Day 12
This day will go down as the day of serious mixed feelings and for me personally adding to my Bourgogne-confusion. Let me explain…
…I have never been a serious Bourgogne fan, simply because I can not appreciate these wines. The Pinot noir cultivar is one I struggle to understand. And it was my quest to come to Bourgogne to improve or at least clear up the misunderstanding. On arrival the atmosphere was already “wrong” according to my gut feeling. Something that for me as a winemaker is very important – the sixth sense. The “air” was sterile and almost desolate. Very much unlike what we experienced in Bordeaux, Loire or even Chablis. But the people of the region did not help me much…
…our whole day was “infected” by people with bad attitudes. Form the first wine shop we tasted, followed by the 10-odd cellars that turned us away at their doors with some poor excuse, to the last cellar that turned us away, we where ready to pack or bags and abandon our plans to visit any other cellar or domaines in Bourgogne. I am not bitter. Let me give an example. The last Domaine when I asked the P.R.O person if it would be possible to do a tasting, he replied: “Does this look like a wine bar?” I was livid. It proved my worst fear of the area. The people are rude and they get away with it. It totally freaked me out.
But apart from that there where wines that really put up a strong fight to prove to me that there might be something good here after all. We did stop at the famous Romanee Conti and walk along “the wall” that surrounds this renowned vineyard. The tasting at Philippe Leclerc was equally impressive and the lady serving us must have been an “outsider” to the region seeing that she was friendly and warm hearted, even taking us to the underground cellar of their small Domaine. A real rose among thorns…a rare find.
The day ended with a stop and a walk around the town of Beaune. Impressive. We did a 15 wine tasting at the Marche aux Vins with a sommelier guiding us through the wines and giving us 3 extra wines to taste. A nice touch from the “Bourgogne wine gods” to persuade us to alter our opinion. They almost succeeded. With wines from Meursault and Gevrey, both 2003 vintage.
Final conclusion – we will give Bourgogne its final chance tomorrow.
This day will go down as the day of serious mixed feelings and for me personally adding to my Bourgogne-confusion. Let me explain…
…I have never been a serious Bourgogne fan, simply because I can not appreciate these wines. The Pinot noir cultivar is one I struggle to understand. And it was my quest to come to Bourgogne to improve or at least clear up the misunderstanding. On arrival the atmosphere was already “wrong” according to my gut feeling. Something that for me as a winemaker is very important – the sixth sense. The “air” was sterile and almost desolate. Very much unlike what we experienced in Bordeaux, Loire or even Chablis. But the people of the region did not help me much…
…our whole day was “infected” by people with bad attitudes. Form the first wine shop we tasted, followed by the 10-odd cellars that turned us away at their doors with some poor excuse, to the last cellar that turned us away, we where ready to pack or bags and abandon our plans to visit any other cellar or domaines in Bourgogne. I am not bitter. Let me give an example. The last Domaine when I asked the P.R.O person if it would be possible to do a tasting, he replied: “Does this look like a wine bar?” I was livid. It proved my worst fear of the area. The people are rude and they get away with it. It totally freaked me out.
But apart from that there where wines that really put up a strong fight to prove to me that there might be something good here after all. We did stop at the famous Romanee Conti and walk along “the wall” that surrounds this renowned vineyard. The tasting at Philippe Leclerc was equally impressive and the lady serving us must have been an “outsider” to the region seeing that she was friendly and warm hearted, even taking us to the underground cellar of their small Domaine. A real rose among thorns…a rare find.
The day ended with a stop and a walk around the town of Beaune. Impressive. We did a 15 wine tasting at the Marche aux Vins with a sommelier guiding us through the wines and giving us 3 extra wines to taste. A nice touch from the “Bourgogne wine gods” to persuade us to alter our opinion. They almost succeeded. With wines from Meursault and Gevrey, both 2003 vintage.
Final conclusion – we will give Bourgogne its final chance tomorrow.
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