a wonderful rainy day in burgundy

I am going to go out of chronologic order for today’s posting, and I am going to hope that some of the photos will load, but given that i have lost internet twice during this post it is unlikely. It has rained here in Nuits St Georges since yesterday afternoon so there are not many photos, but the few are quite nice. I realize I may run out of adjectives in this post, because everything was perfect.


Today was Burgundy Discovery Tours day with David and Lynne Hammond (www.burgundydiscovery.com). We “found” them last year and had a great trip through les Hauts Cotes and this year we arranged to do their “Hidden Secrets” tour. The general format is 2 or 3 producers before lunch and then a single visit afterwards. They have an excellent sense for smaller producers who define the terroir of their grapes and who make wine with what nature has provided. Last year they provided us with the beginnings of an understanding of this complex patchwork of a region and they expanded upon that this year. They are a marvelous couple who can provide access to producers one never could find alone. I highly recommend them.

Lunch both years has been at a spectacular restaurant in Savigny-les- Beaune, Le Morgan; this is an excellent restaurant which is a true one person show, the chef does everything and does it well. We had planned to visit Le Morgan for dinner if we did not have lunch there. This is a great restaurant with exceptional food. It is officially on our list for the next time we visit les Cotes de Nuits.

First producer, Domaine Jean-Pierre Bony operated by Fabienne Bony (www.domainejpbony.com). Seven wines were tasted beginning with a barrel tasting of the 2009 Nuits St Georges village wine. This was followed from the barrel by her 2009 1er Cru “Les Pruliers.” I enjoy barrel tasting such as this because it gives the opportunity to learn about the wines in their youth. Both were ruby and clear, with red cherries; the 1er cru was more rounded an balanced even at this young age. Following this we had the 2008 Bourgogne, 2008 Nuits St Georges, 2008 Nuits St Georges “les Damodes,” and the 2008 1er Cru Nuits St Georges “les Pruliers.” This was a wonderful flight of wines showing the progression of complexity of the wines, going from red cherries and fruits in the Bourgogne to delicate dark cherries with a hint of spice in the 1er Cru. My favorite was the single parcel village wine “les Damodes.” This is adjacent to a ranked vineyard of the same name, and has all the complexity of a 1er Cru. We finished with a flowery 2009 Aligote; I enjoyed this as a conclusion to the tasting. Her USA importer is ill-defined, which is a shame. The wines are excellent and would show the American consumer the true nature of the region.

Second producer, Baptiste Gay. This was a predominantly white wine tasting ending with a red offering. The initial wine was 2009 Bourgogne Aligote. This was less floral on the nose and had a touch of oak. It was an excellent example of the grape’s range of flavors. This was followed by 2008 Pernand-Bergelesses “les Belles Filles” single plot village wine. This displayed the apples and citrus of chardonnay with a nicely balanced minerality and acidity. The third wine was 2007 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru “Sous-Fretilles.” This was had greater minerality, but the malolactic fermentation had balanced the mineral with the acids and fruit into a very nice wine. Very nice wine, that was written because of the wine which followed it: Corton-Charlemangene Grand Cru 2007. This was an extraordinary wine with a wonderful minerality and nose of green apples. If there was a way, I would take a substantial amount of this back to cellar. The mineral and acid were balanced, unlike the sometimes “electrical shock” of chardonnay from Chablis. This was an exceptional wine. The final wine was 2008 Pernand-Vergelesses “les Boutiers,” a red wine. This showed strawberry, red raspberry, and some spice with soft and well balanced tannins. This producer does not have a web site or e mail address but can be contacted through the Hammonds. His wines are stunning. I am unable to locate a US importer, and by the way the grand cru wine is 45 euro and the others all are under 15 euro just to keep things in perspective.

The final producer was Domaine Michel Martin (www.domainemartin.fr), who was the smallest volume producer of the three making approximately 16000 bottles a year. This tasting consisted of six wines, and a seventh which I purchased and am drinking as I write. Again, this began with the red wines and finished with 2009 Savigny les Beaune Blanc from the barrel; this was a wonderful floral wine with citrus notes, the acid is mild and well balanced. The wine is 100% pinot beurot, which I have now learned is also pinot gris. The 2008 is slightly softer and more round than the young 2009; this wine was the perfect finish to the sturdy flight of red wines tasted. This began with 2006 Chorey les Beaune, which was aromatic with red cherries and tannin; it spent 18 months in oak. The next wine was 2007 Savigny les Beaune, which again showed red fruits and pepper. The third red was 2006 1er Cru “Teurons,” which had red cherry and spice and was better balanced. The fourth red was 2007 Beaune 1er Cru “Clos du Roi,” which added more spice and an earthy notes. As a closing comparison we had the 2005 Chorey les Beaune, which had jammy red fruit and was less tannic. All of these reds had prominent tannin at this point, but the 2005 showed they round out nicely with time. These were excellent wines all under 20 euro.

This is NOT the Burgundy I may have complained about at times, this is a exciting charming place with wines which express the terroir. The producers are small and linked to their wines. These are not the wines one reads about in the "major wine publications" of which only 50 cases have been imported at $500/bottle. Unfortunately, I cannot find importers for any of these extraordinary wines, but maybe someone will read this and take a look at these options rather than the large volume bland negociant wines we see on the shelves in Pennsylvania.


This was an outstanding day of tasting, I did not even mention the wines from les Hautes Cotes which we had with lunch. These are three excellent producers who make extraordinary wines. It is unfortunate that it seems none of their wines can make it into the US market; maybe importers need to look for these “hidden secret” type producers whose wines reflect the grape, the terroir, the climat, and the hands of the vigneron. All excellent wines. Kudos to Lynne and David for a wonderful day.