A weekend in Burgundy

My Dad has always been a keen collector of wine and this is something that I have tried to pick up an appreciation for. From eating and drinking at home, as well as visiting France, drinking wine from bottles with labels from Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Aloxe-Corton and Pommard contained wine of an incredible quality. There were aromas and tastes that were sometimes so intense and complex, and often from wine that was older than I was. Burgundy wine is expensive, but you pay for quality. My mouth waters just thinking about the wines from this region.

When I came to France, I became friends with Christophe. Christophe was working in my team at HP and is a Frenchman who is passionate about life in France, and especially wine from the Burgundy region. It helps that Christophe and his family originate from the heart of the Burgundy, from a little village called Auxey-Duresses, and this weekend we left Grenoble for a weekend in the Burgundy hills.

Burgundy is only a two and a half hour drive from Grenoble and we had predicted weather in the low 30's. The area looked as if it hadn't missed the drought in France as the grass was yellow, the ground around the vines was brown and dry, but the leaves were green on the vines and the grapes were plentiful. There would still be another two weeks until they would be harvested, although in Beaujolais, 100 kilometres south, the harvest would start this week.

Beaune is the largest town in the region around Auxey Duresses, and was busy with shoppers buying fruit, vegetables and clothes. The voices in the air were a mixture of nationalities from French to English to voices that sounded Norwegian in tone. The cafes were busy, and as with the little villages, everything in Beaune was prestine and clean.

The Burgundy region is a beautiful area of France. The plains are full of vines before the hills rise up, again covered in green vines. The famous wine villages sit on the edge of the hills and plains.

We visited the cellar of Vincent Prunier, a close friend of Christophe and his family. Vincent is one of a number of the Prunier family who produce wine in Auxey, and like most wine producers, Vincent has little pockets of vines in different villages in the area. He may have been based in Auxey Duresses, but we were able to sample his wine from his vines in Auxey Duresses, Mersault and Puligny-Montrachet amongst other places.

It was a nice and informal tasting with Christophe and Vincent catching up on news as well as giving me the opportunity to ask Vincent about wine production. It seems that things are a little more difficult in the wine business this year. He spoke of the opportunities to buy vines in the different vineyards. Apparently, a large parcel of land in Pommard has become available and you'd be looking at needing over 600,000 Euro or 400,000 UK pounds to invest in it. I wonder how many of us would dream about doing that for a job rather than being sat being a computer screen?

He also spoke regarding how wine production is now tracked. Three times a year, the vines will be checked by officials so that they can estimate how much wine will be produced. Vincent also has to note down not only the wine bought, but the wine he has personally drunk as well as the wine that has been tasted in the cave.

I started by tasting the smaller white wines before moving onto the more expensive wines. We did of course have the opportunity to spit the wine out, but I didn't do that. It was only a short walk home and I wouldn't need to drive that evening. That was my excuse anyway.

From doing further reading, it seems as Burgandy has not suffered as much as other well known regions in France. Compared to 2004, exports from Bordeaux are down by over 11 percent, and nearly 18 percent in value, and in the Cotes de Rhone region, exports are down by over 10 percent and nearly 22 percent in value. In contrast, exports from the Burgundy region are down nearly two percent and just under five percent in value.

I left Burgundy with 12 bottles for Christmas. Whether they actually last that long is another story, but it will be a complete pleasure drinking them.