Day three of our trip started off with an amazing breakfast of the world's BEST coffee, homemade raspberry jam (god it was SO good) and fresh yummy croissants. Then off to meet a new producer who we would hopefully get to work with. His name is Arnoux Benoit, and WOW! His wines are AMAZING! His whites were beautiful, and so textured! Literally, all of my tasting notes are like, mini novels, all describing how wonderful they are! Mr. Benoit has 3 hectares planted in Chassagne Montrachet and Puligny Montrachet, and his vineyards are sustainably farmed, he took over the vineyards in 1990 from his grandfather, with his wife handling the viticulture (lucky woman) while he takes care of the cellar work and marketing, and apparently cork choices. I know I tease and call myself a Cork Dork, but wow, this dude's got me beat!! He is so cork-anal, he SPECIFICALLY goes down to a cork producer in Catalonia to pick out HIS cork!!
God, I could sit here and write for DAYS about how cool the wines are, but I won't bore you (any more than normal) I will just sum it up by saying he makes incredibly pure,
terroir-driven wines. If you ever run across his wines, specifically his 2007 Puligny Montrachet "Les Referts" GET IT! Seriously, amazingly good juice! It was round and full of peaches and honeysuckle, sweet cream, then midway through your palate, it suddenly switches things up and goes into this beautiful slate, minerally, green apple precision, then right before you swallow (yeah, I didn't spit this ) it goes back to being all about Anjou pears and opulence!! This is just such a great example of texture, this really needs to be experienced to be believed! If my tongue was a lock, this wine TOTALLY knew the combination!!! But jump on this quick, because that's the last year for the 1941 grapes, he's replanting the vineyard.....
Arnoux Benoit is a precise man, you could see it in his house, in the way he kept straightening the mat on which the spit bucket was located (I kept moving it to see if he'd fix it, yeah I'm an ass like that), the exactitude in which he placed furniture, and his wines convey that meticulousness. He doesn't speak very much English, but still, his passion for winemaking was apparent. Listening to him discuss his philosophies (and waiting impatiently for the translation) on every aspect of winemaking was so moving, so passionate, I hope I never forget that....
