Domaine Claude Dugat Charmes-Chambertin / Griotte-Chambertin Dinner

Claude Dugat is a humble, shy, warm-hearted and generous man, and maker of some of the most terrific and highly coveted Gevrey-Chambertins it is possible (and usually not possible) to buy. There is a quiet seriousness of purpose with Dugat. He spends almost all of his time in his small vineyard parcels, alongside his beloved working horse Jonquille. A visit to his ancient cellar (the oldest parts of which are Roman in origin) is to experience the extraordinary depth and natural, unpushed concentration and dazzling fruit of his wines. Everything tastes at least a step up from the appellation chalked on the barrel – the Bourgogne like a good village Gevrey, the Gevrey like a good premier cru, the premier crus like grands crus… but when you taste his Charmes-Chambertin and his Griottes-Chambertin you see the pinnacle of what can be achieved here. To taste any of Dugat’s grands crus is a rare experience. He makes very little from his low-yielding plots. But to taste these contrasting terroirs side by side in seven vintage pairs, and to do so in the company of Allen Meadows, and Claude Dugat, who will travel for his first time to Hong Kong, is Burglover nirvana.