where it comes from— the terroir— but it’ s quite clear that the more complex your soil is, the more complex the wine will be. People are looking at the land they have and saying,“ Right, ok, there are 500 Premier Cru in the Côte d’ Or. They will all produce different wine; and the more different they are, one from another, the more interesting life becomes.” So they are doing things to enable those micro-differences to come to the fore when it comes to opening the bottle. In Burgundy, the terroirs change so much if you move a hundred yards in any direction up or down the slope.
GH: You are on record as saying,“ Burgundy has never been so fine,” and we are on the eve of what looks to be an exceptional 2009 vintage. What is in the future for Burgundy?
CC: I believe the answer is“ a lot.” A lot has happened in the last thirty years, but there is still a lot more to be done. It takes time to get your vineyard in order. But I think most everything is going in the right direction. There are one or two things that are perhaps not heading in the right direction. We are now beginning to get a certain amount of big business coming into Burgundy. I don’ t have to tell you that Bordeaux is entirely owned by big business— all of the top châteaux. There are hardly any independent châteaux left, apart from Léoville-Barton and Grand Puy Lacoste. That is happening here, and that I view with the deepest suspicion, because Burgundy should be made by Burgundians, on the spot.
One of the great things here is, you visit a domaine like Lafon, you knock on the door: it’ s Lafon himself who opens the door! He’ s the proprietor; he’ s the winemaker; he’ s the Chef de Culture and ten minutes after you’ ve gone, he’ s on his tractor to do some spraying. This electricity between the man or woman who owns the place, makes the wine, and the bits of land that they have makes for this glorious individuality from one estate to another. A lot of Bordeaux tastes exactly the same, as far as I’ m concerned. Most of the Cabernet Sauvignon wines made elsewhere in the world taste even more similar; whereas Burgundy tastes different. I urge that Burgundy should be made by the small vignerons on the spot. Don’ t get somebody coming in who is a millionaire, who is employing a manager and so forth. Competent as such managers can be, the approach is different. Burgundy is different.
GH: Would it be fair to say that it’ s Burgundy’ s soul that comes through in the wine?
CC: Yes, absolutely. A lot of wine produced elsewhere, what it lacks is soul. Burgundy’ s got soul.
If you would like to follow Clive Coates in further observations and insights on Burgundy, you can find his website at: www. clive-coates. com. �
THE BOOKS OF CLIVE COATES
• Claret( 1982)
• Wines of France( 1990)
• Grand Vins: The Finest Châteaux of Bordeaux and their Wines( 1995)
• Côte d’ Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy( 1997)
• An Encyclopaedia to the Wines and Domaines of France( 2000)
• The Wines of Bordeaux( 2004)
• The Great Wines of France( 2005)
• The Wines of Burgundy, Revised Edition( 2008)
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