years, I felt I was in a position to write a book on Burgundy, called Grand Vin. The book that came out last year [ The Wines of Burgundy ] is really a followup to Grand Vin. When it came to Burgundy, I was sort of in the vanguard of writers going and visiting everybody and able to speak about all these domaines with a certain amount of authority. I have just been lucky— the right guy in the right place at the right time.
GH: I think there’ s more than luck involved. It takes a very talented person to recognize the possibilities. My interest in wine dates back to the 1970s, and I can remember a period of quite disappointing Burgundy wines.
CC: In the 1960s and 1970s, a lot of bad things were done in Burgundy— salesmen came around selling herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers; vineyards had developed some strains of Pinot Noir that were very prolific and, to some extent, more resistant to disease. People were persuaded to adopt all these things, which was absolutely not what was needed to make fine wine. The standard of Bourgogne Rouge got better, but the great vineyards in the Côte d’ Or tended to be over-fertilized so that the wines were weak in acidity. They overproduced, so the wines were weak anyway. This all coincided with a run of not very good vintages. Really, between 1969 and the mid-1980s, there were only about two decent vintages.
Since then, the new generation of Burgundians have started domaine bottling: they have been to wine school; they have been on internships elsewhere; they realized that something had to be done. Burgundy is not a place for economies of scale, and so the only justification is to make wine that is absolutely the very best possible. You can produce absolutely outstanding Pinot Noirs in Burgundy, which are much more interesting, forgive me, than Pinot Noirs from anywhere else. Determined producers reduced the crop; they stopped using herbicides and insecticides and that sort of thing; they bought sorting tables; and they just produced better wine. And the good Lord smiled on them because, since 1984, there hasn’ t really been a bad Burgundy vintage.
GH: If there are many producers that are producing to a higher standard, what would you say about the vineyards of Burgundy as a whole? Are we limited to the same high-profile appellations, such as Gevry-Chambertin or Meursault that we have been historically?
CC: No, absolutely not. I must have written an article every year for the last twenty years on affordable Burgundy. People need to go off the beaten track to the minor villages of Santenay, Savigny-les-Beaune, and Pernand- Vergelesses, where there are some excellent wines to be found at one-half, if not at one-fifth, of the price of a Volnay or Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru. My urging has had absolutely no effect! I’ ve been saying this, recommending growers and that sort of thing, frankly, until I’ m blue in the face. But I think it is a message that has to be put forward because it is a great mistake to think that you have got to go for Volnay Premier Cru if you want a decent wine.
GH: For someone just starting to learn about to Burgundy, what would you suggest is the best approach?
CC: Well, I think the first thing is to get oneself properly informed; buy a decent book. That will make it quite clear that there are villages that are less“ fashionable,” whose wines are less expensive, and that there are recommended growers in each of those villages. The other option is to go to a wine shop and speak to the person behind the counter; ask their advice. After all, they will know the stock they have to sell; they will have drunk it regularly. I get a bit irritated that people tend to neglect the person behind the counter. When I was young, behind the counter selling wine, it was nice when people came and asked for my advice.
And it’ s the same with restaurants. Somebody rang me the other day; they want