Burgundy. Confuron Cotetidot
The afternoon spent with Yves Confuron in this cellar of Cotetidot winery in Vosne-Romanée is definitely one to remember. During my last trip to Burgundy in 2020 a bit of blind luck ana a phone call gave me a very unique chance to meet this exceptional winemaker with firm opinions, black humour, and damn good wines. He is currently responsible for two wine projects. One is in Pommard at Domaine de Courcel and the other is located in his house in Vosne Romanée.
Yves speaks very good English which was a relief because at the time we had no options to communicate in French other than google translate. He cordially invited us to his wine cellar where he keeps all of his wines. While discussing his principles two statements stood out, but I can bet blindly that any visit with Yves would end up with more piling up.
First and foremost he told me that he doesn’t sell Pinot Noir but terroir. Something which apparently has been lost in translation for many of his colleagues. Yves sees Pinot Noir as a wonderful transmitter of the nuances hidden in the soil. But the soil comes first and foremost. The other principle was the control of the barrel and amount of new wood applied. He believes that people are overdosing on the new wood which ends up in wine nuances being totally covered. “It is like with ketchup” – he told me. “It is an important element of a good sandwich, but if you pour it all over you will get nothing else in the taste… just ketchup”. Add on top of it some black humour and you will get a pretty good idea of this interesting character.
Speaking about the wines, these are just sublime. Everything is whole-bunch fermented. If the grapes have a good ripeness (as they should as Yves is harvesting accordingly with a late picking principle) the juice is showing up on its own. As mentioned above Yves is strongly against “overoaking” his wines – hence the amount of new wood he is using lands at about 20% rate across the board – which is relatively small. The wine are aged in typical piece and spend two years in a barrel without racking. Blending occurs immediately before bottling.
Domaine Confuron - Cotetidot has a very nice selection of various parcels in different villages of Côte de Nuits. Among these four Grand Cru: Échezeaux in Vosne Romanée, Charmes – Chambertin and Mazis – Chambertin in Gevery-Chambertin and Clos de Vougeot in Vougeot. The biggest parcel is slightly over 2 hectares – Suchots Vosne Romanée 1er Cru. Our tasting, directly from the barrel, consisted of Chambolle Musigny, Gevery-Chamberting 1er Cru Craipillot, Vosne Romanée 1er cru Les Suchots and Vosne Romanée Échezeaux.
It was also very nice to discover that Yves does not discriminate – he loves wine from all over the world. While entering his impressive cellar you will come across thousands of bottles from various regions. This man breathes, eats and sleeps wine. I also found out that we have another thing in common – he loves Piedmont where he travels every year for his holidays discovering wine treasures of this great Italian region. Yves was kind enough to offer me the possibility to purchase some of his wines and I have ended up – partially after his recommendation with two labels from two different villages. Gevery Chamberting 1er Cru Craipillot from 2017 and Vosne Romanée Échezeaux 2017. Look out for my tasting notes from these two labels in the future!
