Passion rather than dollars

It is beautiful to see passion and honesty motivating your approach to your job rather than just dollars. I see that kind of passion in the eyes of just about every vigneron I'm fortunate enough to meet when I'm in France. My first two days were spent in the Loire, and that is definitely the case there, but rolling around the Cotes de Beaune today, I was thrilled to see the same passion in this region of mind-boggling expensive wines (and can you believe it, not  a Cabernet Sauvignon vine to be found, I'm in heaven).

Last night I had the good fortune to break bread with the Villaine's from A&P Villaine. Aubert is one of the partners in that most expensive of red wines, DRC. But Aubert's personal estate in Bouzeron is all about honesty, stewardship of the land, hospitality, and goblets of fun goodness like Aligote and Mercurey. It was fantastic to end the day of a warm plate of boeuf borgogne after the seriousness of tasting with Raveneau in Chablis.

Today I was struck by the lack of barrels and batonnage used by the producers we tasted with. I'd say 75% of the producers are also moving to organic farming within the next year or so (the time it takes to finish certification of their vineyards). Maybe there is hope for Mother Earth yet. It was also refreshing to taste wines that were never over 13% alcohol. I tasted 83 wines today and although, I'm not as sharp as I was at 9AM, my tongue isn't numb either.

In Loire, the vintages were as follows in general:

'07 - Solid, but a little lower acidity.
'08 - Solid Classic vintage with good acidity. My favorite of the 3.
'09 - Warm Vintage, on the ripe side. Should be a critically acclaimed vintage.

In the Cotes de Beaune, the vintages seem to go like this:

'06 - Classic, good structure
'07 - Ripe, but not overly so. Cool summer, but late and warm harvest. Good acid which should make cellar worthy wines. I don't find the same balance I see in '06 however.
'08 - Very cool vintage, great acidity. Really precise and tasty whites. I think the reds show a little more variabilty, but I found some tasty offerings.

Wines of the day were as follows:

Dom. Vincent  - These are awesome folks. Young, but traditionally-minded and the wines are kickin'.
'08 Bourgogne Blanc
'08 Puligny Lieu Dits
'08 Auxey-Duresses Blanc
'08 Santenay 1 "Passetemps"

There are my wines of the day, but I've got to run ( and eat and drink more).