I am just back from a short trip to Burgundy, well specifically Beaune where I got to visit the cellars of Joseph Drouhin and the Chateau Corton Grancey owned by Louis Latour. Beaune is not easy to get to and other than hiring a car you will have a number of transfers to make. I flew to Paris, got the RER to Gare de Lyon, the TGV to Dijon and the TER to Beaune. There is a slightly less complicated journey if you fly direct to Lyon and get the train to Beaune but I was meeting my friend in Paris.

We arrived in Beaune at around 2.30 and headed straight for Drouhin’s Offices and cellars on Rue Enfer. We were greeted by Frederic Drouhin, the Great Grandson of Joseph and taken down to the cellars by Jean-Pierre Cropsal.

In theses cellars they age some of their most prestigious wines and walking past the barrels you will see the names of famous climats and appellations such as Clos des Mouches and Gevrey-Chambertin. The tour was short and we proceeded to the tasting room to taste and compare a number of different wines. The whites were first and the line up was impressive.

We started with St Veran 2010 which was fresh but with ripe fruit and decent length, then straight into the Domaine Drouhin Vaudon (Drouhin’s property in Chablis) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2008 which is way too young but showing it’s pedigree in it’s concentration, finesse and length.  Then Puligny Montrachet 2009 was lighter in body but concentrated and expressive with some of the oak showing through and finally the Clos des Mouches Blanc 1er Cru 2009 was the pick of the bunch, the finesse of these better wines is so apparent when tasted against a village appellation.

The red wines were equally impressive with the line up as follows. The Chorey les Beaune 2008 was fairly simple and possibly didn’t show as well coming after the whites. The Gevrey-Chambertin 2008 was still young showing good concentration of fruit, balanced acidity, medium plus body and medium finish, no thin wine here. The Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru 2008 was much more seductive with violet perfumed notes and almost sweet dark cherry flavours mixed with clove and vanilla spice. Finally we tasted the Clos des Mouches 1er Cru Rouge 2009. Mouches does not refer to flies but to bees. ‘Mouches a miel’ means honey flies.

We thanked our hosts and headed for Place Carnot and on to Rue Monge. Rue Monge has 2 of my favourite places in Beaune. First is Magnum where you can sit outside and catch some Sun while drinking a glass of Cremant and the second is Bourgogne Bistro where you can do exactly the same but have a meal also. 

Although in the dead centre of Beaune I have never felt I was being treated as a tourist in these places, this cannot be said of a number of other establishments. Part des Anges comes to mind where I have never received the genuine welcome you get in the former.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tagged: beaune, Burgundy, clos des mouches, drouhin, joseph drouhin, louis Latour