Just a few pics from this morning’s dog-walk on the Montagne de Beaune.

Back home now; 1 hour after sitting down it’s pouring with rain – I’m pretty happy with that timing 🙂

Hmm. The least number of visits and the least number of pics, but what a tough day 😉

Clos de la Perrière

6pm Fixin over the Clos Napoleon

More from the picture diary – it’s faster than typing 🙂

You might note the merest hint of Chambolle, more than a soupçon of Morey and a fragment of Premeaux – not to mention the blue sky of-course!

Chambolle cabotte

Clos de Tart

Clos de Tart

Towards Clos de Tart

Horse in Lambrays

Horses in Lambrays

Morey

Morey

Horse (and dog) in Lambrays

Horse in Lambrays

Morey towards Chambolle

Premeaux-Prissey
How many fingers?

Premeaux-Prissey

A few more pics – captions where there’s some interest might eventually appear, but it seems pretty clear that it’s Vosne and Gevrey – no…(?)
🙂

Beaune rooftop

Maume

Vosne Clos d’Eugenie(?)

Vosne Clos Goillotte

The flatlands of Romanée St.Vivant

Conti cross

Most expensive veg-patch? 3 metres from RSV

Famous Vosne street

Vosne rooftop

Vosne street sign

‘Angel’ @ DRC

Château de Vosne-Romanée

A cross-section of Vosne

Arnoux Romanée St.Vivant

Vosne Clos Goillotte

Now that’s a water-bowl for a dog!

Over Gevrey La Romanée into the Combe de Lavaux

Rousseau’s back-yard…

Clos St.Jacques towards Varoilles

Gevrey street

Clos St.Jacques

Clos St.Jacques

Toward the Combe de Lavaux

Towards Gevrey La Romanée

Just back for a long weekend away – no wine worth a special note – which is not the same as saying no wine ;o)

Was in very sunny Pommard this morning, there will be rendevous in Gevrey and Beaune after a lunchtime sandwich. Maybe a few more pics tomorrow…

You can paste 87-91 together to make a big vista if you like – me, I’ve no time for that! 😉

A long weekend in the UK is to blame for the tumbleweed around here. Still, that didn’t mean I completely gave up imbibing…

Friday was a very early start indeed – actually more than a few in the UK probably hadn’t made it to their beds when my alarm went on Friday morning – ouch. The second ‘ouch’ was for the narcotics I had to take to enable me to sit for a whole hour on the plane (herniated disc – apparently!). First sight of the UK was rainy Gatwick airport at 7:00am – I don’t think I can quite capture the beauty of the scene!

Fast train to London and a smooch around Harvey-Nicks in Knightsbridge: chocolate-coated fire ants, barbecued worms – the usual fare! Their wine department is small but eclectic – for London the prices are almost good too. Despite a bank of refrigerators down one side, I felt the bottles on the shelves a little too warm – the fridges contained whites. A coffee with a friend before heading to a lunch at Don’s Restaurant near Cannon St. tube. And what fantastically benevolent hosts too – 2006 DRC Montrachet for lunch – the quality of the rabbit terrine and black pig done three ways was really secondary! Like most 06s it has lost some of its volume and a little texture too, no-doubt, but this medium-plus yellow wine had understated, but quite enough acidity for balance, such a width of complexity too – wonderful. Super hosts too, thank-you!

Late-afternoon train had me in the arms of friends for the weekend. A trip to Berry Bros in Basingstoke (to pick up some wines) on Saturday was a great success – their ‘outlet’ as they like to describe it was full of wines I would like to have bought – but there were too many and I was on a budget! Lamarche, Grivot, Serafin, Dujac, Fichet, Ente, H.Boillot, Bessin – I could go on – but all with 25% discount. Stocks change daily as I think they are mainly ‘end-of-lines’ but I was sad to leave with only 12 bottles! Lunch with old friends was tinged with only a slight disappointment; not the food, or their Pinot Gris from Luxembourg, rather that we didn’t get around to opening the 2008 Fleurie, La Roilette Vieilles Vignes from Metrat that I took! The evening started with 06 Chablis Fourchaume from Bessin – on great, chalky form and then 1998 Denis Mortet Gevrey. The Gevrey was on it’s best form to-date; the occasionally overwhelming ashy-oak now subsumed in a more fungus and rotting wood aroma – certainly better than it sounds! Now it’s more of a middle-weight with complexity – still marked by it’s wood but interesting and enjoyable in its own right.

Sunday was ‘just’ a delicately perfumed 1999 Barthod Bourgogne – precise, not much power, but lovely perfumed red fruit – probably more of a summer sipping wine than a winter warmer. Monday was only travelling, and then seemingly more travelling – pain again lessened by the ‘magic drops’. Still, I’m sure I’ll find something to open on Tuesday!

Phone pics – not great quality…

No Pink Floyd – no blue sky either!

the full Monty…

Almost drunk with lunch!

Typically the last couple of hours of my days in the Côtes finally attracted a hint of blue sky and sunshine – such a shame then that most of those two hours I was in a cellar!

The vignerons had a good laugh at the mad Englishman in their cellars this week – suffering with a bad back I could be quite crippled, being bent double every time I spent more than 10 minutes driving my hire-car – the only way to unwind my frame was to lie flat on my back for a couple of minutes, usually in their cellars! Actually it was a good vantage point to gauge the cleanliness of their cuveries 😉

Anyway, lots of stories and lots of wines which may eventually find their way here. The 09s continue to go through elevage; apart from a few regional and/or villages wines which have already been bottled or will be bottled in the next couple of weeks, a majority will be bottled from springtime. There is jammy, there is beautiful freshness or even, in some cellars, the structure to denote a long life – but rarely all in the same cellar!

Before the pics, a thoughtful piece today on white Burgundy from Jancis.

St.Vincent

La Romanée-Conti

La Plough

La Tâche

La Tâche

La Tâche

View of Bèze

View of Bèze

View of Ruchottes from Bèze

Backstreet Gevrey

Your name’s not on the list…

Huey, Louey & Douey…

Towards the Château of Gevrey