Show Henry the steep vineyard of Les Clos Grand Cru where he had his first close encounter with vines (aged about one minus) when we stopped for a picnic on the way south. Well they say you have to teach them young. It worked though; he lives in his vineyards now !
Chablis town is all girlied-up with flowers in its hair... covered... coated end to end in paper flowers of every colour and shape for the 'St Vincent Tournant'..party starting tonight with the 'Bal'. Sadly don't think am up to Bals today. Not after a 4 am start.
Out to Fleys and the Domaine de la Mandeliere for our first tasting. Get the impression 2010 is one of the 'leaner greener' years (although with unusually strong alcohols). But that is not off-putting.
To dumb down Burgundy/Chablis whites to an appalling degree; they come in two styles;
1) the big, fat, rich ones they make after hot summers - which you enjoy as soon as you can because they are just so easy to like - good just on their own, no food needed ...now!
2) The leaner and greener ones made in cooler summers which maybe not everyone likes because they are a touch tart - but which with a nice bit of fish, oooh, perfection. However they have a big plus; you can and should put some away for a few years. For these green ones evolve in amazing ways whereas the riper ones often don't. It's the acidity that allows this development; keeps them fresh for years.... amazing lengths of time allowing lots of new flavours to emerge.
If you've understood all that, I'll now add that after a couple of tastings today there are so many exceptions to the above that maybe you should forget it all.
Wine was never simple. Especially in Burgundy.
Chablis, if it was done the Bordeaux way, might have a few dozen Chateaux. But it's Burgundy so there are THOUSANDS of wines all vinified and bottled separately. Here, they so treasure the subtle differences between each tiny plot.
We go on to Maligny and a couple more suppliers. Seguinot - Bordet... Very impressive range of'10's... 23 tanks. Not a single dud.
Jean Francois kills me, nearly. Has this clever mobile tasting table to make it easy for us lot - spittoon and glasses wheeled round with us. So we are hands free to write. Brilliant. I want one. Only one problem ... After 20 or so wines you can lose concentration and in mid-conversation you can lean on this table. What you get then is a Del Boy moment as table shoots away and you ...can look very stupid indeed. Nothing new there.
Early goodnight. Big Day tomorrow.
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