Côte de Nuits delights and a rain dance…
Wednesday, June 19th, 2013We received the sad news during dinner last night that vigneron François Lamarche passed away yesterday. François was the proprietor of the eponymous domaine in Vosne-Romanée, and we imported his wines for a number of years in the early days of Scott Paul Selections. He died yesterday in a freak tractor accident, and will be sadly missed. Our hearts go out to his wife Marie-Blanche and the entire family…
Today we took the group to taste at two legendary Côte de Nuits estates, starting with Anne-Françoise Gros of Vosne-Romanée (she and husband François Parent share a winery facility in Beaune – all the wines for her estate, her husband’s, and daughter Caroline Parent’s are made there.)
We had originally scheduled to taste with Caroline, who then had to change her travel schedule, so her brother Matthias was slotted in. He then got sick, so we ended up very happily tasting with Madame Gros herself! An absolutely lovely range of wines – especially the Vosne-Romanée Aux Reas which was showing beautifully today. (We are now importing the A-F Gros wines, starting with the 2011s this fall – stay tuned!)

Tasting with Anne-Françoise Gros
Then we headed up the RN74 to Chambolle-Musigny, to lunch at Le Millésime with Domaine de Vogüé winemaker François Millet and GM Jean-Luc Pepin, who generously brought 2 bottles of 2001 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (the young vine Musigny) for us to enjoy over lunch. Wow. Mon dieu. I am so honored and thankful that François and Jean-Luc make the time for us and are so amazingly generous. The 2012s in the de Vogüé cellar are just starting malo, in fact some have yet to start. Even at this awkward stage, the crystalline purity of these magical terroirs shine. And I am always blown away to be reminded that with the Musigny and Amoureuses François never punches down – ever. One pump-over at the beginning, and one more just before racking the wine out of tank, and that’s it! Amazing…

Massive storms around France have caused flooding and are wreaking havoc, and a killer hailstorm in Vouvray (in the Loire Valley) wiped out more than 70% of the vineyards there on Monday. Yikes! Rains are supposedly headed to Burgundy tonight or tomorrow, and all fingers are crossed here. After what they’ve lived through here in 2012, they just don’t need another monkey-wrench in the works. Just something resembling a normal crop, please – that’s all we ask!


























