I agree with Bill that the yellow in Darviot-Perrin’s vines is a virus problem and as such may not be typical of other plots of his - but clearly worrying here.
Would be very interesting to repeat these shots in mid season and again as you suggest on the eve of harvest.
Possible explanations for Coche & Lafon differences:
age of vines (not immediately obvious from the pics)
composting regime
time of pruning of those plots
all those can make a difference at this stage but will be less evident at the end of season
NB this point. People throwing stones at Darviot-Perrin may want to row back a little on the criticism. AFAIK, they’ve been regarded as a pretty good producer.
Note that there is more than one parcel chez Bouchard - just like Lafon, who has 3 - Dominique’s largest parcel is not the one pictured by William. Actually with Lafon bookending Perrières with parcels in the south, north and higher up (pictured by William) maybe his is the most representative of the 1er cru as whole
I’d echo the others for some kind of Gevrey premier cru; Clos St. Jacques would be cool, maybe Combe aux Moines, or something - only because from my limited experience, Gevrey has quite a few producers who likely haven’t quite caught up quality-wise and the differences between their plots might be illuminating. The Grand Crus might be fascinating due to the number of owners in places like Clos de Bèze but I imagine they’d probably be difficult to film.
Well, yes and no… It’s obviously a misfortune to suffer with virus, but the susceptibility of vines to virus is also influenced by how they are being farmed. And then there is always replanting as a last resort. The adjacent parcels belonging to Coche, Lafon and Bouchard are not healthy and well-maintained by accident. As for how they’ve been regarded, that’s precisely why it’s interesting to look at what the reality is in the vineyards, to put the reputation to the test. Incidentally, this is what their US importer has to say about how their vineyard work:
It is an emphasis on the work in the vineyard which makes the difference at Darviot-Perrin. The vineyards are tended virtually organically which is just a small part of making fine Burgundy. The vital element is bringing healthy, ripe grapes to the presses and vats. Vinification is important, but cannot replace impeccable fruit from the vineyard.
As a journalist, I hear this sort of thing very regularly, so it is interesting to see how it holds up to scrutiny. To be clear, I am not singling out this estate for criticism: far from it, it is easy to find much worse practice in Burgundy, and it’s great that they are working the soils and not using herbicides. But equally, their Perrières parcel clearly needs intervention, and has for a while (witness Bill’s older photo), and it is a pity to see such dilapidated vineyards in such a celebrated (and expensive) appellation.
This is a terrific thread…thank you William for posting; and also thanks to Bill and Jasper for the additional comments. What is quite amazing to me is the clear demarcation between Coche and Darviot-Perrin vines. This virus is transmitted by nematodes, so how does Coche prevent transmission from infected vines only meter away? Or, are the Coche vines not expressing the virus at this point in the growing season?
Clos Vougeot would be fun… even if it would be a very long video! But why not. Will certainly do Clos Saint-Jacques, as that’s easy. Perhaps also a more general one on Pinot Noir vine genetics: looking at Pinot droit, Pinot fin, clones etc. I think Charmes-Chambertin could be interesting, too, as it’s such a big climat and I reckon less understood by wine lovers in terms of where different producers are located than for example Clos Vougeot. On the white side of the ledger, Saint-Aubin is at the top of my list.
That is the interesting question… maybe they are treating, but I think more likely simply more vigorous (and younger) vines with deeper rooting systems. I remember talking to Graeme MacDonald in Oakville about how all their virus issues abated as soon as they stopped irrigating and the vines’ root systems moved deeper. Clearly, shallow-rooted vines that are low in vigor are going to be the most susceptible to virus. And once vines are as stunted as that it is hard to imagine them ever being nursed back to health.
Burgundy is so much fun. You could easily do a vineyard a month and keep do so for the rest of your life. Clos Vougeot might take a couple of years all by itself.
One interesting thing in Clos Vougeot would be to take one producer who has vines at a higher level of the vineyards and one lower down by the road and compare the two - one producer, two (or more) plots. Even better would be two like this, one a better farmer and the other a more mediocre farmer, and see how the four plots compare. What makes a bigger difference, the land or the farmer.
Oh my William, this is opening up the proverbial can of nematodes! You had better hope none of those Burgundian farmers have a shotgun handy when you start poking around taking pix of the vineyards. You are indeed a courageous fellow. I definitely also notice vast differences in vineyards just casually biking around the Cote D’Or. But it is so difficult to tell in many vineyards, at least those that are not monopoles, who is farming what plots.
This is the kind of wine writing that sets you apart from many of your more seasoned colleagues. I doubt that even Parker had the time, interest, or maybe even the intellectual curiosity to try and ferret out these differences in producers. I also agree that the state of a vineyard at any point in time is dependent on many variables, so looks can be a bit deceiving.
Thanks for the reply. The McDonald approach makes sense so perhaps cultivation is a factor between Coche and Darviot-Perrin? This virus is very difficult to eradicate and is sometimes mitigated by lowering the crop load.
It is true that I hesitated to post for the reasons you give. But equally, what with the vineyards being in plain sight, I think it’s only a matter of time before these sorts of exchanges begin to happen. Of course, while trying to avoid giving gratuitous offense, or coming to hasty judgements, it’s hard not to draw contrasts at times. But the bigger point rather than “naming and shaming” was to try to connect our often rather abstract discussions of “terroir” with actual vines growing in a vineyard and the kind of grapes they produce.
It is an interesting moment in the region’s history, what with more and more producers training the vines higher and stopping hedging (e.g. in some or all appellations Olivier Lamy, JM Vincent, Dugat-Py, Duroché, Leroy [the original], Arnoux-Lachaux) or even experimenting with échalas (again Arnoux-Lachaux, Bizot, Nicolas Faure [the original], Chandon de Briailles, Trapet). I’m sure I missed some out. This has really exploded over the last couple of years, and very suddenly the drive down the Côte looks a lot different. So it is a very exciting time to be out in the vineyards in Burgundy, and that will be the emphasis of my contributions rather than an exposé of bad practice (though I am not going to make any special efforts to conceal that, either).
Great thread. Re: Lamy I’d be interested to see if there are discernible differences above ground between the high density and normally spaced vines other than the spacing.
I’d also love to see a session on old vines: Roty’s Charmes, Clair’s Dominode, Chevillon’s Cailles, etc. More leg work though!
And in late August or early September, different maturity of a sampling of plots in different sites at different altitudes, drainage, exposure, etc.
Lots of opportunity here to do a regular series with many different themes. Fabulous possibilities.
A friend is out and about in the vineyards, and took two short videos so we can revisit the comparison between Lafon, Coche-Dury and Darviot-Perrin in “Aux Perrières” that we began earlier this year…
We see pretty much the same differences that we did in Spring. The Coche parcel looks as if it has been hedged recently, and the vines are clearly in rude good health…
This is so fascinating: in a way, all three are Perrieres terroir, but three distinct expressions of it. Often the human factor, i.e. the farming, gets pushed aside in favour of soil, sub-soil, climate, rain, wind, and so on, perhaps in an attempt to simplify and talk about stable phenomenon, even though terroir is not a fixed concept–it is relational, and exists in a co-created space so to say. Needless to say that even if you nothing about viticulture Coche’s parcel looks spotless and makes me think of OCD farming, stunning!
