Right. It’s been a short while since I’ve added an update. Burgundy has been amazing. The region is similar, yet different than I had expected. For one, by car, the region is a lot larger than I had expected. The villages themselves are intimate places with Boulangeries (bakeries), Bistros, and churches standing tall with ringing bells that bring in the hour, every hour. Looking in from the Route de Grand Vins you pass by many villages. They look so tiny from the road at times in front of rolling hills of vines, yet once inside the villages, there is so much life to see.

Each village is different. Sure, Burgundy is Burgundy, I thought before visiting. Yet, the vineyards aren’t the only thing showing complexity within a tiny amount of space. The food tastes different, the people are different and the experience is completely unique depending on which village you find yourself in.

Living in Burgundy has been going quite well. When I say living, I don’t mean when we were in hotels. We decided to rent a house in Savigny les Beaune after leaving Puligny-Montrachet to see how it was to walk the roads, buy at the market, cook at home- clean up, basically treating it as if we were at home. We managed well, much better than our first try at the supermarche in Paris. In that instance, while our items were rung up, I watched the clerk and the prices fly by. Well, after I paid we noticed the collected lot of items sitting there, waiting to be bagged. With a large line behind us we went scurrying for bags. No bags? Turns out that we needed to purchase the bags that we were to use. Out in the US, we have a bagger and the bagger has the supplied bag. Different system, small detail, but to say the least it was as if someone turned on the blinking neon red ‘Foreigner Alert’ sign above our heads. We learned from that experienced and were actually able to later help others in similar situations.

As many things are different out here, its amazing how comfortable how many things are the same. The feeling of comfort, kindness of people (rare at times in both places, but still present and welcomed), and general activites are enough of a foundation that will make the move less complicated. Nothing you read about a place tells the full story of how you yourself will feel once there. And having a place feel right is a great feeling.

While in Savigny les Beaune I also met with more courtiers (brokers) that assured me that getting 1er Cru fruit and above is quite likely in this economic landscape. I have been looking at a few very interesting vineyards in both the Cote de Nuits and the Cote de Beaune. One vineyard in Nuits Saint George is quite interesting. The vineyard lies on the side nearest Vosne Romanee, very rocky soil, certified organic, vine age of around 45 years old generally and the owners flat out know what is best for the vines and soil. The vineyard is Village level, though the wine should be fairly interesting. I also checked out a 1er Cru in Aloxe-Corton in bold reddish orange soil, huge stones laying on the topsoil, peaking through and buried a good way below. The vines are said to be just a bit older than those at the NSG parcel I viewed just before. It’s not certified organic, but this is the first year they have been doing things organically, and the soil has been responding well with a bunch of topsoil growth.

While we were in the vineyards, the courtier stayed in the car due to a bit of rain making the soil damp. It was interesting to see how the different soils reacted to the same rains. Holding the soil in your hands on a less than perfect day gives you a better idea about what you are working with than simply looking at a photo or asking someone what they saw while visiting the site. I’m digging in deeper to see what else can turn up. Once I have my negociant number setup I will be able to access more fruit options. This should take possibly two more months.

Before visiting Burgundy, one question bugged me. ‘If I do find grapes, where in the world am I going to make the wine?’ The production of wines in Burgundy are so low that you cannot expect to find much room if any to make wine short of buying a domaine with a cellar, which is actually hard to find. I was after something a bit more difficult still. I wanted to find a facility that I could share while using some of the equipment such as sorting table, vibrating table, destemmer, etc. I was open to whatever humble facility that would be actually sound for quality wine making.

As it turns out, Olivier Leflaive connected me with a good friend that has room in his facility in Beaune Centre, and is allowing me to rent space for everything from harvest equipment to room to store my wines below in the cellar after making the wine above in the winery. The facility is quite large and the equipment is top notch. A few offices in the front are being taken down to expand the space of the winery. I’m not quite sure I can mention the winemaker’s name just yet, but I am quite thankful for this opportunity to work in the same cellar as this talented and generous fellow. I seriously couldn’t be happier with a different location and team to work with in the cellar. I will be sure to fill in more details when I can. 😉