Sunday
After meeting at Bon Coeur HQ at 3am, we drove to Manchester for our 7am flight to Geneva. Arriving in Beaune just after midday and time for the start of the Hospice de Beaune auctions where a staggering 800 lots were for sale, and most barrels going for 30% above top estimate. It was a day to sit on one’s hands!
A long day called for an early supper at one of my favourite local restaurants: Piqu’ Bœuf, just a stones throw from our hotel and HQ for the week.
Monday
Another early start at Jean-Louis Chavy (07:30am GMT) kick off with Jean-Louis himself. Some excellent wines as always, but with severely reduced yields (5 barrels of Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru “Les Folatières” in comparison to an average year of 30.)
Next onto Gérard Thomas in Saint-Aubin where we warmly greeted Isabelle. They made some charming wines that we felt were more in style with Puligny-Montrachet this year due to the green apple, compared to the more tropical Meursault-styled wines of previous years. This is largely due to the harvest being 21-23 September and the wines are fresh and vibrant where Isabelle believes stylistically the vintage is somewhere between 2014 and 2017. Saint-Aubin “Champ Tirant” is approachable now, but the remainder of the collection definitely need more time.
From Saint-Aubin we headed down to Santenay to meet a new producer: Capuano-Ferreri. We had been hearing very good reports about from our network of friends and spies in Beaune, and we weren’t disappointed. Based in Santenay, he also has some vines next door in Chassagne-Montrachet. In fact, his Santenay “Vielles Vignes”, which mainly borders Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru is just as good at almost half the price.
After a quick lunch we headed back to Puligny-Montrachet to taste at Domaine Bzikot Père et Fils with the formidable Sylvain Bzikot. His straight Bourgogne Blanc was hands down the winner over the Bourgogne Blanc Côte d’Or. The village Puligny-Montrachet was crafted 10 different parcels this year due to small volumes, and the village Meursault again comprises of several parcels including “Grands Charrons” and “Narvaux”, which adds depth.
From Puligny-Montrachet we returned to Beaune for our afternoon tasting with the charamastic Nicolas Potel of Maison Roche de Bellene. From his Domaine the Nuits-Saint-George was good, yet the most impressive was the Savigny-Les-Beaune Blanc. From his Maison stable, Andrew preferred the Volnay Premier Cru “Clos de Chênes”, whereas I went up market with Bonnes Mares Grand Cru.
Our final tasting of the day concluded with Château de Laborde and owner/winemaker Hervé Kerlann. A new producer in our recent brochure release, his passion and commitment to his wines really shone through. Both our favourite was the Gevrey-Chambertin “Aux Ételois”, which is a village wine that sits just underneath Griottes-Chambertin Grand Cru. Sadly only 1 barrel made in 2021, so only a few bottles available for the UK market.
After 10 hours tasting it was back to HQ for a quick turnaround before our reservation at one of Andrew’s favourite restaurants this time: Le Maufoux.
Contine reading our Burgundy 2021 En Primeur Diary
