In the picture: Gilles de Larouziere

As I stepped down from the taxi at Château Les Aulnois, Henriot’s visitor’s base in Pierry, Monsieur de Larouziere emerged from the front door smiling, shook my hand and lead me into the hall. I was pleased to feel that it was still a home rather than a glitzy Airbnb for well-heeled clients. We sat in the salon to discuss the outline of the next two days over simple glasses of fizzy water, and then Gilles, as I now felt I should call him, carried my case upstairs and showed me to my room. When I later remarked on his carrying my bag he merely smiled and said that the sermon that Sunday morning had been about practising humility. I realised I had quite a few preconceptions about my subject to overcome. We were to eat out that evening and I had an hour to refresh myself and call home.

My good friend, Champagne expert and one-time restaurant assessor for Egon Ronay, Michael Edwards had once told me that his favourite place to eat in Champagne was the Royal Champagne Hotel at Champillon, with its impressive view of Epernay across the vineyards of Dizy and Hautvillers. In almost twenty years of visiting, I had never been entertained there, but this year I was about to enjoy the experience for a second time in six months! The evening view from the terrace is remarkable and I wondered, briefly, how I deserved this treat before sitting back and enjoying it!

Monday morning brought coffee, croissants, fresh orange juice, a bowl of fresh raspberries and an early start. Gilles lost no time beating the harvesters to Mutigny to watch the Pinot Noir being brought up the slope. A visit to Aÿ followed, before heading south to see grape providers around Sillery. Old-school farmers, who know what is what, treated Gilles with great respect as he asked all the right questions. Then a late lunch at Les Aulnois and some portraits around the house before heading down the autoroute to Beaune. More chat, and I hear more about advice he received from Aubert de Villaine and Guillaume d’Angerville when he first took over responsibility for Bouchard Pere et Fils.

Hospitality at Château de Beaune had been something I had often wondered about and that night I shared dinner there with Gilles, Michael G Etzel and son Mikey, a visiting Oregonian father and son who owned an estate in Oregon’s Willamette Valley that Maison and Domaines Henriot had recently invested in. Again, everything was homely and the conversation down-to-earth and relaxed, but in such company, I know to listen rather than speak. Before dinner I had time to investigate the salon’s library and searched hard to see if there was a copy of my books on the Hill of Corton and the Côte Chalonnaise. I was somewhat surprised and rather proud to eventually find them and boldly left each open on the coffee table.

By the time my final day with Gilles dawned we were already at the cabotte in one of the late Joseph Henriot’s favourite pieces of Burgundy; the Beaune vineyard of Greves L’Enfant Jesus.
As the sun rose, its first warm light flooded the scene where Bouchard’s pickers were already at work and gradually discarded the first layers of clothing as the sun got higher. We had agreed it might be a good time of day to visit another of their parcels on the eastern slope of Corton Hill, a short drive to the north. Parking at the end of a concrete track beside their large cabotte, we descended to yet more pickers with Gilles was keen to taste the grapes. Here, as in Champagne, Gilles is constantly picking a grape and chewing it, quality-controlling as he goes. Heading back to the car we meet Bouchard’s winemaker, the tall, lean, bespectacled Frederic Weber, a man with an eye for detail and a taste for precision. Clutching a handful of plastic bags, he was collecting Chardonnay samples for analysis.

Then it was along the backstreets of Beaune, through Pommard, past Volnay, down to Meursault, passing the new Bouchard stone plaque at Les Genevrières, whose chardonnay we were to meet later in Beaune.
I was impressed to see Gilles knows the unexpected ruts that cross the vineyard roads, channelling rain water down the tarmac rather than through the vineyards. It was obvious that what I had realised earlier was true. Nothing escapes him. The end of our tour is, unsurprisingly, Montrachet. Bouchard’s jewel in the crown. Approaching Chassagne-Montrachet, Gilles took a rough track on the right and we climb above the Montrachet of Lafon, Leflaive and Romanée-Conti to Bouchard’s “Cabotte” section of Montrachet

At my request he sits on the shallow stone steps below the Cabotte enjoying the weather and the view. I can tell he is happy to have dust on his shoes but he was soon up on his feet, and we agree it’s time for a little breakfast. Puligny-Montrachet’s Hotel Le Montrachet is handy, comfortable and offers a great breakfast in a dining room decorated with black-and-white portraits of the local winemaking talent. I don’t think Gilles is a regular here; he is just kindly taking care of me as we have both been running on a single coffee since before dawn ! Then to the Cuverie St Vincent just outside Beaune where we met the Etzels, “pere et fils” admiring the incoming chardonnay and their speciality, Pinot Noir. Gilles gives them a tour while he conducts his own inspection of proceedings amid the organised action of a busy harvest morning, talking and listening intently to the workers on the press and triage table before checking the fermentation vats.

Satisfied with our morning’s work, Gilles and I returned to lunch at the Château de Beaune, tucked behind the town ramparts, with its green and yellow tiled roof conveniently right across the Rue du Château from the Bouchard offices. Next up are a few more portraits in the cellars of the Château with so many old vintages, then Gilles must depart for Paris, and I get a lift to my next Beaune B&B with my photographer friend Thierry and his wife Christine.

A busy two days have passed too quickly, now I have a mountain of picture editing and time to reflect on the experience, some would say privilege, of two days I spent watching my subject work, and no doubt being observed myself, by the President of Maisons and Domaines Henriot. Now it’s all over I am suddenly struck by the faith and trust shown in me. So, Gilles, if you are happy with your pictures, how about a trip to Oregon next time…?