I left without saying goodbye.
I left last Thursday and have be in Burgundy ever since.
Brief note: it's true. The grapes are almost as big as 2003. Like peas. The weather is humid and alternates sun, heat and drenching rain. Weather is terribly unsettled.
Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend Becky's ten-year-on tasting.
Last year when I tasted the wines I blabbered non-stop and annoyed Clive tremendously. This year I made the promise to keep my mouth shut in exchange for getting to pre-taste the wines with him before the real guests came to the 1997 tasting at Becky Wasserman's farmhouse. This year --the 1997. We had about 120 wines.
I started out at ten o'clock with the charming, still Buddha bellied in spirit if not actual girth. We were soon joined by the ginger-haired, Jasper Morris, another MW, buying director for Berry Bros. & Rudd and wine writer.
Clive contemplating the 1997's.
Before we got down to work, Clive, looking jolly, talked about the update of his Burgundy book out in Spring 2008. He looked side-ways over to Jasper and said that the Burgundy book must be updated every ten years and now, the mantle is handed to Jasper. 
By Jasper's response, he seems on top of the task.
And on to the wines--and it's a short story.
For the reds, Gevrey Chambertin was most successful area in general. Richebourg not. For my taste, like in a very different year, 1996, those winemakers who used stems were most successful; Dujac, DRC, Ponsot, A.F. Gros. A&P de Villaine Mercurey was delicious. Whites? St. Aubin (Hubert Lamy). End of story. Every other white was a forgettable shadow
