After my visit to Romanée Conti and a quick lunch in my hotel in Beaune, I arrive in the office of Maison Bouchard Père & Fils where the national French TV channel TF1 will make a report. It is due to the fact that the dinner of the 275th birthday of Bouchard occurs by the moment of the annual sale of Hospices de Beaune. The journalist wants to film the wines of the dinner in the famous cellar of Bouchard, and I have been asked to be there in order that there is someone, a collector, who does not belong to the staff of Bouchard. With Stephane Follin Arbelet and the journalist and the cameraman, we go in the cellar, and while the cameraman arranges his lights, I wander in the cellar dreaming in front of huge piles of 1864 Montrachet or 1846 Meursault. What a dream. When the journalist asked me : “are you jealous of this cellar?”, I answered : “nobody is jealous of the Sixtin Chapel or of Notre-Dame de Paris”. This visit in the cellar gave me the occasion to dream once again, as Alice in Wonderland. I know nearly every hidden stock of this place. When it was finished, I stayed in the offices of Bouchard to work on my PC while waiting for the visit of the new plant of Bouchard the “cuverie”.
The place is absolutely impressive. All has been built with the obsession of total quality, and of a natural process for the grapes and the juice. The cellar is unbelievable, created after having studied the secrets of secular cellars like the one of Clos de Tart. In this place, we have tasted the 2005 wines. I will not translate the notes that I made in French, which are on my blog, but I will say that this year which is the first made in this plant, marks an improvement in quality which is noticeable. The wines have a precision, a definition, a purity which is remarkable.
After the visit, we go to Chateau de Beaune for one of the legendary dinners that I have had the chance to attend already.
We have an aperitif with a champagne Henriot Cuvée des Enchanteleurs in magnum 1988. This champagne has an impressive personality. It is very wine, very typed, full of strength. A great invading champagne. I talk with Allen Meadows and we comment the recent unexpected remark of Robert Parker on the 2002 DRC wines, I talk with Serena Sutcliffe about the incredible positive work which has been made by Bouchard, and I talk with several persons with whom I had already shared such a dinner. We regret that Joseph Henriot is not there, as he would have given his personal insight on his investment. His presence would have been great, but his personal reasons are understood. We wish him good health.
We go and sit by our tables. I will share the dinner with Christophe Bouchard, who knows all the history of the Domaine, which belonged to his family for almost all of the 275 years that we celebrate tonight. I sit next to Mr Hanson who will conduct the annual sale of Hospices de Beaune, and next to Mr Saverot, the ceo of “la revue du vin de France”. A Belgian gourmet is there too. The atmosphere of our table is very smiling.
François Mauss who arrives just now kisses his many friends including me and gives me a warm hug.
Yann, the sommelier of Bouchard presents the wines, and the fact that I am a friend of him will help our table to have some refills at very important moments.
The menu is very intelligent and was well realised : émulsion de potimarron aux truffes / terrine de foie gras de canard légèrement fumé au pain d’épices / bar de ligne rôti aux fruits secs et au beurre citronné / suprême de volaille aux morilles, riz sauvage et petits légumes / noisette de chevreuil, superposé de pomme Golden à la crème de céleri / Comté et fromage de Citeaux, pain aux noix / manon aux poires, coulis de framboise.
The Chevalier Montrachet in magnum Bouchard Père & Fils 1992 has a buttered nose. This is confirmed in mouth by a clear butter. There is an insisting minerality which disturbs me a little, as the combination of metal, citrus and cream limits my pleasure. A second magnum has the same characteristic, which means that this wine, which I have already tasted in a more round form, is in a phase which has less charm.
The Montrachet Bouchard Père & Fils 1939 has been partially cropped under the snow. Can we imagine that today? Yann pours in my glass the bottom of a bottle. The nose is sensational. There is tea, some red fruits, pimento and pepper. It is even greater in mouth. There is a wood, a pine wood on a creamy aspect. It is unctuous, combining fatness and dryness. The wine is deep and its complexity expands on the fig. A second glass begins more strict, but becomes gorgeous, emotional. I notice that this wine would have required more oxygen.
I knew already the Meursault Charmes Bouchard Père & Fils 1846 that I had drunk three years ago. In the nose, it is pineapple which occurs to me. Some traces of candied fruits too. In mouth it is grapefruit, citrus fruit, with an acidity which is elegant and shows that this wine has an infinite future in front of it. The final in mouth has a complete balance, with the youth of yellow fruits. With oxygen, its opulence expands and it shows more and more grapefruit, balance with a discrete touch of vanilla. As I am “used” to wines of Bouchard having more than 150 years, I find “normal” that such a wine is so perfect. But I must admit that it is completely extraordinary. Stephane asks me to comment this wine, and I read these notes that I made tonight, with the addition of the previous notes that I had taken, as I had with me a copy of them.
The Le Corton Bouchard Père & Fils 1990 is totally charming, all in subtlety and smoothness. The woody taste is very well organised. I smell truffle. Its presence in mouth is remarkable. There is something magic in the refinement of the wood. All in that wine is suggested, more than imposed. It is a great promise for the future.
The Volnay Caillerets ancienne cuvée Carnot Bouchard Père & Fils 1929 is an incredible surprise. I had already tasted the 1933, but not the 1929. The colour is unreal. Like a wine of 1985. The nose is young and animal. My Belgian friend talks about “after-eight”, this sweetness made of chocolate and mint. Personally I feel coffee. This wine is a full surprise, so lively and expressive.
The Beaune Grèves Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus Bouchard Père & Fils 1865 has a nose of an incredible purity. I had tasted this wine with the 1947 Beaune Grèves and I had been struck by the incredible continuity between the two. Once again this wine is incredibly young. There is a small Port aspect, exactly as the Cheval Blanc 1947 that I have drunk two days ago. There is also a smoked aspect, as a wood after being burnt. The wine is full of youth with an alcoholic presence very distinctive and a legendary length. This is the best year of the second half of the 19th century. At the table, someone asks me : “if you are so pleased to find youth in such a wine, why don’t you drink young wines”. My answer is : “first of all these old wines exist. And they have to be drunk. If we notice the youth, we notice it, we do not look for it. What we do look for is the complexity of the set of aromas and the integration of the tastes that no young wine will ever produce”.
I had brought with me the rest of the Bourbon 1900 of the last dinner, so we shared it as no sweet wine was on the program. It went well with the dessert.
Once again the extraordinary wines of the Bouchard cellar have performed. I would have been pleased to share them with Joseph Henriot.
After that dinner I would like to make two comments :
- the perfection of the cellar of Bouchard in terms of temperature and hygrometry allows wines to live 160 years and to show that they have many more years in front of them. If this represents an advantage when compared with nice private cellars, it is certainly not an advantage of 80 years. So, when some collectors like me report on very youthful wines of 1929, it is as credible as when we say that the Bouchard wines were lively. Wines have a long life.
- The second remark concern checking old wines. As we have checked that the Meursault 1846 had the acidity of a young wine, that the Caillerets 1929 perspired youth, it indicates that when a wine will show an incredible youth, it does not indicate that it could be a fake, as it happens that old wines have this incredible youth.
Of course I am very thankful to Maison Bouchard for their extreme generosity. And I am happy that their wines reinforce the idea that the life of a wine is longer than what is usually said, which is my permanent conviction.