Feeling a little dishevelled and tired, Mark and I returned from Burgundy late last night. After we had drained the car of tissues and Sudafed for my cold, Price-lists and directions, and my collection of CD’s (brilliant and cutting-edge) we set about evaluating the trip.

We drove up to Beaune on Tuesday, departing from London at 6:00, stopping (and getting gridlocked) in Reims for lunch at about three, and arriving in Beane at around 8:30.

We were staying in the centre, at a small hotel close to the recommended Vieux Vigneron restaurant where we ate in the evening. The food was typical and excellent, Mark plumped for the snails whilst I went for the most bland item on the Menu, in an attempt to stave off the stomach upsets I always seem to get on eating such rich food. One thing really struck me, in comparison to years gone by, just how expensive France is in comparison to Britain.  No kidding, most of the wines in Beaune wine-shops are cheaper to buy in Roberson, as for drinking in restaurants, how about 1994 Chambertin from Grivot at e550 (incidentally you could buy Rousseau’s 2005 Chambertin for e420, but to drink now!!) Its a tough time to be a British wine buyer at the moment no doubt.

The next day, we set off for a busy itenary of visits with producers we work with and some interesting prospects for the future.

Our first appointment was with Phillipe Charlopin, a jolly and plain-talking man of the world. After driving around the back of a supermarket and getting a little lost, we found his new winery, a wonderfully modern cuverie with lots of capacity. Phillipe told us of his expansion plans, including the first vintages of his new acquisitions in Chablis where he has brought parcels of Petit Chablis, Chablis, 1er Cru Fourchaume, Lechet and another one I forget now.

The tasting went well, across the 2007’s which were all recently bottled. These are obviously wines with big ambitions, bottles and price tags. Interestingly, the Russian market seems to be quite a big one for Charlopin.  In terms of the wines, the Chablis showed some poor typicity with ample oak being applied to even the generic Chablis. At the top level the 2007 Corton Charlemagne was excellent with plenty of structure and excellent minerality.

The reds were, by and large, more impressive then the whites. The Clos de Vougeot I remember as being particularly excellent. The problem with the wines for us was largely one of price. With the current exchange rate the wines, whilst good were just too much to handle for us.

Following Charlopin, we drove to Gevrey where we met with Didier Chevillon, the owner of Dupont-Tisserandot a producer we have started talking wine from. Didier is a lovely man, unassuming and modest given his excellent vineyards and reputation. We tried the 2007’s again from bottle where they were showing beautifully in his dark and damp cellar where I was continually bashing my head much to Mark’s amusement. Also, we tried the pre-malo 2008’s which were tasting very well, despite the modesty of the vintage. In particular the 2008 Mazis Chambertin showed stupendous, compot-like, intensity of berry fruit. Following the tasting, Didier took us to lunch at Chez Guy, a lovely restaurant in Gevrey where he was most offended by my driving protestations and coke-drinking Anglo-Saxonness.

From Didier’s place, we drove to a Domaine Balerain, based in Morey.  A new estate, well spoken about by Alan Meadows and run by the charming Gilles and Fabienne, who used to work for the negociants Bichot. The couple have set up the estate from scratch, buying land wherever possible, some of it, she freely admits, in poor quality.Gilles told us, on his way out to the vinyeard of his excitement of adding a small plot of Morey-St-Denis

Quantities here and very low, on average 1000 bottles per cuvee. The style here is non-interventionalist and easy on the oak with the wines showing great purity. We tried the Bourgogne Blanc, Aligote, Bourgogne PTG, Bourgogne Rouge, Marsannay and Cotes de Nuits Village, all in the 2007 vintage, and their inaugaral vintage 2005 Marsannay to see how it was evolving. The wines were good, with some revealing slight reduction which blew off, after a couple of minutes. We were particularly impressed with the Bourgogne Blanc which contained a small quantitie (10%) of Pinots Blanc, Buerrier, Gris and Muscatel which showed a lovely singular personality. The Cotes de Nuits Village also showed good fruit and a nice plumpness.

From Balerain we headed up to Puligny to Domaine Carillon, where we met with the engaging Jacques Carillon who was in the process of getting ready for the bottling of the 2007’s. We tried the basic wines which showed great minerality and purity and then went on the compare the three premier cru’s.  The Referts was most showy with a great plumpness and upfront charm. The Champs-Canet and the Perrieres were lean and focussed with a great nervosite and a long life ahead. The wines were showing superbly at this point and should prove to be great buys, particularly with the fair pricing of the Carillon family.

The next day, on Thursday morning we collected some of the wines we had ordered previously, visiting Paul Pillot, where I fell in love with Pillots daughter, then Michel Magnien and Dupont Tisserandot. Fully loaded up, we headed off at around 11:30 to a rough channel crossing and eventual retuen to London.