Phil Eaves
just got back to california, so here is an update…
Just back from Burgundy, and I feel such a relief knowing that my wines are under my own roof. Everything just seemed to fall right into place. The day of the move, I received my long awaited negociant license allowing me to move my wines to my own facility. Within two hours, I had rented a truck, found some friends to lend me the use of their forklifts and threw myself into the moment without taking time to think too much. Thankfully, this tactic didn’t bite me on the butt…too much. With six of my barrels loaded up on the flatbed truck, silicon bungs in place, I headed out from Saint Aubin making my way to Nuits-Saint-Georges. Shortly after making a left around Puligny-Montrachet, I [....]
updates from nuits saint georges
It looks like my year is off to a promising start! After dealing with so many moments of success bookended by changes of plan (largely location) it was an incredible feeling to receive the keys to the house in Nuits Saint Georges, in the center of town where my family and I will live and make our wine. We are set to move here from Marin County, California in April and I couldn’t be more content about it all. Picking a house/cuverie/cave in Burgundy is a bit more difficult than it may sound. More difficult when you sign the lease before your wife has viewed the house I might add. With that in mind, I was relieved when my wife let me know that she [....]
cuverie update – from ray walker
Not too long ago I was truly naive. I was looking forward to becoming busy. I had no idea what busy was before a few weeks ago. My lovely clutch on my new 1987 cheap BMW 3 got angry at my sloppy heal toe activities and grew bored with my eager turns through the roundabouts on the route de Pommard so it decided to take the week off and simply lay on the floorboard. Never mind the amount of errands I needed to complete. A few days later and a bit flatter in the wallet and I was back on the road. Briefly. I certainly underestimated how much I would need a truck in Burgundy. I needed to rent trucks for picking up fruit, destemmers, [....]
maison ilan – update
Things have been very busy at the winery lately. With all the fruit in tank and fermenting I have been focusing on tasting, testing, punchdowns and of course more tasting. I decided to use a fair amount of whole cluster on the Morey half way because I was curious about doing it, the otherhalf because my destemmer broke. Luckily a new destemmer came about an hour after I went from hand destemming pergatory to whole cluster just 2 clicks before madness. I decided also to be quite quick to initially punchdown and then to not be overly pushy with the must and just quickly get to once a day punchdowns. This of course raised eyebrows in the winery with my mates, but the results are [....]
moving along – with grapes!
Well, here we are with just under two weeks before my first harvest and things are moving along rather quickly. Besides the administrative tasks which keep me leapfrogging the Cote, I am sorting out bits in the cellar as well as the vineyard. It’s difficult being your own secretary, chauffeur, cellar master, and it certainly adds up to making plans and preparing for the bad surprise as they call it locally. Just last week, I sorted the grapes situation. In short, I came away with some tidy material from Morey Saint Denis, Charmes-Chambertin all from Aux Charmes, and two barrels worth of grapes from Le Chambertin! Those who had read my thoughts prior to coming to Burgundy are aware if the change in sources as [....]
Here comes Harvest…
Well, not too long ago, I was planning my first trip to Burgundy. Now, days away from leaving to Burgundy to begin my first Harvest in Burgundy, I simply cannot believe how fast time has flown. My days leading up to my Saturday departure are filled with contracts on facilities, barrel purchases, and a host of other things to work out such as cleaning supplies and basically all of the bits no one goes in thinking about. After a few hurdles (…well, much more than a few) such as changing facilities twice, it seems that things have worked out exceedingly well. Grapes are sorted, along with facility, legal obstacles, tanks (1 wooden, 14 cement vats by Marc Nomblot) and I couldn’t be more pleased with [....]
a new home in beaune
Hey guys! Well, the great news keep on rolling in. A few months back I was told about this facility in Beaune that was available for my project. At the time, I was just a bit more interested in sharing a facility. Well, as things have a way of doing, something better came along. This facility is from the early 1910′s. While attached to a home, the building has a great amount of character and charm. There is a main winery, attic for storage (not sure I want things stored above my head in an old building) and a well sized cave below ground. I am moving forward with this facility. Harvest is closer, and it simply feels appropriate for my humble needs. Here are [....]
a day job in Burgundy
While in Burgundy earlier this year we met a lot of new friends and contacts. While in Puligny Montrachet we met Olivier Leflaive. I had read about his hotel and wine bar on wineterroirs.com, a link that Bill links to from this blog. Upon stepping into the hotel looking for food, Olivier showed up and we started to talk about wine. After about an hour we wanted to be shown around the hotel. Olivier took it upon himself to show us around. After a generous offer we were anxiously moving our things in to the hotel. While there, Olivier befriended us. We met for lunches, and toured the vineyards around Puligny. He was really generous with his time and genuinely interested in my humble project. [....]
Testing the water in Burgundy
Right. It’s been a short while since I’ve added an update. Burgundy has been amazing. The region is similar, yet different than I had expected. For one, by car, the region is a lot larger than I had expected. The villages themselves are intimate places with Boulangeries (bakeries), Bistros, and churches standing tall with ringing bells that bring in the hour, every hour. Looking in from the Route de Grand Vins you pass by many villages. They look so tiny from the road at times in front of rolling hills of vines, yet once inside the villages, there is so much life to see. Each village is different. Sure, Burgundy is Burgundy, I thought before visiting. Yet, the vineyards aren’t the only thing showing complexity [....]
In the vineyards
While in Savigny les Beaune I also met with more courtiers (brokers) that assured me that getting 1er Cru fruit and above is quite likely in this economic landscape. I have been looking at a few very interesting vineyards in both the Cote de Nuits and the Cote de Beaune. One vineyard in Nuits Saint George is quite interesting. The vineyard lies on the side nearest Vosne Romanee, very rocky soil, certified organic, vine age of around 45 years old generally and the owners flat out know what is best for the vines and soil. The vineyard is Village level, though the wine should be fairly interesting. I also checked out a 1er Cru in Aloxe-Corton in bold reddish orange soil, huge stones laying on [....]
Beaune is where the Heart is
Before visiting Burgundy, one question bugged me. ‘If I do find grapes, where in the world am I going to make the wine?’ The production of wines in Burgundy are so low that you cannot expect to find much room if any to make wine short of buying a domaine with a cellar, which is actually hard to find. I was after something a bit more difficult still. I wanted to find a facility that I could share while using some of the equipment such as sorting table, vibrating table, destemmer, etc. I was open to whatever humble facility that would be actually sound for quality wine making. As it turns out, Olivier Leflaive connected me with a good friend that has room in his [....]
Shaking hands in Burgundy
Well, here we are. Burgundy, in the dead of winter. People are busy working in the vineyards, mainly burning clippings. Things are a bit more chilly than they seemed looking at Bill’s photos from my home in California. Suprisingly, our daughter has adjusted quite well to Burgundy at the ripe age of 7 months. Many of the people that I have read about, domaines which I have dreamed about are just a short stroll away from Puligny-Montrachet where we have been centered most of our time in Burgundy. Everyone has been extremely helpful here. We have met with a great deal of established winemakers and courtiers and the possibility of working with quality grapes this year from the Cote de Nuits seem quite high…thank goodness! Also, while [....]
