Travels in Burgundy 1999
Day 4
Domaine GACHOT-MONOT (Gerland). Damien Gachot is my favourite winemaker.
He is young, enthusiastic, quirky and funny. He is visibly gaining in confidence.
This time the excitement for me is that he is releasing two new wines.
Damien is excited about something too. He shows me the neck of a bottle
with no capsule. I don't know what exactly he is showing me, but I say how
nice it looks. He draws the cork, and says, "Look, the cork" proudly,
and holds it up to me between his thumb and forefinger. "It is like
les grands domaines!" And so it is. His new wines have corks specially
printed with the domaine's emblem, "G-M", the name of the vineyard
and the vintage. He is so pleased.
Off we go tasting. His wines are as delicious and exciting as ever.
One of the new wines is completely new, while the other is a special
bottling of a 2 ha parcel of vines, "Les Chaillots", within
his Côte de Nuits Villages holdings, which always produces superior
wine, with more weight and concentration.
Damien is excited about something else too. As we taste he tells me about
a write-up he is going to get in a specialist wine magazine, Bourgogne Aujourd'hui.
This is for his Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru, of which he only makes one cask
(300 bottles). It was entered alongside bottles from the great and good
producers of Nuits St. Georges with absolutely acres of 1er Cru vines -
10, 15 acres. The magazine only writes up a select few of the entrants.
They rang to say they'd like to include Gachot-Monot. A journalist was sent
to interview Damien, and started by asking him what acreage he had of his
1er Cru vines. Damien said 0.06 of a hectare (about one seventh of an acre).
The journalist, apparently, nearly fell off his chair.
The other new wine, the completely new one, is a Nuits St. Georges "Les
Crots" - vines he has recently bought - next to Lupé-Cholet's
Château Gris, and, though only a village appellation, is very well-sited.
The 1997 is forward, soft, sweet and delicious, with beautiful balance.
* * *
Thursday night I spent in Mirebeau-sur-Bèze, north-east of Dijon.
After the last three hotels I was not expecting much. It turned out to
be wonderful. It was run with an efficiency that was not at all impersonal.
Madame, who was in charge, was polite and friendly. The cooking was excellent.
I had a really good night's sleep, and set off back home the next morning
in extra good spirits.
Tom Innes
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