Rain on the Burgundy '08 vintage

Given the amount of rain and the widespread rot that engulfed Burgundy in August and the first 14 days of September (the day the cold, dry north wind arrived to start to dry it out), the ‘08 vintage must have been a huge challenge for the biodynamic vineyards of Domaine Leflaive.

Yet tasting the ‘08s – only one bottled by May 30, 2010 – there were little or no signs of botrytis and none whatsoever of any mould or other taint. The sorting table did get rid of 20% of the crop, leaving grapes with low pH, high acidity and 13% to 14% potential alcohol. The wines have evolved in barrel and (thereafter) small closed tanks at a snail’s pace, the malolactic fermentation still to finish for some; some will not be bottled until after the 2010 vintage. It is clear they will be very slow-developing wines, a radical contrast to the ‘06s, for example. Our tasting ran through Puligny Montrachet (commune), Puligny Montrachet Les Clavoillon, Les Folatieres, Les Pucelles, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet and Chevalier Montrachet, an exhilarating ride up the quality ladder of Burgundy – particularly given the quality of the starting point. Domaine Leflaive (not to be confused with Olivier Leflaive) is one of the greatest producers of white burgundy; its wines are expensive and scarce, but each and every ‘08 will be worth fighting for when they arrive in Australia towards the end of this year – possibly in two shipments.

The beauty of Hostellerie de Levernois

There can be few restaurants anywhere in the world with park-size gardens even approaching the beauty of those of the Hostellerie de Levernois on the outskirts of Beaune: manicured lawns and shrubs trained into sculptures; towering trees; a permanent stream with substantial fish (not carp); and Burgundy roses in abundance.



There are 25 rooms that are far less costly than one might imagine, a tariff that ensures a permanently full house. The restaurant, which takes bookings from all and sundry, has one Michelin star, but is obviously looking for a second; it has all the requisite space, the ambience and the immaculately-clad staff smoothly moving constantly around the floor.


I did not know it was listed in Michelin as a house specialty, but I urge first-time diners to have (as an entrée) Risotto carnaroli au vert, cuisses de grenouilles et escargots de Bourgogne – a frothy, pea-green tangy broth of al dente rice, de-boned frogs legs and snails. And so much more. We were the guests of Veronique Drouhin and husband Michel Boss, the 2002 Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru (Morgeot, though not labelled as such) was a perfect bottle of wine starting to find full expression, and a 1992 Chambolle Musigny Les Baudes 1er Cru (the year Veronique Drouhin married and Vanya Cullen sang solo in the church as a surprise for Veronique) was in equally fine fettle.
Hostellerie de Levernois , 21200 Beaune; phone (03) 80 24 73 58; fax (03) 80 22 78 00; www.levernois.com; levernois@relaischateaux.com

Ma Cuisine in Beaune

An annual rite-of-passage is a meal (one the bare minimum) at Ma Cuisine in Beaune. A chalkboard menu offers half a dozen entrees and slightly more main courses, the food at the heart of the traditional Burgundian cuisine, a €28 menu at lunch ridiculously cheap – salad of chicken livers, fillet of pork in creamy sauce, and a large serve of époisses my choice of three alternatives for the three courses. 2006 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Caillerets was the first wine for the four of us (including Vanya Cullen and partner Peter) on the principle that – given the impossibility of finding this great producer on wine lists in Australia – we should take every opportunity to drink it. It comes from a tiny holding of 0.18 hectares planted in 1937 and 1971, and was everything one could hope for. A gamble on a 1966 Santenay of Domaine des Hautes-Cornières seemed well worthwhile at only €66, even if we didn’t expect much. A recent release from the cellars of the Domaine, it was absurdly good, the red fruity flavours still fresh and round, the tannins – of course – soft.


Ma Cuisine, Passage St Helene, 21200 Beaune; phone 03 80 22 30 22; macuisine@wanadoo.fr

On a mission

I am a man on a mission when I come to France each year. It is not to drink as much Burgundy as possible – that is taken for granted – but to eat birds and offal. Just as Bordeaux is off my menu, so is lamb (especially) and beef. True, neither of these meats are Burgundy-oriented, but it is the scraggy bony cuts of lamb and the thin slices of beef that are the kiss of death. So a restaurant on the peripherique encircling Beaune called Piqu’Boeuf, garlanded with steer’s horns, had never merited more than a passing glance. But it had been recentlly recommended by a French friend, and so Suzanne and I decided to give it a go. When I spied Brioche de foie gras poêlé aux brioche and ceps at the head of the entrees, my heart leapt: fresh foie gras flip-flopped in a searing hot pan delivered all I hoped for. Suzanne’s Raviolle d’escargots was a sophisticated dish from presentation to stomach. I went for the maximum with my main course: a 400 gram Entrecôte de boeuf charolais du Maquignon cooked rare on the massive fireplace-cum-barbecue, and a mountain of pommes frites. Suzanne had Rumsteack de boeuf charolais, all the numerous charolais dishes coming from a single producer – grand cru beef, for sure.

The wine list is adequate, and you do get decent glasses. A ‘99 Domaine Billard Gonnet Pommard Clos du Verger Premier Cru at €46 was standout value, even though I had never heard of the producer – nice enough wine. With a few other bits and pieces the bill was €134, cheap at half the price.

Piqu’Boeuf, 2 Rue Madeleine, 21200 Beaune; phone 03 80 24 07 52; www.piquboeuf.com, contact@piquboeuf.com; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cork vs Screwcap debate continued

The Greatest Winery in the World

As ever, a morning tasting and simple lunch at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is the most important, and most enjoyable, part of my annual trip to France, or, should I say, Burgundy. This year there was the extra anticipation of tasting the ‘09 wines from barrel, and the somewhat surprising newcomers to the Domaine, its vineyards in Corton.

Alas, I shall have to wait to taste the Cortons. They are in the second cellar – part of what was the winery of the monks of the Abbey St Vivant 900 years ago – above which a new office is being built for the Domaine, after 100 years in the simple, indeed spartan, office and reception area around the corner.

These works have temporarily blocked access to the second cellar, so I had to content myself with Aubert de Villaine’s answer to my question ‘Do they speak more of Corton or more of the Domaine?’ (A Dorothy Dix, I will admit). The response ‘Corton, absolutely – it is another world.’ Further questions led to the confirmation that the same vinification techniques were used, in ‘09 with a very high percentage of whole bunches.

Much has already been written about the ‘09 Burgundy vintage, along with the ‘05 the only two really successful vintages of the decade for pinot noir. It so happens that they are among the greatest vintages of the past 40 or more years, quality more than making up for the lack of quantity.

Moreover, ‘09 has made, or will make, everyone happy: the grape growers, the winemakers, the shareholders, and the consumers. Yields were good (for the low-yielding Domaine 28 to 33 hl/ha, around two tones per acre) and the growing conditions so perfect that there was little or no need to sort out defective bunches (rot, etc) in the vineyard or in the winery.

Aubert de Villaine says the vintage has elements of ‘59 (supple, succulent pinots that entranced drinkers from the word go, but had greater longevity than the ‘85s, that started on the same track) and ‘99 (in Aubert’s view, the greatest DRCs made in his time). And there is one thing that is immediately obvious as you being the tasting in the cellar: the ‘09s have the same deep colour of the freakish ‘99s.

The wines have a velvety richness and a profound depth of flavour that is almost shockingly seductive. Theoretically, you have to wait 20 or 30 years for the very different seduction of the perfume of DRC to take you in its embrace. This, certainly, is true of the Grands Echezeaux and Romanée St Vivant, and the more formidable, masculine even, Richebourg. They certainly speak of their terroir and overall provenance, but also of the vintage.

With the two jewels in the crown, La Tache and Romanée-Conti, the fulcrum swings a little, the grace and elegance of these two wines shining through. Here you have the best of all possible worlds.

Contrary to rumours that have swirled around Australia for the past few years, Aubert de Villaine has no intention of retiring any time soon. To his great relief, he has retired as Mayor of Bouzeron, a town so small the mayor sweeps the floor, puts out the cat, attends suicides (successful or not), and is on call 24 hours a day.

He is gradually inducting his 32 or 33-year-old nephew Bertrand de Villaine into the business as an assistant; at first it was for one day a week, now two. While he is genuinely interested in wine, Bertrand has built up a small chain of optometrists (his wife is an optometrist) that is still growing. So no one is in a hurry.

In the vineyard, one hectare of Romanée St Vivant is in the middle of a three-stage replanting programme. It is not that the vines are so old they have ceased to be productive, although there were planted by the prior owners, the Marey-Monge family, rather that the style of the wine is not true to the vineyard. Tasted from barrel (the last third is still to be replanted) it was easy enough to see the difference, but only the Domaine would not hesitate to remove it.

The customary tasting of blind bottled wines followed the barrel tasting. First up was a ‘99 Echezeaux (vintage disclosed), then another – something clicked without thought and I said ‘90, which it was. Discussion followed on the precocious character of DRC’s Echezeaux when it is young, when five to ten years old capable of upstaging its far more illustrious DRC stablemates, and we agreed the ‘90 was at its peak. Another foray into the museum cellar eventually led to another bottle. Disaster for all: Aubert inadvertantly showed the chalked E 64 on the side of the bottle. ‘Did we see it?’ to which there was only one answer, and the cork was already out. Moment of glory denied? Improbably. Embarrassment avoided? More likely. Anyway, the wine had been recorked in 1988, and was in fine fettle – all the slightly foresty/mushroomy nuances to the bouquet, and fraises du bois on the palate. A more than satisfactory lunch wine.

The cork, screwcap and diam debate

The passion and spirit of the late Dr John Middleton continues to walk the paths of the Yarra Valley. Mount Mary’s recent newsletter has some interesting things to say about screwcaps, against a background of a move from one-piece natural cork to Diam. I have no quarrel about the choice of Diam, although I question the belief of the Mount Mary team that the overriding problem of one-piece natural cork is or was TCA, when in fact the major problem is random oxidation due to the inherent variability of each and every cork’s oxygen barrier capacity.

What is intriguing is the assertion that one should ‘consider the copper that is added to wines under screwcap to keep the sulphides at bay’. No competent winemaker would add copper in such an amount and at such a point of time that any copper or copper sulphate would remain in the wine. We certainly don’t do that at Coldstream Hills, and I am pretty certain there are very few who do.

The carbon footprint issue also arises. Anyone who has been to Portugal to see the cork production process knows that considerable amounts of energy are used at various stages of the harvesting and treatment of cork, before it is then transported around the world. Diam involves an extra level. It may be light, but it has a considerable volume, and this is part of the shipping cost calculation. Screwcaps are made in Australia with minimal transport/carbon footprint consequences. This, I readily acknowledge, will have passionate advocates on either side of the debate. Also, I am unaware of aluminium toxicity causing proven health problems in Australia. It’s certainly not asbestos.