Grand Cru and Premier Crus of Puligny-Montrachet

I'm still entranced and entrenched in reading about the history and the geology of Puligny-Montrachet and of the Burgundy region in general. It is so interesting! At the end of Simon Loftus's book, Puligny-Montrachet Journal of a Village in Burgundy, Appendix 1 is all about the appellations in the region. I found a map that also color coded the Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in Puligny:

The following is extracted from Appendix 1 of Simon Loftus's book and reflects the fact that it was published in 1992. An interesting commentary from 23 years ago.:

Vineyard	Description
Grand Cru Vineyards
Montrachet	Land:There are qualitative differences between the Chassagne half and the Puligny half of Montrachet. The Chassange end is lower down the hill and turns slightly but noticeably to the south and the row of vines are planted in a north-south axis so that the sun slants down the alleys for most of the day. The soil in the lowest part of Chassagne-Montrachet is marginally richer than in the Puligny side. The row orientation in the rest of the vineyard as it is in Puligny, are east-west, reflecting the fact that the land is tilted more to the east. Wine: Wines from the lowest part of Chassagne-Montrachet may be slightly richer than the wines from Pugligny which is slightly more elegant.
Chevalier-Montrachet	Land: Chevalier-Montrachet is entirely in Puligny and climbs up a hill above Montrachet. The slope of the hill is considerably steeper, and on the southern end consists of "murgers" or broken rocks. The soil is extremely poor and has a higher proportion of lime than you would find in Montrachet. Wine: The wine tends to be lighter than from Montrachet, emphasizing finesse rather than power. Subtlety, elegance and seductive charm are the characteristics of a fine Chevalier that is delicious when young, but with sufficient underlying structure to benefit from at least a decade of bottle age.
Batard-Montrachet	Land: The largest in size of the Grand Crus, half of the acreage lies in Chassagne. Batard-Montrachet lies across the street from Montrachet and several feet lower down the hill, descending in a very gentle slope towards the village. The soil is deep, rich, and has a high proportion of clay. Wine: It is difficult to tell between the Chassagne and Puligny wines from Batard-Montrachet, the deep, rich soil gives amplitude and longevity to the wines.
Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet	Land: Roughly rectangular block situated at the northeast corner of Batard at the lowest end of the vineyard. This location at the bottom end of the slope means that it has slightly less satisfactory exposure to sunlight and worse drainage. Wine: Produces wines which tend to be slightly less long lived, but the style is very similar to that of it's neighbors. Name Origin: The name means 'welcome' and has an ancient association with land farmed en métayage, by the tenants who undertook the labor of cultivation but shared the crop with their lord.
Premier Cru Vineyards
Le Cailleret	Land: It is effectively a continuation of Montrachet to the north, but it's soil is very stony and it slips slightly lower down the hill. It catches less of the afternoon sun and is less well sheltered by the vineyards above. The appellation is surrounded by walls on three sides and helps to protect it from erosion. Wine: Loftus says that the wines from Cailleret produced by Charton, the owners of Le Cailleret are well balanced and 'correct' but lacks excitement. Name Origin: Comes from the stoniness of it's vineyards.
Les Pucelles	Land: Lies immediately downhill from Le Cailleret and is to Le Cailleret what Batard is to Montrachet. Wine: Produces wines which are fatter and immediate in their appeal. Les Pucelles matures fast but can be irresistible, seductively scented and softly textured. Name Origin: Loftus claims that Les Pucelles does not translate into 'The Virgins' but is a little more prosaic. 'Poucelles' or 'Parcelles' means land which is much divided between its proprietors.
Les Folatières	Land: The largest in acreage of the Premier Crus, it is a steep vineyard, much subject to erosion which washes away the soil. Wine: Name Origin: Comes from Folle-Terre means eroded soil.
Clavaillon	Land: Lies immediately to the south of Les Folatières and is lower down the hill with richer, deeper soil. Wine: Produces an elegant wine Name Origin: Comes from a thirteenth-century seigneur of Puligny.
Champ Gain	Land: The highest situated Premier Cru that lies above Les Folatières in Puligny and the most recently planted. The soil is meager and mingled with rocks. Wine: Initial impression of ripe fruit giving way to a sappy astringency, but with good length of flavor. Name Origin: Means meadow reclaimed.
La Truffière	Land: One of the smallest and least known of the Premier Crus. Wine: Most of the wine is blended with wine from other Premier Crus of the village. Name Origin: Comes from fact that it was originally a place to hunt for truffles.
Les Chalumeaux	Land: Lies north of the slope from La Truffière and abuts the boundary with Meursault and is bounded by old quarries and scrawny woods. The soil is an extremely porous mixture of gravel and limestone. It has the most eastern facing aspect than the other Premier Cru vineyards. Wine: Relatively light wines that are quick to mature but have a considerable finesse. Origin of it's name:The name implies tubes or spouts, perhaps suggesting the crannies in the rock in this area.
Champ Canet	Land: There is a scant amount of soil here but more lime and the rock is deeply fissured, allowing roots to burrow deep to find water. Wine: The wine can vary from relatively substantial examples to a typically lighter example. Name Origin: Loftus mentions that he hasn't been able locate the origin of the name so he adheres to his illusion that this was once a meadow grazed by ducks.
Les Perrières	Land: Exceedingly well balanced soil, rich but not too heavy, with plenty of pebbles, streaks of iron oxide marl and lime. Wine: Used to be known for its red wines, the whites can be a little heavy but are long-lived and generous. Name Origin: Recalls the quarries which were excavated just above the present vines.
Les Referts	Land: Effectively a continuation of Les Perrières, with similar drainage and aspect, the soil may be a little heavier with a fair amount of clay. Wine: The wine is rich but may be lacking in finesse.
Les Combettes	Land: Lies above Les Referts and below Champ Canet, on the border with Meursault. The soil ranges from a high proportion of limestone at the top of the vineyard to a fair amount of clay at the bottom. Wine: The wine is a combination of elegance with power and exhibits a refined splendor with nuttiness and "sweetness" of aroma. Les Combettes is the most generous of the Premier Crus of Puligny. Name Origin: Refers to the crannies in the dense rock

Puligny-Montrachet Journal of a Village in Burgundy by Simon Loftus

Inspired by tasting the 2009 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes, I picked up this book, Puligny-Montrachet Journal of a Village in Burgundy by Simon Loftus which I have read twice before. This time, the focus of my reading was to learn more about Puligny and specifically about Domaine Leflaive. That this was the right book was confirmed by the author's dedication at the beginning of the book:
For Vincent Leflaive
While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis, 8:22)
The book was published in 1992 and still speaks of the romance and charms of living life in a village. Loftus begins by giving the history of Puligny-Montrachet. Of ancient origin, Puligny's history can be traced back to the Gallo-Roman era. Roman remains, fragments of tiles and brickwork, old stones and headings of ancient wells can be found around the nearby hamlet of Blagney. The monks, first Benedictine and then Cistercian were tithed lands in Puligny and by 1252 Montrachaz was already planted in vines. The name Jean Perron and that of his son Charles, figures prominently in the history of Puligny. They remained lords of Puligny until the end of the sixteenth century. In 1685 the Rigoley family of Dijon owned Puligny until the Revolution. They commissioned a record of the village and mapped every detail of the domain. This record called Le Terrier de la Seigneurie de Puligny et Mypon was compiled between 1741 and 1747. It is comprised of 3 enormous leather-bound volumes and is a detailed and complete survey of a classic vineyard region in France. I found this fact to be totally intriguing. Imagine a book written more than 250 years ago that documented the boundaries of the viticultural areas in Puligny! This survey showed that the Leflaives were already well established in Puligny and that Claude Leflaive owned a house on the edge of the Place du Grand Cimetière (now the Place du Monument) presently occupied by his direct descendant, Olivier. What is even more amazing is that after the revolution, this 3 volume survey was lost, only to turn up again in a bookstall by the Seine and returned to Puligny!
Another chapter is dedicated to the vineyards in Puligny where I found the following definitions:

• Lieu-dit: a vineyard area identified by a traditional name
• Climat: a vineyard defined by topographical features which gives individual character to its wine
• Clos: a vineyard enclosed by a wall

Next came the chapters on life in the village: what the village looks like, people who live in the village and the general comings and goings. The chapter on the growers is followed by the Petit Domaines and then the Grand Domains. This is followed by an entire chapter on Uncle Vincent (Leflaive). When I read this chapter and the remarkable lineage of the Leflaive family, I was hoping to see some kind of genealogical tree and found one on the Internet¹:

More information about the succeeding generation of Leflaives (Anne-Claude and Olivier) are documented and the book ends with the author participating in a harvest in Puligny-Montrachet. This is a good book to learn more about the Leflaive Family and of life in Puligny in the 1990's. It is a good read.
References:
1. For a more comprehensive and wonderful history of the family LeFlavie, go to this link: Le Domaine LeFlaive Puligny-Montrachet.

The Rise and Fall of Yeast and Bacteria During Fermentation: Part 2

Previously, I blogged about the The Rise and Fall of Yeast and Bacteria During Fermentation: Part 1 which summarized the type of yeasts that come in with clean fruit at harvest and their fate during primary fermentation when the wine yeast Saccharomyces becomes the dominant species. The following chart shows that once past the primary fermentation, other species of yeast and bacteria may contribute to fermentation.

The growth and decline of any particular species is influenced by a variety of conditions such as:

• Nutritional status
• pH
• Alcohol levels
• Sulfur dioxide additions
• Cellar temperature

(C) As the graph indicates, a secondary fermentation can begin if the lactic acid bacteria, Oenococcus oeni is present and the conditions are conducive for growth of O. oeni. This secondary fermentation can also occur if the winemaker inoculates the wine with O. oeni in order to facilitate the occurence of the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid, a process called malolactic fermentation (MLF).
Stages A-C illustrates the rise and fall of the various yeasts and bacteria that occur in a fermentation using clean fruit.
(D) In Stage D, the resultant wine is subject to a variety of spoilage organisms if good sanitation practices are not observed. A very good article on this topic, is written by Lisa van de Water and published in Practical Winery & Vineyard. The article is called Monitoring microbes during cellaring/bottling and is a very good reference article on all the things that can go wrong after the wine is made.
Meanwhile, we are trying to stay warm in the coldest winter this area has experienced since the winter of 2003-2004.

References:
1. Kenneth C. Fugelsang and Charles G. Edwards, Wine Microbiology, Springer Science and Business Media, LLC, 2007.
2. Lisa van de Water, Monitoring Microbes During Fermentation, Practical Winery & Vineyard Journal, September/October 2009.
3. Lisa van de Water, Monitoring microbes during cellaring/bottling, Practical Winery & Vineyard Journal, January/February 2010.

2009 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes

Our friends surprised us by bringing over this 2009 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes as a beginning to one of our get togethers. They brought some welcomed cheer and warmth to an unusually snowy February. They also brought the accompaniments, two soft cheeses, a La Tur and a Jean Perrin Fromager Des Clarines served at room temperature, they were perfectly gooey and runny. These cheeses were the right pairing to showcase the Leflaive which was pale lemon yellow in color. Every sip brought a new sensation, now green apples, now honey lemon, now showing minerality and acidity and having a lingering mouthfeel. I wanted to make the experience last as long as I could, savoring each sip. Time passed and so did the last drop of this incomparable expression of Chardonnay.
I found a map of the location of Le Combettes at david-de-beaufort.com.

Valentine's Day Date with Our Data Loggers

Every 30 days, we need to go to our vineyard in order to download our data from our data loggers. We had been putting off this rendezvous with our vineyard because of the cold and the snow (yes, we are weather wimps), but the logger was filling up with data and we recently received our snow cleats, so we were plumb out of excuses. So on Valentine's Day, we had a date with our Data Loggers. We waited until the temperature warmed up from a low of -6 ^oF at 6 a.m. this morning to about 30 ^oF at 1 p.m. We bundled up in our warmest clothes and then made the trek to the land.

When we got home from the land, we downloaded the data and found that not only was it very cold this morning, we also had a negative temperature event on February 6th at 7:30 a.m.

After we got back to our truck, we reflected that the trek to the Data Loggers was just as good as a stair master workout at the Y. We always joke about cross training in the vineyard, but winter brings an entirely new meaning to cross training.

The Rise and Fall of Yeast and Bacteria During Fermentation: Part 1

Recently, our friend, the vineyard manager and erstwhile winemaker was lamenting that his wine was stinky. I immediately thought of laccase as his problem, but then I might have been a little premature.
I'm reading Wine Microbiology written by Kenneth C. Fugelsang and Charles G. Edwards. In this book, Fugelsang and Edwards mention that in the case of sound, undamaged grapes, the viable population of yeasts ranges from 10³ to 10⁵ CFU(colony forming units)/mL.

The most common yeast on clean grapes is Kloeckera apiculata which can account for more than 50% of the total yeast recovered from fruit. In addition, clean fruit can also contain Candida, Cryptococcus, Debaryomyces, Hansenula, Issatchenkia, Kluyveromyces, Metschnikovia, Pichia, and Rhodotorula. Contrast that to the wine yeast Saccharomyces, which occurs naturally on the grape at 50 CFU/ml, several orders of magnitude less than K. apiculata. So, the question is, why doesn't K. apiculata dominate the fermentation?
Although K. apiculata and it's cohorts may be the dominant yeasts that come in with clean fruit, the winemaker may choose to inoculate the must with a cultured yeast, thereby insuring that the fermentation begins with some kind of Saccharomyces. However, if a "natural" fermentation is the goal, then the start of the fermentation will be dominated by K. apiculata and some winemakers say that this adds to the complexity of the resultant wine. If natural fermentation is used, the following graph shows the rise and fall of the various yeasts and bacteria that will dominate the different phases of wine development.

(A) K. apiculata may be present in large numbers during pre-fermentation and low fermentation temperatures (10-15^oC/50-59^oF) can extend the survival of non-Saccharomyces yeasts during the early stages of fermentation. The presence of K. apiculata during fermentation can be problematical because they can make prodigious amounts of ethyl acetate and amyl acetate, and is quite efficient in quickly depleting nutrients, particularly thiamine and other vitamins. They can also form a thick, slimy scum or stringy clumps that can later fall out as fluffy lees.² But once fermentation has begun and alcohol concentrations have reached 5-6%, alcohol tolerant yeasts, such as Saccharomyces can become the dominant species.
(B)The rise of Saccharomyces species should occur within one day of the start of fermentation. During primary fermentation, Saccharomyces becomes the dominant species because Darwinian law of survival of the fittest applies in this system. Here, I have been blogging about vinification with very clean starting material (grapes) but my next blog will be about making wine with less that pristine grapes, or explaining what happens during the rise and fall of yeast and bacteria during secondary fermentation and wine conservation and aging ((C) and (D)).
References:
1. Kenneth C. Fugelsang and Charles G. Edwards, Wine Microbiology, Springer Science and Business Media, LLC, 2007.
2. Lisa van de Water, Monitoring Microbes During Fermentation, Practical Winery & Vineyard Journal, September/October 2009.

Amateur Winemaking by S.M. Tritton

It was another one of those weekends where staying indoors was the thing to do. I decided to look at our book shelves filled with books on wine and try to find the oldest book we had. It was a 1865 book titled La Vigne written by A. Carrière, but it was published in French, so not a book to curl up and read, given my inadequecy in French comprehension. The next oldest book I found was a book written in 1956 by S. M. Tritton called Amateur Winemaking and this fit the bill on this blustery, cold day. I enjoyed looking at the photos from nearly 70 years ago on harvest, and grape stomping (a la I Love Lucy), types of presses and winemaking equipment. One phrase that caught my eye because this is what my husband and I really believe in was this, Tritton writes: Wine making really starts in the vineyard.
Also, I found it refreshing to read: "The finest white wines are made by selecting individual berries from the bunch." I subscribe to that! If I could, I would certainly select individual ripe berries by hand to make our wine, but alas, not very realistic or practical, but one can dream.
In this day and age of winemaking where there is a plethora of yeasts to choose from to yield specific flavors and aromas, this book also gives a list of preferred yeasts to use to accomplish the type of fermentation that was desired.
Towards the end of the book, Tritton gives a list of Do's and Don'ts of Winemaking which I tabulated, some "Don'ts" are really "Do's":

Do's	Don'ts
Do use sound fruit	Don't forget to wash your fruit
Do boil your fruit or add one or two Campden tablets if your fruit is over-ripe or unsound	Don't use metal containers for fermenting
Do remember to sterilize wooden containers	Don't forget to wash all utensils
Do remember to use the right amount of sugar	Don't forget to test the gravity of the adjusted juice
Do remember that the gravity of fruit juices varies	Don't forget to use a suitable wine yeast
Do remember to add a yeast nutrient to fruit wines	Don't forget to cover your fermenter during pulp fermentation
Do insert a fermentation trap	Don't fill your container full till the vigorous first fermentation has subsided
Do remember to have some spare wine for filling up	Don't allow an air space over any wine during secondary fermentation and maturing with the exception of sherry
Do give sherry wine plenty of air	Don't forget that flower wines need fruit juice
Do remember to add acid where necessary	Don't add sugar in the solid state, always dissolve in fruit juice or water
Do remember that adding sugar or syrup at intervals makes for stronger wines	Don't forget to rack your wine at intervals
Do top up your fermenter after racking, with water if no spare wine is available	Don't fine your wine unless it refuses to clarify after several rackings
Do stir up the yeast deposit to help your wine to clarify	Don't forget that racking improves wine flavour
Do remember that wines are stabilized by racking	Don't bottle your wine till it has been tested for stability
Do remember to add one or more Campden tablets to wines which darken on standing	Don't add a Campden tablet to wine which is to become a sherry
Do remember wine making requires patience	Don't despair, even poor wines improve on maturing

All in all, it was a good book to curl up to on a cold weekend, and I learned that some things never change, i.e. Do remember wine making requires patience!
When I wrote the blog, I thought about the puncutation of "Do's" and "Don'ts" so I had to look it up and am following the Associated Press usage on How to Punctuate Do's and Don'ts.

Grapevine Cold Hardiness

With all of the snow and cold that has been hitting our region of Connecticut this February, I'm looking back at my blog posts regarding grapevine cold hardiness and found two posts.
November 2011: Cold Tolerance and Grapevine Phenology
February 2014: Cold Hardiness of Grapevines Through Cold Acclimation

There are always new resources coming on line and I found one called Grapevine Cold Hardiness: Real-Time Cold Hardiness Monitoring from Washington State University where critical temperatures for wine and juice grapes are determined using a method called “differential thermal analysis”. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) measures the extent of cane phloem and xylem injury, based on tissue browning. DTA is not only used to conduct research on the mechanisms of freeze tolerance, but also to predict the critical (lethal) temperatures for grapevines. This research is detailed in a paper written by L. J. Mills, et. al. in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture.¹ There is a very helpful photograph in this paper of what bud and cane winter injury looks like:

In addition, there is a YouTube Video that walks you through the details of the data collection as well as the development of the Cold Hardiness Model:
Learn how to use the Grape Cold Hardiness Model on Washington State University's AgWeatherNet
This is an example of a graph of the Cold Hardiness Model.

The graph is similar to the "lethal temperature 50" or the LT₅₀ graph, but it is also specific for grape variety and is predictive, based on the temperatures recorded. The Washington Cold Hardiness Model will show when freeze events could have led to Bud-10, Bud-50 and Bud-90 kills. As with the LT₅₀ graph, the most susceptible time for bud mortality is during the fall acclimation phase and the spring deacclimation phase when buds have been exposed to a sudden drop in temperature after the arrival of warm temperatures.

The Washington Cold Hardiness Model is not applicable to Connecticut, but it is interesting to note the response of dormant vines to weather fluctuations. Also, the data collection was done on vines that were 20 years old so they have probably acclimated to their specific growing conditions in Washington State.
We need something like that for Connecticut!
References:
1. Lynn J. Mills, John C. Ferguson, and Markus Keller, Cold-Hardiness Evaluation of Grapevine Buds and Cane Tissues, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 57:2 (2006).

2004 Saladini Pilastri Pregio del Conte

It is not often that you can find a wine that is 10 years old and under $20.00, but my husband scored with this 2004 Saladini Pilastri Pregio del Conte that we drank with friends and Moussaka.
The technical sheet on this Saladini Pilastri Pregio del Conte says that it is perfect with all sorts of roast, grilled and boiled meat; it prefers, though, salami and seasoned cheeses. I think it also worked with Moussaka and Greek Salad.
This is a wine made from 2 indigenous Italian grapes, Montepulciano and Aglianico. It is made in the Le Marche region of Italy and is named after Count Saladini Pilastri, whose history dates back to the year 1000.

Originally, the Montepulciano grape was considered to be a synonym for Sangiovese, but recent DNA tests have shown that this is not the case. But it is often confused with Vino Nobile de Montepulciano DOCG which is made with Sangiovese. Montepulciano is planted alongside Sangiovese in central Italy. It is high yielding and late ripening with good resistance to botrytis bunch rot and downy mildew. The Aglianico grape is early budding and very late ripening and grows in the warm climate of southern Italy. it produces a dark, tannic wine that improves with age.¹
References:
1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.

Vineyards in Stonington in the 1980's

There is more snow falling this morning and if I was Punxsutawney Phil, I would protest! "Do I really need to come out from my underground sanctuary to tell you weather forecasters whether I can see my shadow or not?"
My husband and I have been using this time of inclement weather to do some research about grape growing in our neck of the woods in the 1980's. My husband is much better at searching the internet and he found some news articles that shed some light on a vineyard called Stonecrop Farm Vineyards that existed in 1984, owned and operated by Thomas and Charlotte Young. This information appears in an article published by The New London Day on Tuesday, June 19, 1984, titled New rural wineries give tastes and tours. The article states that the Youngs planted their first vines in 1977 and was the ground breaker for wine-making in the area. What is interesting is that Stonecrop Farm Vineyards existed on Taugwonk Road in Stoningon, half a mile down the road from the Stonington Vineyards. In the 1980's Stonington Vineyards was owned by Thomas and Barbara Clark. Now Stonington Vineyards is owned by Nick and Happy Smith. The third vineyard listed in this article was called Crosswood Vineyards located on Chester Main Road in North Stonington and owned by Susan and Hugh Connell. Currently, Crosswood Vineyards is called Jonathan Edwards Winery.
We live very near Taugwonk and have lived here since 1984 and had not heard of Stonecrop Farm Vineyard, although we are familiar with both Crosswoods and Stonington Vineyards. The article mentions that the Youngs made 4 types of wine: Aurore, Seyval Blanc, a blend called Stonecrop White and Marechal Foch. In another article that we found on the Internet from the Lakeland Ledger written on December 26, 1982, there is a map that shows where the wineries in Connecticut were located, indicating the location of Stonecrop Vineyard.

The mystery is that there is no more information regarding Stonecrop Farm Vineyards after that. I love history and I love mysteries involving history so I may have to get my boots on the ground and follow up with either or both our Town Hall or Stonington Historical Society. If you are reading this blog and know what happened to Susan and Thomas Young and Stonecrop Farm Vineyards, please drop me a line!