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/wine/vintage2011
10 2011
Thu, 27 Oct 2011
Je reviens chez moi
Reflections, from a distance
Well, I'm home again. It's interesting to return, and maybe see both countries
(France and Australia) from a different perspective.
Certainly there's a lot I miss about France, much of it to do with the food and wine.
I can't just nip down to the shops and buy a decent bottle of Volnay for €20 or so.
And the good French cheeses....
I also miss the cafés. In particular, it's hard to find cafés in Australia
that have reasonably priced, interesting food. There are many very good, expensive ones,
and a lot that sell okay food, at a lasagne-and-chips sort of level, but nothing like France.
And so many cafés here close at about 3pm. Just when I'm thinking about afternoon
coffee....
Travelling through the French countryside certainly was enjoyable and interesting. I got to
visit many beautiful small villages and a number of interesting wine domaines.
And eating a good meal in a French restaurant still seems to be one of the high
points of civillised life: good food, good wine -- but not just that, it's almost
a ritual, the formula the same -- wine, entrée, plat principal, dessert --
but the details (the important details!) different.
I'm trying to decide at the moment if I have enough material to write separate weblog
posts about some of the domaines I visited. Domaine Macle (Château-Chalon) and
Domaine Pierre Overnoy (Pupillin) would both seem interesting enough to write about,
but in both cases my visit was very short.
Oh yes, and shopping malls. I always seem to end up in shopping malls in Australia,
whilst I managed to avoid them completely in France. I do have a somewhat irrational
dislike of them. I think they're one thing in Australia that I'll never really get
used to...
posted at: 04:03 | path: /travel/france |
permanent link to this entry
The start of vintage
Vintage starts tomorrow. I am working as an intern/stagiaire in
a negociant in Beaune (Remoissenet) thanks to the CFPPA's "Odyssey
in Burgundy" course.
So far, no idea what to expect. I'm staying in the stagiaire's house.
Accomodation is fairly basic, just a dormitory. Blankets would be nice....
No internet access there, so expect weblog posts to be somewhat
intermittent. I'm looking into finding an SCP program for Android so I
can type short posts on my phone and upload them.
Winery looks well appointed: lots of oak vats.
But I don't find out anything more until we start tomorrow....
posted at: 03:36 | path: /wine/vintage2011 |
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Nearing the end of vintage...
The vintage is nearly over, for me at least. Next
week I'll be doing a short course at the CFPPA, then
that's it for now.
The vintage isn't really over: wines are still fermenting,
and will be for a week or so more. I don't think any more
grapes are arriving after this week, though.
The vintage didn't go exactly as I'd hoped: I spent nearly
all my time on the sorting table, and ideally would have
liked to help with a number of other things as well. Still,
I think I've learnt quite a bit about how winemaking is done
in Burgundy from talking to people, and watching how things are
done in the winery.
After the course, I'm off for a brief visit to the Jura.
I worry I might get there at harvest time, which might
make it harder to visit smaller domaines. Still, I'll see
what I can. And I'll post more frequent updates here...
posted at: 03:36 | path: /wine/vintage2011 |
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The sorting table...
Not much to report, so not much blogging recently.
The past few days I've been on the sorting table the whole
time.
My view
It gets repetive, but it has its interesting points. It's
certainly interesting to see grapes from different appelations
come in. We've already had a few premier cru sites.
So far it's been only the Cotes de Beaune, but presumably we'll get
Cotes de Nuits soon too.
Sorting has been quite aggressive, we're only keeping the good
grapes -- no rot or unripe ones are tolerated. From this, it
seems they're aiming to become one of the top negociants
for quality (again, apparently they were during the 1940's and 50's).
It will be interesting to see how the finished wines turn out: I think
the insistance on stringent sorting will pay off in good quality wines.
Probably more sorting over the next few days. I hope I get to see
some other aspects of how the winery works, too. I'm particularly
interested to learn more about "spontaneous"/uninnoculated ferments (ie., using
native yeasts, rather than cultivated yeasts). I'll have to see
what happens.
posted at: 03:36 | path: /wine/vintage2011 |
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Burgundy 2011: Pommard, Volnay and Mersault.
Getting back into blogging, finally. Some travel blogging.
Today, hired a bike in Beaune and cycled to Pommard, Volnay and Mersault.
The Cote-de-Beaune is looking beautiful, with the grape vines all still
in leaf, and grapes hanging off the vines, almost ready to be picked. Almost,
just a few days until harvest...
Stopped first in Pommard. I had a meeting arranged for 10h30 at
Domaine Mussy.
I didn't have a map of Pommard, so tried using my phone's navigation software.
It crashed, so I had to reboot it. Thanks, Google... Got there finally 15 minutes
late but luckily they did not mind.
M. Meuzard, the winemaker, doesn't speak English, but Mme. Meuzard does. We head
down into the cellar for a tasting. The cellar is low-ceillinged, 15th-century. The
winery was founded over four hundred years ago -- in 1646 -- and has been in the
same family ever since. Mme. shows me the barrel room -- they do not use much new oak,
only ~10%, as it obscures the terroir.
The barrel room, Domaine Mussy.
I try some wines. I try first the 2009 Beaune Epenottes -- a very good year, but still
young and very closed. Needs at least 4 years, according to Mme. Meuzard. I try then the
2001 from the same vineyard -- elegant, perfumed, some evolved/autumnal characters
on the nose, tannins still firm but elegant, red fruit. Mme. Meuzard says that this
is their most feminine wine.
I am asked what sort of wine I would prefer -- Masculine (structured, intense) or feminine
(lighter, perfumed). I am not used to thinking of wines in these terms, so hesitate.
Try a more masculine wine next -- 2001 Beaune-Montremots. More tannins, but still
very elegant. Good structure. Ten years old but would last longer. I forgot to try
their Pommard, unfortunately. Next time...
M. Meuzard is enthusiastic to hear I am a student winemaker from Australia. I wish I
could speak more French, so I could have spoken properly with him....
As I am leaving, realise I bought some wine but forgot to pay, so head back. Too
easy to get distracted when enjoying a good conversation...
Head to Volnay, then Mersault. Cycle around Mersault for a bit, then see
a shop called Art du
Tonneau, a barrelmaker. He has a short video in French, so I go in. The shopkeeper --
perhaps M. Gillet, the tonnelier -- doesn't speak much English but gives some
commentary to the video. He sells in Australia, including to some very
well-regarded domaines. He kindly offers me a coffee while I watch the video --
I have an espresso.
Afterwards, I head to Volnay and try to see a domaine there. I try one first, but
they only sell by the case so cannot give me a tasting. I try another, more-or-less
at random -- Domaine Christophe Vaudoisey. I ask "parlez-vous anglais?", but get a non,
he only speaks French. Ah, a problem. I ask for a tasting, je voudrais gouter votre vin?
He doesn't really follow my bad French. After a minute, he asks if I would like
a "degustation"... ah, that's the word I should have used, but forgot...
I follow him down to the cellar. I try a Volnay first, then two Volnay 1er cru. The
Volnay is very good, but both 1er crus have a certain something extra... more character,
more structure.
Then I notice he also has a Mersault, a 1er cru also. I try this last -- wrong order,
but can't be helped. I buy one bottle of a Volnay 1er cru -- 'je voudrais...' is the correct
phrase, and I remember it for once.
On the way back to Beaune, I finally have the lunch I packed this morning. It's 17h, not
exactly lunch time, but still...
Rain is forecast for tomorrow, and the skies still glower, threatening with grey clouds.
The grapes wait for harvest. The vignerons, I presume, pray the rain is not too heavy, not this
late in the year.
posted at: 03:36 | path: /travel/france/burgundy |
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Picnics
I had a picnic lunch today. A baguette, some cheese and a terrine. All that was missing was the bottle of wine...
I thought: this picnic, although very simple, would be impossible in Australia. Why? A good cheese, made with unpasteurised milk is expensive and hard to get (used to be illegal, but rules on unpasterised cheeses are slowly starting to relax...). I might find a decent baguette if I'm lucky enough to live near a good bakery. The terrine would be simpler (though what I had, partridge and almond, would be impossible).
Oh, and I mentioned wine. As far as I know, you're not allowed to drink in public places (eg, parks) in most of Australia. Seems okay in France, and rioting has not yet broken out as a result...
posted at: 03:36 | path: /travel/france/burgundy |
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