One of the highlights, for me, of any journey to the South of France is a trip to Beaugravière, conveniently situated a few miles off the autoroute, North of Orange. I was first introduced to this restaurant by François Perrin of Château de Beaucastel over 25 years ago and have been coming back on a regular basis ever since. The 3 bedrooms are, shall we say, "basic". The setting is completely unpretentious and a little noisy – the "route nationale" on one side and a train line on the other. The food is good, classic old school French with lots of truffles, but not fancy. The waiter wears a bow tie but we didn’t feel out of place in jeans and tee shirts.
This is a place that you would probably drive straight past if you weren’t "in the know". But, for those who have been tipped off, here you will find one of the greatest lists of Rhône and Burgundy wines in the world – and at very modest prices too.
La Beaugravière
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After an eleven hour drive from London (700 miles door to door) it all seems immediately worthwhile for a tired wine lover on first glimpse of the enormous list. It seems even bigger than ever. Today we were torn between so many amazing wines that Madame was getting bored of waiting for our order – but I imagine that she’s used to that.
Where do you start? There is a line-up here of all the great whites of the Rhône Valley (yes I know, that is a bit of an oxymoron) but what really catches the eye is the extraordinary list of great white Burgundies from top producers and vineyards from Mâcon to Montrachet DRC. There are 14 consecutive vintages of Montrachet Comte Lafon – what a tasting that would be! If only I had Ian Mill with me and 12 other friends and we could do the lot! There are also vast quantities of Lafon’s Meursaults – 9 vintages of Perrières, 11 of Genevrières, 11 of Charmes, 10 of Clos de la Barre, 11 of Desirée and 16 of village. If Lafon is not your favourite, then there are 20 wines from Coche Dury, including his legendary Perrières at 220 euros a bottle.
The Beaucastel Page
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However, as tempting as these whites may be, red wine is the star of the show. There are still 22 vintages of Hermitage Rouge Chave on offer, Hermitage la Chapelle back to 1929, 12 vintages of Jamet, 11 vintages of Clape, 20 vintages of Trevallon (including jeroboams of 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991), 20 vintages of Beaucastel (including Hommage à Jacques Perrin 1978 in bottle, magnum and jeroboam), 24 vintages of Clos des Papes, 15 vintages of Mont Redon (including 1964, 1961 and 1959 – also 1970 in jeroboam), 9 vintages of Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah….the list goes on and on. And then you get to the Guigal pages. 19 vintages of La Turque, 23 vintages of La Landonne and 17 of La Mouline.
As it was only me and two of the kids I decided (eventually….) to go for a couple of great wines that were at particularly modest prices – in fact both were under 100 euros including tax and service.
Having had Domaine Saint Prefert’s “Collection Charles Giraud” 2009 in London the day before with Oliver East, Tom Ashworth and Jason Yapp, my eyes were drawn to Isabelle Ferrando’s brilliant 2007 vintage. This is a wine that receives a perfect 100 points from Robert Parker and I’ve loved it every time I’ve tasted it. Despite the 15.5 degrees, it is smooth and sophisticated with masses of red cherry fruit. Made from 40% Mourvèdre and 60% Grenache it somehow has the sweetness of an exotic new world Pinot Noir and my 16 year old gulped it down with a plate of hot foie gras. Don’t tell his Mum.
Clape and Saint Prefert
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Our next bottle was from the Northern Rhône. Cornas 1999 Clape is now just reaching maturity and what a wonderful bottle of Syrah this is. Still a deep colour, rich and powerful but with fabulous backbone and “grip”. A wine of real structure and definition. Quite sternly tannic on its own but utterly brilliant with rich food (I had Poulet de Bresse stuffed with black truffles).
Oh, and if you’d like to finish with something sweet at Beaugravière then you can do it in style with what must be just about the rarest pair of white wines in the world – Château Rayas liquoreux 1955 and 1945. Maybe next time………
Some of the Guigals
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