Two hundred million years ago a tropical sea covered the area now known as Burgundy. Tiny animals and shell fish were the inhabitants and their bodies sank to the sea bed creating layers upon layers of sediment and eventually chalky deposits and limestone layers interspersed with layers of silt and dirt. As time moved forward about 30 million years ago the sea retreated and upheavals in the earth’s crust formed the Alps and also the much smaller hills of the Côte d’ Or. About 20 thousand years ago an ice age began lasting about 10 thousand years. The glacial ice pushed the land into valleys and hills and an upheaval continued in Burgundy. The layers of sediment and crustaceous limestone were turned upright with the edges of the layers comprising the newly formed earth crust. Picture a stack of plates on a table that are lifted up and turned until the edges faced up. The edges of the plates are the crustaceous and lime deposits and the space in between is sediment
The land we know as Burgundy warmed and became a giant forest near the town of Beaune. Imagine a bunny rabbit making her quick way along a path on the lookout for fox and other predators. The bunny, like the forest creatures before her, had made a path on the sedimentary layers, eschewing the rocky and sharp coral-like limestone. The track started by the rabbit and enlarged by other animals was later expanded by Roman Legions who trampled the path and made a road giving access to the forest for lumber removal and eventually the creation of vineyards. The planting in these new vineyards was difficult as the soil was rocky and inhospitable for agriculture. Grapes were not grown on the dirt trails that became lanes adjacent to the vineyards. But the vines were hearty and grew and the yield was a grape of distinctive flavor. It was eventually discovered that grapes grown on vines that were stressed, that had to work to produce their fruit, produced wine of exceptional quality.
In one tiny area outside Beaune, two vineyards exist across a small lane from each other. (A lane like the one originaly formed by the bunnies and legions of travelers.) One was located on an uphill grade above another vineyard. The upper vineyard became known as Le Montrachet and the lower vineyard became Batard Montrachet. The upper level vineyard produced such exceptional fruit that the vineyard growers recognized the soil was different between the two neighboring vineyards. Separated by a small layer of dirt that had been trampled into a road, the different shell fish formed sediment layers created millions of years ago produced different fruit from the same grapes. As rains came some of the superior soil began to wash downhill from the upper level. To stem this flow and the loss of the superior soil, low stone walls were built to hold in the precious soil of the upper vineyard. These closures, common in Beaune, gave rise to the distinctions of a specific vineyard identified by the word “Clos.”
When I visited Beaune, accompanied by a staff member from Elizabeth’s, we were compelled by curiosity to climb over the small wall to pick up a few rocks from the surface, brush them off and lick them. The distinctive flavors of the two wines could be identified from the taste of these two rocks. Our guide, a friend from the Drouhin family who owned the largest portion of the Le Montrachet vineyard, was pleased and impressed- for we were understanding terrior.
Terrior can be explained as the influences of climate, location, altitude, angle of incline, position relative to the sun and water drainage, and the rocks comprising the soil. The wine consumer in this country is beginning to understand the importance of terrior, which we often call microclimate, identifiable by vineyard designation on the bottle. We, in this country, are more familiar with a bottle designating the type of grape used in the making of the wine, like Chardonnay, rather than the French referral to a very specific location, like Le Montrachet or Corton-Charlemagne. As we become a more educated consumer the French are beginning to “dumb down” their bottles – loosing the village and location identification in an effort to meet their perception of the American’s need to see a bottle marked Chardonnay, rather than a Burgundy Blanc identified by village or location.
Each of our servers are the equivalent of a sommelier (Deborah, Melissa and Leonard have completed the initial Course of the Court of Master Sommeliers) but all of our servers have equivalent knowledge. Prior to recommending a wine our server asks the guest to identify a wine they have liked in the past. A wine produced from a similar region, or right next door, or by the same wine maker is almost always well received.
In our seminars we advise even the beginning novice to carry a small journal to jot down the names of wines they like and don’t like including the all important location as an aid in future wine selection. The better educated we are the better we can identify bargains and select wines from a specific area or even vineyard that we have really enjoyed previously.
The wines I mentioned, Batard and Montrachet are among the most distinctive and finest chardonnay’s produced in the world. Almost all, but the most jaded of winemakers who just dump wood chips in a wine to add an oaky flavor, seek to produce a wine that emulates these incredible wines.
When we hosted our millennium wine dinner, a wine dinner that received national recognition because we served mostly 100 rated wines, our guests, who generally favored red wines and thought whites were something to drink before the real wines were served, voted the Le Montrachet the best wine of the evening and most said the best wine they had ever tasted.
These wines are so costly and so rare and allocated that when we were in France we were given the opportunity to barrel sample the Montrachet from several vintages. We were given a glass with a small amount of wine taken from the barrel and could smell the wine and take the littlest of sips but had to return the remaining wine in the glass to be poured back into the barrel. We were one of only 7 visitors who were even given an opportunity to taste these incredible wines from the barrel the year we visited.
I sometimes include these wines on a New Years Eve wine dinner to give more friends an opportunity to experience an impossible to obtain wine. These wines are pricey, highly allocated and a once in a lifetime thrill to taste with a group of friends. They are a staff favorite and we usually drink some once a year on my birthday.
This blog is a continuation of my wine journal printed in the North Beach Sun over several years- consisting of discussions of varietals, wine terms, food pairings and reviews.
©2009
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Leonard Logan's passion for wine, love of good food, and knack for entertaining has garnered him a reputation on both a local and national level. As the owner of a restaurant that has won countless awards-from "The Best Fine Dining Wine Restaurant in the United States" (Santé Magazine, 2003) to "The Award of Ultimate Distinction" (The Wine Enthusiast, 2004 and 2005) - Logan has been honing his craft since his college days at Duke University as an amateur caterer for football games and college parties. |
Tags: beaune, burgundy, new years eve