Three Families, Three Stories

May 25, 2016 – Three Families, Three Stories

Hi again, bonjour, and welcome back to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s blog about wine, food, culture, people, and places.

All families have a story. The history of wine-producing families in France is especially rich.  Naturally, families who own a business, especially with land and agriculture, hope the children will continue the legacy, particularly when the domaine is already multi-generational in its history.  Perhaps the expectation within families about succession creates greater pressure when there is a long history.  In a young wine-producing culture such as in the U.S., the longest family stories in wine date back only about three generations and many are a single generation.  Almost weekly, I read of a California producer that has been acquired by a big corporation because there is no heir who wants to continue in the business.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about Isabelle Collotte and her story and her family.  Today, we visited three small family-owned domaines.

Domaine Amiot-Servelle is situated in Chambolle-Musigny, a well-known village in the heart of the Côte d’Or.  The domaine, directed by Christian Amiot and his wife, Elisabeth Amiot-Servelle, now succeeded by their daughter, Prune, represents the joining of two wine families.  Elisabeth’s great-grandfather began growing vines on the estate almost 100 years ago.  That makes Prune the fifth generation on the Servelle side of the house.  Christian comes from a vine-growing family from a nearby village that dates back twice as long.  Prune will be the 11^th generation on her dad’s side to work in the wine business.

Here’s Elisabeth in their cellar, which was excavated early in the history of the estate, relatively young by Burgundy standards where many cellars were dug by the monks centuries ago.

The wines of Amiot-Servelle are delicate, lacy, elegant, typical of the wines of Chambolle-Musigny.  They also produce some wines from other appellations and the differences are obvious when tasted.

There are a couple of villages along the côte like this, known for especially fine and delicate wines, Chambolle being one of these, Volnay the other.  Like many things in Burgundy, the explanation lies in terroir.  You can see in these photos that the village lies just at the base of a steep hill.  That is in contrast to other villages that may be at the top of a hill or on a more gradual slope.

The importance is that most of the vineyards of Chambolle are exposed to less wind because they are protected by the hill behind them.  Strong winds cause grapes to form thicker skins to protect themselves.  Since tannins, color, and flavor elements come from the skins, wines made from thicker skins have more masculine structure, more powerful tannins.  The wines of Gevrey-Chambertin are good examples.

In Chambolle, the protection from the wind means the grapes often have thinner skins, so the resulting wines have more filigreed, lacy, delicate, elegant, feminine characteristics.  Of course, there are other factors that enter into the concept of terroir.  Soil composition, slope, direction of exposure, rain, and human factors all influence the wine.  It is only after many, many years and vintages that the terroir can be understood.  A family working in the same place, generation after generation, the same soil, the same vineyards, from the time of their births and throughout their lives, can approach such an understanding and coax the best expression of wine from their harvest.

By now Mary was starting to think about familiar food, so imagine her delight when the restaurant in Savigny-les-Beaune had this on their menu.

My choice was escargot en coquille, snails in their shells.

Our afternoon appointment was at Domaine Cornu, which is in Magny-les-Villers, just steps from the gite.  They farm 19 hectares of vineyards, the equivalent of about 47 acres, distributed across several appellations.  Their wines cover the classification system of Burgundy, ranging from Bourgogne to grand cru.  Alex Cornu directs the viticulture and vinification and his sister, Isabelle, manages the marketing and business affairs.  Alex and Isabelle are the fourth generation to work on the estate.

Here are the old cement tanks, still used every harvest for fermentation.

Alex also uses modern, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks.

The cellar has multiple uses … barrel room, bottle storage, and tasting area.

Isabelle and I are studying a map of all their vineyard sites.

Alex’s and Isabelle’s wines are an excellent example of the typicity of the grapes, chardonnay and pinot noir, and the expression of the sites where the grapes are grown.  Each appellation gives a slightly different impression, but in general I can say all their wines are fresh, racy, smooth and elegant in texture, with red berry, cherry, and a mineral quality that makes them perfect with food.  Their prices are so affordable that their entire portfolio can be enjoyed at almost any time.

Isabelle is worried about the effect of the April freeze on their financial situation.  She says their production will be down by 50-80%.

Our final stop of the day was Domaine Florent Garaudet in the small village of Monthelie, close to the much-better-known Volnay.  Monthelie is perched on a steep hillside west of Volnay and is more exposed to wind that comes through a combe, or what might be better understood as a vale or a dale.

Florent (pronounced Flor-ONT) is the fifth generation of his family to grow grapes.  His estate is very small, only two hectares, about five acres, in small parcels of several appellations, farmed by his family for five generations.  Think about that … five generations, dating back probably a century or more, on five acres.  With such a small operation, he produces only a few thousand cases.  He depends on this modest production to support his family and the cost of operations.

The freeze will reduce his yield by about 80%.  Imagine how we might feel if our livelihood was reduced by 80% for a year.  Would our savings be wiped out?  Would we even have enough savings to get by?  Would we have to take on great debt to pay for routine expenses?  It is really a very stressful time now in Burgundy.

Here’s Florent’s special new friend and family member, Pencil.

Florent is a passionate and enthusiastic young Burgundy producer.  We were with him for only about an hour.  I don’t know how he feels when he sits at his kitchen table with his wife and tries to work out their budget.  I don’t know all the pressures he and other Burgundy producers face, but he seemed generally sanguine about the situation.  Over five generations, many more in many families, they have seen hard times and gotten through.  If they survived revolution, wars, and worldwide economic depression, then they can survive a spring freeze.

Florent sold a bottle of his 2013 Monthelie Les Champs Fulliot to us to take back to the gite for dinner, one of only a couple dozen or so bottles remaining.  It was delightful, with that great Pinot Noir texture and mouthfeel, perfumed of earth, flowers, and berries, and cherry and raspberry notes, very fresh and elegant.

As we departed, we wished him well and said goodbye to Pencil.

That’s our post for today.  We hope you enjoyed these family stories.  Keep checking back for new posts at Cépage et Cuisine.  In the meantime,

Cheers!

Mary♥Brian