It’s been a while since I saw the chaps of Pierre Bourée, but last Saturday I visited for the first time their WiFi enabled and air-conditioned ‘Table de Pierre Bourée’. Heading North it is on your right-hand side, just before the main traffic-lights of RN74 in Gevrey, though it has one problem – it’s hard to spot as you head-by because of the cars parked on the pavement in front. It seems to have another function in the village too – the day I was there, first one person came to ask if there was a hairdresser nearby, later another asking the whereabouts of the doctor – clearly you have to multi-task in Gevrey!

Inside is very nicely done for a ‘simple’ eatery, and if you choose to go through the back door and down the steps to the cellar you’ll find racks of bottles you can buy and a coopering and bottling display.

As for food, it’s one menu – a Burgundian menu – gougères that were just a little better than I can make(!), the best jambon persillé that I can remember eating and beef bourguignonne. A quartet of local cheeses, but is Brillat-Savarin local? – I don’t know. Dessert is actually your choice of ‘grand cru’ coffees – my choice was Ethiopian ‘Moka’. So how much do you pay? – well it depends on how much and what you drink.

The wines are all kept at 14°C in a wine refrigerator, and my choice was the ‘simple’ accompaniment of five wines for a tariff of €29, as follows:
2005 Pierre Bourée, Bourgogne Blanc
Medium yellow. Deep aromas, quite forward and with good depth. Whilst it’s a little plump, the balance is very good. It’s far from steely but it’s nicely clean.
Rebuy – Maybe
2004 Pierre Bourée, Marsannay Blanc
Made from purchased grapes. The nose is just that little bit finer and again with good depth. This is very tasty and has a nice lift to the acidity in the mid-palate. I liked.
Rebuy – Yes
2006 Pierre Bourée, Bourgogne
The only 2006 red that’s currently bottled. All the gapes come from the Côte de Nuits, mainly a mix of Gevrey and Brochon. The colour is medium-pale. A strikingly perfumed, wide nose – even at this level the stems are included. The taste is far from concentrated, but it is very interesting and wide. This is unlike any other bourgogne I can think of – really very pretty.
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Pierre Bourée, Côte de Nuits Villages
From purchased grapes. Medium-pale colour. Sweet stemmy perfume – and it IS perfume – lovely. Silky, subtle, delicate and complex. Super for ‘what it is’ and very clean. I bought some.
Rebuy – Yes
2004 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin
The nose once more brings the stemmy perfume, edged with slight cedar, width and depth. Fuller, with ripe fruit. The acidity is a little forward and initially seams not so well integrated, but with the food is absolutely fine. This is showing much better than when I tasted it about 2 years ago.
Rebuy – Maybe

In summary; it’s a nice place to visit and the food tastes super – even though there’s only one choice – though they did tell me that a group rang ahead and said it wasn’t quite Burgundian enough, so could they please add a snails course! Although they are only open from 11am-4pm, larger groups could ring ahead and enquire about the possibility of an evening opening.

In the end though, it’s not simply the food or the place that I would recommend it for, it’s the wines. You owe it to yourself to try these perfumed and complex reds to see if they are to your taste – when done well at the entry level, there’s really nothing quite like them.