevineyard from the rest of Ruchottes. In total there are 27 separate parcels of Ruchottes-Chambertin sharedbetween eight owners. The biggest owner was ThomasBassot, which sold its holding in 1976 to Rousseau,Mugneret-Gibourg and Michel Bonnefond, whose parcelis farmed by Domaine Roumier. Christophe Roumiertold me of a tasting held in 2007 by the three vigneronswho had profited from this sale, a tasting which went back to the first vintage,1977. Recent vintages very much showed the style of the winemaking at theindividual domaines; but this was not the case for the wines with ten years ormore of bottle age, which demonstrated the style of the vineyard, moderated ofcourse by the nature of the vintage, much more than the hand of the winemaker.

Premiers crusThe premiers crus are in two main groups, plus two singletons, Combottes andBel-Air. One group is next to the nine grands crus, though one might differentiatebetween those below Chapelle and Mazis, and those just to the north, close to thevillage, and clearly in the cône de déjection of the Combe de Lavaux.

The second swathe constitutes the Côte St-Jacques. Around 1930, when thevarious crus were being delimited, there was a move by a group of vignerons touse the name ‘Côte St-Jacques’ or even ‘Côte St-Jacques-Chambertin’ for thesevineyards. In the event only Clos St-Jacques itself plus Lavaux and Estournellesretained the right, justified by long-term usage, to use ‘St-Jacques’, and none ofthem the suffix or prefix ‘Chambertin’. This band of premiers crus then continuesfurther along the hillside as far as the boundary with Brochon.

Bel-AirACs: Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru; Gevrey-ChambertinL: not mentioned R: not mentionedJM: Village (unless they cut the forest back) 2.65ha*

In pre-phylloxera times the Bel-Air vineyard was somewhat more substantialthan it is today. In fact, vines only reappeared after parts of the forest werecleared and replanted in the 1960s. Two rectangular vineyards have been carvedout of the forest – the smaller, upper part is classified as village while the lowerpart, continuing the upper part of Ruchottes-Chambertin, sits atop Clos de Bèze.

The high, cool situation and steep slope on thin soil, mostly white marl, giveswines of greater acidity than most, with a slight blackcurrant tint to the fruit.

Domaines Taupenot-Merme and Charlopin produce the premier cru versionwhile Domaine de la Vougeraie has vines in the village sector.

La BossièreACs: Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru; Gevrey-ChambertinL: not mentioned R: not mentioned JM: 1er cru 0.45ha*

Tucked up in the entrance to a small valley parallel to the Combe de Lavaux,

* plus 0.84ha classified asvillage

* plus 1.44ha classified asvillage

drunk in the early 2000s while still in its young stage, with hauntingly pure fruit.Ponsot no longer has the contract to farm these vines, which has passed insteadto Patrick Bize in Savigny.

Mazis-ChambertinAC: Mazis-Chambertin Grand CruL: 1ère Cuvée (upper part); 2ème Cuvée (lower part)R: 1ère Cuvée JM: grand cru 9.10haMazis- or Mazy-Chambertin lies at the northern end of the group of grands crus,closest to the village, and is divided into two parts of which Mazis-Haut, sittingon the same rock formation as Clos de Bèze, is slightly superior to Mazis-Bas.

Between 1855 and 1935 Les Mazis increasedfrom 8.59 hectares to its present 9.10 at theexpense of a little morsel of Les Corbeaux.

Of course, in best Burgundian fashion, thereis a fair bit of Mazis-Bas that is higher up theslope than part of Mazis-Haut. The differencebetween the two is that Mazis-Bas is on slightlydeeper soil, with some influence from the cônede déjection of the Combe de Lavaux both interms of soil make-up and temperature. It is apredominantly brown soil with a few stones.The underlying rock is in the form of fissuredslabs through which the roots can penetrate.Mazis-Haut has noticeably less topsoil and ismore similar to Ruchottes-Chambertin.

The wines are noted for firm structure andconsiderable power. They often have a wilder character than other members ofthe Chambertin family (especially Domaine Maume’s example), with notes oftannins, leather, menthol, liquorice – all sorts of complex aromatics which arefar removed from the opulent sweet fruit of Charmes-Chambertin.

Ruchottes-Chambertin AC: Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand CruL: 1ère Cuvée (upper part); 2ème Cuvée (lower part)R: 1ère Cuvée JM: grand cru 3.30haThough Ruchottes-Chambertin is a small enough vineyard in any case, at just3.30 hectares, it nonetheless divides into a lower and an upper part; the latter,known as the Clos des Ruchottes (1.10ha) belongs entirely to Domaine ArmandRousseau. The name, which first appears in 1508, is a corruption of rochots, or‘little rocks’, underscoring the infertile, stony nature of the soil. The upper part ison an oolitic white marlstone, while below there is éboulis from the bathonianperiod. The nature of the rock and the paucity of the topsoil give wines typicallylight in colour and full of subtle nuances rather than overpowering weight.

I walked round the Clos des Ruchottes with Eric Rousseau. The mother rockwas clearly apparent just above the vineyard, with nothing capable of growingapart from a few alpine strawberries – already ripe in mid-May, a testament to

Mazis-Chamertin: who owns what HaHospices de Beaune Cuvée Madeleine Collignon 1.75Joseph Faiveley 1.20Rebourseau 0.96Harmand-Geoffroy 0.73Bernard Maume 0.67Domaine Armand Rousseau 0.53Philippe Naddef 0.42Tortochot 0.42Camus 0.37Dupont-Tisserandot 0.35Domaine d’Auvenay 0.26Bernard Dugat-Py 0.22Domaine Chris Newman 0.19Jean-Michel Guillon 0.18Frédéric Esmonin 0.14Joseph Roty 0.12Domaine Charlopin-Parizot 0.09Confuron-Cotetidot 0.08

Ruchottes-Chamberin: who owns what HaDomaine Armand Rousseau 1.06Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg 0.64Frédéric Esmonin 0.52Christophe Roumier (Michel Bonnefond)* 0.51François Trapet 0.20Henri Magnien 0.16Château de Marsannay 0.10Marchand Grillot 0.08

*Michel Bonnefond is the owner, Christophe Roumierthe sharecropper. It is the same wine under either label.

133Gevrey-Chambertin132 Côte de Nuits

Gevrey-Chambertin

159Gevrey-Chambertin158 Côte de Nuits

Domaine TrapetThe domaine is currently run by Jean-Louis Trapet, son of Jean and cousin ofthe Rossignol-Trapets. He is married to an Alsacienne, Andrée, and together theymaintain links with and make wine from Alsace, though production remainsfirmly centered on Gevrey-Chambertin. Jean-Louis moved towards biodynamicfarming in the mid-1990s, working first with guru François Bouchet and nowwith Pierre Masson. The domaine has been certified by Biodivin since 1998 andDemeter from 2005.

Jean-Louis would rather talk about the philosophy of wine than the detail ofwinemaking, but the broad-brush outline is partial destemming, with a cool pre-fermentation maceration before a long fermentation, thenthe descent by gravity of the wine to the barrel cellar, with30 to 75 per cent new oak used according to the cuvée. Heuses no sulphur at harvest or during the vinification andmaturation processes, just adding a small dose at bottling.The wines are succulent and rounded and make aninteresting contrast to the tighter, more precise style ofJean-Louis’s cousins at Domaine Rossignol-Trapet.Le Chambertin Grand Cru The warmth and richness on the surface of theTrapet style is supported by a dense mineral core which is the vineyardexpressing itself. This combination of purity and grandeur makes for a verycomplete wine.Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru The Trapet holding was purchased in 1904,the year of Louis Trapet’s birth. This is a relatively muscular wine chez Trapet,with rich red fruits surrounding a core of steel.

Cécile TremblayThough the preceding two generations had not been involved in wine, theyretained ownership of vineyards inherited from Edouard Jayer, uncle of Henri. In 2003 Edouard’s great-granddaughter, Cécile Tremblay, decided to take backthree hectares of vines on the expiry of the lease. More are due to follow in 2021and Cécile has already purchased or rented further land. Since August 2008 shehas rented premises in Gevrey-Chambertin, the former Caveau du Chapître.

The vineyards were not in great condition when Cécile took them over – too much fertiliser, herbicides preferred to ploughing, and so on, but they aresteadily being licked into shape. The vines are now certified organic and Cécilepursues a number of biodynamic methods. Her list of wines will doubtless evolvefurther: in 2006 and 2007 premier cru Les Rouges went into the village Vosne-Romanée, while most of the Nuits-St-Georges is premiercru Murgers, but the vines are young. From 2021 therewill be much more Beaumonts and some Clos deVougeot as well.

Some stems are kept during vinification, which takesplace in wooden vats for up to a month, with somepunching down but very little pumping over. The solidsare pressed at the end with a small vertical press ofwhose virtues Cécile sings highly. The wines are then

Domaine Trapet HaLe Chambertin Grand Cru 1.85Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 0.55Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru 0.74Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Prieur 0.21Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petite Chapelle 0.37Gevrey-Chambertin 6.00Marsannay 0.90

Cécile Tremblay HaEchézeaux Grand Cru 0.18Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru 0.36Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Beaumonts 0.15Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Rouges-du-Dessus 0.23Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Feusselottes 0.45Nuits-St-Georges ‘Albuca’ 0.25Morey-St-Denis Très Girard 0.40Chambolle-Musigny (from 2009) 1.00Vosne-Romanée 0.60

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St-Jacques The amount of new oak herevaries according to the vintage, from 60 per cent in 2004 to 100 per cent in 2005,for example. The 2008 has 85 per cent. Year in, year out, this is a magical wine and one can easily see why it is priced ahead of all but the ‘big two’ grands crus.Not quite as substantial perhaps as the two Chambertins but the samequintessential poise and class. The crown prince?Gevrey-Chambertin From nine different parcels, of which eight are in thesouth-east corner of Gevrey (e.g. En Reniard, Champs Chenys, Crais and a bit ofpremier cru Clos Prieur) and just one from Brochon where the wines are sturdier– so this is a relatively fine, delicate Gevrey which in any case suits the housestyle. Most of the vines are just over 20 years old, the village sector of Gevreyhaving been particularly hard hit by the winter cold of 1985.

Domaine SérafinThis domaine was originally put on the map by Christian Sérafin’s father, whoespoused 50 per cent whole-bunch fermentation and not too much new oak.However on Christian’s watch the grapes have been completely destemmed and,except the lowliest cuvées, matured in entirely new wood. Much thought

goes into matching a particular tonnelier and forest with the character of a given vineyard. He likes theelegance of Taransaud for some and the power of FrançoisFrères for others.

This makes for powerful wines with noticeabletannins, which do however emerge with fruit and terroirintact after a decade or more of bottle age. The key is inthe vineyard work, with strict pruning and de-buddingfollowed by a green harvest and deleafing on both sides.

Christian Sérafin is now past retirement age, but with a niece in the vineyardsand a daughter in the cellar and office, continuity is in place.Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru A massively powerful wine, as if it had somefull Chambertin parentage. Very sumptuous black fruit floods the palate, whilethe oak provides structure for long-term ageing.Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cazetiers All Sérafin wines are powerful, but thishas elegance as well. There is an exceptional density of fruit but in a refinedregister, avoiding blockbuster territory.Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes From a variety of plots, notably Les Crais inBrochon. Dense fruit usually tends towards dark descriptors like black cherries,but with a sense of vibrancy. Ten years’ age is about right for a good vintage.

TortochotChantal Tortochot-Michel succeeded her late father Gabriel and has smartenedup the winemaking procedures. These are inexpensive wines with sound fruit,but the viticultural aspect needs attention before this domaine can move to ahigher level. The holdings are impressive though, with grands crus Chambertin,Charmes-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin and Clos de Vougeot, premiers crusChampeaux, Lavaux St-Jacques and Morey-St-Denis Aux Charmes, plus a rangeof single-vineyard village Gevreys.

Domaine Sérafin HaCharmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 0.31Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cazetiers 0.23Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fonteny 0.33Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Corbeaux 0.45Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru Millandes 0.34Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Baudes 0.32Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 1.03Gevrey-Chambertin 1.67

283The Hill of Corton282 Côte de Beaune

The Hill of Corton

513Chablis

chablisChablis has been one of the most imitated wines in the world. In France, it usedto be said that four times as much was sold in a year as was made, while severalgenerations of American drinkers became used to jugs of domestic ‘Chablis’ –low-quality white wines. In the UK, Spanish ‘Chablis’ had its moment. But Francecan now protect the names of its appellations and happily all this is in the past.

Even today in Chablis itself there is more than one interpretation of the wine.Chablis for me needs to speak of whence it comes – there are too many wines inthis region which are attractive international Chardonnays but that do not showany especial Chablis typicity. The ranks of wineries with batteries of stainless-steel vats that have sprung up in industrial parks at the edge of town areindicative of the dynamic commercial success of the region – but also of an over-simplified, mass-market approach that once again risks damaging theauthenticity of ‘le vrai Chablis’ – this time from within.

DevelopmentsAs the risk of frost diminishes – the most recent tricky year being 2003 – and asthe region becomes less insular, changes are being seen in the vineyards. Thetraditional planting was at around 6,500 vines per hectare, usually trainedaccording to a system of double guyot: both shoots led in the same direction, sothat if the upper one is frosted the lower one may survive. Current thinking is toincrease the planting density to 8,000 vines per hectare (advocated by the Uniondes Grands Crus), or even 10,000, using single or double guyot, but with the twoshoots heading in opposite directions away from the vine trunk, as in Bordeaux.

There is also, at long last, a swing of the pendulum back towards hand-picking, at least by the top estates. At the turn of the millennium it was rare tofind producers still harvesting by hand, excepting of course such unregeneratetraditionalists as Raveneau and Dauvissat, and other leaders like William Fèvreand Billaud-Simon. Now many more of the leading names are picking at leasttheir premiers and grands crus by hand. There is also a move towards the use of natural yeasts for fermentation, encouraged by local oenologist JacquesLesimple. ‘We have the luck to work with an oenologist who is not a pusher ofproducts,’ comments grower Didier Picq (see Producers, below).

Simple, competent Chablis winemaking might consist of fermentation instainless-steel tanks, with malolactic, on lees until March, then racking andfurther ageing on fine lees in the tanks with a fining, cold-stabilising treatment,and then filtration before bottling in the summer. A more sophisticated versionmight push back the first racking and maintain the élevage on fine lees for up to18 months, thus avoiding most of the stabilising/clarifying treatments.

The alternative is to consider some sort of wood treatment. In times pastChablis would have been made in old wooden barrels, frequently the localfeuillettes of 132 litres. Indeed bulk-price quotations for Chablis are still given bythe feuillette. Nowadays new or at least recent barrels are the order of the day.Some vinify in barrel, be it foudre, biodynamic egg, demi-muid, 228-litre orfeuillette, while others only go to barrel for the élevage after fermentation, inwhich case new wood should be avoided.

What do I want from Chablis? First, what I do not want is an anonymousChardonnay du Monde made in the Yonne département. The wine has to speak ofplace, and especially to evoke the magical mineral character which seeminglycomes from the Kimmeridgian soil, argilo-calcaire like the rest of Burgundy, butin this case full of little marine skeletons, Exogyra virgila.

Petit Chablis one might drink without thinking twice, just pleased to have alittle hint of the region at an affordable price. ‘Straight’ Chablis need not becomplex either; just a touch more body and a very definite requirement for someof the local character, with its whiff of marine austerity.

Chablis orthographyConsistency of spelling has never been one of Burgundy’s strong points, althoughthe variations are more due to a richness of competing historical traditions thanto academic incompetence. Chablis is by some way the worst offender. The mostobvious variations are between the singular and plural, but vowels appear anddisappear at random from time to time. For the headline name I have adoptedthe version most commonly seen; under each producer, I have tried to use thespelling used on their own labels, but inevitably there will be inconsistencies.

Grands crusWhereas in the Côte d’Or each grand cru vineyard has its own appellation, therules are different here: there is one appellation called Chablis Grand Cru, but itcovers seven separate vineyards. There were originally five classified in 1935:Blanchot, Clos, Grenouilles, Valmur and Vaudésir, with Bougros and Preusesadded only in 1938. Anachronistically Roald Dahl’s My Uncle Oswald drinks agrand cru Grenouilles in 1912.1

André Jullien (1832) considered that Les Clos stood out, followed by Valmurand Grenouilles, then Vaudésir, Bouguereau and Mont-de-Milieu, which all camewithin his Première Classe. So did Blanchot, which was quoted separately as it isin the commune of Fleys, not Chablis. Les Preuses and ‘une partie de Bouguereau’only appeared in his Deuxième Classe.

Clive Coates2 places Les Clos first, Valmur and Vaudésir as runners-up,Preuses in fourth place, then Blanchots, Bougros and Grenouilles in a putativesecond division. Of course, a complicating factor is that few producers can offer

1 Roald Dahl, My UncleOswald, Michael Joseph,1979, p.38.

2 C Coates, The Wines ofBurgundy, University ofCalifornia Press, 2008, pp.43-44.

557Côte Chalonnaise556

red by a margin of two to one, reflecting the historical position, even though fora period greater interest was shown in the red wines.

The whites tend to be light, fresh and friendly, most often designed fordrinking in their first three or four years. The best examples from the topdomaines will of course have a longer life, but it is not clear if enough is gainedfrom additional ageing to warrant the risk of losing the initial charm. The bestwhite-wine vineyards face east or south-east across the plain of the Saône.

The reds are also lighter, and certainly less tannic, than either Givry orMercurey. Their charm is their perfume, and like the whites they show better inyouth and freshness. The main red-wine vineyards are either on the lower-lyingland immediately west of the village – Les Pierres and Préaux being exclusivelyPinot Noir, Le Chapitre and Molesmes predominantly so – or else on the lowground well to the east of the village such as Les Champs Cloux and La Renarde.

This is also very much a centre of the sparkling wine industry with housessuch as Veuve Ambal, Albert Sounit, Vitteaut-Alberti and Louis Picalemot alloriginating in Rully.

Agneux 0.40haA small red-wine premier cru located south-west of Rully below the hamlet ofAgneux, where sheep rather than vines would indeed once have rambled.Produced by Eric de Suremain of the Château de Monthélie.

La Bressande 2.61haA monopoly of the Château de Rully. The vines, all Chardonnay, sit on a steepisheast-facing slope made of a build-up of alluvial soils with debris from higher up.

Champs Cloux 4.62haA substantial premier cru making only red wines, with good examples fromDomaines Brelière, Briday and Duvernay. It is on the east side of the little stream,La Thalie, which cuts through Rully.

Le Chapitre 2.45haThis is tucked in close to the village itself – as vineyards called Le Chapitrealways are, so as to be close to the church. The main producers are DomainesBelleville and Dureuil-Janthial. Domaine Jaeger-Defaix makes red wine in theClos du Chapitre.

Clos du Chaigne 3.26haOne of two isolated premiers crus in the commune of Chagny, the vineyard’s full title is Clos du Chaigne à Jean de France. Shallow red topsoil sits on top ofhard limestone. It is produced by Domaine de la Folie and Louis Picalemot.

Clos St Jacques 1.69haWith Clos du Chaigne, Clos St Jacques is one of two premiers crus in thecommune of Chagny. There is also a very good village Rully called Les St Jacques,made by Domaine A&P de Villaine, amongst others. The sole producer of thepremier cru version is Domaine de la Folie.

Bouzeron & Rully

621Vintages

First impressions This year there was hardly anywork to do on the sorting tables. Nor was there a lot ofdiscussion about the subtleties of the vintage sinceeverybody had the same story to tell, the same smileson their faces. It appears to be a decent-sized crop,though drier summer conditions in the Mâconnaishave reduced yields as there was precious little juicein the bunches.

Sugar levels are where they should be everywhere,acidity either just right or sometimes a touch on thelow side. The white wines showed well at the Hospicesde Beaune, but real judgements can be made only afterthe malolactic fermentation has finished. The redwines are attracting more of the early buzz than thewhites, and there is no question but that the fruittastes delicious right from the start. It is a low-acidyear and the tannins are not aggressive, which meansthat the wines will be enjoyable early on. It is too soonto say whether they will remain exciting in the longterm. Overall there is more of a feel of 1999 than 2005.

2008 This vintage is destined to be overshadowed by the2009s. It is the second Sarkozy summer (see 2007):another cool and frequently damp season during whichthe ground never warmed up, and with significantdisease pressure to trouble the growers . Yet it stillproved possible to make good wine.The weather After a cold but mostly dry winter, the spring got off to a slow start. April was an old-fashioned month, with something of everything butnone of the heat of 12 months earlier. This made a briefappearance in the first ten days of May after which theweather turned grey, gloomy, cool and occasionallywet. When this went on well into June fears of anotherpoor summer began to mount, along with the risk ofmildew. The vines also showed signs of chlorosis andthe flowering, which happened through the second andthird weeks of June (suggesting late September for the harvest), was strung out, with some of the plentifulbunches suffering from coulure or millerandage.

Then, on June 24, after a couple of heavy, humid andhot days, the wind turned more to the north-west anddelivered a week of beautiful sunshine, warm and drywithout excessive heat: the sort of weather that neverappeared through the middle of the 2007 summer.

July was promising – again an improvement on2007 – until a hailstorm at nearly the end of the month(Saturday 26th) that damaged vineyards in Volnay,Pommard, Meursault, Beaune and especially Savigny.

There were some hot days in the first half of August,unfortunately including a hailstorm in the Mâconnaison the 7th; but then a pattern of repeated westerlyfronts set in, with frequent showers and temperaturesmostly below the seasonal average. A deluge on the12th was not, fortunately, accompanied by hail. By the

middle of the month it was cold enough to start havingfires at home in the evening. Fortunately the last weekcheered up considerably, with a succession of hot,sunny days.

The long-term forecast had promised a fine, drySeptember, but it did not materialize for the first half ofthe month. Rain on Thursday 11th, continuingsporadically for the next two days caused deep gloom,especially in the Côte de Beaune and further south.Imagine the relief when Sunday 14th dawned bright,cool and clear – at long last the wind had turned fromthe west to the north or north-east.

This new weather pattern stayed in place, thankgoodness, for the following fortnight and saved theharvest. A few people started picking on Sunday 21st,with the main bunch beginning around Thursday 25th.It was not easy, with hail, oïdium, mildew, rot andunripe grapes to contend with, but those who had donetheir work in the vineyard well and were properlyequipped at harvest were reasonably content –temperatures were around or above 12ºC/54ºF.

The cool, drying wind dropped on Sunday 28th, amarvellous, warm, late summer’s day, as indeed wasthe following Monday. But the next day, the windreturned to the westerly airflow that had dominatedthe summer and things became cool and gloomy latein the week. Better weather returned for the followingweek, when the most hardened of determined late-pickers completed their harvest.First impressions Unquestionably this had been areally difficult season for the vignerons. In manyinstances yields were way down, either because of theflowering or through the various diseases of oïdium,mildew and rot. One or two producers effectively lostalmost their entire crop. But these days every halfway-decent producer has at least one sorting table and thestrength of mind to use it.

Wines of both colours, though, show promise. Thewhites are intriguing in that they have a richness offruit, especially in their primary aromatics, combinedwith a noted acidity behind. Optimistic producers arethus inclined to say that ’08 combines the best of ’06and ’07. The wines are definitely attractive but I do notsense the inherent balance necessary for long-termageing. The reds are harder to pin down, because hereit really depends on how the vineyards came throughthe tribulations of the growing season. I can see noobvious pattern – be it geographical along the Côte, orindeed up and down the hillside in any given village –to success or failure. Everything depended on gettingthe vineyard management right.

2007 I overheard a Frenchman saying to his friend at theGare du Lyon in August 2007: ‘Do you know, wehaven’t had a single day of sunshine since we elected

of the major Côte d’Or appellations as we canreasonably manage. The wines are tasted blind insmall flights, village by village or, where appropriate,vineyard by vineyard. This gives us a really usefuloverview of the vintage, as well as an inside track as towho is going up in the world and who might haveunder-performed that year.

Thereafter I continue to monitor how a vintage isprogressing by the best method of all, which is bydrinking some bottles. There is also a good opportunityto get another overall perspective when BeckyWasserman and Clive Coates host their ‘Ten Years On’tasting in Bouilland, with the growers providingbottles from their cellars and then turning up to trytheir own wines alongside the competition.

Throughout the assessments here, mention willfrequently be made to the wind on Palm Sunday andthe Ban de Vendanges, the significance of which isexplained below.

Palm SundayThe locals have a saying that le vent de Rameaux sera levent de l’année – the wind on Palm Sunday will be thewind of the year – not of course the only wind whichwill blow, but nonetheless the defining weatherpattern for key parts of the growing season andespecially the vintage: see p.43. This will be referred tofrequently in the vintage summaries below.

The Ban de VendangesThe origin of the Ban de Vendanges, the official startdate of the harvest, was to allow the local seigneur topick before the commoners, which in times of veryshort fermentations meant that he would get his wineto market before the rest. Those with formal enclosedvineyards or clos also had the right to pick before theBan. In more recent times the Ban has been used todesignate an official start date to prevent the impatientfrom picking too early, before the grapes are ripe.

This practice has become increasingly less valuable,as it has become clear that it was more often than notthe finest producers who wanted to pick before theofficial start date, so as to avoid overripeness, havingtaken detailed samples of their grapes. This was thecase in 2006, so in 2007 the authorities instituted theBan de Vendanges exceptionally early – and havethereafter discontinued the practice entirely.

The Vintages2009This first assessment is written when the wines havebeen in cask for just a few months, before theirmalolactic fermentations (mostly), and before anytasting of any significance has taken place. The hypehas been running already however, albeit less inBurgundy than Bordeaux: it is clear that there will be

some delicious wines in 2009, but it is too early to saywhether or not this year will take its place in thepantheon of great vintages.The weather The summer of 2009 had a verydifferent feel to it compared to its two immediatepredecessors. It was not without problems – notablyhail in May and some poor weather in July – but atleast the ground heated up properly this year, which ithad signally failed to do during the drab summers of2007 and 2008.

There was very little wind on Palm Sunday, perhapsjust a very light north-easter, which normally givesslightly cool but dry sunny weather. Then came thefirst piece of bad news on Ascension Day, May 21, withhail in Morey and Gevrey, especially in the grands crus.

The flowering took place in warm, sunny conditions– though it was sometimes very windy – in late Mayand into the very start of June, setting a likely harvestdate of September 10. Fine weather in June withoccasional heat spikes turned much more variable inJuly with some heavy storms, most notably on July 13and 14 when over 100mm of rain fell. This made lifedifficult for the vignerons as they could not get into thevineyards, but it caused no real damage.

The weather continued unsettled, with alternatinghot and cool days, and further storms on July 22 and23. There were occasional signs of mildew and evenrot, but these were very localised. Otherwise the vineswere looking good and the grapes healthy, withveraison around the end of the month, when theweather improved, albeit without really heating up.

August, however, was glorious, developing into asmall heatwave towards the middle of the monthbefore the weather broke with a welcome storm (rainand thunder rather than anything worse) on themorning of Friday 21st. Apart from a brief incursionfrom the tail end of Hurricane Bill (25th, 26th) theweather stayed fine for the rest of the month andgrowers could hardly contain their optimism.

The change of the moon suggested more unsettledconditions but, apart from a drab first week ofSeptember, it looked as if the fine weather hadreturned for the duration of the harvest. The promisednorth-east wind (le vent de Rameaux) appeared fromSeptember 10, but bizarrely it brought clouds with it –the bad weather that had gone round Scotland, north ofthe anticyclone over England, came back down theNorth Sea and into France. The weather turned greyand cool during the week of Monday 14th, but with nomore than a touch of drizzle – and that mostly in theCôte de Beaune, where the vintage was more or lessover. Picking started in the Mâconnais from aroundSeptember 2nd, in the Côte de Beaune from the 5thand a few days later in the Côte de Nuits. It continuedin Chablis and the Auxerrois through the middle of themonth, in glorious sunshine.

620 Reference & Index