A few days in Burgundy
Cote d'Or
Tasted Thursday, July 13, 2006 - Monday, July 17, 2006 by psmith with 1,926 views
Introduction
The third segment of our 16-day trip was in Burgundy country. We stayed at the Hotel le Cep in Beaune, a charming old place with quaint rooms and lots of character but rather poor air conditioning which made for a difficult few days in the 95+ degree heat. Needless to say, whites were far preferable to reds under the circumstances.
We spent the first day wandering around Beaune, where wine shops were more plentiful than good deals and lots of knickknacks of all sorts were being offered in the local shops. For dinner that night we were lucky enough to get into Ma Cuisine, a tiny restaurant with an international cult following for their superb comfort food and excellent wine list. The excellent food prices were welcome after Champagne country and the dishes like penne with heaping mounds of black truffles and a sort of scrambled egg casserole with basil and parmesan were delicious. With dinner we had:
Flight 1 (1 Note)
Flight 2 (1 Note)
We followed dinner by ordering a few drinks off the deep and well priced list: a 1987 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Marc de Bourgogne has loads of spice and anise with a dark profile and an alcoholic bite that 16+ years in wood hadn't subdued. A 1941 Camut Calvados has a stunning old nose of well-spiced caramelized apples with an intense palate presence and medicinal finish.
Back at the hotel we enjoyed a wonderful wine that we had found in Reims for a great price:
Flight 3 (2 Notes)
I drug Jen out of bed early to drive me up north on the Route de Grand Crus to walk some of my favorite vineyards. Of course, Vosne-Romanee was the first destination and Romanee-Conti the first vineyard that I looked for - a pilgrimage of sorts that does have something of a religious feel too it. After visiting all the grand crus of Vosne we drove to Chambolle looking for Musigny but the small roads and my hunger forced me back to Beaune.
Lunch was at La Cave du Paradoxe, another well-priced restaurant offering basic but high quality food located in a refreshingly cool cellar. The wine list was quite good with more than a few deals. We enjoyed a young Puligny Montrachet before going back to the hotel for a young Chablis:
Flight 4 (2 Notes)
Dinner was at l'Ecusson which, again, was highly recommended to us and was an excellent choice with a good wine list to match. Lots of well-priced Coche on the list made the wine decision an easy one, while back at the hotel we decided to open our first red of the trip.
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We enjoyed the wine list and food so much on our first trip to La Cave du Paradoxe that we decided to go back for lunch and the same menu (something like 18€ for three courses). Jen wasn't drinking wine yet so I ordered a half bottle from the list for myself:
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Not far from the main square in Beaune we found a merchant specializing in old wines and decided to take a chance on a few that weren't too expensive and seemed in good condition. The first we enjoyed back at the hotel after lunch:
Flight 7 (2 Notes)
Dinner at La Cave Madeleine was in the same mold as the previous meals - more comfort than haute cuisine. The escargot was superb, though my Tete de Veau experience was less stellar, probably more me than the cooking. The restaurant offered a number of wines for sale with a 5€ dine-in premium. Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I'd opened our Mugnier Chambole 1er that the owner had a wonderfully deep cellar under the restaurant that he was more than happy to recommend wines from (though he did not have a list). After dinner we went back to the hotel and opened our other recent buy.
Flight 8 (2 Notes)
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We headed south down the Cote de Beaune the next day to tour the Meursault, Puligny, and Chassagne vineyards before heading back for a quick pizza lunch and some wines that we had picked up at an excellent store in Chassagne-Montrachet named La Caveau de Chassagne:
Flight 9 (2 Notes)
Dinner at La Ciboulette in Beaune was just OK. The fare was pretty similar to the places we had been going, but the execution not quite at that level. The wine list was still well priced and we found a tasty young Lafon Meursault, followed by a Roumier Les Cras back at the hotel:
Flight 10 (2 Notes)
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Lunch the next day was at Castel de Tres Girard in Morey St. Denis in anticipation of our Domaine Dujac visit later. Lunch was quite good, clearly the most ambitious restaurant we had been to in Burgundy. The wine list was also nice though our luck with corked wines came to an end. We weren't really sure until half of the half-bottle was gone, and since I'd forgotten the French word for "corked", I sucked it up and finished the wine off before ordering another:
Flight 11 (2 Notes)
This restaurant was actually in a hotel that the concierge was nice enough to show us around. We left jealous as the rooms were both larger and less expensive than our hotel in Beaune, and the hotel pool would have been absolutely precious in the heat.
A tasting at Domaine Dujac followed lunch. This was a really excellent tour - one of our best in any wine country. We were showed the Dujac vineyards, facilities, and caves by the charming Diana Seysses, followed by a tasting from both barrel (2005s) and bottle (2004s et al). Dujac has recent acquired some new vineyards including Malconsorts and Romanee St. Vivant in Vosne, and Chambertin in Gevrey. Though the 2005s had not quite finished malo yet (the Dujac cellars are relatively cold) we jumped at the chance to taste a few. The 2005 Dujac Pere et Fils Chambolle-Musigny has a dark fruit profile with good body for its level. The 2005 Dujac Clos St. Denis was clearly not finished with malo and had some asphalt type aromas with darker fruit and high-toned acidity. The 2005 Dujac Vosne-Romanee Aux Malconsorts 1er has a delicious red fruit profile with an amazing array of spices. It was quite full, ripe, and sappy and while still undergoing malo this was a very impressive wine. I think the Dujac style will lend itself incredibly well to Vosne, and I'll be on the lookout for both the Malconsorts and RSV when they're released.
The 2004 Dujac Morey St. Denis is lighter boded with balanced dark flavors and a firm finish. The 2004 Dujac Morey St. Denis 1er has a greater body and earthy notes but some greener olive-type notes. The 2004 Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Combottes 1er has a delicious red fruit profile, great balance, and firm precise character. Clearly this is a very good wine capable of lasting many years. The 2004 Dujac Charmes Chambertin showcases dark fruits in a streamlined, balanced package. The 2004 Dujac Clos de la Roche shows great potential and a wonderful tension between red and black fruits with no lack of ripeness whatsoever. The 1999 Dujac Clos de la Roche shows hints of ripe, dark fruits buried under a wall of structure. This bottle was in a rather awkward place and needs time.
There were a couple more wines that Mrs. Seysses opened for us in the cellars but offered to us to take back to the hotel later. I was particularly interested in how the 1976 Gevrey Aux Combottes might evolve, and it did turn into a very nice mature wine with a couple of hours of air in bottle:
Flight 12 (3 Notes)
Dinner on our last night was back at Ma Cuisine. The food was, again, excellent and filling and was followed by an exotic 1960ish Chartruse Verte 'Tarragona' at the restaurant and a Ponsot Clos de la Roche back at the hotel.
Closing
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We left the next morning for five nights in Paris.
1999 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
(7/13/2006)
Mineral-driven, characteristic Lafon nose. Ripe and fat, but not lacking in focus. Lengthy and persistent with good depth and power for the level. Can still benefit from bottle age.
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