Teeth of the Dog and Mac and Cheese

Today we attacked St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien (literally large flat stones shaped like dog’s teeth). As you know this is one, if not my favorite vineyard. It always gives us terrific grapes with a subtle richenss mirrored by a summer hot rock stoniness. Our guys from the sheltered workshop started at 8:00 in thick fog. It was very strange; you literally could not see from one end of the vineyard to the other. The crew worked hard and got about 80% done by 1:00. We finished up in the evening from 5-6:30 under perfect blue skies. Interestingly, exactly the same volume as last year; 265 boxes of grapes.

By the way, after our fiasco in Puligny-Montrachet last, night we finally returned to the cuverie after 8PM. The call was made to punt and attack the Vosne first thing in the morning. We have put all of the grapes on our “Lucy” sorting table but there is very little to throw out. Honestly, I am so amazed at the condition of the grapes; clean as they can get.

If there is one meal that is the most sought after from Chef Henry, it is his legendary Mac and Cheese with bangers. The recipe is guarded a closely as that of the formula of Coca-Cola but I can tell you it includes copious amounts of creme fresh, compte and guyere cheese and then overnight in the refreigerator. The part that is still secret is how he gets the crispy bits on top; devine does not begin to describe it. This year he and Stacia went a step further.  Not only did we have bangers, but also tomato farci made with their own mix of hamburger and sausage. Nuf said.