Wine Tasting Day!!!

Sweet Mother Mary, I thought this day would never get here! Yes, we are going wine tasting, and in one of the premier regions in France, Burgundy!

A brief history lesson on Burgundy wine.

It is believed that wine was first made in this area by the Celts somewhere around 50 BC. Enter the Romans who decide to take over wine production as well as take over everything else.  But even great wine couldn’t keep Rome happy and things began to fall apart. That was around 476AD. What to do?

I know, the Catholic Church! Yep, when all else fails, put your faith in the church. An so it was, the church took over for the Romans, who took over for the Celts, and the wine kept flowing! Crisis averted!

So, the story here is that wine has been made in this valley for thousands of years. The soil composition, the mountain slopes, the climate, and the climat. No, not a typo, climat. Climat refers to specific plots of land only found in Burgundy, no where else. These individual and precisely defined parcels of vineyards each have specific geological characteristics such as soil and exposure to the sun, which gives the wine a unique taste according to where the grapes are grown. The 1,247 Climats are laid out on a thin ribbon of land about 60 kilometres long.

Back to wine tasting. Our first tasting today was at Domaine de Montmain, a small winery located near the town of Geverey-Chambertin. The drive from Dijon takes about 20 minutes and is a pretty straight shot until we reach the town and head into the hills. Our tour begins with a brief history of the Burgundy area (you already know that) and a discussion of the wineries founding father, Bernard Hudelot, who founded this winery in 1973. Not an old winery by comparison. We then move to the crushing and bottling area for more discussion on how the wine is actually made and stored. This particular winery ages their wine in pieces (casks) 18-48 months, then bottles the wine and allows it to age an additional 2-5 years in the bottle. Because of the specific processes used to create their wine, it will actually continue to age in the bottle indefinitely. That’s usually not the case with chardonnay.

Bernie, The Man

Entrance to Domaine Montmain

The Burgundy landscape

Got ahead of myself. This winery produces 3 red wines and 4 white wines. Harvesting is done manually with ripe and healthy grapes going through 2 sorts, first sorting in the vineyard then a second on a vibrating table, to ensure only excellent grapes are selected for the wine. Press the grape for white wines, crush the grape for red wines. Because they use old-world vinification, the chardonnay to continue to age in the bottle.

Pressing station and aging vats. Stainless for reds, fiberglas for whites.

Aging pieces (casks)

In the bottle aging

Bottom line, nice winery, excellent guide and really good wine. Highly recommended if you’re in Burgundy or Bourgogne (pronounced, Boo-go-nyuh) as it’s now called.

The wines of Domaine de Montmain

Before heading off to our next tasting and tour, we planned a stop to enjoy a bit of wine, cheese, meats, and bread picnic style in a park located in the hills of Burgundy. And the weather cooperated, 80’s temp with beautiful clear skies. We found a nice table under some shade trees and enjoyed a French lunch. What could be better!

Wine, cheese, meat and bread. What more do you need!

Our next winery is also small, but this one has been around since 1146AD. Domaine Joliet was founded in 1146AD by Monks of Citeaux and taken over by family Joliet in 1853. Our guide today, Cammy, is the third generation Joliet to work the business.

Domaine Joliet

This winery focuses on smaller bottlings of 3 white wines, and 2 red wines. They don’t have a rose or make blends. All stages of wine making are conducted onsite at the estate from cultivating and harvesting to long vinification, and all done by hand!

Amazing! The original wine press from 1146AD. This was used up to 1959! (With modifications)

We tasted all of their wines and really enjoyed both Premium Cru’s, the chardonnay and the Clos de la Perriere red. Liked them so much we had to buy a couple of bottles for a special time on this adventure.

Tomorrow, we continue on the Route des Grands Crus and more tasting at some of Burgundy’s (Bourgogne) best wines. And as an added surprise, we have sent a bottle to everyone reading our blog. Hah, fat chance!