The Reds and Whites of Burgundy

The oldest red Burgundy I found in Mademoiselle Vivette’s cellar was the 1946 Pommard, Hospice de Beaune, Dames de la Charité, which was a perfect example of her cost-saving technique. The year 1946, especially in Pommard, was definitely “unfashionable.” The wines were considered to be hard and tannic. Yet this particular wine, which Mademoiselle Vivette had been advised to buy in the early fifties and which she had judged by her own tasting to be above the average, had developed magnificendy and had proved to be an outstanding investment. For conservative guests of the Auberge who demanded famous names on their wine labels, she also had some of the great vintages of the past decades—the 1957 and 1961 vintages of the Clos Vougeot of Morin and the Musigny of Count de Vogué; the 1959 vintages of Le Cotton, Les Grands Echézeaux, and the Volnay of Thénard; the 1964 vintages of Chambertin-Clos de Bèze and Les Richebourg. Also, for guests with slimmer pocketbooks, there were various vintages by various producers of the almost always excellent Côtes de Beaune-Villages.