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Classic Under-$20 White Burgundy and a Date with Smokin' Joe
You haven't heard us complaining too much about the Bean Counters of late. For good reason. Business is booming, they tell us, though they've never shared a line item with us. The member count is soaring, and while we'd be lying if we said this wasn't a cause of some consternation (increasingly, it seems like demand far outpaces supply), we're told this is a good thing. Little by little, we've been prying open cellar doors that seemed impenetrable a couple years back -- picking up bigger allocations than ever imagined. Word has it that the last 97pt Phelps "Insignia" missive even put a smile on Brass Knuckle's face (no easy task).
You'd think, then, with everything so peaches and cream at HQ that we'd stay away from offers that are sure to reignite conflict. For the first time in our working lives, our employer seems perfectly happy to sign our paychecks. Why rock the boat today?
Our 33-year cellar hopping adventure that's taken us to every top wine trail in the world began in 1979, when we answered an ad in a local French paper. A grower in Chitry-le-Vineux, a small hamlet outside of Chablis, was looking for pickers. The job paid $33 a day. As we were spending just $11 per diem in Paris, each day in the vines sounded like three more in France. We made a call, took the job, and headed toward Chitry.
The grower owned just 22 acres of Chardonnay, impossibly divided into almost equal number of parcels, some a half-hour tractor ride away from others. For a couple well-educated kids (or so we thought) from NYC's suburbs, the math behind the operation was a head scratcher. We'd soon learn that each parcel would be picked separately, but not necessarily on the same day. On 1er Cru "Fourchaumes", we harvested the rows on the bottom of the hillside on a chilly Monday morning, then returned four days later to finish the top -- as those clusters were apparently behind in maturity. There was just a faint blueprint for the harvest when we began, but as each day's weather forecast poked holes in the plan, changes were made on the fly. Two weeks after the first cluster was clipped, we celebrated. The proprietor would eventually put out seven wines from 1979 -- each the sum of several parts. In just 14 days, we'd learned what it would take others decades to understand about the growing of world class Chardonnay in Burgundy.
So when we scheduled the June visit to see the brilliant enologist Jean-Claude Janin, whose tiny Terres de Chatenay is considered the most exciting young estate this side of Meursault, we knew we wouldn't be doing much for Brass Knuckle's disposition. Janin and his wife had taken the greatest of Burgundian gambles, locking into just 12 acres of east-facing, old vine hillsides, the finest of which was said to be just a half-acre in the commune of Chazelles. Our tasting chez Janin was all that it had been cracked up to be by our sommelier buddies in Paris. Jean-Claude has a signature hand with these fabulously calcareous hillsides, turning out brilliantly rich, wound up Chardonnays infused with luscious apple/honey fruit purity, all bracketed by the fine, stinging acid backbone.
As expected, and as is so often the case in Burgundy, the top wine of the day was the one of which there was least. The Vire-Clesse "Chazelle", drawn from 60-year-old vines that struggled to eke out 2.5 tons per acre of golden berry fruit in 2011, was stunning. Pale golden to the edge, with piercing aromas of apple and pear, a touch of the bitter honey which will come to dominate in a half decade's time, the attack is far more Cote de Beaune than Macon, the superb concentration of the old vines speaking volumes.
But when the time came to ask the question we can never help but ask, we already knew the answer wouldn't do much for our popularity at HQ. Why did we do it? Simple. This is Burgundy, not California's Central Coast. If you're to feature bottles like this one on WineAccess, lumps will be taken on the balance sheet. Today, the Bean Counters look like they've gone three rounds with Smokin' Joe.
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Tasting Notes
2011 Domaine des Terres de Chatenay Vire Clesse Chazelle
"Pale golden to the edge, with piercing aromas of apple and pear, and a touch of the bitter honey which will come to dominate in a decade's time. The attack is far more Cote de Beaune than Macon. Rich, ripe and chiseled on the attack with luscious ripe apple opulence, all cut with high-toned calcareous vibrancy. Drink now for its out-of-the-gate crispness or age for up to a half decade on a cool cellar."
-- WineAccess Travel Log
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