This year Piet's wine and dine society 'Het Derde Glas' decided to plan their yearly trip to favourite areas Bourgogne, Chablis and Champagne, in anticipation of a major trip in 2023. As this was close to a planned holiday in France Piet arranged for Mary to join them in Chablis, and then continue down south.
On Thursday day morning we met in Utrecht, and drove in one go to the Bourgogne, for an easy first stop in the Caveau in Morey - St. Denis. A second visit was planned with Capuano-Ferreri in Santenay, where host John explained the family tree, highlighting his uncle Jean Marc Ferreri, who played next to Platini in the French national team. When it came to paying our order John managed to convince us that we should pay in cash. He didn't even check the amount, fully trusting our own spreadsheet. He thanked us for keeping it all out of the books with a bottle of Corton Grand Cru. The day was wrapped up at restaurant Le Benaton, in Beaune. We were the only guests, until an older Englishman turned up with a trophy wife. He watched our animated discussion for 10 minutes, and then decided to leave....
Friday started with Vincent Latour in Meursault, one of the most famous (and expensive) Bourgogne villages, for white wine. This was clear from the bottle prices, and purchases were done with great care. We drove back to Beaune to vist our old friend Albert Morot, where we tasted his limited 2021 harvest directly from the barrels. We also picked up our 2019 and 2020 orders, and showed good faith by pointing out that the 2018 order was already collected before. As Morot produces excellent, and affordable, Bourgogne premier cru we might need these browning points in the future. After cancellation of the next tasting we returned to Meursault for a relaxing sandwich lunch and coffee, and took the opportunity to add Javillier to the program, with a similar gamma as Vincent Latour. This was followed by a long drive to Chablis. In Chablis we went to Brocard, a valeur sur for white wine. We normally stock up at the shop in the centre of town, but this time decided to visit the winery. This was a slick upmarket affair, with some similarities to the big wine houses in Bordeaux. The tasting was slow, there were too many other tourists, but the wines were still great.
In the hotel in Chablis we met up with Mary and Pippin, and went to dinner at Fil du Zinc, one of our favourite restaurants. Although the former chef moved back to Japan, the food and wine was still good. Pippin stayed in our room, and was very happy when we returned. What followed was a restless night, as Pippin couldn't decide where he wanted to sleep. The next morning the wine was sorted on the hotel parking, and the party split: we drove south to our house, the others north to the Champagne region.
Welcome to the Bourgogne!
Paul overlooking the Beaune vineyards
Pierre Latour
Javillier
In the cellar at Brocard
A fancy tasting room at Brocard
Repacking the bottles, one of the core skills of "Het Derde Glas'
Ready to go to the Champagne, and on holiday
