Filippo Mattia Ginanni
Filippo Mattia Ginanni
I know many on this board have a great deal of experience both tasting and visiting the region, so please bear with what's below.
Takeaways from a few days in Burgundy (Naive/Long/Boring):
(- as side note let me state v clearly that the quality of wine shops in Paris is always impressive both in terms of price and selection, I am not talking about high end stuff but top growers from minor regions were abundant everywhere and everything I bought was below EUR 18/bottle. The availability of wine bistros, La Muse Vin comes to mind, is incredible and makes me wonder why there is only one branch of Terroirs in the whole of London)
- you do not need a great landscape to produce world class wines, actually half a hill is fine. This is well known but when you are down there is self evident
- you do not need architecht to design your cellar to make world class wines. Comparisons with Tuscany and more recently Piedmont (Domenico Clerico) come to mind. Also very obvious but when you are down there...
- you need to pick your restaurant carefully as we had a not so good experience at Ma Cuisine (wine list absurdly overpriced) and a terrific experience, one that easily rivals the Ledbury in London, at La Cabotte. This is again obvious but in Italy the level of restaurant in wine regions is less uneven
- burgundians are nice people and they are always willing to show their whole range, (swedish guys we had as flatmate at Anne Gros were shown the whole DRC range because it was raining cats and dogs and DRC was the only shelter they could find in while walking in Vosne, Criots Batard 1995 was the highlight of the tasting)
- grand crus bought on site are actually somewhat affordable AND available if you are smart.
- '09 is a great vintage, though most growers were skeptical of all the press and attention. Nobody claimed is better than '05 or '99 (lacks a little of backbone and acidity). Everybody thought the press loves forward wines.
- '08 is a "Pinot" vintage which is gathering momentum. All growers are happy about it as it's transparent, fragrant and most predict a bright future. '07 is the black sheep: light, too much of a Pinot vintage, most people tend to drink these now. '06 on the other hand is coming out very strong and not so "cooked" as many thought (well on the back of '05)
- DRC really uses a horse to plow the vineyards...
- I still do not understand and do not bother to understand Clos Vougeot. I am not sure I like that much Echezaux as well. I got to know much better Morey St Denis and Gevrey. Vosne is Vosne (and Romanee St Vivant is so flat as a vineyard).
- I met wonderful people that bothered to teach me so much stuff: Anne Gros, Marie-Andree Mugneret, Cecile Tremblay (thanks for make me understand why Beaux Monts should NOT be a grand cru), Blair Pethel, Denis Bachelet and Nicolas Rossignol-Trapet. They also reinforced the notion that I still know basically close to zero of Burgundy. On top of this I still do not get Bachelet's wines: too powerful ? Or am I just impatient ? Or both ?
- Wines of the trip: Boillot Puligny Perrieres '07, Dujac Bonnes Mares '00, Robinot Concerto d'Oniss '07 (?), Ruchottes-Chambertin '08 Mugneret Gibourg and above all '09 Chapelle Chambertin from Cecile Tremblay (by a long shot)
- as someone told me on the trip: "nobody knows Burgundy". I gotta be back.
Takeaways from a few days in Burgundy (Naive/Long/Boring):
(- as side note let me state v clearly that the quality of wine shops in Paris is always impressive both in terms of price and selection, I am not talking about high end stuff but top growers from minor regions were abundant everywhere and everything I bought was below EUR 18/bottle. The availability of wine bistros, La Muse Vin comes to mind, is incredible and makes me wonder why there is only one branch of Terroirs in the whole of London)
- you do not need a great landscape to produce world class wines, actually half a hill is fine. This is well known but when you are down there is self evident
- you do not need architecht to design your cellar to make world class wines. Comparisons with Tuscany and more recently Piedmont (Domenico Clerico) come to mind. Also very obvious but when you are down there...
- you need to pick your restaurant carefully as we had a not so good experience at Ma Cuisine (wine list absurdly overpriced) and a terrific experience, one that easily rivals the Ledbury in London, at La Cabotte. This is again obvious but in Italy the level of restaurant in wine regions is less uneven
- burgundians are nice people and they are always willing to show their whole range, (swedish guys we had as flatmate at Anne Gros were shown the whole DRC range because it was raining cats and dogs and DRC was the only shelter they could find in while walking in Vosne, Criots Batard 1995 was the highlight of the tasting)
- grand crus bought on site are actually somewhat affordable AND available if you are smart.
- '09 is a great vintage, though most growers were skeptical of all the press and attention. Nobody claimed is better than '05 or '99 (lacks a little of backbone and acidity). Everybody thought the press loves forward wines.
- '08 is a "Pinot" vintage which is gathering momentum. All growers are happy about it as it's transparent, fragrant and most predict a bright future. '07 is the black sheep: light, too much of a Pinot vintage, most people tend to drink these now. '06 on the other hand is coming out very strong and not so "cooked" as many thought (well on the back of '05)
- DRC really uses a horse to plow the vineyards...
- I still do not understand and do not bother to understand Clos Vougeot. I am not sure I like that much Echezaux as well. I got to know much better Morey St Denis and Gevrey. Vosne is Vosne (and Romanee St Vivant is so flat as a vineyard).
- I met wonderful people that bothered to teach me so much stuff: Anne Gros, Marie-Andree Mugneret, Cecile Tremblay (thanks for make me understand why Beaux Monts should NOT be a grand cru), Blair Pethel, Denis Bachelet and Nicolas Rossignol-Trapet. They also reinforced the notion that I still know basically close to zero of Burgundy. On top of this I still do not get Bachelet's wines: too powerful ? Or am I just impatient ? Or both ?
- Wines of the trip: Boillot Puligny Perrieres '07, Dujac Bonnes Mares '00, Robinot Concerto d'Oniss '07 (?), Ruchottes-Chambertin '08 Mugneret Gibourg and above all '09 Chapelle Chambertin from Cecile Tremblay (by a long shot)
- as someone told me on the trip: "nobody knows Burgundy". I gotta be back.
