John Linton After our ever later breakfast we started the day with a private tour of Chateau Chanson which is a 250 year old vineyard now owned by Bollinger since 1999. Our guide/host was Jean-Pierre Confuron the current wine maker and vineyard manager who, of course, took us through a range of the wines with amazing knowledge and explanations. We were sorely tempted to buy some of their Clos de Feves but lack of direct shipping made that too problematic. We had a really good time as our host was not only knowledgeable but very amusing and we definitely added to our rapidly expanding, but still minuscule, knowledge of Burgundy and its wines.
We went back to Chassagne to have another look at the Puligny/Chassagne villages and the wine slopes but principally to buy a Le Montrachet in addition to the two Montrachets we had bought earlier in the week. We managed to accomplish this without any trouble (by pure luck) and then had time for a leisurely cafe lunch in Puligny. As there was tripe as todays special - what could I do? Annette bans it from ever entering our home so the only time I get to eat it occurs about one every ten years. It was easily the strangest tripe I have ever eaten served 'au naturel' in a vaguely tomatoey broth with a boiled potato and a boiled carrot. The others more sensibly ordered mozarella salads which came with the largest mozzarella any of us had ever seen.
We took the time to stop off in Beaune to check on the local prices of some of the wine we were planning to buy in the afternoon having previously checked using the internet. There was an interesting range of prices in three different wine shippers and we left none the wiser and headed off to Romanee Conti. We had a drive through the village itself and stopped to gaze at the DRC buildings and then their hectarage which is the most expensive arable land in the universe - but looked identical to all the different plots surrounding it. We had another hosted tasting by the owner of Rions. It was extremely helpful and she explained a lot about the way DRC operate and how other VR winemakers are able to leverage from their fame and reputation.
We then had the 'crowning moment' of our visit to Burgundy at a private tour and tasting at Domain Gros Frere & Soeur hosted by the recently retired 'souer' - an amazing woman in her late 70s/early eighties who not only showed us round the cellars but provided an encyclopaedic hosting of eight red wines from their VR vines that included Vosne-Romanee, Echezeaux, Clos Vougeot, Grands Echezeaux and.........Richebourg!!! Even the first two Haut Cotes tasted better than any Australian wine Annette said she had ever drunk and the grand crus, although far too young to fully appreciate, were out of this world.
It took an effort to pour away the remainder of wine in that particular tasting glass but I did so reluctantly. Again they do not ship and, for the first time, did not take any sort of credit cards - cash only. However the price per bottle of their Richebourg was amazingly low so by getting a 'temporary' loan from our guide we bought two bottles which when they arrived came with a 'present' of a bonus bottle of Clos-Vougeot - something that would cost a lot of money in Australia (which we subsequently presented to our guide who said she had never drunk such an expensive wine).
So a truly great climax to our Burgundy tour and we will leave tomorrow with many regrets (after our first ever three Michelin star dinner at a nearby village this evening).
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