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Burgundy Day 4 H. Lignier, Senard, and Pillot - Printable Version

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- TheEngineer - 08-05-2011

It was day two and it started out with rain. It had rained for four days straight now. Everyone noted that it had been sunny and hot for months before we arrived. The day we arrived, it rained. Oh well, at least it was good for the grapes.

We were meeting with Diane Williams Gambal today (a bit more on her later, she is a great guide). She runs a boutique tour company called Hidden France where she delivers custom tours. We had met her obviously through Alex. We were to pick her up in Gevrey Chambertain’s rail station in the morning. Not to continue to pick on the GPS but you’d think that a town’s rail station would be on there…..guess again. So we drove down to GC and asked the locals. That worked pretty well actually. Stopped for café and croissant (yes…they were still asking for drip coffee, thinking that a town such as GC might yield for them. ….I’m guessing by now that the first Dunkin Donut coffee machine they see when they get back, they might just become romantically involved with).

Picked up Diane who gave us a great little intro to Burgundy, specifically Cote D’Or and we were off. With Diane at the wheels, it gave us some time to see the vineyards as they rolled past, one by one. The names that we had worshipped rolled by like regular beats, so frequent were they. First stop Hubert Lignier. Some of us will know that his son had passed away a few years ago and that his widow and the family no longer get along. So Hubert has started up a new winery with his younger son and we got to taste the fruits of this effort.

2010 Chambolle Musigny – Nose of leather, crushed berries, very balanced, fruity and pretty What a great start

2010 Morey Saint Denis – A bit more austere, but great elegance and just beautiful in the mouth.

2010 Gevry – A bit darker and deeper in fruit than the other two, a hint of malo still going on (in the toungue), but good structured wine. Perhaps a bit less charm than the CM.

2010 Pommard – wow, great nose, ripe berries, certainly more pommard in character. Smooth, super smooth texture and tannins, fully bodied and great structure.

2010 Nuit St George – Also still finishing the malo, wonderful wine, very pure fruit and again, great mouth texture and elegant. These are wines that will be really great to drink with a bit of bottle age.

2010 MSD Les Riottes 1er Cru – New wood and very structured, a bit closed right now but shows depth and great potential.

2010 Mores Saint Denis !er Cru VV – Like some of the barrels here, also just completing malo, very deep fruit, floral but still tight, great structure and super length.

2010 Clos de la Roche – super nose, bright fruit, wonderful purity, elegant, super structure and great persistence. I’m gonna look for this one when it hits the market even through I know that it’s tripel digit prices are gonna hurt.

Then Hubert disappears for a few minutes only to show up with a smile on his face and two bottles of 2009 that were in fact getting ready for bottling.

2009 Assemblage MSD – deeper tones of color than 2010, slightly thicker and denser, almost a bit sweeter in sensation but wines are fully dry. Beautiful pure fruit, perfect balanced between power and acidity.

2009 MSD Ier Cru (missed vineyard) – Just fantastic. I had ripe deep fruits that seem to go on forever, extremely elegant. Super smooth mouth texture, good balance, great length, and ripe tannins. I could drink this now. Loved it. He has every reason to smile with wines like this!

His son showed us the cottage that they had just finished so that they could rent it out. We met with a closure salesman on the site as well. We thank Hubert and his son for their time and tastings. Hubert had another meeting and we saw him jump into an old white 205 hatchback and drove off. I’ll never forget this tasting.

More vineyard visits, and we stopped on top of the Corton hills by the Madonna to take pictures. That’s when the sky opened up and really let us have it. Could not see the sights from the corton hills so we headed off to lunch at Domaine Comte Senard. Both a winery and a restaurant (that needs reservations as some of the food is catered). I’ve not seen nor had wines from this domaine but there were a few interesting wines to try.

2008 Aloxe Corton Village Pinot Gris…..yes Pinot Gris or as they say Pinot Beurre planted in 1938. This was apparently grandfathered. Light yet floral, good minerals, a hint of butter, high acidity. Needs food to go as it is a bit austere otherwise, but interest fact is high

2003 Aloxe Corton Grand Cru, - this is yet another anomaly, a white grown in a red only area. So it is classified as a Corton White. A bit fat due to the vintage but holding up well.

2009 Corton Village – Bright berries, a bit thin and acidic, vervy for sure, pleasant but needs food

2006 Corton !er Cru Las Valoziere, velverty tannins, ripe fruit, a bit of herbs and a bit hot on the finish.

We tried a few other wines but I stopped taking notes. The newer wines are much better but they have brought out lunch, scalloped potatoes and beouf borgogne. Great meal! I loved it.

Senard’s claim to fame? It has one of the few formally recognized true monopoles in burgundy. That would be the Senard Clos des Meix. On the way out, we see the Comte. He was driving a small Caterpillar with tools in the front. Off to work on the land!

A bit about Diane Williams Gambal. She first of all is a great person to work with. I would have no problems suggesting that you get in touch with her on putting together trips. She does trips to pretty much all wine regions in France and others. She also does bike tours. She is a past US Olympic ski team member and coach. On top of that, she is extremely humble, knowledgeable about the people and the wines and she is great company. We had a blast with her.

More vineyard and town visits and a final stop at Fernard et Laurent Pillot’s operations. Although I drink Paul Pillot’s stuff regularly, I have never heard of F&L. Apparently (by the road signs that show that there are many Pillot operations) they are cousins. In the area, there is a saying that if you are looking for a date, go to a family reunion……..

Fernand and Laurent came out to meet us, they are a young couple that both finish oenology school together. Fernand makes the whites and Laurent makes the reds. I must say that the wines here are wonderful. I would buy them if I saw them but the whites are definitely the sweet spot.

2009 Chassagne Montrachet – a bit heavy on the oak, but time will pull this in, lemony long finish, good acidity and verviness.

2010 Chassagne Montrachet Les Verger 1er Cru, Nose of apricot, lemon, very nice structured, tense wine, good balanced and minerality

2009 Chassagne Montrachet Vide Borse 1er Cru (very near Batard Montrachet) – Lemony, citrus rind, grapefruit, oak is a bit intrusive now, but not yet integrated

2009 Chassagne Montrachet Grandes Ruchotts – more steep side of the slope. Very different nose, and profile, a bit more citrusy and pineapples, good ripeness and texture.

2009 Meursault Les Caillerests 1er Cru – Citrusy nose, but fully denser body, somewhat more mealy as Meursaults should be, lovely, on Volnay side of Meursault meaning a bit more minerality in the wine.

2007 Chassagne Montrachet Vide Borse 1er Cru – Closed and needed much air, great texture, elegant and good structure, bits of pineapple. Lovely.
2009 Pommard Tavannes (located below Epernot) – bright cherries, a bit of herbiness, quite a big structure, tart almost a bit citrusy, tannic and not very charming at this point. Tough but perhaps time will mellow out this large wine.

2009 Pommard Clos de Verger 1er Cru – Deep berries, some herbal notes again, big nose but still some indicating some hidden power medium density, nicely structured with a long finish and tannic at the back.

2009 Pommard Les Charmot 1er Cru – A bit of leather, very structured, very tight, hidden power, good fruit density but still very elegant.

2009 Pommard Les Rugien 1er Cru – Big boy wine, lots of tannins, big fruit, red berries, blue berries, long finish. Quite the bruiser.

2005 Pommard Les Rugien 1er Cru – 100% new oak, but oak has been absorbed, clean line of fruit on nose and palate, structured, tigher toned acidity, nicely done!

We ended the evening going through many other vineyards and then dropping Diane off with Alex. They were planning a three week trip to the US and needed to get started on the packing! We picked up our order from Alex and headed back to town for the dinner.

We had dinner at Ma Cusine in Beaune. What a great place for dinner. The meals were absolutely great. Flavours were spot on perfect. We shared a bottle of 1967 Remoissenet Morey Saint Denis that was still in very good shape. Solid wine and something different than what we’ve had all day.

1967 Remoissenet Morey Saint Denis Village – colour is bricking but still solid. Nose is a bit portly and a bit sweet. This must have been a reasonably ripe wine in its youth. Not much complexity but this shows what an aged (Cripes 43 years old) pinot can taste like. Still hangs onto a bit of acidity and was surprisingly refreshing. Interesting wine for sure. Turned out that one of the travel group’s birth year was 1967.