A BUYING TRIP TO BURGUNDY AND THE LOIRE
(and during which
a patron offers to sell me his hotel)
Page 1
In two respects this trip was different from all my previous expeditions
to France. The observant of you will have noticed that I went to the Loire
for the first time as well as Burgundy. The second difference is that I
took my son Zac, who is in his gap year between school and university. For
the first time, also, I set off mid-week. We arrived in Chablis on Wednesday
evening, and booked into the wonderful Hostellerie des Clos, the best hotel
in the universe. We had an excellent supper, washed down with a bottle of
Grand Cru Chablis - Zac needs educating, and I really thought he should
experience a top Chablis.
I warned Zac that we might not get lunch, so he'd better have a good breakfast.
The hotel
does the best breakfasts in France. Zac gorged himself. We started tasting
at -
Domaine Leger, Épineuil. M. Leger was joined by his son for our
appointment. He was very jolly, and disappeared to heat up gougères
for us. Gougères are a Burgundian speciality - choux pastry flavoured
with Gruyere cheese. The first lot were extremely crispy, even burnt. We
munched away through the tasting. The son disappeared again. He came back
with more gougères. Zac couldn't eat his second helping (too stuffed
with breakfast). We tasted M. Leger's 2000s and 2001s in bottle. There are
various bottlings: earlier and later, some done entirely in tank, some spending
time in (not new) oak barrels. The oak barrels are a new feature at this
estate, starting with the 2000 vintage, and I think they are a great success.
I now buy his Epineuil that has been aged in barrel. It doesn't taste oaked,
but somehow the time spent in barrel gives the wine more texture, more mâche.
Last year I arranged to buy a barrel of his 2000. This year I have arranged
to buy a barrel of his 2001.
2001 was a difficult harvest, with hail causing trouble in the vineyards,
but the wine in this cellar is fine. We tasted through the barrels, and
M. Leger allowed me to choose what I thought was the best barrel, which
he will bottle for us.
M. Leger was keen to show us his 2002, which we tasted from the tank. It
has lots of potential.
He sent us off with a magnum of his wine, plus a bottle of fizzy rose that
he has got Simonnet-Fèbvre, an old-established Chablis merchant,
to make for him from his grapes.
We say our good-byes and go on to—
Domaine Jean-Marie Naulin, Beines.
I wasn't sure if Mme. Naulin would give us lunch since she had made no
mention of it. We started to taste: the village Chablis 2001, and then the
Premier Cru Beauroy 2001. The village wine, as always with the wines from
this property, exhibited a classic green-gold Chablis colour, also, a lovely,
quite assertive, smell and good fruit in the mouth. The Premier Cru had
a deeper colour, more golden, with less smell; however, in the mouth it
was richer, with better length. A courtier, who is a sort of go-between
dealing with growers and the large merchants, dropped in as we were tasting.
Much conversation ensued. After all this conversation we retasted, and the
Premier Cru had opened up, becoming considerably more expressive.
I can remember speaking to Mme. Naulin on the telephone at harvest time
in 2001, and she was much exercised. It had been extremely difficult,
with rain (a very bad thing at harvest time), and all sorts of problems.
So I had been, well, less than confident about how the wines would
taste. As it turns out, they are fine: clean, good fruit, fresh, for early
drinking,
but perfectly correct with excellent flavour.
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