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Two faces of the Côte de Beaune

This week I have been mainly in the Côte de Nuits. Enthusiastic poster on our Members' forum, German wine enthusiast Symon Brown will be glad to know that I managed to make time to visit his heroine Cecile Tremblay yesterday and that, having rented space in the old co-op in the back streets of Gevrey, she is building her own winery in Morey St Denis in the New Year. Parker's man in Burgundy Antonio Galloni and I had shared a very appealing bottle of her 2008 Chambolle Fusselottes over dinner the previous night. There was, as you might imagine, a lot to talk about. 

Immediately below however are two scenes from the Côte de Beaune when I was here a couple of weeks ago. The first was filmed at the famous Paulée de Meursault, some way into this bibulous bring- a-bottle party on Monday 21 November. There were 700 people there in two adjoining rooms below the Château de Meursault, all served a seriously top-quality extended lunch.

I am still discovering various friends and acquaintances who were there and of whom I caught no glimpse. I arrived at noon and left at 7 pm, one of the first to take advantage of the widely advertised and much-needed taxi service.

Compare and contrast with the scene, and especially the soundtrack, a day later just down the road in Leflaive's portion of the Bievenues Bâtard Montrachet vineyard.

I was struck by how very difficult this ploughing business is. The horse, or the plough, stopped every few seconds, it seemed, and had to be re-started. You really have to be committed to a return to ancient methods, and to be seriously concerned about the evils of the soil compaction threatened by the alternative, pictured above left, to go to all this trouble. Mind you, Leflaive's Bienvenues 2010 is absolutely stunning...