Sometime around mid-June last year, Gary took a week to fly to Burgundy for a little R&R. (”Research and Relaxation”, in his case.) On this visit, he and his friends made the acquaintance of a talented fourth generation winemaker by the name of Theirry Pillot (son of Paul Pillot, both of Domaine Paul Pillot) in Chassagne-Montrachet. They shared a few glasses of his stunning Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, pre-tasted the 2006 vintage and found it more than promising, and before they knew it we had a few hundred cases of this small production wine promised to come our way come Spring. With one concession: Thierry must accompany them for a visit.
Fast-forward to April 2008, and the young Burgundian was true to his word. Thierry arrived on schedule along with his wines, and spent a few days pouring for our guests and friends. Saturday night, as a thank-you to Theirry and as a treat for some of Gary’s closest friends, we held a dinner at Gary’s house prepared by Craig Shelton and the OME Catering team and expertly paired with Pillot’s wines.
First, a quick background on the winery itself. Thierry’s great-grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Pillot, founded the Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet domaine in the late 19th century. He left the coopering profession to concentrate on winemaking, and with the help of his two sons Alphonse and Henri, created a family-run vineyard. The two sons grew up to cultivate two separate estates, and Henri then passed his land on to his son, current domaine namesake Paul Pillot. Paul was the one who managed to acquire some Premier Cru land in Chassagne-Montrachet, including the Clos St. Jean and Les Ruchottes vineyards. Today the domaine covers 17 hectares of prime land mostly in the Chassagne-Montrachet, Saint-Aubin and Santenay appellations, with a total production of about 65,000 bottles. Along with his sister Chrystelle, Thierry will be the one to carry on the family legacy of crafting these impressive wines.
Now on to the dinner….
We began with a duo of quail egg with white truffle puree and creamy bluefin o-toro with Iranian caviar. This was paired with Pillot’s fresh and refreshing Bourgogne Aligote. Aligote is the lesser-known white grape of Burgundy, taking a back seat to the rich and ageworthy Chardonnay. Nonetheless, Pillot’s Aligote is clean, light and crisp: a perfect match to light summer seafood dishes.
Next came the lasagna of ramps and cepes with herb emulsion, paired with Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Mazure 2006. When I asked Thierry about his opinion on the 2006 vintage, which follows a much-hyped vintage in 2005, he told me that as a matter of fact, he much prefers 2006 for drinking now. “2005 was for the journalists,” he said. “And yes, it should age well. But for drinking now…no question 2006 is better.” His “Les Mazures” is a perfect example of this: rich and buttery but with a balancing minerality, it’s showing beautifully now. This was perhaps my favorite of the Pillot wines for price and quality for current drinking.
Next came perfectly prepared roast Maine lobster with baby asparagus, morels and Chassagne-Montrachet butter (nice touch), paired with two Premier Crus: Domaine Paul Pillot 1er Cru Champs Gains 2006 and 1er Cru La Romanee 2006. Both single-vineyard wines, these were stunning and only promised to improve with age. The Champs Gains showed lovely stone fruits and a bit more buttery richness upfront, while the chalky minerality in the La Romanee showed through even more and promised to be the best-ageing of the lot.
We finished up with a course of spring lamb prepared three ways, paired with Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge Vielles Vignes 2006. This is a lovely young Burgundian Pinot, with more red cherry fruit showing through than earth right now, but with enough underlying complexity that it should show interesting evolution over the coming years.
Thoroughly stuffed and satisfied from such a well-matched dinner, all of our guests reclined and lingered over the cheese course, finishing up their last drops of La Romanee and Vielles Vignes and conjuring up plans for their next trips to Burgundy, all hoping to see Theirry and his wines somewhere along the way… we’ll try to restrain ourselves from crashing the wedding in July, Thierry, but if the wine runs out here in NJ, we may not be able to keep them away!