We started back at it on day 3 starting with a visit to Domaine LeMarche. My first visit occurred during my last trip 4 years ago before Covid. I have done the research and discovered that essentially LeMarche owns vineyards next to those owned by the DRC vineyards and continued to make their own label from the same named vineyards, just their own vineyard wines. I had heard through the grapevine, most likely not true but understandable that decades ago the domain had decided to refuse Grand Cru status. The story goes the Domaine felt it was a ruse in order to raise taxes and like many in the wine world some vintners flatly refuse to accept any kind of rating system at all feeling as long as they think they are making great wine that is the only rating needed. There is a well-known vineyard in St. Emillion whose owner ran Robert Parker off his property as he does not believe in ratings. If you have read Wine Spectator recently some of the first growth Bordeaux's are now not sending in wine to be rated. Over many decades the vineyard was passed on and today Madam Nicole Lemarche is the sole owner and has renamed the vineyard Domaine Nicole LeMarche. So four years ago I essentially harrassed Stevie to make an appointment which he could never do so on a lark we drove to the front door and knocked and met Nicole. She was busy but I guess was impressed I was so persistent and welcomed me back that afternoon for barrel tastings. So this time Stevie was able to make a follow-up appointment, understanding they initially gave him a hard time. Ms. LeMarch had prepared a formal tasting for us this time in her home and dining room and we tasted about 10 of her wines including Grand Rue which is adjacent to the DRC La Tache vineyard and for me better than La Tache, except 1/2 the price. There is another urban legend that sometime long ago Lemarche and DRC and traded the right side of the vineyard for the left side of the vineyard so the old La Tache was now Grand Rue and vice versa. I should mention that today these wines now have Grand Cru status. These are great wines, better than DRC to me, and Nicole LeMarch is a valued friend and great winemaker. Her wines, like DRC, are hard to find and purchase but are available online and you can purchase them through the usual distribution systems in the US. Like all vineyards some years there are more available than others but you will not be disappointed in these wines. They are spectacular.
The next stop was the old Chateau du Clos de Vougeot. If you have visited Bourgogne you cannot miss it as it is a very old large Chateau sitting in the middle of a very large vineyard. It has been there since the middle ages and renovated a few times, originally being an Abby, and now owned by the Brothers of Tastavin. It is an inexpensive visit and worth the visit, if nothing else to see the monster large wine presses. You have to wonder how they built these things. Some of the wood beams are 36 inches by 36 inches and 20 or so feet long. Just building them was an advanced engineering marvel. But using them you have to wonder how did they do it?
Lunch was at one of my all-time favorites La Toute Petite Auberge owned by Frank Boyer, whom I have been told is Nicole LeMarch's godfather. My understanding is Frank has been close to the Lemarche family for years. Frank has two wine cellars at the restaurant, one is a retail store and one is his own private cellar in the basement. I have been in both and he has sold me LeMarch wine from his own private cellar. He also has many of the top Cote de Nuit wines in the area that he sells in his retail store. As usual, he sold me a mixed case including Nicole's wine. If you visit he is a good source to purchase small amounts of LeMarche wine. After about 10 years I think he is starting to recognize me. He is probably like me and takes time to get to know you. This year for the first time he gave me a special new discount. I really appreciated it.
After lunch, we charged on to the Chateau and vineyards of Edouard Delaunay tasting over 10 wines, red and white including Grand Crus. I thought I was going to die and hopefully go to heaven. We tasted and drank way too many wines. Between all of us we ended up buying 10 cases of wine to ship and ended up running a little late for dinner at:
Caveau Des Arches is our favorite Beaune restaurant. Caveau des Arches(website https://www.caveau-des-arches.com/)
It's not Michelin, it doesn't show up on a lot of recommended sites, but it is one of my favorites in all of France. Underground in an old cellar, the ambiance is great. Most of the time I am there it is filled with locals, always a good sign. And to this day the best-roasted chicken in an epoisse cheese sauce I have ever had. I had the same dish in NYC at Daniel Boulards Pavillion at 10X the cost. They have an extensive wine list at reasonable prices. They even have the very first White Burgundy Clark and I ever drank Chateau Beauregard Pouilly Fussie, owned by a cousin and across the street from Chateau Pouilly Fussie where Clark and I visited for a day on our last trip to France. They have a variety of menu items and what are called formulas along with an extensive wine list with reasonable prices. Someday I might get something different but as usual, I had their roast chicken cooked in an Epoisse cheese sauce. Epoisse cheese comes from the village of Epoisse about 50 KM NW of Beaune and it is the only place in the world where the cheese is made. Sometimes it is difficult to find it. It has various ages you can buy, the oldest I recall seeing was 75 years old. I highly recommend Caveau Des Arches.
Home to bed we were beyond exhausted. Due to exhaustion I am fairly certain this is the day I got sick while over there, but we had another day before the train back to Paris.
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