Three things have caught my eye in the last days:
- “My father favours wines that are big, tannic and my direction is the opposite” – Erwan Faiveley
- “Aubert de Villaine, co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has said the 2015 vintage ranks as perhaps the most remarkable of his half a century long career” which makes an interesting counterpoint to some of his words when I tasted at the domaine in December 2016. But ‘remarkable’ is not automatically the same as ‘great’ – eh? – link
- Finally: In association with the work for ‘Climats / UNESCO World Heritage’ there is finally news that the signatures are in place for the project to build “Cité des Vins dedicated to the region’s wines and Climats.” The local representatives look happy in the picture above, courtesy the BIVB. The plan is to build close to the centre of Beaune, the Cité to be constructed near the Palais des Congrès, part of a 10-hectare complex including a five-star hotel, two restaurants, a shopping mall and reception centre. The plan is “to create the entertaining, educational, and cultural structures this project represents.”
The plan is that this should be opening to the public in early 2021 and represents an investment of €16.6 million coming from Chablis, Mâcon and roughly two-thirds of the cash from Beaune. I honestly see this project, at a time of unsustainable wine pricing, having the potential to be a huge, not to mention expensive, white elephant. But I will be very, very happy to be proved an old pessimist 🙂
There are 2 responses to “icymi – erwan’s changes, ‘remarkable’ & hopefully no white elephants”
Bill, as we have found out in the UK, when the things you make are no longer economically viable or wanted and industries implode, its good to have a tourism industry to fall back on !
I look forward to a Paris TGV/Eurostar all the way to Beaune !
Well Jon,
Beaune is on the TGV line from Marseille to Dijon – but was dropped as a TGV stopping place about 2 years ago – maybe that’s the next job for Aubert and Guillaume – re-instating the train stop. I expect that particular part of French beaurocracy may be more onerous than becoming a world heritage site 🙂
I am not optimistic about the economic potential of “Climat World.” What will it offer to a Burgundy lover that isn’t already in the Cote d’Or? A giant tasting room? Tour buses? A big part of the charm of the region is its intimacy. Why screw it up?
With regard to pricing, here in the US we are already seeing higher pricing for the 2015 vintage. I’ll not buy at these levels. The recent drop in the dollar will only make things worse.