06 Vougeraie Savigny-les-Beaune (Marconnets)

Bruce Cass — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:00:45 +0000

Bio-d since 01. Wild yeast. Attractive feral nose w/ blk cherry robe. Minced squab + plum sauce.

Green Wines

At speaking engagements, British wine writer Clive Coates likes to joke about Burgundian vintners, “You know, they’re all peasants.” Clive is not being disparaging. He is colorfully illustrating the manner in which Burgundians are yoked to the land. Wealthy, well-educated, well-traveled vintners from Burgundy still spend months of every year in their vineyards pruning, pulling leaves, replanting, and harvesting. This close relationship to the soil may help explain why Burgundy has so many organic and bio-dynamic vineyards. Heaven knows, organic grape growing is not easy when rain is likely to fall at any time during the Summer.

Wine Education

Domaine de la Vougeraie was organized by Jean-Charles Boisset and his sister Nathalie in the 1990’s to consolidate several prestigious properties they had acquired with their father Jean-Claude under a single, more easily marketed label. In all, the vineyards for the Vougeraie project totaled 37 hectares (94 acres) spread out over 29 Burgundian appellations. The goal was definitely to create a luxury brand: there are parcels in five red and one white Grand Cru vineyards. About a quarter of the property is in Vougeot. Yields are low ~ barely over two tons per acre. These holdings ~ plus ownership of prestige domaines such as Bouchard, Jaffelin, Ropiteau, and Mommesin ~ make the Boisset family the wealthiest wine estate in all of Burgundy. As if that weren’t enough, in September of this year 40-year-old Jean-Charles married Gina Gallo …

Find the remainder of this post on the Stanford Wine Blog titled Straight from the Vine.

Life is short. Share Wine. Pass it on.

De Tierra Vyds.

Bruce Cass — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:22:39 +0000

Monterey County. Two estate wines from certified organic grapes. Very good quality, bargain priced. Strongly recommended.

How green is your wine?

Talking about how ‘green’ a wine is can be very complicated. Not using pesticides says little about the winery’s attention to energy and water conservation. Is an ‘organic’ wine from Italy still green after all that weight of liquid and glass has been shipped to San Francisco? Does your ‘bio-dynamic’ winery pay their workers a living wage? And do any of these matters contribute to good taste? How far can I trust claims of ‘greenishness?’

de Tierra Vyds

It’s a thorny issue. We will revisit it frequently on the Stanford wine blog [StanfordAlumni.org, it’s titled Straight from the Vine]. But we will begin with a winery recommendation that needs very few qualifier adjectives. These two wines taste great, and they are both pretty reasonably priced. The grapes are grown within 100 miles of the Stanford campus. The vineyard was the very first one in Monterey County to be certified organic by CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers).

Continues at Stanford wine blog.