2006 Burgundy from Jean-Claude Boisset and Jaffelin

Posted by Andrew Chapman in Food and Wine, 9:08pm 08/01/2008. Leave a comment

Early start in the office today, then a dash to catch train to London to taste 2006 Burgundies from Jean-Claude Boisset and Jaffelin.

I was interested to read Jamie Goode's Blog yesterday about Burgundy 2006 and cheese - today's tasting was at the Cinnamon Club near Westminster Abbey and lunch paired white and red Burgundy with modern Indian cooking. This might have seemed a bizarre idea at first, but I have had some very successful pairings of good Indian food with wine, particularly big reds without too much tannin. So, I was almost as eager to see how the food/wine pairings worked out as to taste the latest vintages from two of our favourite producers.

The Burgundy 2006's on show, some 37 wines, showed good style - typical of what I have come to expect from Jean-Claude Boisset winemaker Grégory Patriat. Grégory is on record as saying 'As a rule, I like atypical wines which fly in the face of tradition and conventional wisdom. My Pommard Premier Cru wines have a rather feminine, lacy character, while the Savigny is rather rustic, with ripe, tightly-packed tannins. That's the way the terroir gave them to us, so let's not try and change the style ! Although it's true that I have a preference for fruity, rounded wines, I also like them to be able to last over time.' We were lucky enough to welcome Grégory to Oxford twice in the last two years to showcase latest vintages, and so we have got to know his style well and it is good taste the wines of a new vintage to see how he has worked with what nature gave him.

Those with infinitely more knowledge of Burgundy than me have often written that Burgundy is as much, if not more, about the producer as the vintage. Find a good producer and stick to him. Burgundy can be a nightmare with a myriad of producers, villages and vineyards. So finding a good producer that can produce the best a vintage can each year is a must and that is what we have done, I think, in working with Jean-Claude Boisset. Jaffelin is part of the Boisset group (which is huge and J-C Boisset is only one small part) and we brought a couple of their wines on board last year - so I was looking forward to tasting a greater range today. At Surf4Wine we do not pretend to be Burgundy specialists or experts, but I do love good Burgundy, so wanted to have some benchmark wines on our list - we have, in my opinion, found those with Boisset, and also, now, Jaffelin.

I'll blog about some of the individual wines in another post, but what about the wine and Indian food? Well, it kinda worked. There was a lovely lightly spiced Salmon starter that worked very well with the St. Aubin 'Sur Gamay' 2006 - this was largely because the Salmon wasn't too spicy and the St. Aubin was rich with a touch of spice, working well on that best of food and wine pairing notions - partner like with like. Sometimes extremes or opposites work but the other, lighter white Burgundy (I even forget which other white wine they choose, so unfriendly was the combination!) was overwhelmed by even the mildest spice.

The main course was Squab Pigeon , which was a tad too hot for me (I love Indian food, but not too hot. I like the spice flavors and combinations, but not too much heat from the Chilli). This needed a 'big wine to work with it rather than be blown away. The Gevrey Chambertin I brought in from the tasting room worked pretty well with touches of spice and some rich, ripe cherry flavours to match up to the richness of the food.

All in all, a fascinating wine tasting, and some more than interesting food and wine combinations that if just seen on paper might well have not been believed. All goes to prove that the proof is in the eating (drinking!).

See our full range of Jean-Claude Boisset wines.

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