What an evening! The 2015 harvest was all in and by all accounts looks superb at Clos de Tart as Sylvain Pitiot passes the baton to Jacques Devauges, formerly of Domaine de L’Arlot and Clos de Vougeraie.
We were a small gathering including many luminaries of the wine world, meeting on a glorious late summer’s evening to celebrate Sylvain Pitiot’s transformative 20 years at Clos de Tart, placing this great estate, once again, at the very top level, where it rightfully belongs.
A golden era
Sylvain had already shone in his younger years, as a cartographer. His terrific, wonderfully detailed maps of Burgundy embellish many of our walls – detailed, informative, educational and beautiful works of art. Sylvain’s appreciation of detail, combined with the wholesale support of the Mommesin family, has restored this wonderful property. The mysterious, almost mystical atmosphere still resonates today, alongside state of the art facilities, selected to complement nature’s bounty, in the pursuit of perfection.
Courageously, at this at times emotional event, Sylvain set out his stall with all of the vintages he had made, keen to present a clear and honest narrative of his tenure – most revealing.
Although the vintages were obviously nuanced by what occurred during the growing season there was a hallmark blend of freshness, aromatics and elegance throughout.
Tasting from 2014 back to 1996, we were given a comprehensive insight into Sylvain’s translation of each year, some of the wines being re- shown at dinner, in their proper place, as an accompaniment to food, dinner was prepared by Thomas Le Courbe.
How did it taste?
The scores we awarded at the tasting are mainly high, as they should be, Clos de Tart being only one of five grand cru monopoles, in Burgundy- fabulously sited. Considered as underachiever in past years it is increasingly stellar in its ambitions and Jacques Devauges is clearly excited about taking the property to the highest possible level.
Judging from our scores, out of 20 as ever, Sylvain got the measure of Clos de Tart from the outset, 1996 getting 17.5 from Adam Brett-Smith and 18.5 from me – a rather decadent wine with evolved, savoury notes allied to lovely freshness and texture. His second vintage 1997 was, for me, almost the wine of the tasting as it was such a surprise – delectable, sweet and perfumed – pure Pinot, at its finest, scoring 19+ (Adam 18 to (19)). Unsurprisingly 2005, 2009 and 2010 were very high scorers and the most recent wines, 2014 included (18 from both of us at this stage), showed really well. These are snapshots only, of course, and the wines are transformed when savoured with food alongside friends.
Seated between Sylvan Pitiot and Aubert de Villaine, I was in seventh heaven – a perfect evening, resonating with enthusiasm and massive respect for all that Sylvain has accomplished – although he is, of course, retiring much too early.