November 23

We drove out this morning toward Abbaye de Fontenay in the north of Burgundy. Off to a late start and while driving, I thought to call ahead and schedule some other rendez-vous for the day.

I managed to contact someone at Olivier Leflaive in the village of Puligny Montrachet and got us a spot for a 12:30 lunch and tasting which seemed irresistible. We passed some time driving through vineyards and graveyards in Pommard and Puligny on the way. 

The sky was overcast and wet, the mud like glue, the vines all naked and tied to trellises, some unpicked, withered grape clusters still clung to them all these weeks after the harvest. Workers were out in the vineyards in the bracing cold and the mud preparing the vines for the next season; pruning for next year’s grow and burning the old vines and clippings on the edges of the rows or in wheelbarrows. The lightly sweet, smoke of the fires is a welcome sight and reminds every one of a new season to come.  

 The graveyards are old. They have family plots dating back centuries, many of the graves and mausolea at the heart of the graveyards listing family names of the local vintners, who have been central figures in the villages for all this time. In the graveyard at Puligny Montrachet, the Leflaives (who we would visit for lunch) were at the epicenter. Some of the graves dating back a century or more, some as recent as this decade or this year.

Olivier Leflaive was a modest man considering his stature there and the project that with his brother and daughter he has undertaken. The family has run a restaurant across the Place de la Republique in the center of town for decades, but 4 years ago, they bought this building on the site of a former winery cave, and made it into a hotel. La Maison de Leflaive. He said that he named it that because he wants to welcome guests there as to his house. 

While listening in to our luncheon host Simon expound on the AOC system, the merits of the different parcels in which they own land, recent revolutions in enclosures (corks), the aspects of barrel aging and various other local industry ephemera, we tried all 14 wines; 10 chardonnays, 1 aligote (a little-known Burgundian white, not to my taste) and 3 pinot noirs, all while dining on some home-made cheese puffs, tuna terrine with chardonnay jelly and smoked salmon, chocolate mousse. Apparently Darren doesn’t like white wine, still he liked 6 of the whites.

We lingered around talking with another couple from San Francisco about how easy it is to get lost out here or to wind up with a rental car you can’t drive. Earlier I had met the Editor of Decanter Magazine. He was there doing research to hire some new contract writers and to know what topics are hot. I overheard him in conversation saying to Olivier that he contracts none other than Stephen Spurrier, organizer of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the event that put California wines on the worldwide map.

We wanted to buy one of their grand cru wines and one of their prestigious 1er cru wines, but they didn’t have any available for us, and encouraged us to try to find them through their american distributor. This happens a lot out here. 

Approaching the wine industry as an amateur is in this way I’ve found to be a humbling experience. Many of the best wineries here will not offer tasting even with an appointment or reservation. Never. Their wines are “only for their clients”, of which they simply do not need or want any more of than they already have. Period. Since I had come up against this challenge weeks ago in trying to schedule visits, I hadn’t even bothered to schedule in Burgundy. Fortunately with some persistance and a list that includes not only top producers, we managed to get in some decent places.

Next we drove off toward Beaune intent on walking around the city a bit and taking in the sights. While driving through Pommard, we decided that since we loved the wines from there so much, why not stop at the Chateau. 

The Chateau de Pommard is an imposing and superb complex of 18th century structures with a substantial walled garden, originally built for one the secretaries of Louis XVI. Chateau de Pommard has a few kilometers of caves under the complex and a museum/shop in back of the inner courtyard.  

There was an exhibit of estate-owned Picasso ceramics and paintings, free with tour and tasting. Um, I think this woman is urinating. 

 Here's Darren climbing down into the musty depths.

They still stack them here with wedges.

The guide, Vincent, a local from Beaune, showed us through the cellars telling various points about the winemaking process, that supposedly set Chateau de Pommard apart from all others. The Chateau owns the largest contiguous plot of vinyard in Pommard, about 19 hectares, and produces one single wine from it, a Pinot Noir. 

So we were offered a vertical tasting of three different years; 04, 07 and 08. They were dramatically different from one another in tannic structure and the ’07 was very good. Unfortunately, since the winery has zero distribution and sells only through the estate, they would only ship in quantities of six or twelve bottles, not worth the expense for us. Vincent also gave us a taste of their Mar de Pommard, a distillate that he compared to Grappa. It was so strong, I think it burned the hairs out of my nose just smelling it. I like grappa, ouzo, some other stuff like this. This one was too strong for me.

Next we said our goodbyes and drove into Beaune where we walked around for a while trying to shake off the cold.