Monday, November 17, 2008

Saturday (15 November) - Beaune

I meet up with exporter Thomas Calder. At 8:15 we are in line for the tasting of the Hospice de Beaune 08s. An hour and a half later we enter the old cellars of the Hospices.

The harvest was late this year (end sept) so the fermentations and development are a little behind schedule....whites are still fermenting and reds are all over the place...lots of sulfur or reductive notes...tasting is hard going. It's a limited tasting with only half of the cuvees. We are done in 45 min due in part to the chit chat between tasters and winery staff.

At 1:30 we go the the Beaune expo for 4 hours of rapid-fire tasting of 2008s '07s and '06s. There I meet Patrick Essa of Buisson-Charles (Meursault) and he introduces us to his '08s as well as his compatriots.....Tasting is tough going because many wines are still fermenting their sugars...good material and extraction, especially his Goutte d'Or. Delicious stuff from Sylvain Dussort and Sebatien Magnien (Meursault). The Remi Jobard and Ballot Meursault Genevrières are also of note. Patrick Essa invites us to a private tasting with his buddy at Domaine Drouhin Sunday morning and then lunch at his place, with his other friend Jean-Luc Thunevin. We can't refuse...

We move to the Gevrey-Chambertin table as the wines are self serve and we happily do a horizontal of all the Gevrey Chambertin grand crus :) Over at Puligny-Montrachet I taste a Leflaive P-M 1er cru Clavoillon (holy s*&t!)

We hit nearly all of the appelations (even the crémant de Bourgogne!) and or mouths are sore with acid and our backs tired.....but hey, somebody has to do it. At 5:30 I crawl out of the Palais de Congres.

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