Burgundy and Beaujolais

One of the most interesting aspects of the wine trade is getting the opportunity to visit producers and taste wines in the regions in which they are produced. On a recent visit to Burgundy and Beaujolais I was able to taste many wines from the same region and select the best available wine from each category.

I tasted between ten and twenty wines from Meursault, Pouilly-Fuisse and Gevrey Chamertin for example. This enabled each wine to be assessed along with its peers. In this way we do not only select a good wine, but one that we consider to be among the best of its type avaialable.

One producer that we have admired for a while is the Domaine de la Creuze Noir. Their white wines have great elegance and finesse and really stand out against other wines from the same region. We have selected their Pouilly Fuisse (£17.50) and St-Veran (£12.99) to add to our Burgundy range.

It is also reassuring to taste new vintages of wines that we already stock against their competition and reconfirm that these are class leaders. Domaine de Roally Vire-Clesse stood out among all the eight Vire-Clesse on taste and our Nuits St-Georges Domaine Philippe Gavignet and Givry Rouge Danjean-Berthoux showed very well against their peers. Our Aloxe Corton 1er Cru Domaine Maurice Chapuis was excellent and we now have the 2006 and 2007 vintages in stock as well as a few remaining cases of 2005.

The Beaujolais tasting was a real lesson in the terroir of the region and confirmation that we have wines from some of the best Beaujolais producers making wines or real depth and character. My particular favourite remains our Moulin-A-Vent Gerard Charvet, which is outstanding at £11.99.

Who'd be a Winemaker?

I was recently visiting wine makers in Burgundy and Beaujolais, of which more to come next month. I had the opportunity to discuss the vintage with several winemakers and see for myself the last of the grapes in the vineyards and arriving at the wineries.

It is clear that 2010 is a challenging year in the region. There is some rot within the bunches and selection of the grapes as they enter the wineries at the sortation tables will be key this year. All is not lost however as the berries are quite small showing good concentration of flavour. So whilst volume will be lower, it is still possible to make good quality wine.

One winemaker whom I rate very highly was not peturbed as he said this year it will be clear who the best winemakers are, whereas in a year with perfect weather almost all producers will make good wine.

Another winemaker was discussing the challenges of organic production in the region. They still need to spray the vines with copper and sulphur to guard against rot and mildew, but as these are their only weapons, they need to spray each time it rains. He remarked that it always seemed to rain on a Sunday this year to ruin his day off.

Even in the difficult years it is the work in the vineyard that enables good wines to be produced. You can't make good wine without good grapes ( although it's perfectly possible to turn good grapes into poor wine). This is why we try to get to know who the most concientous winemakers are and we have confidence in them to produce the best wine from the climatic conditions of the year. Let's hope are faith is rewarded in the 2010 vintage.