Featured Producer
Domaine Jean-Marc Vincent
Anne-Marie and Jean-Marc Vincent inherited most of their vines, principally located in and around the village of Santenay in the southern Côte de Beaune, from Jean-Marc’s grandfather, André Bardollet-Bravard. They produce three premier cru reds and two premier cru whites from Santenay, in addition to a red and a white Auxey-Duresses. The Vincent wines are characterized by rich, layered fruit, intense expression of individual terroir, and solid structure.Their Auxey-Duresses Blanc “Les Hautés,” which thankfully happens to be their highest production wine (that is, more than two barrels produced), is a gem and a role model for other producers of the appellation. This is the wine that first attracted Kermit to the domaine. “I had rarely had an Auxey-Duresses that excited my taste buds,” he said, “I knew I was on to something.” And indeed it reaches the heights of many a white Burgundy with a greater pedigree. It also evolves well in one’s cellar. The Vincents’ wine operation is a family affair and A-M and J-M split their time between the vineyards, cellars and their young children. Their miniscule production always sells out quickly to a small group of devoted clients. All of their wines are a testament to the importance of vigneron talent in a given appellation. While a great vigneron can make over-achievers from any appellation, a great appellation will never be great in the hands of mediocrity.
Bèrto
Founded in 1890, the distillery of Castelnuovo Don Bosco was purchased in 1906 by Carlo Quaglia, the great-grandfather of the current distillery director. A succession of fathers passing the historical and traditional knowledge of distillation, liqueur, and vermouth production to their sons, and each son adding their own vision brings us to present day. The current ambition of the distillery is to preserve the multitude of traditional liqueurs and vermouths of Piedmont. Brothers Alessandro and Gian Natale Fantino of Barolo introduced us to Carlo Quaglia, who helps them make their Barolo Chinato.Our introduction to Bèrto came through their two sweet vermouths: the red vermouth (Ross da Travaj) and white vermouth (Aperitiv dla Traddission) are standard-bearers of traditionally and artisanally produced sweet vermouth from Piedmont. The recipe dates back to the 1930s and was resurrected by the Italian chef Federico Ricatto. His vision was to create Piemontese Vermouth that could stand on its own as an aperitivo or digestivo. Bèrto is the nickname for Alberto, Federico’s nephew, who was born around the time he was recreating the recipe. Federico recommends consuming their vermouth in wide glasses or in a tumbler with ice and an orange peel.
Since that introduction, we have expanded our imports of their products and now work with a dry vermouth, three liqueurs (Aperitivo, Bitter, Fernet), and our first spirit import, an aromatic, dry Gin. Among the myriad cocktails that can be mixed with these ingredients, perhaps the one we are most excited about is the Bèrto Negroni. After much tasting and debate, we recommend 1 ½ oz Dry Gin, ¾ oz Ross da Travaj Red Vermouth, and ½ oz Bitter, served on the rocks with an orange peel. The unique characteristics of each ingredient led us to diverge from the traditional equal parts Negroni recipe and we encourage you to experiment in the same way.
Charly Thévenet
Growing up the son of famous “Gang of Four” Morgon producer Jean-Paul Thévenet, Charly Thévenet was exposed quite early on to traditional, more natural viticulture—a philosophy that his father and friends helped to resurrect in Beaujolais in the early eighties. Though only in his twenties, Charly has already started a dynamic career. A few years ago, with extensive experience working for his father and in Marcel Lapierre’s winery already under his belt, he purchased a parcel of eighty-year-old vines in Régnié, west-southwest of his hometown of Villié-Morgon. Régnié is a terroir enjoying something of its own renaissance in the hands of talented growers like Charly and his dad’s pal, Guy Breton. In fact, Regnié has joined the short list of Grand Crus in the Beaujolais. Situated on a plateau of seabed stone in the foothills of the Côte du Py, it gives a fresh wine with solid acidity.As the next generation of the natural wine movement, Charly seems to have inherited his father’s savoir faire. He uses biodynamic farming techniques in the vineyard, never adding synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides to the vines. He harvests late, with an aggressive sorting of the grapes, adds minimal doses of sulfur dioxide, ages the wine in four-year-old Burgundian barriques, and bottles his wines unfiltered. Add a dose of that Thévenet talent, and you have a recipe for excellent wine! The 2007 vintage marked his first release and his first collaboration with KLWM.
We are unanimously impressed with this rising star.
Domaine du Joncier
The feisty, vivacious Marine Roussel took her time finding her place in the family domaine. Her father, Pierre, was an agronomist and started Domaine du Joncier in 1964. However, as a young graphic artist, Marine was seeking adventure beyond her small, sleepy town in the Southern Rhône. After living in both Marseille and Paris, Marine eventually felt a strong pull to return home. She joined the domaine in 1989, and has since taken on her new vocation with the zeal that only a true artist could possess. Marine aims to achieve balance, purity, and minerality in her wines—a noble, if not challenging, goal given the sunbaked terroirs she farms. On the right bank of the Southern Rhône, Lirac shares many similarities to both neighboring crus Tavel and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Her terraced vineyards of alluvial soil and galets roulés mirror Châteauneuf’s terraces right across the river. Maximum sun exposure and ripeness like that of Tavel must be tempered, and that is where both nature and Marine’s artistry comes into play.Her terraces benefit from the persistent mistral, whose regular gusts purify the vines of parasites and mildew throughout the entire year. The galets roulés in the soil provide good drainage and insulation, preventing the roots from getting too hot or too cold at any given time. In addition, Marine achieved organic certification in her vineyards in 2000 and biodynamic certification in 2011. Her soils are alive with microbiotic activity, lending a hand in both the long-term sustainability of her land and in the mineral expression of her wines. Since the vines naturally achieve such low yields, Marine seeks a gentle tannin extraction, too, an important step that provides balance to the final blends. She makes two impressive Lirac Rouges, the first a classic blend with a majority percentage of Grenache, and Cuvée Les Muses, an inky blend made predominately with Mourvèdre.
Domaine Colin-Deléger
As the nephew of the great Georges Deléger, Michel Colin inherited part of the Chevenottes vineyard, combining it with holdings from the Colin family’s domaine. Today, he is semi-retired. He cannot let go completely, thank goodness. He still farms a few, small parcels, three in fact: Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Demoiselles, and Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru. Though the quantities that we are able to buy of each every year are miniscule, it is always a pleasure to continue to be able to taste wines from a mature master vintner with some of Chardonnay’s greatest terroirs. All three vineyards are within a stone’s throw of one another, with En Remilly just around the corner on the south side of Chevalier-Montrachet and Puligny Les Demoiselles on the northern edge of Le Montrachet.
Deperu Holler
In the north of Sardegna, Carlo Deperu and his wife Tatiana Holler are crafting some of the most serious whites of the Mediterranean basin. The couple met in Milan, where Carlo earned his degree in viticulture and enology while Tatiana had come to study advertising from her native Brazil. In 2005, they settled back to Carlo’s hometown of Perfugas, where his family had long made some wine for their own consumption. Carlo and Tatiana replanted the family vineyards and added new parcels, ultimately bringing the surface under vine to six hectares.At the intersection of the hilly Anglona region and the more mountainous Gallura (home to Sardegna’s only DOCG, Vermentino di Gallura), soils alternate between limestone and granite with varying proportions of clay, chalk, and fossil-rich stones. Situated less than ten miles away, the sea brings constant fresh breezes, while nearby Lake Coghinas also has a similar moderating effect. The cleansing maestrale wind blows frequently, playing a crucial role in facilitating organic viticulture. In fact, Carlo and Tatiana eschew herbicides and synthetic fertilizers in the vineyard, opting instead for natural solutions like planting cover crops to maintain balance in the soils.
Vermentino thrives here, giving full-bodied, mineral wines that rank among the Mediterranean’s most complex and food-friendly whites. “Fria” is a gentle, fragrant, thirst-quenching expression of the grape, while “Prama Dorada” pays tribute to the Sardinian peasant wines of the past: a blend of Vermentino co-planted with Nasco, Malvasia, Moscato, Arvesionadu, and other heirloom varieties, this deep, fleshy white is richly saturated with local wildflower and herbal nuances. Both wines see a cold soak (up to seven days for Prama Dorada) to extract texture and aroma, but not color or tannins. Fermentations are natural and both wines complete their malolactic fermentation in tank before an unfined, unfiltered bottling. Carlo and Tatiana also produce a perfumed, chewy red from Cannonau and Muristellu. These wines are loaded with local character and brilliantly complement Mediterranean cuisine.
Terre del Vescovo
Deep in Campania’s mountainous interior, amid hazelnut groves and dense, lush woodland, small vineyard plots dot the rolling landscape. Here in rural southern Italy, an ancient history of viticulture lives on through the hands of small-scale farmers, proud custodians of this land upholding centuries of a tradition shared with the Greeks, Romans, and countless others. Home to what has been dubbed “the Barolo of the South,” the green haven known as Irpinia, an hour’s drive east of Napoli, features the noble Aglianico grape at its grandest. Indeed, the Taurasi appellation—one of just four DOCGs in Campania—is the south’s answer to the great reds of Piedmont or Tuscany, where grape and outstanding terroir come together to give immense potential through the labor of dedicated local artisans.Terre del Vescovo is a 4-hectare property in Montemarano, a top cru of the Taurasi zone where the appellation’s highest-elevation sites yield chiseled, mineral, age-worthy reds. At up to 600 meters above sea level on soils of clay and limestone, the vines benefit from significant diurnal temperature shifts crucial to developing complex, well-defined flavors and preserving freshness at this southerly latitude. Thanks to this slow maturation, the late-ripening Aglianico is harvested in November, sometimes under a blanket of snow.
Giuseppa Molettieri cultivates these vineyards (many of them 60+ years old) with her husband Luigi, intent on preserving the tradition established by her father, Giovanni. He was the first of several generations of farmers in the family to bottle his wine and gain recognition for his Taurasi, and still watches over the vines and cellar to this day. “My enologist works with just one azienda,” declares Giuseppa, “because he is my father!” Her reliance on traditional methods passed down from previous generations lies in stark contrast with the trend of consulting enologists who arguably standardize a number of the region’s wines.
Giuseppa and Luigi bottle small amounts of perfumed, textural Coda di Volpe for everyday refreshment, but their main focus is Aglianico. All three reds in the lineup are aged in enormous old Garbellotto botti—the Taurasi for up to four years, then several more in bottle before release. A beautiful marriage of deep, nuanced aromatics, high-toned acidity, and dense, silky, fine-grained tannins, Terre del Vescovo’s wines embody the finest of Irpinia’s tradizione contadina.
Domaine Hauvette
Not far from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a tourist town known for Roman ruins and as the place where Van Gogh painted “The Starry Night,” you’ll find Domaine Hauvette. Nestled among the foothills of Les Alpilles, the vines are surrounded by a rocky and wild landscape—the clay and limestone soil retains moisture for the arid summer months, the Mistral blows half the year, and garrigue is seemingly everywhere. It is here that in the early 1980s Dominique Hauvette, seeking more sunshine, left her job as a lawyer in the Savoie, re-discovered her passion for raising horses, and began studying oenology. Thirty-some years later and Dominique now has 17 hectares of vines and an international reputation for making benchmark natural wines.When striving to make wine as naturally as possible, a focus on growing the healthiest and most perfect grapes is an absolute necessity. Dominique’s conversion to biodynamics starting in 2000 added rigor to her intuitive organic practices, and coupled with her magical terroir she has found an exciting recipe for success. In the cellar, she takes a decisively non-interventionist stance and is very low-tech, yet she is not afraid to experiment as is evidenced by her being one of the first winemakers to use concrete fermentation eggs. Like Didier Barral and Catherine and Pierre Breton, Dominique is a trailblazer in the natural wine movement, each year pushing the quality of her wines higher and higher with uncompromising standards. Her range of wines provides much to be excited about: the “Petra” rosé completes its malolactic fermentation in concrete eggs, the “Jaspe” Roussanne is probably the most delicious pure varietal Roussanne you’ll ever taste, the “Cornaline” Rouge is like a blend of Trévallon, Tempier, and Vieux Télégraphe, and the “Amethyste” Cinsault has finesse to rival many Burgundies. Bienvenue Dominique.
Manni Nössing
Alto Adige—or Südtirol, as it is also known—does not seem Italian. The street names are primarily German, you are more likely to come across sausage and sauerkraut on a menu than tomatoes and basil, and your phone calls are more likely to be answered by an assertive “Hallo?” than a melodic “Pronto!” It is here in Bressanone (a.k.a. Brixen), less than twenty miles south of the Austrian border, that Manni Nössing runs his small winery amid the towering peaks of the Dolomites. Manni’s vineyards benefit from the mountain climate and steep slopes of glacial deposit that make up the Valle Isarco, the narrow valley to the northeast of Bolzano that is known for its fresh, aromatic whites.Descended from a family of farmers, Manni has no formal training in viticulture or enology but seeks to learn from each vintage in order to produce wines that are capable of giving pleasure while also reflecting the terroir from which they originate. In 2000, he made the decision to start bottling his own wine instead of selling to a nearby co-op. Since then, he has increased his holdings to 5 hectares, all hillside vineyards at altitudes of 650 to 800 meters, planted to Kerner, Grüner Veltliner, Müller Thurgau, Riesling, Sylvaner, and Gewürztraminer. Kerner, a cross between Riesling and Schiava (a local red grape), represents half of his production and perfectly exemplifies the house style of precision, freshness, class, and minerality. While the climate in Alto Adige is certainly a colder one with snowy winters, Manni finds that due to his vines’ southern exposure and the region’s hot summers, the sun is enemy number one. “I want my wines to be drinkable,” he explains. With the belief that good acidity is the key to refreshing, balanced wines, he has recently stopped green harvesting and de-leafing his vines. “My grapes are happy in the shade,” he elaborated. “They are unhappy sitting in the sun all day”.
Manni’s desire to respect the land and emphasize terroir also applies to his choices in the cellar. All wines are vinified in stainless steel tanks to preserve the grapes’ delicate aromas, though 50% of the Veltliner sees a passage in neutral acacia barrels. After eight months on the lees during which the wines pick up additional richness and texture, they are ready to be bottled. The result is a range of wines that are a joy to drink while also exhibiting exceptional finesse and complexity, perfectly showcasing Manni’s passion for his land and the region’s pristine Alpine beauty. We are proud to welcome him on board as our first ever import from Italy’s northernmost province.
Château Moulin
Bénédicte and Grégoire Hubau do not come from winemaking families, nor did they pursue studies in enology or viticulture. Both natives of northern France, Bénédicte was a computer specialist and Grégoire a chemist. Without much ado, they decided one day to leave it all behind and start a new life as vignerons. After visiting an endless line of available properties in various regions of France, they finally came across Château Moulin Pey-Labrie, an estate in Fronsac that met their requirement for a terroir de caractère. Unconcerned by their ignorance in the field of winegrowing but reassured by their experience as avid consumers, they purchased the property and dove head-first into their new adventure, counting on their employees to teach them as they worked. The young couple’s eagerness to learn earned them free advice from all their neighbors, and they drank in every word. It quickly became clear which approaches matched their own easygoing, natural philosophy, and before long they were deftly handling the vineyard and winery work on their own. The problem with many winegrowers, as they see it, is that they decide what a vine should have rather than giving it what it wants. Just as each of us has a unique style and prefers certain clothes or hairstyles, they learned that each vine needs individualized care in order to thrive. In 1990, having mastered their new craft, they purchased a second property, Château Haut-Lariveau. Château Moulin, though not a physical château, bottles wine from both Canon-Fronsac and Fronsac. The fruit for these “easy-drinking” wines is sourced from the lower-slope clay vineyards of either Château Moulin Pey-Labrie or Château Haut-Lariveau.Though their growing experience has only shown that their instincts were right from the start, the Hubaus have tweaked their methods over the years in order to bring the reality of their work more perfectly in line with their vision. Refusing to slacken their strict quality standards, they frequently design their own equipment, including one machine that works the earth from below. In the cellar they consider themselves observers, letting the character of the land express itself freely and encouraging the greatest possible elegance and finesse in all of their wines.
From the Blog
From the archives...An Evening with Aubert de Villaine
by Kermit Lynch
[From the July 1997 Newsletter]
Bouzeron, population 151, is a little tail’s end of a village in Burgundy where winter’s night can fall with an especially icy clunk. Its three or four streets were already dead and deserted when I drove up to Aubert de Villaine’s iron gate last November. Actually I was running a bit late, so after a handshake we descended straightaway into the cellar and its heady smells of earth, oak, and newborn wine.
Aubert de Villaine has a ready sense of humor and an enviable combination of lucidity and discretion. When I picture him, I see him just breaking into a smile, a playful gleam in his dark, intelligent eyes. Having known each other for more than 20 years, we always have too much to talk about, so our tastings bounce chaotically from comic asides to catching up on friends and family to wine trade gossip and a no-holds-barred critique of whatever we are tasting.
[caption id="attachment_7238" align="alignright" width="309"] Aubert de Villaine (© Gail Skoff)[/caption]
Of course we begin with his Aligoté de Bouzeron, considered Burgundy’s best, and Aubert said that personally he prefers 1996 to 1995. I said 1996 ($14.95) seemed leaner than the 1995. “J’aime bien les vins austères,” he said, contradicting almost the entire American wine establishment.
Then he announced that for the United States he left his 1995 white Burgundy “Les Clous” ($16.50) completely unfiltered. A true stony hillside wine, “Les Clous” always shows more race and structure than flatland Bourgognes, and I must say that it gains by remaining unfiltered because there is more flesh left on that impressive bone structure. He uncorked a 1993, too, which has opened up beautifully. If ever I make a wine, I would hope it shows such subtlety and class.
Aubert’s newest acquisition, a premier cru from Rully, Les Saint-Jacques, is a real prize. (But then, could a de Villaine settle for an ordinary terroir?) The 1995 has a delicious pear-skin aroma and a firm, full palate. The 1994 ($18.95) has so much personality that I made it a Jaded Palate selection, and the 1995 shares that same goût de terroir.
My tasting notes on the 1995 red Burgundy “La Digoine” ($18.50) begin with the word WOW and then I repeat it at the end, too, which isn’t like me. Due to 1995’s short crop, I had to settle for half the quantity I wanted.
His 1995 Mercurey “Les Montots” ($19.95) is something else entirely. “La Digoine” is so pretty a wine, but the terroir of “Les Montots” produces a more tannic, old-fashioned style. “Un vin d’autre fois,” Aubert said. But it also seems to smell of grape skins and stems and freshly cut Pinot Noir. “That is one reason I love the Mercurey,” Aubert said, “because it always recalls that smell of the harvest, you know, working the grapes, the crush.”
Something about the 1995 “Les Montots” made me think of Conrad’s title The Heart of Darkness, and the title would occur to me again before the night was over.
Right about then, as Aubert poured a taste of the 1994 Mercurey, I mentioned that I was wearing espadrilles from Provence, and that my toes were chattering. During wintertime that earthen cellar floor is like standing on an iceberg, so carrying along the 1994 Rully blanc to serve as our apéritif, we walked out into the darkness up to his house.
He built a fire first thing, poured that wonderful Rully, then showed me two new recordings of the Bach Cello suites, one by Yo-Yo Ma, the other by the Russian Mstislav Rostropovich. We decided to “taste” and compare the two performances.
I grew up with the Pablo Casals version of the suites, one of the great recorded performances of the century, so truthfully I was prepared to be a little underwhelmed by the new recordings. The Casals seems soulful, existential, the Rostropovich so emotionally vast. How their cellos seem to sing and speak. The Yo-Yo Ma is more lively, dance-like, but not as subterranean.
Right about then Aubert left to search for another white. Many of you might not be aware that he owns part of another winery farther north, in Vosne-Romanée. Anyway, he returned with a 1967 Montrachet from his other winery, which really hit the spot as we listened to the second cello suite à la Rostropovich.
Aubert began to tell me what he had heard about the actual recording of the suites, which the Russian must have believed will remain his foremost legacy as a cellist.
Rostropovich chose to record the suites in France in the ancient cathedral at Vézelay from which the Crusades were launched because, he wrote, “I saw the rhythm of the internal architecture shorn of all superfluity, with none of the gilt and ornamental trimmings of the Baroque style. I saw the severity of line and rhythm of this vaulted construction, which reminds me so powerfully of the rhythm of Bach’s music.”
Recording took two months. He recorded at the midnight hour, the cathedral silent, empty, except (I’ve been there) for whatever spooky stuff might be emanating from its crypt (which is said to have some remains of Mary Magdalene). Imagine the texture of the cello’s sound in that vast, dark, stone cathedral! And my God it is fabulous as it growls and soars.
We listened to the Sarabande from Suite no. 2. (Film buffs, didn’t Ingmar Bergman use this piece in Through a Glass Darkly? I seem to recall hearing it during a scene in the dark hull of a wrecked ship, with…was it incest, sexual initiation, both?) Is there music that searches deeper? It is terrible and magnificent. The cello’s bow seems to scrape right across your own guts.
While recording, the Russian and his wife lodged with Marc Meneau, who has the three-star restaurant L’Espérance just down the hill from Vézelay. A cellist who apparently has a healthy appetite, Rostropovich might have enjoyed some of our Bourgogne blanc “Henry de Vézelay” from Bernard Raveneau ($12.50), which is made practically next door. I like to think he did.
Back now, though, to Bouzeron, where dinner is served with a 1961 Romanée-Conti. I have, I admit, during my career, enjoyed many an old vintage, but this, this!!! I told Aubert that is has a goût de terroir, mais pas de cette terre. It is from another planet. Tasting notes? Are you kidding? I am in no mood to attempt the impossible. But what a culmination to the evening. Would I have been so receptive to the glorious intricacies of the 1961 Romanée-Conti had it not been for our passage through the Bach Cello Suites? Forget wine-and-food marriages. Here was a fusion of music and wine. The only way I could describe the wine would be to play the music.
And what a voyage the entire evening had been, starting with that first innocent burst of fresh Aligoté.
You can find the latest Bouzeron Aligoté from A. & P. de Villaine here as well as our current selection of wines from Vézelay here.
[From the July 1997 Newsletter]
Bouzeron, population 151, is a little tail’s end of a village in Burgundy where winter’s night can fall with an especially icy clunk. Its three or four streets were already dead and deserted when I drove up to Aubert de Villaine’s iron gate last November. Actually I was running a bit late, so after a handshake we descended straightaway into the cellar and its heady smells of earth, oak, and newborn wine.
Aubert de Villaine has a ready sense of humor and an enviable combination of lucidity and discretion. When I picture him, I see him just breaking into a smile, a playful gleam in his dark, intelligent eyes. Having known each other for more than 20 years, we always have too much to talk about, so our tastings bounce chaotically from comic asides to catching up on friends and family to wine trade gossip and a no-holds-barred critique of whatever we are tasting.
[caption id="attachment_7238" align="alignright" width="309"] Aubert de Villaine (© Gail Skoff)[/caption]
Of course we begin with his Aligoté de Bouzeron, considered Burgundy’s best, and Aubert said that personally he prefers 1996 to 1995. I said 1996 ($14.95) seemed leaner than the 1995. “J’aime bien les vins austères,” he said, contradicting almost the entire American wine establishment.
Then he announced that for the United States he left his 1995 white Burgundy “Les Clous” ($16.50) completely unfiltered. A true stony hillside wine, “Les Clous” always shows more race and structure than flatland Bourgognes, and I must say that it gains by remaining unfiltered because there is more flesh left on that impressive bone structure. He uncorked a 1993, too, which has opened up beautifully. If ever I make a wine, I would hope it shows such subtlety and class.
Aubert’s newest acquisition, a premier cru from Rully, Les Saint-Jacques, is a real prize. (But then, could a de Villaine settle for an ordinary terroir?) The 1995 has a delicious pear-skin aroma and a firm, full palate. The 1994 ($18.95) has so much personality that I made it a Jaded Palate selection, and the 1995 shares that same goût de terroir.
My tasting notes on the 1995 red Burgundy “La Digoine” ($18.50) begin with the word WOW and then I repeat it at the end, too, which isn’t like me. Due to 1995’s short crop, I had to settle for half the quantity I wanted.
His 1995 Mercurey “Les Montots” ($19.95) is something else entirely. “La Digoine” is so pretty a wine, but the terroir of “Les Montots” produces a more tannic, old-fashioned style. “Un vin d’autre fois,” Aubert said. But it also seems to smell of grape skins and stems and freshly cut Pinot Noir. “That is one reason I love the Mercurey,” Aubert said, “because it always recalls that smell of the harvest, you know, working the grapes, the crush.”
Something about the 1995 “Les Montots” made me think of Conrad’s title The Heart of Darkness, and the title would occur to me again before the night was over.
Right about then, as Aubert poured a taste of the 1994 Mercurey, I mentioned that I was wearing espadrilles from Provence, and that my toes were chattering. During wintertime that earthen cellar floor is like standing on an iceberg, so carrying along the 1994 Rully blanc to serve as our apéritif, we walked out into the darkness up to his house.
He built a fire first thing, poured that wonderful Rully, then showed me two new recordings of the Bach Cello suites, one by Yo-Yo Ma, the other by the Russian Mstislav Rostropovich. We decided to “taste” and compare the two performances.
I grew up with the Pablo Casals version of the suites, one of the great recorded performances of the century, so truthfully I was prepared to be a little underwhelmed by the new recordings. The Casals seems soulful, existential, the Rostropovich so emotionally vast. How their cellos seem to sing and speak. The Yo-Yo Ma is more lively, dance-like, but not as subterranean.
Right about then Aubert left to search for another white. Many of you might not be aware that he owns part of another winery farther north, in Vosne-Romanée. Anyway, he returned with a 1967 Montrachet from his other winery, which really hit the spot as we listened to the second cello suite à la Rostropovich.
Aubert began to tell me what he had heard about the actual recording of the suites, which the Russian must have believed will remain his foremost legacy as a cellist.
Rostropovich chose to record the suites in France in the ancient cathedral at Vézelay from which the Crusades were launched because, he wrote, “I saw the rhythm of the internal architecture shorn of all superfluity, with none of the gilt and ornamental trimmings of the Baroque style. I saw the severity of line and rhythm of this vaulted construction, which reminds me so powerfully of the rhythm of Bach’s music.”
Recording took two months. He recorded at the midnight hour, the cathedral silent, empty, except (I’ve been there) for whatever spooky stuff might be emanating from its crypt (which is said to have some remains of Mary Magdalene). Imagine the texture of the cello’s sound in that vast, dark, stone cathedral! And my God it is fabulous as it growls and soars.
We listened to the Sarabande from Suite no. 2. (Film buffs, didn’t Ingmar Bergman use this piece in Through a Glass Darkly? I seem to recall hearing it during a scene in the dark hull of a wrecked ship, with…was it incest, sexual initiation, both?) Is there music that searches deeper? It is terrible and magnificent. The cello’s bow seems to scrape right across your own guts.
While recording, the Russian and his wife lodged with Marc Meneau, who has the three-star restaurant L’Espérance just down the hill from Vézelay. A cellist who apparently has a healthy appetite, Rostropovich might have enjoyed some of our Bourgogne blanc “Henry de Vézelay” from Bernard Raveneau ($12.50), which is made practically next door. I like to think he did.
Back now, though, to Bouzeron, where dinner is served with a 1961 Romanée-Conti. I have, I admit, during my career, enjoyed many an old vintage, but this, this!!! I told Aubert that is has a goût de terroir, mais pas de cette terre. It is from another planet. Tasting notes? Are you kidding? I am in no mood to attempt the impossible. But what a culmination to the evening. Would I have been so receptive to the glorious intricacies of the 1961 Romanée-Conti had it not been for our passage through the Bach Cello Suites? Forget wine-and-food marriages. Here was a fusion of music and wine. The only way I could describe the wine would be to play the music.
And what a voyage the entire evening had been, starting with that first innocent burst of fresh Aligoté.
You can find the latest Bouzeron Aligoté from A. & P. de Villaine here as well as our current selection of wines from Vézelay here.