These were shorter visits (only about 2.5 hours each), so I’ll combine them in one post. Topline - both Grivault and Lamy-Pillot made wonderful wines in 2008 and the 2009 barrel samples we tried are very promising indeed. And, the Grivault 2007s (which should arrive in another few weeks) are simply fantastic.
After a pleasant Sunday touring and tasting in the Macon, on Monday it was back to work - a long, in-depth, tasting, visit, and lunch with Jean Michel Guillon and his son, winemaker Alexis Guillon. As was the case last year, this was one of the most arduous and valuable visits of the trip, and there is so much news and so many impressions to report that it’s hard to know where to start. Some highlights:
*US critic Alan Meadows (better known as “Burghound”) visited Domaine Guillon
The visit with Pascal Maillard was one of the highlights of a trip filled with them. The wines were delicious, and the dinner we enjoyed with Pascal, his wife, Rose, and their three children was an evening to treasure.
Carrie and I arrived in Beaune from Paris early on Friday morning and were whisked from the train station to hotel in Puligny-Montrachet by importer Olivier Daubresse. We then hurried over to the small town of St. Aubin to meet Didier Larue. As you may recall, Didier and his brother Denis own and run Domaine Larue, a small estate headquartered in the little town of St. Aubin. St. Aubin is tucked in a crinkle in the main hill of the Cote d’Or between Puligny and Mearsault, and the village’s best vineyards reach over the hill and abut those of Chassagne and Puligny.
At last - a brief moment when I can post an update on our visit to Burgundy. Carrie and I arrived in Beaune at 9:00 on Friday morning and have been fully immersed in tasting and learning ever since. Since Friday, we’ve visited and tasted with six producers, traveled from the Macon in the south to Gevrey-Chambertin in the north, stomped through a dozen or more muddy vineyards, eaten far too much rich food, and tasted more than 250 wines. We have another three domains to visit today and tomorrow
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