We’re on the charts in Chambolle!
Another full day of tasting up and down the Côte today – starting at Anne & Hervé Sigaut in Chambolle-Musigny. I guess this is as good a time as any to reveal the big news – for the first time ever there will be a Scott Paul wine produced in Burgundy! One single barrel of 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Bussières is now resting in barrel (a twice-used Remond barrel from Tronçais, btw) in the Sigaut cellars, awaiting bottling in December 2009 for release in early 2010. You might know that I’m a confirmed Chambolle freak, and to have the first Scott Paul Chambolle is very exciting. It has lovely red fruits, a nice perfume to the nose, and rich sweet fruit all the way through the lingering finish. Watch this space for more details as things develop.
The whole range of 07s at Sigaut was gorgeous – today I thought the Chatelôts and Sentiers showed exceptionally well. I hope that soon the Sigauts will get the recognition they deserve as one of the top-level producers in Chambolle. The wines are simply drop-dead gorgeous.
Ditto for the sublime 07s at Jean-Marc Millot. What can I say? There may not be prettier examples of Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot elsewhere. There is simply such a fine, beautiful line running thru these wines – purity of flavor, transparency of terroir, and laser-like minerality. As they say over here – Miam-Miam (their version of yum-yum!)
Double ditto for the 07s at Thierry Violot-Guillemard. The most elegant expression of the great terroirs of Pommard you will ever find. His tiny monopole 1er Cru Clos de Derrière St. Jean continues to blow me away. Being that a swimming pool is smack in the middle of the clos, it was suggested today we should call it a mono-pool!
I wound up the day with a great tasting and dinner at Taupenot-Merme in Morey. They have also done well in 07 – tonight the Mazoyères Chambertin was one of the most attractive young Grand Crus I’ve tasted in a long time. The entire family hosted me to a delicious dinner in their lovely home, followed by hours of lively conversation – which in France always turns to politics. It is exciting to see how excited they are about Obama. The world is truly wishing him and all of us well. We have the goodwill of the world right now – it’s wonderful knowing he won’t waste it like the last guy.
Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year – La Paulée! I’m off to bed to rest up for a day of serious tasting (tough work, I know!) I’ll leave with a shot of the Sigaut’s kitty “Phoebus” (god of the soils) romping in their cellar in Chambolle…
Phoebus in the cellar at Sigaut
