November 17, 2007
Wow, what a day! Started off with the 90-minute drive up to Chablis (with someone doing 130 km/h inches from my bumber every couple of minutes, of course.) Tasted through the 2007s at Frédéric Gueguen’s cellar in the village of Chablis – and they are excellent. Lovers of classic, minerally, intense Chablis will be very happy. The l’Homme More 1er Cru is so palate-stainingly intense and long that I was blown away. Had a great lunch at home with Frédéric and his wife Céline, and their two little ones. Their home is a gorgeous renovation of an ancient stone farmhouse, in the middle of Chablis vines and surrounded by their own private park – really lovely. Fred also took my on a tour of his vineyard parcels, including his oldest vines, dating to 1926.
Then I turned around and headed back down to the Côte d’Or, for an amazing tasting at my friend Jean-Pierre Charlot’s cellar in Pommard. He invited about 150 people for a vertical of his Pommard Pezzerolles, going from 2005 to 1961! It was very interesting and educational. The standouts form me were the ’93, ’90, ’85 and the ’61 – which I found still amazingly youthful and vibrant. (It always helps that these old wines have never moved since the day they were bottled.)
From there it was on to the “Souverain Bailliage de Pommard” – a confrèrie or brotherhood similar to the Chevaliers de Tastevin. It was created by my dear friend Aleth Girardin, and it is really a great event. Every year on the weekend of the Hospices de Beaune auction they have their annual dinner and induction ceremonies. It starts in the cellars of the Chateau de Pommard, where I was honored to be inducted into the brotherhood – there’s a great ceremony in which they place the ribbon and medallion around your neck, hand you an ancient silve chalice and fill it with a gorgeous old Pommard, and then tap you on each shoulder with the preserved trunk of an ancient grapevine and pronounce you a “Bailli de Pommard”. I was inducted along with Caroline Parent (the daughter of Anne-Françoise Gros – owner of a great Vosne-Romanée domaine, and François Parent, the famous Pommard producer.) Then we moved on into the ancient cellars below the Pommard City Hall, for a six-course dinner paired with wines – one of which was our Scott Paul 2005 La Paulée Pinot! I was honored, in fact blown away to be asked to provide wine for the dinner – and to have our wine served in this setting, and to have it show well, was so exciting. A number of the guests came up to say how much they enjoyed the wine – and even if they were just being nice, I was very happy indeed. Throughout dinner a singing group serenaded the crowd with dozens of classic Burgundian drinking songs, finishing up just before midnight with a rousing version of my favorite – “Je suis fier d’etre Bourguignon” (I am proud to be Burgundian). Apparently I sang it with much gusto – as Anne-Françoise Gros came up to me afterward and remarked on my spirited rendition, and told me that as a result I had been “accepted as a true Burgundian”! I can’t think of much else that could make me happier!
Tomorrow is the auction itself, and a relatively quiet and calm day and a much-needed chance to recharge my batteries. More then…
