The problem is this - every tasting glass poured deserved to be tasted, savoured and slowly finished. There is a spittoon, but it remains dry throughout. Nobody is willing to part with a sip.
As we taste and talk our way through the Grand Cru Le Montrachet, the Premier Cru Puligny Montrachet Les Demoiselles and the eight Premier Cru Chassagne-Montrachets, each distinctive as to its terroir, feet crunching on the pebbled floor of the freezing barrel cellar, deep under the village of Chassagne. The passion of Thierry Amiot is clear in each one, and, generous to a fault, he invites us to taste each of the wines from barrel, comparing the impact of the different coopers on the same wine. As recently as two generations ago, the different wines were not vinified separately, but rather the grapes were combined to make a single wine. Thierry however, understands the value of separating the individual parcels (some tiny), under individual vinifications, to allow each wine to give full expression of its distinctive terroir. A geological map of Chassagne shown to us on paper is subsequently experienced in the glass, from mineral limestone dominant parcels to more generous clay-laden slopes, giving more glycerol and charm. That is Burgundy -tasting the unique geology of each site through the prism of the original grape of this land (Chardonnay for white, Pinot for red). Fascinating and inspiring to witness how farming the exact same spots of earth through generations of men of the soil has bestowed on the current custodian a handed-down knowledge of the individual parcels that would take a dozen generations to equal or to equally comprehend.
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And we talk about the challenges of the 2016 vintage, when, due to historically adverse climatic conditions, production of Le Montrachet was so limited that a number of the wine producers in this most prestigious Appellation could not fill a single barrel from their own production. In true Burgundian tradition, 5 of these most famous wine producers decided to band together, combine their grapes, and produce a single Le Montrachet, in the traditional spirit of co-operation among villagers and of the preservation of the uniqueness of their region.
Domaine Guy Amiot et Fils' maxim (by Alcée) “Wine is the Mirror of Man” is especially apt. Thierry Amiot’s generous soul and complex, introverted nature are exposed in every glass he produces.
