I’m planning a wine tasting trip to burgundy and trying to figure out the best way to do tasting - winery visits? restaurants? distributors in town?
I have been to Napa and found wineries are typically the best way to taste, but it seems that many of the nicer Burgundy wineries are difficult to get reservations at…
I’m not looking at BBM or DRC (would love to, but not in the budget), but happy to try high(er) end places that are overpriced or rare in the US and more approachable in country.
First you need to decide who you want to visit. Then start by sending emails to a bunch and see if you get any takers. The bigger negociant houses are going to be your best bet.
If you are willing to spend the money, use people like Steen or Bill Nanson as guides. It is pricey but they can tailor the trip to the places you want to visit. If you have personal relationships with importers or distributors, that is a real plus and will help. They can assist you. If you speak French it is a huge plus in some circles. Wishing you the best here. It is not like the distant past. It is difficult even for those who have visited multiple times.
These are some great ideas. I’m planning on October, so that might make things trickier as everyone is busy.
So I don’t understand exactly what “the big negociant houses” are. This has always confused me about french wines - are like the bottler? Do they own each of the wineries under them?
And if they have places to visit to do tastings, what are the best ones to try and get into?
Negociant houses buy wines from different producers in an area and bottle it under their own label. Or they buy grapes that they vinify themselves and bottle under their own label. They may also make their wine.
Historically they didn’t own any land but produced wine from purchased grapes or just purchased and bottled existing wine under their label. These days many of them actually own some, most or all of their vines.
Faiveley, Bouchard, Drouhin, Jadot, Latour, etc.
They are big operations so they have large tasting rooms that are essentially available to anyone with various tasting options.
Which is why we are talking about historically negociant houses. Most still do negoce but I think Bouchard has recently stopped producing any negoce, but they are still historically a negociant house, which makes them a big house for the purposes of accessing their tasting room.
Do you buy Burgundy ? If so, if you have a relationship with the store, ask them for help in arranging visits.
If that doesn’t work, reach out to guides with the connections to get you bookings, and drive you. Someone mentioned Bill Nanson who is a good source.
You can also contact the domaines you want to visit through their website and ask for an appointment. You might be surprised at the result.
One thing, you mentioned going in October, unless it’s the end of October, they might be harvesting and you could have serious problems getting appointments at that time .
Ah. But historically just means once was. I’m not knowledgeable about Burgundy, but, in the Rhone, the big negociant houses—Guigal or Jaboulet for instance—still produce negociant wine. Other big houses—Beaucastel and Pegau, say—buy other domaines and make the domaine wine from the domaines vineyards. Perhaps we should just speak of big houses.
Planning to stay in Beaune. Was thinking I might not need a car, but that is still unclear.
Hoping to taste more whites than reds.
Had kind of targeted 2 days of vineyard-type tasting (maybe 6 vineyards), but maybe try to do 1 day of vineyards and 1 day tasting in Beaune at the bigger houses - maybe patriarche, drouhin and leflaive?
Or mabye one day with a guide for smaller vineyards and 1 day at the bigger places like the ones above and maybe Faiveley?
Do you speak any French? If you do, you may want to contact Sabine at Marc Morey. She speaks some English but prefers French. Not sure she does visits in English anymore as she removed the English version of her website. But if you do speak French, it is a great visit and the wines are wonderful. Will need a car to get there.
I would recommend a car. I spent two weeks this past March in France visiting producers in the Rhone and Burgundy. I would also recommend reaching out to wineries via phone if possible and email (in French). Like mentioned above if connections are limited the big negociant houses will be easiest to book. Joseph Drouhin in Beaune city center was a nice visit. You mentioned wanting to taste more whites than red, I would highly recommend spending a full day and night in Chablis. Super small and quaint town and the drive is beautiful coming from Beaune. Its easier in my experience to setup tastings in Chablis if you dont have connections compared to Cote d’Or.