The Rolling Stones to meet Kirsty & Steve / notes on Gevrey Chambertin

Back in June 1979, Una Stubbs presented me with the first prize at my infants school tombola. Sadly, my fancy was taken by a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the great white shark featured in JAWS. Friends, I must confide in you that that jigsaw was never completed.

Skip forward to 2006. Another raffle win. This time: half a dozen things that I have no real use for. Examples included Playstation 2 games (never owned the console) and free gym membership (for a period which coincided with my honeymoon).

Today I discovered that I have somehow won two tickets to see The Rolling Stones next Tuesday (21st Aug) and meet the band. This was a zero skill required competition. The requirement was that I existed and had a functiong Email address.

Question. How do I stop 'The Meet' (as the record company PR referred to it) from turning into a scene from Spinal Tap. "Do a good show, alright lads!" Presumably comments about turning the volume up to eleven will not be welcomed.

Thanks for the first comments on the blog. Yesterday I was talking about Gevrey Chambertin. What do you need to know? Here's a summary.

Gevrey is a village in Burgundy. Specifically it is part of the Cote de Nuits in the North, famous for it's Pinot Noir. I'm sure they probably do other bits and pieces as well, but let's concentrate on the Pinot.

You may have noticed wines before like Puligny Montrachet, Morey St Denis or... Gevrey Chambertin. Wine producing villages in Burgundy try to give their wines a certain gravitas by adding the name of the most prestigous local vineyard to the title of their own appellation. Le Montrachet (world's finest chardonnay), Clos St Denis (concentrated, majestic Pinot Noir) & Le Chambertin (powerful, full-bodied Pinot Noir) are very expensive wines that can be of fantastic quality.

Red burgundy is just about the most expensive wine to buy per se. This is for two essential reasons. Firstly, it is difficult to grow and very prone to disease (thin skinned). If you try and stretch the yield of grapes possible to grow from a PN vine then the resulting brew is likely to resemble a meek rose. Secondly, the combination of soil and climate in Burgundy is impossible to fully replicate. Slow, gradual ripening is essential to develop ripe tannins, fruit ripeness and potentially complex flavours.

Gevrey Chambertin is, generally, a fuller style of red burgundy. The village of Gevrey itself produces three types of wine (there is probably also a general plonk, but I don't know enough of the specifics). Bourgogne Rouge is your every day drinker. Next up in quality comes the Village wine. This will usually just be marked as 'Gevrey Chambertin Domaine de........'. These can range from serious wines to everyday drinkers. It depends on the grower and the vintage.

Up from Village wine comes Premiere Cru, or first classed growths. These are individual vineyards that are deemed to be of a high enough standard to stand alone. Yields are lower and so the wines are more concentrated. 1er Cru Gevrey Chambertin (in fact all 1er Cru wines from Burgundy) name the vineyatd of origin on the label. St. Jacques is generally believed to be the finest premier cru vineyard.

Beyond the 1er Crus and we're back to the Grand Crus that are around Gevrey. Micro yields, amazing attention to detail, often questionable value for money. Sadly, there is nothing like great mature red burgundy.

Good vintages are far less frequent than in Bordeaux. Great vintages even less so. 2005 is viewed by some people to be the greatest for thirty years. Yet what does this mean? What is a "Great" vintage.

Great vintages mean fully ripe grapes. Fruit ripeness can happen quickly, though slower is better. Ripe tannins can only develop slowly. You need both to make a great year. That will only happen with ideal weather conditions. Think, hot but not too hot (and with a spot of rain to swell the grapes) and you'll be on the right lines.

Lastly, remember that the name of the grower is just as important for a burgundy as the posh name. It's 'buyer beware' at all times, with some folk perpetually trying to cash in by producing weak 'timewaster' wines from big name vineyards.