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Day three at Eugenie was the day when the majority of the picking was finished. I started again in the vines, picking some Vosne Romane Les Brulées. The section we were picking today is called the “Brulées Bas” by the winemakers at the Domaine. In part, it’s because it is lower down the slope. It also takes on the meaning that the grapes produced don’t tend to reach the heights of their “Hautes Brulées”. The Brulées Bas vines were planted during the 60s when volume had become more important, so these vines, while prolific, don’t focus as highly on quality. The Domaine have therefore taken the difficult decision to declassify this part, and turn it into their Village Vosne Romanée. Given that this is 60% of the Brulées that they own, it is a significant decision for their costs, but it results in their Premier Cru Brulées being of a much higher quality.
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After returning to sort this and a small parcel that is used primarily for the Domaine’s family stock, an entry level, fruit driven wine, we stopped picking for the day. As we headed to lunch, the sound of multiple car, coach and tractor horns resonated through the village. Whereas in London you would assume this to simply be an accident or heavy traffic, in Burgundy it is the universal symbol that those honking their horns have just finished picking their grapes for the year. That will be Domaine d’Eugenie tomorrow.
The pickers were sent home after lunch today not because we had finished, but because tomorrow we are trying something new for the Domaine with a small parcel of Clos de Vougeot that hasn’t yet been picked. It is only 7 rows, but tomorrow we are going to pick together, then all return to the chai, and as a group of more than 30, sort the grapes into individual berries by hand. This painstaking task will doubtless take some time. Each berry must be cut from the bunch, checked that it is in pristine condition, and then selected. Any berry lacking the exacting standards will be discarded. This amazing method will hopefully produce the highest quality of Clos de Vougeot possible, but it will only make roughly one barrel (228 litres in Burgundy) of wine. If it is a success, Michel Mallard is looking at potential expansion for the smallest of the Domaine’s wines.
After we finished preparing the chai for the arrival of 30 pickers to cut their bunches berry by berry, we sat outside once more to discuss a blind wine from Eugenie. For me, this was the best nose we had come across. It was explosively aromatic, yet incredibly fine. There were layers of spice, with nutmeg to the fore, and oodles of ripe red and black cherry fruit. The oak, while present, was in perfect harmony with the wine. The fruit on the palate was incredibly powerful and spicy, yet there was a real elegance with refreshing acidity lifting the wine and giving a floral character. The finish was incredibly persistent, precise and spicy. This was a very serious wine, the best I have had on this trip. This time we fell on the right answer quite well, such was the quality. It could only be the Domaine’s Grand Echezeaux 2010. This perfectly integrated, aromatic wine is delicious already, but it is easy to see a long and bright future ahead. This is a real sign of the ageability of the wines, and showed how they have such potential to improve, with the winemaking and vineyards improving year on year. There’s no doubt in my mind to buy these 2015s having seen both vineyard and winery this year. If the berry selection tomorrow morning goes well, we could be seeing some real stars of the vintage here.
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