Saturday June 13th is White Burgundy day at Scott Paul.  In addition to our white Burgundy seminar that evening we will feature the wines of Philippe Chavy in the tasting room from Noon – 5p.m. and offer them at a tremendous savings. 

For those of you who can’t attend the tasting you can order online here https://store.scottpaul.com/store

The village of Puligny-Montrachet produces some of the world’s most sought after and longest-lived white wines. To many, these wines are the peak expression of Chardonnay, achieving an intensity, length and purity that is found nowhere else on the planet. The vineyards on the hillsides above the village are planted on beds of ancient limestone, giving the wines a laser-like minerality, and there is generally no mistaking a Puligny for a Meursault or Chassagne or Chablis.

Domaine Philippe Chavy

2006 Puligny-Montrachet                                      $60 / Now $40

2006 Puligny-Montrachet, Les Corvées                 $60 / Now $40

2006 Puligny-Montrachet, Les Folatières 1er        $80 / Now $55

2006 Puligny-Montrachet, Les Pucelles 1er           $90 / Now $60

2005 Meursault, Blagny 1er                                   $55 / Now $35

Additionally, we will offer a 5% case discount, (but the club discount does not apply to this offer).

The tasting fee of $25 covers the five white Burgundies, our regular tasting room flight, cheese and charcuterie, Scott’s answers to all your Burgundy questions, and is refundable with a 3 bottle purchase. Such a deal! RSVP not required, but always appreciated…

kellykarr@scottpaul.com

Simple is good, Simple is not easy, but it’s good. The vignerons up and down the côte live very simple lives. They live and work in harmony with nature and the seasons. They mostly live in very modest homes. They don’t have houses full of “things” and closets full of clothes. What they do have is an amazing quality of life. And they see most things from the perspective of being stewards and honest caretakers of nature’s precious gift – the magnificent vineyard land that is capable of producing the finest wines in the world.

They own some of the planet’s most valuable property, but see it as a family heirloom whose value is to be preserved for generation after generation. It is an honest, simple, and noble path. I wish everybody could spend some time with and get to know people like Thierry Violot , or Alain Meunier, or Thiébault Huber – everything they are and everything they do is written on their faces, embedded in their stained hands and under their fingernails, and is alive in every drop of the wines they produce. I am inspired and enriched by knowing and working with these people, and it truly is a pleasure to be in their world.

And god I love to hear them talk about wine. They’re philosophers all, each with their own points of view, each of course convinced that their path is indeed the right one. No matter what viticultural or enological religion they follow though, there are often many commonalities that emerge.

What comes out again and again are a few truisms that I’ve taken to heart, when it comes to what’s important. First, terroir trumps all. Where the vines are planted, more than anything else, determines the potential quality of the wine. You can make some really nice wine in, say, Morey-St. Denis – but you can’t make Musigny there. Only Musigny can be Musigny, and it on the other hand it cannot be Morey-St. Denis. After this, vine age is EVERYTHING. One cannot get the fullest and truest expression of a vineyard site until the vines are fully mature – and to the Burgundians this means 40-50 years old before they hit their peak. When I speak of the few 40 year-old parcels we have here in Oregon’s Dundee Hills, the Burgundians say “oh, that will start to get interesting now…”

Beyond this, they don’t think much else really matters. They don’t speak much of “winemaking styles”. Sure, certain producers will use a lot more or less new oak, or have different ideas on methods and levels of extraction, but what’s important to them is – did the producer get a good and honest expression of the terroir? That is their definition of a good producer, plain and simple.

As I’ve often said, I wish I could fast forward to 100 years or so from now. I’d love to see what we will have learned about our terroir here in Oregon. Will we have our own uniquely special sites here, at the level of Musigny and La Tâche and Romanée-Conti? Who knows – va savoir as the French would say. I’d say the odds are good. Whatever it is we have here, may we farm it and treat it with honor and respect. And learn to live simply.

News Flash! There is now a great restaurant in Pommard! How could this happen? Nothing ever changes here. I’m surprised this didn’t make the network news. Long the bastion of lousy dining, and I mean truly lousy, the village of Pommard now is home to Auprès du Clocher – a brand new eatery with the former Le Chevreuil chef (and former sous-chef at Michelin 3-star Lameloise) at the helm. My friends who’ve eaten there are raving after their initial visits. I didn’t get the chance to hit it this trip, but will certainly book for the next round. I loved Le Chevreuil in Meursault, and thought it was one of Burgundy’s best – so this should be good!

Elsewhere on the resto front, I am happy to report that Bistro La Regalade in Beaune continues to crank out amazing meals – their filet mignon of Porc at lunch yesterday was probably my favorite dish I’ve had here all week. Oh, and those perfect potatoes cooked in duck fat – it really doesn’t get any better. I WILL be running 4 miles every morning for the next several months to work this off, however!

Also happy to report that Castel Tres Girard in Morey is still on top of their game (if a bit spendy). Hadn’t been there in a couple of years, and they’re as good as ever, with creative and extremely tasty dishes. Romain Taupenot brought a ’95 Chambolle Combe d’Orveau that was showing really well, especially for the vintage, and a 2003 Mazoyères Chambertin that blew my mind – blind I guessed 2000 – it had absolutely no traces of the heat and over-ripeness of ’03 – one of the best of the vintage I’ve ever run across. Bravo, Romain!

I’m writing now on the TGV on the way to the airport (love this direct train – it takes you directly into the terminal, no fighting Paris traffic, etc.) The only drawback is the 6:30am departure from Dijon, which means a 4:00am wake-up in Volnay. (To say I am not a morning person is an understatement – just ask my wife!)

Premeaux-Prissey – Tasting yesterday with the always forthright and insightful Alain Meunier at J-J Confuron – Alain is an inspiration, and his wines are as pure and as focused as the man himself. Again here the 08s are just starting malo, but the 07s in bottle are things of beauty. “Stunning” does not do justce to the elegance that is his Clos Vougeot, or the refinement that is his Romanée-St. Vivant. The same personality runs through even his Bourgogne Rouge and Côte de Nuits-Villages – purity and precision all around. They have never exported their Bourgogne Rouge to the U.S. – but I’ve been able to convince them to give us a little bit this year. It’s called “La Jeunesse” – which means “the youth” – it is so called because as of 2006 the vines in this parcel have been tended by Alain & Sophie’s son Louis, who’s now 17. I’ve not had the opportunity to meet Louis, but if he’s anything like his father, he’ll be a great man indeed.

And here’s a shot of Volnay’s magnificent Clos de la Cave des Ducs – an amazing wine from our friend Benjamin Leroux…

I’ve been packing so much into every day here that I haven’t gotten to putting up any tasting notes yet. Time won’t let me get into specifics on every wine at the moment, but we can start with a good overview.

I had hoped to get a look at the 2008s post-malo, but in fact the malos have been very slow this year – many are just starting, most are in mid-malo, and only a few have finished. There was a fairly high level of malic acid in the 08s, so the wines will change dramatically when they’re through. It is way too difficult, in fact I’d say impossible, to really get a handle on a wine until it’s through malo, so in most cellars I’ve passed on tasting the 08s. The few I tasted that were ML-complete were very attractive – there is a lush richness to the fruit that is very succulent, and it leads me to believe that we’ll have another vintage that looked to be very tough at the outset, but has turned out some really lovely wines.

As for the 07s, which are now all in bottle, in a word I’m thrilled. Refined, elegant, brimming with pretty red fruits, fresh, bright – these are the words I see again and again in my notes. These will be wines that should drink very well on the younger side, and bring great drinking pleasure over the first 5-7 years I would think, with a longer upside of course for the Grand Crus and better 1ers. In general, really lovely stuff, and a testament to the level of quality the vigilant and focused vignerons can now produce even in years when nature makes it less than easy.

Chablis – The 08s at Frédéric Gueguen he describes as “like 07 but with more concentration and freshness”. I wholeheartedly agree. Even the Petit Chablis is excellent in 08. All the cuvées were outstanding, as always the 1er Cru l’Homme Mort the most so.

Mâconnais – All is well at Domaine Thibert, where Christophe continues to produce some of the most meticulously farmed and crafted great-value whites. The 07 St. Véran and Mâcon-Prissé rocked my world, and the Pouilly-Fuissé Vignes Blanches is simply outstanding. His 08s in barrel are finishing malo now, and are showing lovely fruit richness.

The Chalonnaise – Young Erell Ninot continues to knock it out of the park – her 2007 Mercurey Vieilles Vignes just got the highest score of the year in Bourgogne Aujourd’hui (the local equivalent of Wine Spectator, more or less), and I was knocked out by the Rully blanc once again. Good stuff! (and great values, now when we need it the most.)

I had the great privilege to taste at Domaine Comtes Georges de Vogüé in Chambolle-Musigny with famed winemaker-philosopher François Millet (who is coming to Oregon for IPNC this summer.) My experience there deserves a more detailed essay of its own, but suffice it to say it was truly a profound and memorable, even moving experience – all of which I shall expound upon in a coming post.

Pommard – Thierry Violot-Guillemard continues to be the un-challenged master of finesse in Pommard, and his 07s are so fine and pure they make my heart sing. The Pommard Rugiens is world-class grape juice.

Vosne-Romanée – Jean-Marc Millot, the master of purity and understatement, continues on his run of success that started in 1999. A couple of the cuvees were through malo – the Vosne-Romanée villages, and the Echezeaux – both of which I found round, succulent, and full of juicy red fruits and fine tannins.

Chambolle-Musigny – Anne & Hervé Sigaut (who are also coming to IPNC in July) have nothing through malo yet, so we tasted through the range of 07s in bottle. It was a successful year for this husband & wife team – the standout for me (and Anne) being the Châtelots 1er Cru – but the whole range was very very very Chambolle, which makes me very happy! I checked in on my barrel of the 08 in their cellar, which was just starting malo, but shows all signs of being a lovely first-ever Burgundy-produced wine for us – I can’t wait to taste again in the fall after malo to see where this beauty goes.

Dinner last night was at home with Thiébault & Marielle Hubert, after tasting through his 07s at the winery. Notes on that, and the stunning 07s at J-J Confuron to follow soon.

I am writing this drinking a lovely glass of Champers on the patio at l’Hotel de Beaune, under a beautifully sunny sky, and would be perfectly happy to just sit here for the rest of my life. Je ne veux pas bouger!

I’m off with a bunch of hyper-excited third graders to camp along the Sandy River. I don’t expect to run across anything culinarily worthy, but I’ll let you know. When I get back, I’ll have some notes from meals out (Laurelhurst Market), recipes tried at home (several berry desserts), and thoughts about how my little brain cannot wrap itself around the miracle of tiny seeds or plant starts turning out baskets of food! I actually have a 5-inch cucumber just two weeks after planting the start!

Food & Wine Magazine has published its Ten Best New Chefs issue.  Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta, has a connection to Scott Paul. His wife Gina worked crush with us in 2005.

With such limited access to a good internet connection – I haven’t been able to post here as often as I’d like. At any rate, here is some of the latest…

While sitting on a park bench in Place Carnot this afternoon, just enjoying the sunshine and watching the local kids enjoying themselves on the carousel (not like Aqualung, however!), I had a nice little conversation with a very sweet and quite old woman (80s, minimum) who came and sat down beside me. It was just an exchange of pleasantries and a brief discourse on the weather – but it was one of those little life-affirming moments.

It just gave me faith in the inherent kindness and of the human spirit, made me happy just to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, and somehow made me feel like I belong here. (Either my accent gets better the longer I’m here, or maybe her hearing was weak enough that she couldn’t tell I was American!)

At any rate, I was fairly sure she would not comprehend that I was “Tweeting” from my iPhone, nor could I have properly explained it anyway – so I just let that go and enjoyed one of the oldest known forms of communication, a simple chat on a park bench. We should try it more often. Life is good indeed.

*****

Always good eats at La Ciboulette in Beaune, not to mention it’s the only resto here open on Sunday nights. Had a really nice cassoulet d’escargots in a tiny copper pot – basically it’s a couple of sticks of melted butter and a heap of garlic and parsley, with a dozen or so snails tossed in for good measure. It’s all about sopping up the sauce with slices of baguette, if you ask me. The steak of Charolais beef with melted Epoisses is absolutely delicious. The Charolais beef here has excellent flavor, but I’ve never been a huge fan of the texture – I think the Limousin beef is better, IMHO…

In truth I go to La Ciboulette for the Chocolate Plate for dessert – four decadent expressions of luscious dark chocolate on one plate – including a mousse, ice cream, flourless cake and an incredibly dense slab of succulent molten chocolate goodness. How bad can it be?

A few words on pop radio in France. As you may now, I was on the air for over 25 years. The media over here has always been about 15-20 years behind us, but in some ways is getting more progressive. The biggest hit currently in heavy rotation on pop station NRJ ( pronounced en-er-zhee) is entitled “F**k You” by brit popster Lily Allen. I keep hearing the loud and proud chorus of “F**k you, F**k you very very much” echoing in my head. And then the DJ comes on and says (very loose translation here) – “and that’s the smash hit ‘F**k You’ by Lily Allen – a lovely sentiment for Mother’s Day, don’t you think”? (It was mom’s day here yesterday.) He then followed it with Britney Spears’ latest, which is called “If You Seek Amy”, which was quite the segue, to say the least (say the title out loud if you’re not yet in on the joke.) Naked women on TV ads, foul English language on the radio – you cannot say the French are uptight!

More soon – in the meantime here’s a shot of Volnay Clos de la Cave des Ducs -

First off, I am happy to say that I slept a solid 9 ½ hours last night and have triumphed over the jetlag quicker and better than ever. Didn’t even hear the church bells going off next door here in Volnay – I slept like a log.

Dinner last night at Caves Madeleine was good as always – I had the cassoulet of escargot to start and then the seared duck breast – the best part of which was the potatoes in duck fat, of course. Their house-made ice creams are always superb – the dark valhrona chocolate and the salt-caramel were spot on great…

As prepared as I thought I was – iPhone, MacBook – subscriptions to all the right services & providers – the cell and internet infrastructure here is still not up to snuff. Service just stops inexplicably for hours or days at a time, the signal is always weak, and public WiFi remains virtually nonexistent. I’ve been able to post some Facebook stuff sporadically, but not as spontaneously or reliably as I would like. If one has internet service in your home here, you’re in heaven – it’s lightning fast, you get free phone calls world-wide & great digital cable TV – but once you step outside you’re back in the low-tech wasteland. I am writing this from the Volnay house today (where there is currently zero cell or internet service – there was yesterday, but it has now disappeared) – and I’m hoping to hang out in the lobby of l’Hotel de Beaune later today to post this. If you’re reading this, I guess I was successful.

Great trip up to Chablis yesterday to taste the 08s with Frédéric Gueguen. He characterized the vintage as “ ’07 but with more concentration and richness”. I would agree – they are lovely wines, great minerality and Chablis purity, with more mid-palate richness and texture than the spectacular ’07 vintage. There is still not a better value in world-class whites anywhere. His old-vines Chablis, from ½ an acre planted in 1926, is absolutely mind-blowing at any price. I only wish there was more of it. I will likely this fall bring in some of his Petit Chablis for the first time– which is a separate appellation defined by a different type of limestone soil. In the ’08 vintage it performed exceptionally well, and the price will be in the vicinity of $16-$17 – unbeatable juice for the money. Here’s Frédéric & Céline’s house in Préhy, surrounded by vines…

And here’s a closer look at vines in the Côte de Lechet – healthy and looking toward an October 1st harvest…

Wine critic Steve Tanzer was on his way out as I walked in to the winery in Chablis – he’s doing his annual taste through Chablis right now, and Allen Meadows will be here in about a week.

Excellent dinner last night at P’tit Paradis in Beaune – a treasure of a resto tucked away on one of Beaune’s little back streets. I flipped over the starter of Serano ham & market greens with Parmesan Ice Cream – yes, Parmesan Ice Cream. It was unbelievably good! The saddle of rabbit suffed with spinach and mushrooms and pine nuts was great – but I kept going back to the ice cream – I just wanted it with every course all night! Have a look…

It’s Sunday morning now and I had a nice run from Volnay to Pommard and back this morning – always drawing some great looks from the locals who find it quite interesting and somewhat baffling, to be sure. I’ve booked dinner for tonight at one of my favorite Beaune bistros – La Ciboulette – and will report back with all the gory details.

The vines are looking great, and are well ahead of schedule here – based on the early flowering we’re looking at a September 1st harvest – but of course that could move by many weeks depending on the summer weather. It’s been 70-ish and drizzly since I’ve arrived, with the sun predicted to return when I leave on Thursday, of course!

And here’s a shot looking down over Volnay Fremiets 1er Cru this morning…

Well, the Chicago trip seems to have been a success all around – sold a lot of wine to some great restaurant accounts and key retailers, and I certainly ate way too well. Lots of excellent food happening in that city now – I was most impressed with Chef John des Rosiers’ brand new resto called Inovasi up in Lake Bluff – he’s doing tremendous stuff, creative yet classic, intensely flavorful – reminds me of a cross between a couple of my Portland favorites, Scott Dolich at Park Kitchen and Gabe Rucker at Le Pigeon…

Once again I have been frustrated in my attempts to find sleep on the plane, so have arrived in Paris in a complete state of delirium – it is 5am to my body, and I have yet to find a minute’s sleep. The train to Dijon was an hour late – a very rare occurrence here – so we’ve just pulled out of the Gare de Lyon for the 1:42 ride to Dijon. Perhaps I can snooze a little on the train…

Tonight – a quick dinner in Beaune at Caves Madeleine with my friend & proprietor Lolo, and then hopefully a major crash-out at the Volnay house. I’ll head up to Chablis in the morning, to taste the 08s and lunch with Frédéric Gueguen, and then back to Beaune to speak to a group and dine at P’tit Paradis in Beaune. It is sunny and cool – 70-ish in Paris, and it should be a string of nice spring days in Burgundy, with a few scattered showers in the forecast for now…

Really looking forward to tasting all of the 07s now in bottle, and get a good first look at the 08s post-malo. In the meantime, off to dreamland…