Visit to Burgundy

Last week, the last week of summer holiday, I went to Burgundy. To either find some good Burgundy wines OR reconfirm my thoughts that (red) burgundies are at least not my cup of tea. I'm sorry, Miles!

Having set up my tent at the camping site of Meursault, the first day was spent tasting in and around the village. First stop: Chateau Meursault. After a brief glance at the art, I strolled through the cellars and ended up in a series of 3 (still underground) where a sommelier was serving wines, 7 in total - but two vintages of 2 wines, so in fact 9 different wines. The sommelier provided his guests with a short characterization of each wine, was willing to answer questions but otherwise left them to taste and enjoy by themselves. I liked the approach. And the wines: from a basic Beaune Blanc to a Chateau de Meursault 1er Cru, a blend of first crus Perrières and Charmes, and in red from a Savigny Les euillets to a Beaune Cent Vignes. All white wines fresh, with the 1er Crus of course adding in some complexity (it should, at € 39). I preferred the 2002 to the 2001, it vaguely reminded me of an Islay whisky I recently drank?!

The Volnay, Pommard (both lieu-dits, so from a specific vineyard but not of 1er or Grand Cru level) had more body than the Savigny and the 1997 and 1998 Cent Vignes had some years left, judging from the persistent tannins. As with most of this big Chateaux, the tour/tasting was obviously aimed at the wine tourist and offered some nice wines.

That afternoon I had an appointment in Saint-Romain at Henri & Gilles Buisson. I tasted their home-town whites and red (called Sous la Velle and Sous Roche, respectively). I like liked the white, agreeing with their tasting sheet saying it was "subtilement" boisé or wooded, but not so for the red that somehow smelled off. The 2004 Auxey Duresses 1er Cru "Les Ecusseaux" was a treat, however.

The next day was "Beaune" negociants day. I toured the cellars of Patriarche (same set-up as Chateau de Meursault, which was no surprise as these are owned by the same family) and Reine Pedauque (with wine-cheese pairing samples!) At Patriarche, after having tasted the 13 standard wines, I was taken into a separate closed-off section of the cellars where a more "private" section of the stock was located, to sample some older wines. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes there. In general, good vins de garde I would say.

Also visited Berthaut in Fixin and Moillard-Grivot in Nuits-Saint Georges. Most memorable were the very friendly welcomes at Domaines Lejeune in Pommard and Guy Bocard in Meursault.

At Lejeune, the reds were full of red fruit, with the 1er Crus Pommard Poutures and Argillières offering a nice side-by side tasting: the former fat, the latter more elegant. The Domaine's Crèmant will give you a good run for your money at only € 8!

Guy Bocard presented very nice wines from lieu-dits, Narvaux and Limozin. Very typical for Meursault(think: butter) and the (100%) new wood definitely and luckily taking the back seat in these enjoyable wines.

One day after having arrived home, a phone call to inform me I am in the (blind-tasting) final of the Dutch Wine Test. More news about that will follow ...

Grand Prix St. Hubert

Took part in this national wine contest with two fellow members of one of the tasting clubs I am a member of.

10 Red wines, 14 possible countries of origin given. Per wine, 5 possible countries. The rest (vintage, winery, grape variety, appellation) you had to make up yourself. Not exactly a walk in the park. We managed to get one 100% correct, though. I suggested California, Gijs added "Zinfandel" and Bauke wrote down "Ravenswood, Sonoma, 2003)

Remarkable wine: the 2002 McRae Wood by Jim Barry. Great aroma, it would be easiest to write down what could not be smelled in this very complex blockbuster style wine!

Ended 18th (out of 27 teams competing). Not bad for a first time and it leaves room for improvement next year ...

"Adulterers" Wine Tasting

For an account of my second Wijnsociëteit tasting, that I dubbed "Adulterers" because the subject was wines made from grapes from outside their "natural" habitat, see http://home.hetnet.nl/~peternelly/.

Favorites were the Dialog Cuvee, a wooded chardonnay, unwooded sauvignon blanc blend from Johannishof Reinisch, Thermenregion, Austria, and the York Creek Petite Sirah 1996 from Ridge. The most expensive wine of the night, the 1998 Syrah from Isole & Olena, seemed to miss some fruit but this (in my opinion over-) developed mushroomy aromas had disappeared a while later. Might have had something to do with the cheese we were having at that time, though.

Wine Games

In April, four students of the school I teach at, the International Hotel Management School in Breda, will organize a Wine Options Game. Teams of three will compete in correctly identifying and answering questions about the wines served - blind, of course.

Interested or want to participate? See http://winegame.chidero.nl

On Sunday 23rd I will take part in a wine competition myself, the Grand Prix St. Hubert. The GPStH is Holland's most renowned wine challenge. Tasting 10 red wines blind, teams will have to match those with the possible 'appellations' provided, and come up with as many assumptions of other details (grape varieties, vintage year, producer etc.) as possible. I am teamed up with two members of the WijnGilde Noord-Brabant. Even though one of us used to enter wine competitions quite regularly in the past, we have no real ambtions other than having a good time. Monday is the first of our scheduled training sessions; we will each bring three wines covered in foil and the (educated?!) guessing will start ...

"Maiden" tasting

Hosted my first tasting at the Wijnsociëteit last week. Subject: South Australia. Check out http://home.hetnet.nl/~peternelly/ for an account (in Dutch).