Burgundy Producers who will taste with non-french speakers?

WINE TALK
1

We are going to be in burgundy in February. Which producers would you guys recommend that we can taste at and hopefully buy some wine. We will probablly do Drouhin and Jadot just cause those are easy to set up and saw Kieth’s recommendation on Ardhury. Anyone else? FWIW, I speak very little french.

Also, do most producers allow one to buy while visiting?

2

Berry -

Try and learn some French. Making an effort will go a long way and show your host some respect which will be well received. You don’t need to be completely conversational, rudimentary/basic French is enough. You will be surprised how many words you probably already know: elevage, tonnaire, batonage, cepage, etc. Since I suspect this will be a special trip for you, get out and see the domaines that interest you. Rousseau, Dujac, Bouchard, Arnoux are all good and recommended. Alex Gambal is an American negociante in Beaune. Give them lots of advance notice. See if you can get in touch with Becky Wasserman. Fortunately for you Feb. should be less busy for them. Check websites. Contact your shop owner and have them hook you up with a distributor/importer for some other connections. And whatever you do, go to Ma Cuisine in Beaune at least once. Have a great trip. You’re going to a special place, you’ll never forget it.

3

A lot of small producers have representatives that can schedule visits that might not otherwise be possible. I think if you can get from the US importer to those people, you could find some really interesting visits. I went as part of a group of seven people in November and virtually all our visits were arranged by, if not attended by, those reps. The reps speak English quite well.

4

Anne Gros is very charming (nice sense of humor too), speaks English well, does tastings and you can buy bottles. Another one would be Domaine Daniel Rion - I like their wines and they are very accommodating. English at these two domaines is not a problem.

5

Thanks again for the help everyone.

Got these appointments.

Thursday - Drouhin (10:30 in Beaune), Patrice Rion (5PM in NSG)
Friday - Duband (10:30), Henri Jouan (2:00)
Monday - Dujac (10 AM), Mugneret-Gibourg (2:30)

6

Berry,
Try Olivier Leflaive. Great guy, good English and a collector of large formats. If you want to “announce your presence with authority,” bring along a mag of something. His quality has improved quit a bit, to my palate since I was there many moons ago.