Craig Williams (left) in Burgundy next to the famous
concrete fermentation tanks at the Nomblot factory.

A California Winemaker Visits Burgundy

By Rob Baxter, European Sales Manager

I caught up with Craig Williams, long-serving winemaker at Joseph Phelps, in the Burgundian town of Beaune. His visit to Europe followed hot on the footsteps of the winery’s triumph in 2005 with the award of Wine of the Year from the Wine Spectator for his 2002 Insignia. Not being one to rest on his laurels, he had come to France in wintertime for a sabbatical sojourn inspired by that most fickle of grapes, Pinot Noir.

Burgundy is without a doubt the spiritual heart of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and with our Freestone vineyards coming on line with increasingly qualitative grapes, where better to ponder the intricacies of the Pinot Noir grape than Burgundy, home to some of the world’s most sought-after wines.

Craig Williams (left) and Philippe Prost, Winemaker at Bouchard Père & Fils in Beaune.

Craig’s perfectionist zeal to make the best wines California can offer has brought Joseph Phelps to the fore not just in the U.S. but around the world. This was evident from the recognition that Craig received from some of Burgundy’s greatest winemakers as we toured vineyards and wineries under the cold, clear skies of the Côte d’Or in March. At Bouchard Père & Fils we toured their impressive winery in Beune with winemaker Phillipe Prost before walking through their ancient underground cellars and sampling their brightly mineral Burgundian wines with Luc Bouchard.

Jacques Lardiere (left), winemaker at Maison Louis Jadot, and Rob Baxter

Further up the road in the Côte de Nuits we visited Jean-Nicholas Méto at Domaine Méo-Camuzet in the picturesque village of Vosne-Romanée where his wines demonstrated a beautiful depth of color and body typical of this small and highly-prized village appellation.

Throughout Burgundy locals are at pains to underline the importance of their terroir, the quintessentially French term which encompasses key elements such as climate, topography and soil. No one knows this better than Jacques Lardière, the inimitable winemaker at Maison Louis Jadot who is also an outspoken advocate of biodynamics. Jacques met us in Jadot’s cellars to taste his wonderful wines before expounding on biodynamics over lunch.

The concept of terroir is keenly understood at Joseph Phelps where Craig strives to make wines that express the provenance of Phelps’ biodynamically-farmed vineyard sites. Under the management of Phillippe Pessereau, Director of Vineyard Operations, more vineyards are farmed biodynamically each year.

Beaune is a beautiful medieval fortified town which serves as the hub for the Côte d’Or wine trade and home to Caves Madeleine, a local restaurant with a relaxed ambiance and superb wines chosen by proprietor Lo-Lo. Here we chanced to meet Patrick Bize of Domaine Simon Bize in Savigny-les-Beaune who graciously invited us to his winery and taste samples from the barrel room in their various stages of malolactic fermentation. Heading south into the Côte De Beaune we were received by young, rising star winemaker Benjamin Leroux at Domaine du Comte Armand in Pommard, famous for their Monopole ler Cru Clos des Epenaux which is farmed entirely biodynamically.

Craig in Macon at René Grosjean's tractor factory.

Because the steep slopes of the Freestone vineyards on the Sonoma Coast present numerous access challenges to agricultural vehicles, we traveled to Mâcon to visit Réne Grosjean’s tractor factory. Grosjean makes cutting edge custom-built vineyard tractors that can be tailored to specific soil types and vineyard inclination. Craig even tried one out on the spot and further tests were made with a prototype in California later in the year. There is much talk and experimentation going on around the world with different types of tanks for wine fermentation from wood to stainless steel, and in recent times a resurgence of interest in concrete. One Burgundian manufacturer, Nomblot, has built up a sold reputation for his concrete tanks and we visited his plant where he showed us the famous egg-shaped tank, claimed by some to have an extraordinary dynamic effect on the must during the fermentation process.

Taking advantage of his presence in France, I was able to drag Craig away from the Beaune to Paris for the annual California Wine Institute sponsored tasting, this year in the magnificent surroundings of the Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to France in fashionable Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. With the help of our importer, Vines du Monde, we joined other California producers in showing our wines to Paris’ culinary society; indeed, some came from as far as Michelin starred Hotel Albert Premier in Chamonix, where you can find Insignia on the wine list.