The Beauty of Burgundy
At the start of this trip, if you’d asked Mr T where he was most excited to go, his answer would always have been the same. Burgundy, France. He’s always enjoyed the wines from there more than any other region, and he’d read so many good things about the towns and villages in Burgundy that he’s been looking forward to visiting for years. Which is why we allocated a full week to staying in Beaune in the heart of Burgundy, and let me tell you it wasn't nearly enough time. You could stay a year and still feel like you’d only seen a fraction of it. People have been asking us what our favourite place has been on the trip and until now we’ve always had three or four answers. But now it’s clear. Beaune is, without question, the favourite and it’s a place we will come back to again and again.
So keen was Mr T to get started in Burgundy, we had to get up at 5.30am in Jura to make sure we were at a 9am tasting. We were a little late getting away but Mr T burnt some rubber to get us there in time. That's some dedication to the cause let me tell you! But it was worth the early alarm to meet Mark Haisma, an Australian who has been shaking things up in Burgundy. So much so that the mighty Jancis Robinson, one of the most respected wine critics, listed him as an "over-performer" and one to watch way back in 2014. Since then Mark has gone from strength to strength making wines as what the French call a "négociant," which is someone who doesn't own vineyards but works with growers to buy grapes and then make the wine themselves. Because people don't like change, a few folks can be rather snooty if you don't have a winery yourself and instead buy other people's grapes. But that opinion is slowly changing.
The legend that is Mark Haisma
The difference with Mark's approach is in the way he works with the growers. He's side by side with them, he's in the vineyards, he knows the ins and outs of every parcel of land, he's hands on and elbows deep. And, in the way that only Australians can, he's charmed the socks off of the French and now manages to get grapes from some of the most prime parcels of land - the pick of the bunch you might say! (sorry, my jokes don't get any better do they?) Mark makes wines that really stay true to the soil and make up in each separate parcel, and he prides himself on finding unique or different plots around the region. Because he doesn't have a fancy cellar or expansive domaine, he can keep costs down. So what you get is wine that tastes like it should be double the price, direct from the person who made it with his own two hands. And even though it was 9am and I swore I wasn't going to try any wine, I tried every single one and loved them all (and these were only barrel samples as the wines have 8 months to go before bottling). If his wine is tremendous before my taste buds have really woken up, I can just imagine what they'd be like when I actually felt like a glass of wine. Mark sells direct to people all over the world so that means no middle man, you just need to be on the list. Mention Tails of Wine and I'm sure Mark will be kind enough to add your name. You're welcome, friends!
So back to Beaune, if you do go I’d recommend getting a place in the middle of town to really soak up local life. Our Airbnb fit the bill perfectly, a grand old building with beautiful but perilously steep staircase leading up to our top floor apartment with a lovely view of the main street below. And as an added bonus, the outside totally looked like an owl if you ask me which made it utterly perfect as I have quite the soft spot for owls. We felt instantly at home in our cosy apartment, we hit up the Saturday market for fruit, veg, cheese and bread, we grabbed lunch in the square, we made friends with the locals and we drank many, many bottles of amazing Burgundy wine. And that was only day one!
Our place was a real hoot (geddit?!?!)
The next day we headed off to a rather splendid place that you've probably heard of if you like your wine. Domaine Dujac is a rather famous family-run estate making some of the most spectacular wines in the region. In terms of domaines in Burgundy, it’s quite “new,” it was started in 1967 by an ambitious Jacques Seysses and his father, Louis. Jacques began his career in 1965 and a few years later decided to strike out on his own, roping his Dad into the venture (I can see my parents nodding their heads here going “bloody kids and their hair brained schemes”). Poor Louis might have been thinking the same thing because their first vintage was an utter disaster, everything that could have gone wrong did and they ended selling all their wine in bulk. And that could have been the end of the road for Domaine Dujac.
But, of course, it wasn’t. As with all good stories, there was one hell of a come back. Their 1969 vintage was a roaring success, so good it was considered one of the best wines in Burgundy that year. Since then they have gone from strength to strength making wines that are focused on harnessing the maximum flavours from each separate parcel of land. Jacques created his own method of doing this and blazed a trail with others following along behind him. I could ramble on about “expressions of terroir" here but I have no intention of boring you silly. Just know that when you taste these wines, it’s like being transported from one plot of land to the next by your tastebuds. It’s like magic.
Despite the international acclaim, wine awards and bottles reselling for upwards of $600, it is still a family run affair with sons Jeremy and Alec and Jeremy’s oenologist wife, Diana Snowden, all part of this stellar team. And if you need a reminder of how incredibly small the world is, Diana is part of the family that owns Snowden vineyards in Napa, and I used to walk past their office every day walking the WonderDog around St Helena.
Anyway back to our tasting. We ventured down into the cellar and tried six of the 2016 wines including two Premier Cru and two Grand Cru wines. They were all amazing, which meant it hurt even more that we couldn’t buy any. These guys sell out faster than a Beyoncé concert, my friends. We were also lucky enough to try the Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 1996 which regularly sells for crazy money and, as you would expect, was utterly incredible. I may have seen a single tear of joy run down Mr T’s face. He was definitely the happiest man in the world that day.
The following day was my birthday so after I stuffed my face with pain au chocolat (happy birthday me!) we decided to head off for a nice long walk and a picnic. Sadly Mr T’s broken toe complained bitterly about this turn of events and showed no sign of easing up, so instead we went for a short hobble and then took to the car to explore the beautiful Burgundy villages. Blink and you’d miss it but if you know where to look, you’ll see vineyards belonging to the mighty Domaine Romanee Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Comtes Lafon among many others. This may mean nothing to you but I’ve rarely seen the lad so excited. Even if you don’t know or care about the wines, it is a spectacular sight to see vineyard after vineyard in the glorious sunshine. Next time we’d definitely hire bikes, strap the WonderDog in and pedal around all day from village to village.
We got back into the wine tasting the next day with a visit to see Vincent Prudhon at Henri Prudhon & Fils. Vincent's Grandfather is the mighty Henri Prudhon, who has been growing grapes on the family property since 1945, but it wasn't until Vincent's father Gerard joined the business in the 1980s that the family started to make wine themselves. He’s a thorough man is Vincent, and he did us the honour of letting us try almost all of his wines - 17 bottles to my count, but my recollection might be a little hazy on the account of the 17 bottles I just mentioned. Professionals like Mr T are able to sniff, swirl, hold the wine in their mouth while they aerate it, then spit out the wine discreetly into the appropriate receptacle. I can’t tell you the multitude of ways it would go wrong if I tried to do that. I’d end up waterboarding myself with wine, it would come out my nose, all down the front of me and possibly over other people. I’d be a gasping, dribbling mess in about 30 seconds. So I’m doomed to drink, you see. Let’s just say I needed a lie down after that tasting, but it was totally worth every drop. You can get Vincent’s wines in the US and UK and they are some of the best value Burgundy wines you can buy. The whites in particular were some of the best I’ve tried and we bought quite a few (high five us!)
The wine tastings continued with a trip to Fleurie in Beaujolais, where we visited Les Bertrand. Yann Bertrand is the young winemaker who is making some of the best wines in the region. Given the time of year, Yann was very busy in the vineyard, so his Mum Annick showed us around. We muddled through in a mix of my secondary school French, Google Translate and general sign language, and soon fell in love with both Annick and the wines. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect because they had just finished bottling so we got to personally label our own bottles and be the first to buy the 2017 vintage. Score! The wines, since you ask, are truly excellent. I realise I’m sounding like a broken record here, but when you seek out wine makers who are producing organic, biodynamic wines with a focus on telling a different story with each parcel of land, you're probably going to taste incredible wines. And that’s exactly what Les Bertrand wines are. They export all over the world so keep your eyes peeled and your glass at the ready.
At the risk of boring the pants off you by telling you any more about wine, especially if you’re not a wine fan, I’m going to give you a rapid fire list below of the other wines that we drank at home, bought at the many excellent wine shops in Beaune or had out at restaurants just in case you fancy a few. For all the non wine folk, I’ll also give you some recommendations for places to go if you ever find yourself in Beaune because there are some cracking places. Scroll to the bottom for the list.
As a birthday treat, Mr T booked us a couple nights at the lovely Hostellerie de Levernois a few minutes outside of the centre of Beaune. It’s a smashing hotel set in a few acres of gardens and woodland with beautiful rooms and a tremendous restaurant which does things oh so right. Any place that has a cheese trolley that takes three people to bring it over is alright with me. I think Mr T and I tried 15 cheeses between us and it wasn’t nearly enough. Next time bugger the main course, I’m just doing cheese for all three courses.
After a very relaxing and incredibly gluttonous couple of days, we headed off to Sancerre, followed by Chablis and then the Grand Lady of them all, Champagne. So if you’re sick of hearing about wine now, you’d better skip the next post. It’s choose your own adventure time, folks. Wine geeks, see you in Sancerre for a few glasses of white. For everyone else, meet you in Bruges for some beer, chocolate and biking around the canals!
Wine: Mr T will do more of a round up on Burgundy but here are some names to look out for in the meantime if you just can't wait to get drinking (who can blame you!)
- Les Héritiers du Comtes Lafon Macon-Uchizy Les Maranches 2016
- Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers 2011
- Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Chambolle Musigny Vielles Vignes 2014
- Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, Vosne- Romanee 2012
- Domaine Larue Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Vielles Vignes 2016
- Hubert Lamy Saint Aubin 1er Cru Clos de la Chateniere Vielles Vignes 2015
- David Duband Cote de Nuits-Villages 2016
- Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 2008 - this is from one of the top Volnay
Other suggestions:
- Go to the market on a Saturday or Wednesday, pootle around and buy some great produce
- The Cook's Atelier is an amazing shop in town, especially if you like cooking. It’s breathtaking, all copper pots and kitchen antiques as well as lots of other interesting stuff. They also have a wonderful cookbook that they’ve just produced which is just beautiful. They also do cooking classes but they are very popular and book up way in advance
- For a cracking dinner head to Restaurant Caves Madeleine. It was chock full of locals, the food was delicious and the wine selection is outstanding
- For great cheese head to the Hess Cheese Shop and if you’re after great meat and charcuterie head to Boucherie Monsieur Vossot
- There are many, many wine shops in Beaune as you would expect. The one we liked the best was La Maison de Maurice
