A few words on other matters before getting into Friday’s picking activities et al.

One of the many things I have quickly come to love here is the view across the steep sided valley in which Pernand sits on one side – on the right heading up towards Echevronne. Domaine D-F is probably circa half way up the village or more but, sat in the courtyard, as I can be with spare moments, looking straight across, in one’s eye line is the wonderfully named terroir of “Sous le bois de Noel et ses Belles Filles” (Under the Wood of Noel and his beautiful daughters – not sure who the Noel was by the way) . Think that’s the full name (without checking). The vines plunge steeply down from below the well wooded dense top part of the hill. Off the top of my head Domaine Remi Rollin sell a very reasonably priced example (rouge). Recall the 2005 en primeur, not yet tasted as still in bond / storage, cost GBP 100 from Justerini’s in the UK (no association other than occasional customer).

Beer o’clock – eh ??? This term amused me no end and is great in what it represents. The cuverie staff under Monsieur Bernard’s genial and benevolent but serious leadership (he’s 70 but fully involved & bright as a tick – a lovely man) have an early morning cuverie wine break (honestly) and also again in the evening, before putting the triage table away, have another wine break – usually with something more than decent e.g a Corton-Charlemagne featured one evening when I was lucky enough to be there. Into this ‘well oiled’ working routine Aussie stagiste, Kirsten, told M. Bernard about the Aussie winery practice of afternoon “beer o’clock”. This was seized on as a great idea and is now adopted, as a French idea of course (!), about 4 p.m using likes of Kronenbourg. Superbe !!!

A few words on the domaine layout in Pernand. I have already mentioned the house, courtyard, bureau etc in Rue Rameau-Lamarosse but what I hadn’t appreciated, until asking M Bernard one day to show me the barrel cellar below the cuverie was how the whole, from cuverie to house, ‘knitted’ together down the hillside within the village. The cuverie (very modern, air conditioned / temperature controlled, very well equipped, has stainless everything and lots of it) is accessed (other than on foot coming up through the very large and private house garden) by entering the tasting room / ‘cellar door shop’ at the back of the courtyard. If one goes through the tasting room this opens out materially to a substantial bottle store of umpteen metal cages. M Bernard told me one day there were about 80,000 bottles held – wow !!! To the right of the bottle store are stairs which lead up to the floor above which is the sizable barrel cellar (can’t recall exactly but recollect might be up to 300 barrels). To the right hand side of the barrel cellar is another flight of stairs which lead into the back of the cuverie. At the front of the cuverie is a dropping circular loop of tarmac from the plateau above of car parking and garage / store for vans, tractors etc which access from a narrow street above. In essence one has, from the top street, the whole from garage / store, ramp to cuverie, then cuverie, barrel store, to bottle store / tasting room following the contour down the hillside to the domaine courtyard. Gravity operation is possible from cuverie, to barrel store, to bottle store.

Visitors to the domaine for tasting and purchase were regular, if low in number, but included Belgians, French, a family of 4 Brits and a couple of Americans.

A word on the vintage thus far. I know full well it’s very early days indeed but simply report what I see and hear. Our vendange has been conducted from start to finish (am typing this now post conclusion) in probably perfect weather – very hot in parts and dry throughout. It actually started spitting with rain during the afternoon of the 15th after we finished the domaine’s vendange that lunchtime in Corton En Charlemagne. The grape quality, red and white, has been fantastic. This was my 3rd vendange (2006 Chassagne-Montrachet, 2008 Morey-St-Denis and this one). The only rot I recall seeing this time was a quite modest amount in Corton Pougets. Hence grape quality is excellent. Early on, and in my experience the Burgundians are careful and not prone to getting carried away, talk of a really classy vintage emerged. This continued and translated to comparisons with both 1999 and, incroyable, 2005 on a regular basis. With the 2008 vintage to sell in early 2010 one can’t imagine the UK wine trade will want to hear such sentiments. That said I believe 2008 itself will be good and I, for one, will be looking to buy reds from Arlaud and others. I believe 2008 whites may be similar to 2007 or better with plenty of acidity. We’ll see I guess. Those domaines who waited in 2009 will have had the rain from Thurs 17th to contend with.

Right, to the Friday 11th action. Think it was the previous night a few of us post dinner spent a convivial evening with other domaine vendangeurs at Pernand’s only bar – “La Grappe de Pernand”. We despatched numerous jugs of Amstel at my expense to leave some fragility the following morning as we moved to our first site. This was the gorgeous hill top terroir of, for me, the much anticipated ‘Sous Fretille’ blanc. Have no idea if I could find this again from the winding route through woods on rough tracks – even looking at maps back in the UK. Nevertheless lovely terroir but we soon seemed to have the quality Chardonnay stripped and moved on to Corton Pougets. We had a little rest before starting this which we ultimately did in 2 or 2 and a half passes. Tiffin, one of the youngsters, and an Arsenal fan / shirt wearer, actually had a snooze in a dry field drain alongside the road – see photos to follow. It was a bit chilly here, not for me though with my Lowe Alpine base layer and thick t shirt over so I readily agreed to lend my fleece to my fellow van front seat occupant, Lauren, an intelligent trainee maritime lawyer from Paris – ‘veteran’ of a few vendanges and trusted “older sister” type to the 14 & 9 yr old Gruere-Dubreuil daughters; Clementime & Autance. A little rot in Pougets, nothing major, but stand out compared to the generally perfect quality thus far. Part way through and having got back to the road from one pass we were watched, photographed etc by a group of older people in 2 minibuses. Getting into conversation with them turned out they were Swedish tourists. One of them was particularly intrigued by our rates of pay which he quizzed me on, ultimately following me half way down a row to check our hourly euro rate as I grappled with a particular vine ! From here we moved to what was either Aloxe of Pernand village to take us up to lunch and a welcome break. I had, on a last minute whim, brought a bottle of wine with me which I gave to Christine D-F on arrival. This was a Cloudy Bay 2003 Chardonnay. Broached at lunchtime and shared around would be fair to say it didnt show well against the straight D-F Bourgogne Chard or Aligote (vin blanc nature) which was our regular tipple. The New Zealander seemed blowsy, heavy and very over oaked – being kind to say a food wine. Quite took me by surprise – a real victory for the old world.

Post lunch we took the road out alongside the wonderful old church (with it’s superb on the hour / half hour clock) towards Magny-Les-Villers to the site of P-V Villages Les Clous just off the road. Another lovely piece of terroir. Very hot here and a tester after lunch with some gradient. More lovely grapes. I love picking quality Chardonnay – tis what I started with in 2006 in Chassagne and have since always preferred to Pinot and found easier. Very essential need to be a flailing hooligan in leaf stripping though to avoid missing decent bunches. From here we changed tack completely passing through the village of Aloxe-Corton to tackle premier cru A-X Les Vercots. Afternoon concluded with either Pernand or A-X village (or could indeed have been P-V 1er cru Les Fichots) back towards Pernand not far from Corton-Charlemagne.

On most afternoons rather than rushing back to the communal house for beer, gin, fags etc it was my habit to go to the cuverie and mingle – check out the triage table, use the jetwasher to clean my boots or Merrrells, or clean cases and buckets – always something to do. I think it was this day that Kirsten got me up on the gantry around the stainless steel tanks of settling Pinot holding a heavy pipe for remontage (pumping over). This was fine for a while until we came to unhook at which point and by accident, casually holding the pipe whilst Kirsten unhooked down below, I inadvertently sprayed myself all down my left side from head to foot – not my fault but all rather damp !! Was always worth being around the cuverie team around 6 p.m for an early evening drink of something tasty from M.Bernard.

Day 5 to follow with altitude, gradient in Savigny; comment on the mighty Liverpool FC in comparison to some rubbish Manchester team; a move onto Corton Charlemagne; punching the cap down; and a very special evening dinner with special wines.

Pinot Corton Bressandes

Tractor Boys Corton Bress

Corton Bressandes

Triage table

Vendangeurs break Corton Bress

Corton Bressandes

Domaine wall plaque

Family centre

Savigny Ile des Vergelesses vers Aloxe

Martin, Andrzej & girlfriend

Corton Bressandes

Corton Clos du Roi

Cuverie Conveyor Destemmer & Press behind

Jeromie’s 08 employer tshirt

SpiceGirl in shade

Superb view. Savigny Ile des Vergelesses vers Corton

Vendangeurs at rest Savigny Ile des Vergelesses

Tuesday – and another glorious blue sky.

Our grapes during the morning are Nuits 1er Les Vaucrains – much anticipated as they are normally super. This year, we have a problem. The first case looks a bit disappointing as there is a mix of both shrivelled and unripe grapes – in the same bunches! – it seems to get worse from there on as oïdium begins to rear its head. The weather mirrors the mood as it becomes windy and cloudy – it’s quite chilly – we expect rain anytime, though it never comes. The triage table is set to the slowest speed, with six people sorting and still we need to periodically stop the table as the throw-away bins fill almost as fast as the the hopper of decent stuff. Big disappointment here – the fruit we retain is ‘okay’, but we really didn’t expect to be throwing away such a significant quantity – some consultation with the broker is called for.

The weather seems to be playing with us because as soon as we finish sorting the Vaucrains and reach for a thicker pullover, the sun returns and the wind slows. Anyway, to lunch and a developing, if unrequited romance; Guy, our chef has delighted everyone to such an extent that one of our number dreams of of their next meetings and begins to wonder how he will survive once they are parted! Should he offer a big, manly, antipodean hug to Guy(?) Let’s see…

Lunch is a nice salad followed by a roast with a super sauce and girolle accompaniment, plus cauliflower cheese! The ubiquitous cheese and bread came next, to be followed by tarte tartin – mmmm once more. Two wines from Rousillon filled our glasses.

So, thicker pullover to the ready and we have Gevrey-Chambertin and Santenay 1er cru les Comme – full-speed table and minimal triage – mainly an occasional under-ripe bunch – good! Actually the Gevrey is excellent, then comes Corton Clos du Roi – good but not great (now it’s starting with light rain) then comes ‘Corton’ – this ‘okay’.

Off to Remoissenet to taste 08’s, this turns out to be a semi-waste as the wines were sulfured just before harvest – maybe another day then – though the Montrachet tasted good, as did the 78 Pommard. Back to the home team and it’s raining a little harder now. More Gevrey to triage – the grapes are getting a little wet now. We finish cleaning-up at 9pm.

Dinner is a mix of melon, leftovers and rabbit that we left in the oven for too long – not burnt but a bit dry – followed by the obligatory cheese and and bread then the ‘piece of resistance’ a lovely looking dish (see pic) of poached pears in a semi-jelly that gave me the impression of being made from pinot noir and sugar (I will have to ask). To accompany was a rather too tight (completely unyielding) 05 Vosne-Romanée, followed by 99 Vosne-Romanée 1er cru (Duvault-Blochet or something – you can see it in the picture below). The latter wine was an aromatic superstar, the colour of a two or three year old, and quite unready on the palate – complex with acidity that still need to ‘mend’ in the finish. Did anyone else notice that our chef decided not to join us for dinner? Maybe there is already a problem in the relationship(!)

The rain that was incessant but not that heavy (since about 3:30) is now fading a little as we head to bed, but it’s clouded whether we will pick the Vosne tomorrow or not…

oïdium

Now that looks good

Corton Clos du Roi

Beautiful destemmed Gevrey

Sorting Gevrey

Remoissenet’s automatic basket washer!

The Remoissenet triage team – recognise anybody?

Remoissenet’s dump skip

Poached pears and 99 cuvée Duvault-Blochet…

So much for the forecasters; brilliant blue sky at 8 a.m. The north wind is now a blustery cold wind, but keep to the sun and you are fine.

It’s a quite morning – racking the Meursault of Saturday afternoon into barrels, but no new fruit before lunch. We decide to take a walk in the vines above Pommard close to Volnay border – some occasional cloud passing over, but very pretty. As we return to Pommard, the pickers of Louis Jadot are hard at work in Les Rugiens.

Back to the domaine in time for lunch 😉 A beautiful deep flan-like quiche but with a little tuna, tomato farcie, the obligatory cheese and bread, then chocolate desert……….. Hmm, I almost forgot the wine; Réyane et Pascal Bouley 04 Volnay Santenots (modest 04 character) and 03 Engel Grands-Echézeaux: I may have been less than stinting in my recent praise of the 99 and 02 versions, but that can come with the territory of drinking such wines when young, but the 03 is a sweetie – super aromatics that transition from pure ripe fruit, to hints of tobacco after 90 minutes or so. Full palate, but with a balance that begs another sip – no awkward tannins either – a great success and whilst a little riper, I think I may prefer this to the DRC – or at-least my memory of it!

Waiting for us are the grapes from Beaune 1er Les Avaux: relatively clean, but the clone is not the best as it tends towards tight bunches of large melons grapes – perfect for rot, or in 09 when the rot is largely absent, juice-bombs. We are tough with triage as any hint of under-ripe or rot is simply thrown away – no cutting! There is anyway enough juice. Fingers are cold from the wind after 2 hours of that! And no more grapes 🙁 Still there is much cleaning and preparation as we start the Côte de Nuits campaign tomorrow, whilst at the same time mopping up a little more Côte de Beaune. We even have 5 minutes of very light rain about 4:30 – drizzle actually – but then the wind drops and blue sky returns.

Whilst in the shower my mobile rings – it’s Le Chef from Remoissenet, we should have tasted his 08s today, but things became too busy: “I have a nice bottle of Bâtard-Montrachet open – fancy an aperitif?” Tough decision huh? We manage to shoe-horn him into our program and whilst we didn’t see the Bâtard, the bottle of 72 Volnay Santenots was consumed rather quickly! Anyway we now have a new booking to taste his 08s on Tuesday.

That only leaves dinner; paté, various salads, quenelles, the obligatory cheese and bread, and a selection of leftover deserts from the last two days – lubricated by a magnum of 01 Deveny Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Les Chagnots, Mugnier’s 06 Chambolle Fuées and a Freestone 05 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. The Mugnier was rather muscular – much more Bonnes-Mares-like than I remember his 97-01 bottles.

And to bed…

Red on green

Between Pommard and Volnay

Pommard

Triage at the vines

Fantastic murger and walnut tree

Large tadpoles in a drainage pond in Pommard

Jadot pick Les Rugiens

Beaune 1er Les Avaux

Beaune 1er Bressandes out of the bottom of the de-stemmer

Sunday – and did I mention the weather?

Well yesterday was mainly bright and the still-air temperature was nice and warm – perhaps 23° – but our old friend the harvest north wind was quite blustery and not that warm frankly. Today we have bright blue sky again though perhaps only 21-22°, yet it feels warmer as we have less wind.

Yesterday I popped into Domaine des Croix to see their massive new extension – actually an adjoining building which came up for sale – now for the first time they have somewhere to park their tractor, and probably a plane should they wish! The team had some Beaune Bressandes 1er cru (above) on the triage table and it looked superb. David told me that his Beaune Grèves looked very special, and certainly better than his grapes in 2005! Sunday would see for them the arrival of a new cuvée for the domaine – Corton.

Back to the ‘home team’; 10 a.m. Sunday and we are ready to start the machinery for our 1.4 tonnes of Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Vergers. Another innovation this year (more of a just-in-case) is a refrigerated truck to bring the grapes to the winery – and very efficient it is too! Anyway, just like the Meursault of yesterday, we dispensed with the triage table, simply removing the occasional dodgy bunch but mainly leaves. You can see from the picture below, we had to remove only about 7kg from the whole 1.4 tonnes!

After the Chassagne we had Corton Les Rognets and what beautiful grapes and clusters! One third of the quantity was not destemmed – we simply went from the triage table direct into the tank with the first cases, and what a good decision that 1/3 was – the later cases we found were more variable in ripeness so we threw as much as 10% away. Only rarely was rot spotted, certainly less than the Volnay of yesterday – no fauna in the cases either – except for a few honey bees sucking-in a little sugar.

Ah, lunch-time, paté de campagne, Poulet Basque, cheese (very mobile Epoisses indeed) and a lovely almond and pear tart – accompaniment was an Emmanual Giboulet Côte de Beaune ‘Pierres Blanches’ (blanc), a NZ 2006 Bell Hill pinot noir and a 2001 Savigny villages. I was almost too full to drink my coffee 😉

No more grapes today, just cleaning, fermenting and walking in the vines I think! Tomorrow should remain dry, but we could get rain on Tuesday…

UPDATED: With pictures from a walk on the hill of Corton near Pernand around 5 p.m. Followed by a more modest repas! Crocque monsieur, vegetable soup and the obligatory cheese and bread followed by a frefreshing crene fraiche dessert. To keep things running we had 02 Mercurey 1er blanc, 06 Chassagne 1er Vergers and 06 Charmes-Chambertin.

Corton Rognets – perfect grapes

Corton Rognets – and honey bee

Corton Rognets – and more honey bees

Chassagne 1er Vergers – only 7kg from 1.4 tonnes remain unused!!!

Ready for planting

Charlemagne producer I haven’t heard of…

From Pernand – the road to Savigny…

Pernand-Vergelesses

Looking towards Savigny

Charlemagne towards Pernand

Hey – the didn’t harvest here yet – yum!

Corton-Charlemagne Cross

Bonjour,

I started this Tues a.m. and still trying to finish it Thurs lunch…

Second warm morning in a row. Even though not properly daylight feels like might be another scorcher like yesterday. More of that anon.

Arrived in Pernand Monday afternoon after leisurely run from Calais off the. 5 a.m Seafrance Berlioz from Dover. Never seen a ferry so quiet – approx 16 cars. Blue sky and sun all the way. Arrived early afternoon so detoured through Nuits to Morey to say hello to my friends from last year at Arlauds.

Warm greetings from employee Didier dans la cave and then from the usual utterly laid back Cyprien. I was delighted and amused by Cyprien telling me about the impact tout le monde on Burgundy Report last year. Apparently lots of friends and acquaintances have contacted the Arlauds from places such as Australia to say they had seen my rambling prose and photos.

Arlaud commence le vendange this coming Saturday. Little evidence of folk starting in the vines I passed en route. Was amazed though to hear Rousseau had started and Cyprien mentioned another domaine having finished!!!! Romain Arlaud and the superbe Herve arrived whilst we were chatting – Romain without last year’s plaster cast on his wrist but with an impressive scar were he cut his thumb tendon pre vendange. He too was full of my Burgundy Report 08 piece – tres bon !!

On to Pernand via a sleepy Vosne. Very much a sense of something about to ‘explode’ to disturb the rural peace. Someone had the builders tower crane en propriete. Had the obligatory stop by Romanée Conti – grapes looked good if bit mixed. Some photos to follow.

Never replaced my irreparably damaged Sony after last year always having other calls on my cash without enough for the desired Canon G10. Am using my 15 year old daughter’s very fetching shocking pink Fuji Finepix – slightly hampered by not having time to read the instructions!!!

Arrive en Pernand – plus beau village. Took photos on the way in by Ile des Vergelesses. Arrived at the domaine to meet Jean-Claude, a Belgian regular of 27 vintages and Patrice, a young guy from the Vosges who’s now my room mate in the rambling house the vendangeurs share up the village just past Bonneau du Martray. House belongs to Christine Dubreuil and husband Nicolas Gruere. Very comfortable if basic and a big step up in the comfort stakes indeed compared to Arlaud – particularly bathroom + shower – almost bliss!!! Various other vendangeurs arrived – will be quite a few of us in the house.

La famille Dubreuil are very nice. Christine’s English is word perfect, father Bernard is a lovely guy but no doubt who’s in charge – Maman !!! Christine’s husband, Nicolas, is a very quiet, pleasant, studious chap. There are 2 daughters which begs a succession question idc.

Tuesday a.m 7 o,clock start pour dejeuner in the refectory , immediately left as one comes thro the gates. Nice vaulted room but incongruously spoilt for me by a bizarre modern suspended ceiling unit. Walls have concours certificates (recent) and black + white St Vincent Aloxe + Pernand photos of vignerons tasting in a cellar. The 1959 photo is charming in terms of attire – all berets or flat caps, heavy coats and what look like clogs.

The property is une grande maison ou petite chateau with graveled courtyard, office, cave and tasting room.

Out into the vineyards we go – seems a lovely day and it is !!! Gets hotter and hotter. By end of the day I thought 25 C but my new friend, Benoit, thought it nearer 30C.

Quelle surprise – we start in Corton Bressandes Grand Cru. Just along from a plot of the Hospice and beyond that of Jacques Prieur. As I bend to my first vine with what are annoyingly blunt secateurs it’s like I haven’t been away for a year. Same routine of leaf strip, find the stalk + snip. Wear one glove on my left hand which is soon dripping wet with juice. Grapes look superb. Big, tight, compact heavy bunches. Ground is dry underfoot for my Merrell’s which soon though are sandy clay coloured. Dubreuil must have a big plot of Bressandes as we make 2 or 3 passes through it with what I counted later as 37 vendangeurs. Panty of locals, all sorts of ages, lots of regulars and a large contingent of cheery Poles. In the winery is Kirsten from Australia, went to the other Aussie wine university other than Roseworthy.

After Bressandes we move to a small parcelle of Corton Clos du Roi and whip thro it before lunch. Grapes are quite a bit different here, in my row anyway, being thin, straggly, small bunches – younger vines maybe?

Cold chicken pieces and salade for lunch. Dubreuil are employing outside caterers – not something I have come across before but a measure of the seriousness of the meal. Very passable vins blanc et rouge accompany lunch. Tried to find out what they are but much indifference.

Afternoon is taken up with a section of Pernand Ile des Vergelesses, big thick, easy to pick bunches. Bucket soon fills up for the shout of pannier. Dubreuil do the vineyard system different to what I’m used to with cases scattered around the rows before we arrive. Then various guys collect buckets to the cases before the tractor arrives to collect to a trailer at the end of the vineyard. The tractor driver is crazy – the Bobard hurtles dangerously around but has a great feature I haven’t seen before whereby when it’s dropping or collecting cases the driver can lean or drop one side of the tractor (with a shrieking noise).

Great first day finishes in Savigny Ile des Vergelesses which bizarrely is above the Pernand site nearer the tree line. Noticed this year several young guys have music players – heard one guy, with others joining in, singing Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” – little bizarre but quirky..

Will sign off here with 1st installment…

Beaune, Pommard and Aloxe Corton next and robbing a fig tree!!

1st evening dinner

Here we come!

Ile des Vergelesses

Route to PV

Vers Aloxe from Ile des Vergelesses

Vers P-V Bois de Corton

Delarche Ile des Vergelesses

Sun on CortonBress Hospices sign

Romanee Conti

Romanee Conti

Romanee Conti vers Vosne

Romanee Conti Warring parties cross base

A quick update on the situation in the vines, courtesy of David Clark in (of-course) the Côte de Nuits:

The vines are looking far too good at the moment. I’m doing the green harvest and haven’t found a single botrytised berry yet – plenty time for that to change, of course! I’m looking at harvest maybe the weekend of the 19th, weather permitting, although many will be earlier.

Naturally we need a Côte du Beaune-er for balance – here’s Etienne de Montille’s view:

So far so good for the coming 09 vintage.
Though it was a bit tough for organic growers, we could manage the mildew that was the main difficulty during the season. Grapes look great and well set (normal yield – maybe shorter in white) and nicely shaped grapes well set on the vine. No rot so far…
If we don’t have too much rain, we are pretty optimistic… another vintage in 9 🙂

It’s actually raining today in the Côtes and the forecast is for a couple more days too, but generally the mood is positive, but let’s think only of the sun…

Peter Palmetshofer, a long term correspondent and occasional organiser of great wine dinners shared with me (and you) these pictures of Mickey the horse in Romanée-Conti from last weekend – when there was plenty of sun!

Peter: Date/time was Saturday 1. August, 9:40 exactly. Normally ploughing is finished earlier not to hurt the berries, but due to the wet weather the weeds are growing that fast, producers working with herbicides will have serious problems in 2009, thats for sure. Mickey is gourmand, as you can see some Romanée Conti leaves on his muzzle. Correct description would be Mickey working with Monsieur Denis, that’s for sure. But it was Mr Denis who authorized me to enter RC.

At €3,000 a bottle, you can wear a muzzle!

Time for a U-turn

Right-turn

Almost there…

Made it!

Walk-on…

Finished?

After work…