Travels in Burgundy 1999

Day 2 - Burgundy Wine tour

Domaine POULLEAU (Volnay). Tuesday after lunch I visited Thierry Poulleau, a young vigneron who took over from his father fairly recently, and I think is showing lots of promise: his wines have a vivid fruitiness that is really appealing. He was in fine form for the tasting. 1997 was a rather uneven vintage for reds in Burgundy, but he has made a great success of it. His Côte de Beaune "Les Mondes Rondes" is especially impressive. After he came out of the army, as a young vigneron he was allowed under a government scheme to clear uncultivated land and plant vines (I think at the rate of 1 hectare per year). He now has a 3.5 ha parcel in this vineyard, and the 97 is significantly better than the 95, suggesting that as the vines gain in maturity the quality of the wine is improving. It offers a brilliant rapport between quality and price.

Domaine DIDIER MONTCHOVET (Nantoux). I arrived here late, but my welcome was surprisingly warm. This is a domaine that is not only organic, it is run biodynamically. Like Thierry Poulleau, the Montchovets have cleared land to plant vines. Thus they have set up their domaine. We tasted through their range, and they also gave me a taste of an older vintage of their white Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune - 1994, not wonderful for whites - but this had a smell of mature Meursault, and was deliciously fresh tasting.

Tuesday night I stayed in Couches, a small town south-west of Santenay where there is a wonderful turreted castle perched above a steep river valley. The atmosphere of the hotel was positively gothic. Like Anthony Perkins in Psycho the proprietor was waiting at the door, looking out as I approached uphill. He let me in sepulchrally. Imagine a tombstone walking around. That was the proprietor. I was the only guest, and diner. There was a very young waitress who was so unwell she should have been in bed. She had jet black hair done in a pony-tail, and jet black eye make-up. She sniffled and snuffled and looked as if she might fall over, so I suggested she might like to sit down, because I didn't mind. She replied miserably that "la service" required her to stand up. The orders for the service of each course had to be formally relayed to the kitchen by means of a series of commands passed from the waitress to the proprietor to the kitchen before being formally served at the table. I'm not staying there again.