Tuesday SEPT 19th

Pleasingly it had been dry overnight as we had a slightly earlier (by 15 minutes) departure than usual on this morning.

I’ve realised, belatedly, from my words of Monday (18th) after mentioning the overnight heavy rain, and Michel suggesting the Hautes-Cotes would have had less precipitation than Vosne, I didn’t actually address our a.m. working weather conditions. The smarter cum more observant of you though may have deduced said weather from my Monday pics showing cloudy, grey, heavy skies and our attire including wet weather clothing/footwear. It didn’t actually rain at all though during the morning & the day improved as it went on such that we had more and more sunshine through the afternoon in the Au Vallons vineyard and blue skies coming through. So, for the weather first thing in Fontaine St Martin (‘FSM’) the breakfast suggestions from Michel, and the weather monitoring were accurate. The ground in FSM, as heavily grassed, and sloping, meant no particular under one’s feet issues.

There was also another issue/incident from the 18th – this occurred late in the evening when I was going to bed and had me livid, not seeing anything amusing whatsoever, whether the ‘experience’ was a practical joke or not. And I was quite sure I knew which childish clowns were responsible. Chef was in bed reading when I arrived in our room, ready to get to bed. He commonly read on a Kindle or similar reader. I was a little non plussed initially to see some small square sheets of material as one might use for cleaning, and a few used corks, on and around my bed on the floor. I picked these up for intended later disposal. Some minutes later I pulled back my bed’s duvet (I always made my bed in the morning – aren’t I a well trained, good boy 😉) to reveal a scene of disbelief then mounting annoyance which quickly turned to anger, partly through tiredness, as I set to clearing the mess. My bed had seemingly had a waste bin of some volume emptied into it, the contents of which had been lots more used corks plus lots of other detritus of bottle foil tops, bits of foil, beer bottle tops and other undesirables.

Aftermath of a supposed practical joke on my bed

Cuverie left hand side a.m. 19th Sept

Cuverie right hand side a.m. 19th Sept

Domaine Michel Gros testing samples in cuverie

Swearing softly to myself Jean-Michel had by now noticed and was almost as unhappy as I was on my behalf. As I pondered how to clear up the mess J-M kindly ferreted in his stuff and gave me an empty carrier bag which served the purpose. I hadn’t actually got around to undressing so, carrier bag in hand, and in high dudgeon, I marched downstairs, across the yard, into the kitchen space where a few folk were present including Michel (Gros) to whom I presented the carrier bag with as many appropriate choice words of French explanation as my vocabulary allowed. Initially, for split seconds, the reactions of those present other than Michel, were of amusement but such quickly disappeared to be replaced by solemn looks at the floor or otherwise convenient places as my anger cum fury was realised. As with the mounted wild boar head my mindset was similarly influenced by the fact that individuals had ‘invaded’ the privacy of the shared room of J-M and myself. It would never have crossed my mind in a million years to do similar – maybe I was brought up differently.

In handing the carrier bag of rubbish to Michel I also made the point of our room being ‘invaded’. To his credit, unsurprisingly as he’s such a nice man, Michel was quite shocked, with his response, such as he could muster given what must have been his surprise at my appearance and state of mind, one of assuring me he would speak with Pierre and see what might be done as to providing a key to lock our room or corridor outside (latter had a door to the stairs). A key was never forthcoming but the matter was never mentioned again, nor was there a repeat, although the following day at lunch as I passed through the kitchen Chef Jean-Michel covertly pulled me to one side and told me he’d had ‘strong words’ with unnamed individuals. All pretty ridiculous – probably a low point in my vendange.

For today, Tuesday, Day 10 the weather had been dry overnight as we headed back to Au Vallons and its views over towards Marey-les-Fussey. The latter is home to a number of domaines but, whilst I’ve driven through Marey a number of times, I’ve yet to stop and visit. I’d be interested in any Burgundy Report readers views on any Marey domaines and their wines. Perhaps the best known Marey domaines for me are Thevenot Le Brun and Joannet.

Early rest break in HCDN Au Vallons

Close colleagues Angela & Padraig resting under large tree in HCDN Au Vallons (1)

Harvesting Machine in adjoining vines from HCDN Au Vallons

Prunelle & a new vendangeurs dog Onyx playing in HCDN Au Vallons

Our journey up to Au Vallons had us 5 up in the Toyota, Michel and myself as usual in the front but the other 3 passengers included 2 of the tractor drivers. The reason here was that, doubtless due to the distance back to Vosne, two of the tractors had overnighted in Chevrey were Domaine Gros rent a small garage (enough for one open older/smaller tractor – the modern other with cab was outside) from a retired vigneron. So, a quick pitstop for the tractor drivers to hop out and reclaim their vehicles – Michel just waiting until sure both tractors had started up without issue before we carried on.

Once at Au Vallons basically we had the same ‘script’ as the previous day. Initially we commenced in the rows only part done when we exited the evening before and completed those before ‘shuffling’ around the site, uphill and around a corner, before starting new rows. Working on these new rows, which were up/down the vineyard, and long (!), rather than across as previously, saw us up to lunchtime.

Back at the domaine saw the departure, with a final cheery practice of his English, of my laundromat friend, Florient, who was off to some alternative employment elsewhere.

Post lunch back again to Au Vallons and more of the same from the morning. The afternoon was a bit of a slog fest, the grapes not always the cleanest with some rot demanding self triage as cutting, and the rows long. At least it was nice and sunny, without being too hot, with less breeze than earlier in the day – water breaks between rows were welcome ! In terms of drinks I had a nice little advantage here as in not being reliant on the ubiquitous white cups. When working at Domaine Michel Noellat (I think for 2020 rather than 2019) we’d each been given a plastic cup, slightly larger than the norm, but those plastic cups fitted into a black rubber/plastic ring which also had a clip for attaching to one’s belt or similar. I’d ended up with two of these cup things and brought them both to this vendange – they were much envied & very useful. My only puzzle was why all the cups from Noellat (the same) had Gevrey-Chambertin’s St Vincent Tournante branding/stencilling (or similar) on them. I can only assume Noellat somehow ended up with a surplus ‘job lot’ of these cups. I’ll take a photo or two of them for pictorial purposes.

Harvesting Machine in distance from HCDN Au Vallons

Late afternoon rest break under large tree in HCDN Au Vallons

Late p.m view along lower edge of HCDN Au Vallons Pinot

Noellat Cup1

It was good to finish in late afternoon here. My back at base shower was welcome. My evening was again earmarked for ongoing laptop work but I now had my own supply of beers (not to excess) to ‘keep me going’. Our room was mercifully free of any issues.

MdMdlV

Sunday – 17th September
As a non-working day, coming after the extended evening’s Paulee, and being kept awake by excessive, unwarranted noise into the ‘small hours’, I allowed myself the ‘luxury’ of a decadent lie in until rousing myself around 8.00 a.m. My room mate, Chef Jean-Michel, had already disappeared – he’d told me the previous evening he would be going home for the day (I can’t recall where he lived but couldn’t have been that far away).

As Mike (Lange) will note 😉 we are now into week two – I’d actually set up this document ahead of Mike’s post on burgundy-report.com. I suppose the question now, without getting ahead of ourselves or giving much away, is how long will this vendange go on for – keep reading pop pickers (the latter words are from an English radio DJ from the sixties or seventies – am showing my age) !!

Wandering around outside after breakfast I initially watched two of the domaine guys pressing Chardonnay grapes. This was done in a lean to building across the yard from the cuverie. I’d previously noted the press was, perhaps unusually, a German make (didn’t take the details). I took a few photos (no captions as its obvious what’s what). In the cuverie, heady with that smell of fermenting grapes, yeast etc, remontage was in progress. I actually used to get involved a couple of times with Alain Noellat in that process at Domaine Michel Noellat first thing in the morning when there was just the two of us in the Noellat cuverie (alongside the RN74). No need for my assistance/ involvement here – had I indicated any desire cum enthusiasm for such work here no doubt Michel would have ruled such out given his keen desire for my welfare thus far !!!

Clearly, weather wise, a nice sunny day was in prospect. The notable activity around the domaine was in the comings and goings of various folk, working up to what would be their departures. On a pallet in the cuverie entrance were a sizeable amount of boxed domaine wines with various vendangeurs names on in heavy felt tip pen. Further back in the cuverie was another pallet, similarly laden, with my intrigued to note one box had my name on it – yay ! I surmised these boxes were one of two things (or both), namely gift boxes for the departing plus boxes of purchased wines. Have I previously said that some 3 or 4 weeks out from the start of the vendange, and very efficiently, the domaine had emailed all those signed up for the harvest offering a limited selection of 2021 domaine wines at a discount to retail ? I gather this has been a normal practice – as a newbie I wholeheartedly approve and was just regretful I didn’t have deeper pockets for fuller advantage. Had I (or anyone else come to that) been greedy in any request it may not have done any good as the offering emails came with apologies for the limited amounts of wines on offer and limited nature – all down to the reduced quantity from the problem 2021 vintage. For myself, I’d applied for 6 bottles of the HCDN Fontaine St Martin Monopole Rouge and 6 bottles of the Blanc, plus 3 bottles of the Vosne 1er Clos des Reas. I don’t deem it appropriate here to mention cost, sorry. I’d not been asked for payment when submitting my request & had assumed such would be deducted from my wages in due course (as later was indeed the case). To organise all this ahead of the vendange was something I heartily welcomed as I’d always felt previously any purchase requests were a bit of a last minute inconvenience for any domaine in question – this was the indeed the case at Arlaud as asking to purchase then involved one of the domaine staff being pulled off other duties to label and pack any requested bottles. Michel Noellat had a ‘halfway house’ process were lists of available wines were circulated part way through the vendange for ordering for later supply/collection.

The comings and goings of folk had quietened somewhat by mid-morning when, whilst back to working on ‘Bill Stuff’, I was approached by colleague, Florient, who asked most politely (as I had a car) if I could run him into Nuits-St-Georges so he could do his laundry at the laundromat machine at the front of the Intermarche supermarket. He told me he’d tried to do that the day before but the machine was out of order. Florient had joined us in the latter part of week 1, having previously been working at a domaine in Pommard (sorry – didn’t ask, or if I did, note down which one). He is a solidly built, chunky, strong youngish chap, who’d probably fit well into a rugby scrum. He’s a really nice guy though who I’d warmed to from the outset. I gather by trade he’s a painter & decorator, and maybe a builder of sorts. He told me about working on property in Switzerland amongst other places. What linked us from this vendange was his pro-active keen desire to further his English. His grasp of the language was really pretty good, if not better than that, and he was keen to practice on me whenever he could – in a good way (without being anything like Gabriel !). In short I liked him (Florient), and we got on, hence I was happy to oblige his polite request this morning. He was living in the ‘party central’ old Gros house occupied by the younger element at the village end of Clos des Reas & carried all his worldly goods and wardrobe in a humungous rucksack, possibly an ex-military one, which I think he said could carry 40 kilos. In addition to running him there, via a centre of NSG tabac to collect some sort of token for the washing machine, I would have been quite happy to wait for him at the Intermarche and bring him back, rather than have him have to walk back, heavily laden, to Vosne but despite my pressing this offer he would not hear of it so it was a quick run down to NSG to leave him to do his laundry. A number of domaines were hard at it either side of the road between Vosne & NSG – it felt privileged to have a day off !!

On the subject of Florient coming to Vosne from a Pommard domaine this reminds me that it was either the young Italian owners of loveable Acho, or another young couple, who told me over lunch one day that they’d come to Domaine Michel Gros from having previously worked at Domaine Joseph Voillot, Volnay. My informants spoke in glowing terms, & with much enthusiasm, of the experience at Voillot and of Volnay itself. Curiously, and I can’t explain why, I don’t know Volnay very well, even though I own a number of Volnay wines , if at all really and can’t recall ever going up into the village – an omission that needs correcting.

Back from my taxiing trip to NSG I returned to my laptop until what I’ve written down as ‘Slimmed down lunch’. Memory evades here but I think now this was a sort of do itself (no Chef or helper) affair of leftovers for a few of us who were about or working (the cuverie guys). The early afternoon saw more laptop time before a social afternoon trip to Beaune, specifically in Place Carnot with sharing platter watching the dog walkers, posh posing cars, and motorbikes all circling the Place. I didn’t stay too long and back at the domaine just popped my head around the kitchen/dining cave door intending to say ‘hello’ but Michel insisted I sit down and stay for dinner – just the four of us; Michel, Philippe, myself and AN Other. I decided to open/share my newly purchased Vincent Prunier 2019 Auxey Blanc of which we had half the bottle before returning the remainder to one of the 4 fridges/freezers in a small cellar room off our dining cave. And so to bed accompanied by the sound of heavy rain which made one muse, as sleep came, what we’d find on the morrow.

Monday – 18th September
By breakfast/departure time the previous night’s heavy rain had thankfully stopped but everywhere was very wet.

Lady vendangeur fashion wellies – nice !

Grey claggy mid morning near top of HCDN Chardonnay site

Mid morning break at bottom part of HCDN Chardonnay site

Readying for action after morning break at bottom element of HCDN Chardonnay site

We departed Vosne at 7.45 a.m. our destination once more the HCDN Fontaine St Martin vines and more Chardonnay – to be the last of this, with a difference. Quite a number of new faces had appeared at the domaine gates and in the yard pre our departure, all invariably ‘reporting in’ to Juliette. Amongst the French & other continental Europeans was one Padhraic Duffy – a young (or so I thought), certainly youthful looking & likeable Irishman, ‘fresh’ by train and bike, from his IT Tech job in the Netherlands. I have always preferred to be the only Briton/Englishman wherever I’ve worked, and other than two years from my 14 that has been the case, but I was happy to welcome ‘Patrick’ as he made himself known (for ease) to those enquiring of his name. I was intrigued by his telling me:- a) that he’d seen the Gros Vendange role on the Indeed France job website; and b) that he would have liked to work the whole vendange but Juliette had advised only a second week position was available. It was quite clear to me from the latter point, and having seen quite the number of folk depart after Week 1, that Juliette had, most efficiently as is her hallmark, recruited deftly to cover the domaine days and weeks requirements.

Pre departure, over breakfast, when we’d inevitably been talking of the weather, and I speculated what we might find on the Hautes-Cotes, Michel had surprised me by responding knowledgeably that it would not be so ‘bad’/heavy (in terms of rainfall) as we’d had overnight in Vosne. As I mulled this he expanded by explaining they had a form of rain(fall) monitoring system, if not across all the vines certainly on the Hautes-Cotes. I was subsequently to further learn that this technology (and cost) is shared by a collective of vignerons.

So, Fontaine St Martins’s Chardonnay again. But, now, we were working the last few rows very much at the bottom of the slope of the vineyard, across the boundary of which was a heavily wooded area. The changed terroir i.e bottom of the slope, and maybe the influence of nearby trees, had a dramatic (and unforeseen by me) detrimental effect on grape quality with the lowest rows materially affected by elements of rot and/or odium, none of which we’d seen in the higher section of vineyard on previous days. At one point during the morning our sub team had a bit of a ‘telling off’ from a roving/passing Michel about picking ‘bad grapes’ with ‘advice’ on what we should be doing and how. Consider yourself admonished ! Prior to that the newbies and the originals had been acquainting themselves and for me this included a new, middle aged, lady on our sub team, one Mercedes who, a little surprisingly, hailed from Uruguay and was working various types of seasonal fruit picking across Europe (France, Spain, Portugal et al). Mercedes, who had an engaging line in music playlist via portable speaker from her phone (Bluetooth presumably), was clearly no football fan though and looked blankly at me when I mentioned Uruguay soccer stars, Luis Suarez & Darwin Nunez……..oh well !

Back to Vosne for lunch with my thinking I could finish off, and share with my lunch table mates, the circa half a bottle left of the Vincent Prunier Auxey Blanc from Sunday. Errr, no, the bottle had disappeared (stolen) from where I’d left in the inner cellar fridge. I wasn’t best pleased to put it mildly. Subsequently the following day I spotted the empty bottle amongst all the empty, unmarked, bottles in a recycling cage in the Mugneret-Gibourg yard end of the dining cellar. Thereafter, I marked any bottle of my wine, and my beers, quite clearly with my name & regularly checked such remained in situ. I had a suspicion who might have taken the Auxey but couldn’t prove it.

Broken & flattened row start post – errant non domaine machine blamed

Cheerful young domaine employee tractor driver with HCDN Chardonnay full cases

HCDN Chardonnay full cases on collecting tractor pre transfer to road trailer

Prunelle being Prunelle bless

Transfer of HCDN Chardonnay full cases to road trailer

After lunch we returned to complete work on the Chardonnay bottom rows. Previously, when we’d come down to the bottom edge of the vineyard I’d noticed a small blue box under a wire fence part way along the vineyard boundary and, fresh from my breakfast conversation with Michel about rain monitoring had erroneously assumed said box was related to that monitoring. I was ‘slightly’ wrong in amusing fashion – well, it amused me – as when we gathered pre starting work Michel warned us against touching what was actually an electric fence for keeping animals (wild boar, deer, goats etc) in the woods and out of the vines. Turned out also that Florient had inadvertently touched said wire during the morning, receiving just a mild shock.

Didn’t take us long to see off the final Chardonnay vines which we’d almost completed pre lunch. I’d idly, without applying much thought, assumed we’d move onto the Fontaine St Martin (‘FSM’) Pinot which I’d already noted, when passing such vines on foot, to be impressively laden with fruit, much as the higher Chard vines had been. I was wrong because we embarked vehicles and moved out of FSM but not as we’d entered via the hamlet of Chevrey but instead we turned left towards the top wooded edge of FSM and took a weird, rough tracked, route through the thick woods, emerging onto a wide grassed edge of a new, sloping, extensive site, and an extremely scenic one, with the attractive village of Marey-les-Fussey south beyond the vineyard and across fields on the other side of the vineyard valley bottom. In differing parts of the vineyard the rows went across the slope and in another part up/down the slope This new site I erroneously thought initially was ‘En Vallon’ – close, but no cigar, as its actually ‘Au Vallon’ – which I only realised a few days later & only after I’d captioned all my photos from here with ‘En’ rather than ‘Au’ ☹. Its rather hard to geographically describe exact locations for the HCDN sites and to pick them out. My favourite ‘Climats & Lieux Dits’ Burgundy ‘bible’ book doesn’t cover the Hautes-Cotes (or my two editions don’t) which is a pity. The best way I’ve found in identifying the four Gros HCDN sites is via their website (surprise, surprise !) using the maps on the website pages for any of the specific HCDN wines:-
Vineyard of the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits – Domaine Michel Gros (domaine-michel-gros.com)
If one moves the website maps around with cursor, magnifies/minimises as required, and clicks on any of the coloured/highlighted terroirs then the name of that site appears.

Countryside panorama from HCDN Au Vallons – leaving tractor mid shot (1)

Downslope in HCDN Au Vallons looking towards Marey-le-Fussey

Picturesque Marey-le-Fussey from HCDN Au Vallons

We were to spend until late morning Weds here. This was a site I really liked and enjoyed our time here. For much of it (time here) below and to the right of us some way off a harvesting machine was in constant action with its attendant tractors & trailers servicing it. Interestingly, whilst all the Gros vines here were high trained and with wide, fully grassed, spaces between the rows (as in FSM), beyond the Vallon bottom boundary, including the vines the harvesting machine was working on, the vines were more conventionally (as on the Cote) lower trained. If I’d have to have a guess at ownership then I’d go for Nuiton-Beaunoy i.e one of this, just outside Beaune, co-operative’s members. The (all) Pinot Noir fruit here was again volume and for the most part very good quality.

Top of slope of Au Vallons Pinot site

Late afternoon rest in HCDN Au Vallons site above Marey-le-Fussey (1)

Late afternoon rest in HCDN Au Vallons site above Marey-le-Fussey (2)

Picking late p.m. in HCDN Au Vallons Pinot

End of day departure starting from HCDN Au Vallons (2)

Initially I worked in my sub team of the morning although, curiously, our main man case triagist, one Alex, was nowhere to be seen for the afternoon. We must have done a couple of row passes before, to my surprise and without explanation, Michel (Gros) came to me and directed me to another sub team. I wasn’t too thrilled with this as I’d previously noted this second team seemed rather ‘relaxed’ &, without speed or too much efficiency. I’ll admit my assistance was rather grudging but after we’d finished the row they were in when I joined, then another full one, that was ‘it’ for the day. Tomorrow would see more of the same – with less to describe/write about other than, notably, an unwelcome misfortune for our ‘new’ Irishman.

MdMdlV

Saturday…

This was yet another varied and interesting day in more ways than one !

In football (soccer) parlance this might be suitably described as a game (or day) of two halves (parts) ! Let’s get into it.

I was up earlier than usual, not sure how I dragged myself out of bed at circa 5.00 a.m., as I was silly keen to have a little time to work on ‘Bill Stuff’. Intent on heading for the domaine cuverie end of our dining cave/cellar to use the wi-fi pre breakfast instead I was thrown off my stride by early morning rain starting to come down. As I’d not dressed for such eventuality I had to return to my bedroom (Chef Jean-Michel sleeping soundly, bless him, a thoroughly nice man) and put on my wet weather gear over my ‘normal’ clothes and change my footwear.

Acho sitting happily with his Italian owners

And we thought the Chardonnay was good – wait until we get to this Pinot – no burnt grapes in sight

And we thought the Chardonnay was good – wait until we get to this Pinot2 – no burnt grapes in sight

And we thought the Chardonnay was good – wait until we get to this Pinot3 – no burnt grapes in sight

Brightening up a little here at 12.17 with Michel issuing instructions (1)

Our a.m destination was a return to the same spot we’d been in yesterday i.e the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits Fontaine St Martin Monopole of the domaine. Here, a quick recap to an aspect of yesterday I’d forgotten, but have been reminded of from Bill’s adding my Day 6 words & photos, namely the featuring once again of the unpleasant clouds of flying ants I’d last seen in NSG Les Chailots (see previous words re Day xx). One can make out the insects quite easily on yesterday’s photos – those photos of our arrival in Fontaine St Martin. If anything the clouds of insects were denser than the first occasion – quite nasty ! Fortunately, they only seemed to be in, or above, the open spaces hence once we were working in the rows of vines there was no bothersome issue. Quite weird to have this experience – never seen similar before in any of my previous (13) vendanges.

Clodagh from Lebanon wearing this season’s fascinator

End of the first a.m. row at bottom of the slope

Job done for this row of HCDN Chard – gap between rows wide enough for tractor & trailer

Re-embarking for back to Vosne & lunch

Prunelle guarding the white grapes press & sheltering from the rain – clever dog !

Back to today – once again Chardonnay, in humungous quantities of grapes, was the order of the day. We were lower, in level within the vineyard, row terms than yesterday. The morning remained, for the most part, as early in Vosne, largely grey, claggy, with heavy low cloud, and some intermittent light drizzle (not enough to interrupt us). Typically (!) it started to brighten up as the morning came to a conclusion. I was, again, ‘taken’ with sight of a Kestrel hovering low over the vines between NSG & Vosne as we returned.

Somewhat to my initially disbelieving surprise our day was done at lunch. Reason ? The evening was to feature our vendange Paulee – not a Paulee in the sense of the famed Meursault one, but more a celebration of the harvest with good food, better than usual wines, speeches, presentations et al. But why the Paulee mid-way through the harvest – we’d only just started on the domaine’s important Hautes-Cotes vines areas (to ultimately last more than a week) ? I never actually asked why but am pretty sure the reason was the imminent, sizeable, changeover in workers. A goodly number of folk were to leave on Sunday and be replaced at the beginning of the following week by new people who arrived in dribs and drabs as the second week progressed. The team which ended the harvest was quite different in make up from the one that started. Additionally, to me it seemed many of those who left after the first week were longstanding regulars, and many the more mature/older individuals. Seemingly they came only for the Cote D’Or work, or maybe they could only spare a week from their regular employments (or a bit of both). I could only interpret the above was the reason for the mid harvest nature of the evening’s Paulee to come.

A relaxed Prunelle at Paulee

Acho enjoying the cuverie gathering

Cuverie ready for Paulee aperitifs

Pre Paulee cuverie gathering

Ahead of the evening’s entertainment I had the afternoon free. It was interesting how, after lunch, most folk drifted away before returning later. The afternoon was sunny in marked contrast to our morning. Initially I took the opportunity to drive to the NSG Intermarche supermarket for some beers, partly as I fancied some for the coming week and also as I’d been offered a beer or two pre dinner in the week just passed & wanted to be able to reciprocate. Naturally, I took the opportunity to have a look at the wine selection in the store, the Burgundy elements anyway, and picked up a sole bottle of a Vincent Prunier 2019 Auxey-Duresses Blanc to go with my beers. Once back in Vosne I spent the remainder of the afternoon working on my laptop (photos) whilst continuing to enjoy the internet via the wi-fi, following the UK Premier League soccer on the BBC Sport website – ultimately much cheered by The Mighty Reds (Liverpool FC) going top of the table.

As the afternoon moved into evening, I gave myself plenty of time to get spruced up and changed into smarter clothes for the evening to come. I’m always much taken at any vendange Paulee how different my work colleagues can look when they arrive smartly dressed for an evening and I wasn’t to be disappointed here by a particularly notable display from a few of the senior ladies. Before addressing matters sartorial I should outline that the initial part of the evening, the Paulee drinks reception as it were, once we’d all assembled in the yard area, was to take place in the smartened, tidied, and cleared for the purpose cuverie. Down the centre of the cuverie 3 newish looking oak barrels had been placed, on mats, at suitable distances apart, each covered with white cloths, and on which were a number of drinks glasses. Back to the attire of some senior ladies:- they had really made an effort, and “gone to town” in vintage clothing and appropriate accessories e.g smart hats, walking sticks etc. I’m sure there’s a name/term for such dressing up but for now can’t recall it. Whatever, they certainly looked very impressively smart – well done them !

Outside cuverie pre Paulee mingling

Listening to Paulee Speeches

Michel Paulee Speech (1)

Michel with Marielle & Prunelle in attendance

Eventually we were invited to move into the cuverie from the yard and served champagne by Michel and Pierre with cheesy gougères arriving from the kitchen as accompaniments. Both Acho and Prunelle doggily enjoyed themselves moving amongst us in the cuverie and scrounging for the odd gougère or part thereof. All very ‘civilised’ ! I should have noted the name of the champagne producer but, sorry, I didn’t. Michel did mention it came from a friend of his who I gather he might have been at wine school with – I gather they swap wines, something I’ve seen elsewhere, notably at Domaine Arlaud were I was aware Cyprien had wines from friends, Alex Moreau (Domaine Bernard Moreau, Chassagne) and Didier Picq (Domaine Gilbert Picq et Fils, Chablis). Typing this reminds me Michel had, on a couple of evenings the previous week, served us a Crozes-Hermitage Rouge and St Joseph from the same producer – another friend/acquaintance with wine swaps involved – apologies, again, I didn’t make a note of the producer.

Post champagne reception we moved into our dining cellar which various ladies had decorated for the evening. The tables, normally four set up across the cellar, had been moved to create two long tables the length of the cellar. As folk filed in and chose their seats I held back not quite sure, given my newbie first year status, just where I should sit but I was humbled and gratified when both Juliette and Michel insisted on a particular seat for me to solve my quandary. I should have made a note of our menu but didn’t, daft me, but have a vague recollection it may have been traditional Burgundy fare i.e jambon persille, boeuf bourguignon, fromage and a dessert.

Vintage smart dress from the senior ladies

Paulee Award to Juliette

Paulee Dining 2

Paulee Dining 4

Paulee wines – Vougeot 12, Reas 12 & Vosne 15

Pierre Paulee Speech

And the Paulee wines ? Yum, no disappointment here ! We enjoyed, well I certainly did, Vosne-Romanee Village 2015, Vosne 1er Clos des Reas 2012, and Clos Vougeot Grand Maupertuis 2012. For me it was a close call on my favourite but I reckon, close call though with the Reas, it was the Vougeot which seemed to have a little more of everything. The 2012s were certainly drinking well though, something I’d found at home with a few of my less grand 2012s.

Towards the end of the meal one of the senior ladies, Marielle I think is her name, became a Master (Mistress ?) of Ceremonies, introducing speeches from Michel & Pierre then overseeing awards to Juliette and I think one or two others.

An enjoyable evening and so, in time, to bed where I’d been provided with a companion. Upside down on the bed was one of the two, very large, mounted Sanglier heads from the entrance room to our property. Some clown cum idiot, presumably a Belgian 20 something child, must have thought it was a good idea cum laugh to put it there. I wasn’t too bothered per se, but more irritated that the joint privacy of the room, Chef Jean-Michel’s as well as mine, had been compromised not least with our valuables in situ. Returning the mounted head to the room below I should then have enjoyed a decent night’s sleep but once again such was not be the case with much noise late into the night emanating from the dining cellar and outside it. Once could but wonder what the Mugneret-Gibourg sisters made of said noise from their courtyard sharing adjacent property.

Sunday would be a non-working, ‘recovery’ day, and as such I’ll cover elements of that with our working for Monday, 18th Sept.

MdMdlV

Domaine Vendange Team1

Friday

Appreciate these are (to be) the words for this Day 6 but I’ve realised I’ve forgotten an aspect of the late evening of yesterday (Day 5) hence, rather than provide such words to Bill, and ask him to edit/add to the Day 5 document he already has, I’ll cover off such here before we get into this day’s events proper.

I’ve already recorded my working (on my photos and diary words) into the evening of Day 5, gaining use of the domaine wi-fi, and intent to have a late evening on the aforesaid work. Whilst busy at my laptop on one of the kitchen tables though I was regularly interrupted (in nice ways) as the evening went on, by entreaties from a number of my colleagues, to stop what I was doing and join the others watching the World Cup Rugby:– France versus Uruguay. Such invitations were very tempting, particularly given the venue (see below !) but I was determined to get on with my work and looked forward to ultimate peace and quiet; as well as being able to follow any evening’s football via wi-fi. As the evening went on though, and fatigue increased, the prospect of watching the rugby socially in an attractive setting, with a suitable drink, became compelling such that I eventually gave in to myself, packed up, and set off just up the street to join the others for what would be the second half of the game.

The venue for the rugby viewing on TV was the stunning building/setting of Comte Louis Liger-Belair’s new(ish) La Cuverie de Vosne ( lacuveriedevosne.fr ). The incredible looking building is essentially next door to Domaine Michel Gros and Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg and I could see the top of the La Cuverie building over the rooftops from our bathroom. I’ve no recollection now what used to be on the site of the La Cuverie building previously and not sure how long it’s been open. I was last in Vosne of course for the 2020 harvest with Domaine Michel Noellat but don’t have any recollection of La Cuverie then – I guess maybe it was a building site ? The venue is all of swanky, posh, striking, attractive, high end looking and many more such adjectives as one might come up with. Some guests were sitting at outside tables as I approached; inside was pretty full, on the TV side of the bar area any way. My colleagues, in previously trying to persuade me to join them, told me they had booked some of the tables/space some days earlier. I settled myself comfortably at the bar (on a free stool) with a good view of the TV and got myself a beer (just about the most reasonably affordable drink in the place !!!). Initially I was happy to watch the game and whilst France ultimately ran out comfortable winners I was quite impressed, and not on my own, with the performance of Uruguay. A second beer further lubricated my evening but as the game wore on I further ‘amused’ myself by studying the comprehensive and highly impressive wine lists. If one wants to feel impoverished, and marvel at the heady prices to which (some) Burgundy wines have reached, then studying the La Cuverie lists and looking at the wall mounted bottles should do the trick ! I believe one can also stay at La Cuverie ( 3 suites ?) and had already noted in recent days the high end cars populating the few La Cuverie parking spaces across the road from it. Someone told me the venue was a project of the wife of the Comte – whether that’s true I’ve no idea. What level of success, profitability, etc it might enjoy over time I guess time will tell – I’ve no idea/am not sure ! It’s certainly highly impressive from many angles & I enjoyed the ‘distraction’ of the rugby, my beers and the ambience.

As a quick corrective aside, whilst on the subject of sport, I’ve realised I made an incorrect reference for Day (or rather evening) 5 before someone ‘pulls me up on it’ in suggesting I’d been following LASK v. Liverpool FC on the internet – getting ahead of myself this was actually a week later !

Dawning of Day 6 prompted me to think how quickly the days had already flown past to this point. Getting ready for the day, breakfast etc was now a usual routine. Whilst we congregated at the domaine’s gates though I heard mention of Gevrey-Chambertin and asked if I might join the team heading there as an alternative to returning to Boncourt-le-Bois. I wasn’t on my own though as the usual small team which had operated in other terroirs was bolstered by others in addition to myself.

My experience of working in a Gevrey terroir ‘proper’ (other than Bourgogne Roncevie) has been with Domaine Arlaud in their Gevrey ‘La Justice’. Today though was somewhat different as we headed for Gevrey ‘La Platiere’. This terroir is on the Morey side of Gevrey, quite some way east of the D974, and below ‘Croix des Champs’. We turned off the D974 onto a road on the north side of ‘Croix des Champs’ (with Creux Brouillard on the other side of this road) and continued down some way on the flat lands until turning right on to another road & as far as an industrial ‘shed’ type building where we parked up & dismounted.

The domaine’s poshest vineyard tractor in Gevrey La Platiere

Gevrey La Platiere looking back to start (& into sun)

Gevrey La Platiere fruit awaiting collection

Gevrey La Platiere turnaround area after first pass & drinks break

The Gros domaine website describes ‘La Platiere’ thus:-

This parcel called “La Platière” is located in the alluvial cone which is located downstream of the Lavaux valley, a mixture of silt and limestone alluvium carried over the millennia. This subsoil is present in a large majority of the village appellation Gevrey-Chambertin and gives wines that are both supple and deep, of high quality for simple “village” wines.

From my perspective the location was very flat, not particularly scenic, the earth quite heavy, and the rows (we were to pick towards the D974 to a grassy ‘interruption’ area) quite intimidatingly long, albeit short compared to those at Boncourt ! I can’t recall now but am fairly sure we must have at least doubled up in the rows. The grapes I experienced, whilst of decent quantity & largely ‘clean’, were mostly smaller bunches than seen elsewhere previously. We weren’t on our own as one or two others domaine teams were also in the vicinity. When we came to complete the rows Acho amused me by running enthusiastically to another of these domaine teams – am sure he must have thought we were linked ! We finished early here, in a lunch context, at c11.30 and coincidentally the rest of the team had finished at Boncourt similarly such that we all more or less arrived back in Vosne together. The temperature had risen as the morning went on – it was hot getting back. An early lunch was decreed to result in an earlier than usual departure set for 13.15.

Lunch was notably interesting as our outside caterers had provided Perch (as in the small coarse fish) for our main course – an interesting & unusual choice (for me anyway). I can’t recall now what the fish were cooked in, or how, but the portion size allowed for several of the small fish – and very tasty they were too, bones not an issue. Recalling this meal reminds me we’d had another not so common choice last evening – which didn’t go down too well with everyone. The caterers certainly seemed to be using their imagination to vary the offerings but Thursday evening saw Andouillette served up as a main. I’ve heard, and read, a lot about Andouillette over the years – not all good (!) – thus approached my portion with some wary apprehension. It certainly looked ‘different’ albeit not to be studied too closely! Taste wise though it was fine such that I polished mine off happily. Wouldn’t be a first choice again though !

So, that was our morning gone and, whilst I didn’t realise at the time, that was the end of our Cote de Nuits work. When I’d first ‘signed up’ with Gros a vendange timetable had been suggested with week one given over for the Cote de Nuits terroirs, then a very civilised sounding weekend break, to be followed by the second week in the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits. The domaine broadly splits down its c23 hectares to 11.5ha on the CdN with approximately the same in the Hautes-Cotes (the latter including the domaine’s white grape vines).

M Gros Heavyweight Tractor Division arrive at HCDN site

And, yes, our post lunch departure, preceded by the domaine’s three (non vineyard type) tractors with trailers, setting off well before us given the travelling distance, was for the Hautes-Cotes but immediately before we all left Juliette quickly mustered us all at the street gates of the domaine for a group photoshoot using her phone – seizing the opportunity I joined her, standing a little behind, to grab my own camera shots. I was a little nonplussed at why the group shot at this juncture but subsequently realised in the coming days that, given we‘d see so many personnel changes after this first week, that the first week group was being photo’d before the material changes in team make up which occurred going into week two.

Having personally become more and more interested in the Hautes-Cotes in recent years, and always (for the most part – 2013 being a horror exception) enjoyed working there I was really looking forward to this. Our route was a clever one, initially at least, doubtless chosen to avoid the pesky delaying set of traffic lights coming into Nuits-St-Georges, as we left Vosne to head through the vines with Clos des Reas on our left, and zigzagged in convoy through the vines to the western residential edge of Nuits-St-Georges were we went through a small estate of houses onto the Rue General Brosset which, in turn, led to us turning right onto the D25 Route de la Serre away from NSG towards the Hautes-Cotes. Our route bordered the Le Meuzin watercourse, took us past the La Gentilhommerrie hotel/motel and, climbing all the while, still on the D25, to the very edge of Meuilley, where we took a 90 degree left onto the D115 Route de Beaune but only for a few hundred yards before turning right onto a minor road and up into the attractive hamlet of Chevrey, not far from Arcenant. Keeping left without entering Chevrey proper ultimately saw the road become a track which brought us into Gros’ HCDN Fontaine St Martin Monopole an extensive vineyard of both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – all high trained in atypical Hautes-Cotes ‘style’. In addition to the high training the widths between the rows were considerably wider than one might atypically find on the Cote, doubtless to allow for larger, non-vineyard, conventional tractor access.

Hamlet of Chevrey from Gros HCDN Chard site

The scenic HCDN at its best (except for the flying ants)

These sentinels, or this sculpture could be tomorrow’s agenda

Very impressive and with fabulous, almost jaw dropping, beautiful views over rolling green hills, lush wooded areas, scattered hamlets, and what looks to be increasing vine plantings in the area and on the opposite hills. The nearest clue of where we’d come from was the distant sight of the long-time high masts (radio, TV, mobile phone ?) on the hills above Nuits-St-Georges which I was now looking at from the rear as it were. Michel and us in the Toyota had led the full team complement in 3 rental minibuses and 2-3 domaine vans. Henceforth there would be no small team group hive off to other sites. Our work for the mostly very pleasant, weather-wise, afternoon was the higher sections of the domaine’s Chardonnay. And wow, wow, just wow – what incredible grapes we had here. I can’t recall seeing anything like these – maybe Arlaud’s HCDN Chardonnay in a good year but the Gros vines here were carrying a serious weight of fabulous fruit.

Count the cases of HCDN Chard awaiting collection

M Gros HCDN High Trained Chardonnay – there were lots better than this !

M Gros HCDN Chardonnay case

HCDN Chard part team rest & drinks break

The Gros approach to picking here took me by surprise & was not something I’d anticipated. Both at Arlaud and Michel Noellat the picking approach on high trained vines in the HCDN had been the same i.e two vendangeurs to a row but one on each side i.e opposite each other. For both of those domaines though the rows had been quite short and upslope whereas here the Gros vines were along the slope and much longer in section. As such we were paired two to a row, leapfrogging each other from post (piquet) section to post section. The sub team triage folk were situated, with the empty cases, in the centre row of those rows, four or five, the sub team were working. When your bucket was getting full, and important not to have it too full or you risked admonishment for it being too heavy, one shouted, or called out loudly, “pannier” and put your bucket under the vines for someone from the triage folk to pick up/swapping with an empty bucket for you to continue with.

Unusual characters aside, this was a highly enjoyable first afternoon on the Hautes-Cotes and with the incredibly impressive Chardonnay. Finish came circa 17.00 hrs with a lengthy return to Vosne the way we came, the Toyota gang leaving last as usual, albeit we were not the last back at the domaine, passing one of our slower tractors en route. Moving on from the Andouillette and Perch our supper this evening was some super Rosbif !

The rest of the evening for me the usual photo work then bed. Tomorrow would bring a return to Fontaine St Martin but with another (unwelcome in part, if not result) change in the weather, leading into, for me, an unexpected evening.

MdMdlV

(typed 5/10/23)

A welcome clear early morning start to this day weather wise from yesterday but, as initially cooler, and maybe influenced by the day before, I layered up a bit under continuing to wear waterproofs – the Englishman in me I guess !

As it happened the day brightened considerably as the morning advanced such that I was soon peeling off cagoule, fleece etc.

Another day, another new terroir, this one quite at odds with our altitude yesterday. The only ‘common’ feature was Nuits-St-Georges but this day we travelled south of NSG for the only time, to the village plot of NSG ‘Les Chaliots’, below NSG 1er cru ‘Les Poirets’ which, in turn, has ‘Les Perrieres’ and ‘Les Poulettes’ above it. Quite a bit of other domaine/maison activity all around us today. Without doubt the vendange was in full swing in this part of the Cote.

M Gros Team awaiting start of NSG Les Chaliots

M Gros Team2 awaiting start of NSG Les Chaliots

NSG Town (zoomed) from NSG Les Chaliots. Unknown domaine vehicles in foreground.

And we had Chardonnay grapes in NSG Les Chaliots2

Quite, quite different understandably to our high on the hill previous experience north of NSG. The ground of ‘Les Chaliots’ was still wet and with heavy, clay type soils – in due course this would be the first day of needing to rid one’s footwear of glutinous sticky soil via such as scraping on row wires, posts etc. I can do no better descriptively than quote from the domaine website re this terroir:-

This name derives from the word “CHAILLE” which means small stones.
This “climat” in the southern part of Nuits is planted on an alluvial cone, which indicates a large presence of stones. The soil is clayey, poor in limestone and contains “chailles”, a kind of reddish flint, rich in silica.
This very special type of soil has encouraged us to make a separate cuvée which characterizes by an abundant minerality, a very pure fruit expression, a quite strong acidity and a powerful body, which give it good aging qualities.

For some reason initially I felt somewhat lethargic, making a slow start. Early on in proceedings Michel passed by me in my row and volunteered, without any question or prompting, that Les Chaliots had the oldest vines in the domaine – interesting indeed albeit doubt I would have noticed without such advices. Always supa interesting to be with Michel as invariably he would provide some nugget of info appreciated by the likes of me. I’d like to believe he appreciated my wider interests in the terroirs, vines, etc etc were much more so than my colleagues. Hard work this day with, again, plenty of grapes in terms of quantity and with good looking quality from the lengthy rows. This was my first day this year of personally experiencing white grapes amongst the Pinot Noir – I believe Chardonnay. Not uncommon at all as I’ve experienced this before in other vendanges – I believe occurrence can stem from a Nurseryman (Pepiniere) inadvertently supplying the odd ‘wrong’ vine in a batch. A little extra care needed I find with moving from Pinot to unexpected Chardonnay when one has been used to the former, and particularly if strong sunlight is coming through the vines. For me, Chardonnay bunches can have an unwelcome ‘ability’ to hide behind foliage such that one can almost ‘guarantee’ if you don’t remove enough, appropriate, leaves then a bunch of Chardonnay grapes will remain there lurking ! I recall the first occasion coming across a Pepiniere was on a visit to Domaine Denis Bachelet, Gevrey, with my late father many years when said gentleman arrived during our visit – from ageing memory he was from some way away – might have been Jura, Savoie or similar. I recall also my father being fascinated by the conversation between Monsieur Bachelet and his supplier.

And so to the welcome lunch break for more nice meat and veg. Chatting to others I learnt the smaller team element had been to Morey-St-Denis that same morning to work the domaine’s Morey En la Rue de Vergy vines. Disappointing personally as I’d hoped to experience that plot but, hey ho, once can’t do everything. I finally, after lunch, managed to grab a moment with Juliette in respect of the domaine wi-fi with just enough moments to log in with my laptop for the first time. Knowing access to the office (bureau) for me would be an out of hours issue Juliette helpfully volunteered the range of the wi-fi was such that I should be able to connect from the near end of our dining cellar just across the yard and down the steps from the bureau – impressive. This was indeed the case as I was to find out, and very welcome, not least that evening as I was able to follow, online, via the BBC Sport website, Liverpool FC’s away win at Lask, Austria.

Post lunch back again to NSG Les Chaliots with by now it quite hot. We cut right down to the D (RN ?) 974 and, at odds with my slow start first thing, I felt I was cutting well here such that finishing my allocated rows strongly I was able to assist elsewhere. In my later notes (always tried to scribble brief thoughts re the day that same evening) I’ve written “frustration with pannier” – now I can’t, for the life of me, recall what I was referring to here doh !!!

I didn’t take many photos during our time in NSG Les Chaliots – no particular reasons other than being busy and/or it never really struck me there was much notable to photo – sorry !

Around circa 16.00 hrs we moved off to another new site. Before we did so, or specifically at least before the Toyota Land Cruiser crew did so, we had the unwelcome experience of some clouds of flying ants bothering us, initially me specifically as I waited, alone, by the car for the others to join me after collecting the full cases of grapes. If there was a (minor) downside to being a part of the Toyota crew (wasn’t a downside for me at all but welcome) it was we were invariably last away from any site hence if, at the end of the day, one wanted to be quickly back to the domaine, then one didn’t want to be a Toyota passenger, with owner/usual driver Michel always keen to oversee full case collection and fastidiously make sure nothing, including litter e.g. empty, used, drinks cups was left behind. One of Michel’s ‘oddities’, in a very nice way with yours truly, was he was at pains to exclude me from full case collection from rows onto tractor trailer – which I tried to help with several times. Again, this played for me to the impression I might be giving in health, posture, fatigue terms etc etc despite feeling A1!! In the end, after several such rebuffs I gave up, albeit was to have my moment on one occasion the following week. The plus factor in having to wait by the Toyota though for me was that brief welcome time alone whilst waiting for the others – invariably I’d use the time for photos and/or to collect the water ‘barrels’, empty them (if end of the day), and other stuff such as the cases holding drinks cups, clothing and ‘what have you’, loading the same into the rear of the SUV. In all my previous harvests I’ve never experienced the most unwelcome small clouds of bothersome flying ants as occurred here – they would feature again on another day. No idea why they featured this year and what would be quite differing locations.

Once we’d done the necessary in ‘Les Chaliots’ we moved off to join/catch up with the rest of the team. Our route initially puzzled me no end as we went into NSG then out of it on the D8 & over the main, busy, railway lines, towards the Autoroute. But, before reaching the latter, we turned left (roughly north) onto the D116 which took us past the Stade Jean Morin sports stadium (which had a very large travellers presence adjacent with some watchful Gendarmes present), then heading into the countryside before turning left past the Chateau de la Berchere hotel (a new one to me) onto the D109G then, heading back towards the railway lines, past the Aerodrome de Nuits-St-Georges. Shortly after passing the aerodrome, still in open countryside, realisation dawned on me we were about to arrive at the ‘below’ the railway lines large plot of vines at Boncourt-le-Bois I’d experienced before in my two years working for Domaine Michel Noellat. I’d had no idea Domaine Gros also had vines here (classification Bourgogne) – the Gros rows were somewhat further from the railway than those of Noellat. All made me wonder how many other Vosne (or other village) domaines had vines here in this quite extensively planted area (of both red and white varietals).

More looking north countryside from Boncourt-le-Bois

Vosne from Boncourt-le-Bois

Vosne2 from Boncourt-le-Bois

The rows here at Boncourt, stretching roughly north, were massively & dauntingly long – without doubt the longest rows I’ve come across and not really what a tiring vendangeur wants to see late in an afternoon !!! Apprehensively, I waited with interest to see how Michel and his lieutenants set us up here. Initially, a group of individuals were sent off on the long walk to the far side of the vineyard from us to start working their way back – probably not more than say 7/8 rows so covered. For the rest of us we were put 3 to a row (so with the far group 4 individuals to a row) to ‘leap frog each other working a section of row from one piquet (stake, pole) to another – a common way of working with more than one individual to a row. On this basis I was quite relieved and conscious we wouldn’t, given the time of day already, be here too long then I was quite happy. The vines had a mega weight of clean grapes here such that one was filling one’s bucket (pannier !) quite quickly. I can’t recall now if time allowed for us completing the row in terms of meeting the individuals working towards us – but I think we did. There would be a return to this site to complete it the following day but not for me as I wangled an opportunity elsewhere !

With a halt ultimately called the minibuses/vans departed leaving me alone for a while at the Toyota, my colleagues remaining dots in the far distance collecting full cases with two of the tractors. Eventually we made it back to the domaine by 18.00 hrs by which time I was feeling very, very tired – must be getting too old for this malarkey 😉. My pre supper shower was most welcome and once ready for the evening I took my laptop, and before settling down with it in the kitchen, tried the wi-fi connection standing outside the locked bureau – eureka, a good, immediate, connection.

Before finishing this piece I’m conscious I’ve not yet (without checking back) mentioned, or said much (if at all) about wines – an inappropriate omission ! So, what did we drink ? Well, three routine drinking occasions existed – lunch, pre-supper/dinner, and supper/dinner itself. For the first two of those occasions, throughout the harvest our drinking/consumption was of the same wine – pre-supper presented also with bottle(s) of cassis if one wanted to mix – I didn’t, not that I have anything against cassis but if I’m to have it I’d want to mix with white wine, preferably Aligote. This ‘common’ drinking wine was, for me, an unusual one of a kind I’d not come across before in other harvests at other domaines. It was initially explained to me by Pierre Gros and, if I understood correctly, the wine was derived by taking the final ‘matter’/waste from the wines proper (red and white) after one or two pressings, and then pressing that stuff again to produce the vin de soif (my term). When I first tried it, on Day 1, before understanding what it was, my initial impression/thoughts were I might be drinking a Passetoutgrain or similar. Whatever, it was a very acceptable drink and well suited as lunch/aperitif refreshment. Evenings, dinner wise, from the start Michel would select specific wines from the domaine cellar. I should have recorded these nightly but apologies for not doing so. Invariably, and initially, these selections would be a village classification domaine wine such that I believe we soon went through the range of the likes of NSG, Chambolle, Vosne, Morey & HCDN Rouge before we did move on to much appreciated likes of Clos des Reas, Vougeot etc. Most wines were 2021 but we did have a number of 2012s. Of the village wines over the first few evenings I particularly recall the Chambolle as a standout yum ! Curiously perhaps, typing this now, I realise that, other than the to come Paulee (to be covered idc) we never routinely of an evening had any domaine white wines – despite such existing via the domaine’s HCDN Chardonnay. I did ask a couple of times during the vendange, albeit never of Michel or Pierre, if the domaine had any Aligote & was always met with a negative ‘Non’ – in line with the domaine website having no mention of Aligote.

The evening closed satisfactorily other than towards the end of dinner the infantile Belgians table loudly & for some time continually chanting the name of Manchester City midfielder, and Belgian international, Kevin de Bruyne. Whether this was aimed at your’s truly as a Liverpool FC fan I’ve no idea but cared even less !

Tomorrow, our Day 6, would be a key one for our vendange – watch this space !

MdMdlV