I never thought I’d be a guest barista, but there I was a few days before going into the intensity of the Loire tastings, dishing out the coffee in Beaune with Matt McClune who built Saint Romain Coffee Company. My method was French press because when it comes down to it, I prefer it to pour over and I didn’t trust myself to pull a good cup.
The Beaune market was a wee too cold but sunny, the crowd steady. By the time I sped off to have lunch with Claire Naudin and her family, my feet were like two fat flash frozen fish.
The impetus to be in Burgundy was to attend a tiny salon put on by Chanterêves, a gathering of winemaking friends showing their bottles. This was Tomoko and Guillaume’s second edition and I’m grateful to have been included in both. It was there that I discovered one of the wines in this week’s recommendations, from Domaine Cyril Courvoisier, Les Cotes. Rajat Parr was also there. His new releases? Brilliant. I went to visit him at Phelan Farm last year. The wines—especially his blends—were promising. Now in the bottle, wow. The mondeuse from his own vines is truly worth seeking out. In addition to meeting Philine Isabelle and tasting her Barolos I got to meet that rising star of the Auvergne, Henri Chauvet. His new wines completely show the heat of 2022—same winemaking, but completely different than the ethereal wines of 2021. He, like all of us, was in love with the owner of the Paris restaurant Vantre’s ever-hungry dog, Kota.
What did I learn this trip around in Burgundy?