a guest exclaims, entering the ground floor reception area of the famous Clos de Vougeot and seeing handsomely uniformed waiters pouring tastes of the region's finest red and white wines. The clever thing is that ALL the wines are tasted blind. It was called the Association Commerciale Vinicole de l'Arrondissement de Beaune.

This was my 3rd time at the event (which takes place every two years) and involves tasting the wines of various regions each day of the week. The tasting was fabulous and is quickly becoming one of my favorite regions. Friday Cote de Beaune. Fabulous 11th edition of the Grands Jours for trade and media in Burgundy.

Fabulous two days of tasting at Diva Beaune, a small event in conjunction with the Grands Jours de Bourgogne where small producers as well as major names and brands poured wine. Burgundy News diva beaunediscovered many talented small producers here. Didier et Jean Louis AMIOT. Domaine Robert AMPEAU et Fils. Domaine de l'ARLOT.

Today journalists had the opportunity to taste the 2010 vintage of Joseph Drouhin at Benoit in Manhattan. The reds (Clos des Mouches red, Cote de Beaune and Cote de Beaune village, Rully, Clos de Vougeot, Chambolle-Musigny) were all very elegant with just a touch of oak to add structure and soften the tannins in some places.

Incidentally, Ruth Reichl gave some tips last week on Gilt Taste about how to make grilled cheese better, including grating the cheese and adding a thin layer of mayo!) Bryan, who asked the question originally, said he went with Australian cheddar and a Simon Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 2009. Is food-wine pairing dead? Never!

In my somewhat limited experience, the wines can be rustic and are not as pretty as the wines from neighboring Volnay, for example, or even compared with wines from "lesser" appellations such as Savigny-Lès Beaune. Some one poured a glass through a filter and the wine brightened some, but to me the smell and taste was unchanged.

Erwan shelled out for a new vertical press at the winery, paid more attention to the wood for barrels, and purchased vineyards in the Cotes de Beaune, including two acres in Batard-Montrachet. It’s no secret in Burgundy and beyond that Faiveley has been on a roll. So when Erwan took over in 2005, he was careful not to rock the boat.

South Africa has more than its fair share of gorgeous tasting rooms – yet visiting Nederburg in Paarl, the fabulous scenery upon arrival, the immaculate cool and refreshing entrance to the tasting room, and the appearance of the fun, friendly, and gregarious cellar master Razvan Macici make this an extra-special visit. News S.

You can see all the producer visits here , but today we are visiting Clos de la Perriere, Domaine Gallois, Domaine LaMarche, Domane Meo Camuzet (the picture above is a barrel of wine that Jeanne-Marie bought at the Hospieces de Beaune, which is being raised by Meo Camuzet) and Chateau de la Maltroye. "I like a good farmer!" I have told her.

As we enter the bright winery with its glass-enclosed walls we are met by Pierre, an assistant winemaker, who leads us down to the cellar and invites us to taste an assortment of wines. Jeanne-Marie De Champs News Vosne Romanee Domaine Méo-Camuzet elevate hospieces de beaune jeanne-marie de champs

Fabulous comparative tasting with Anthony Hanson with 2005 and 2009. Just compared Nicholas Rolin Beaune first Cru and Volnay Santenots cuvée Jehan de Massol More to come.

Wine lovers in New York are gearing up for the The 151st Wine Auction of the Hospices de Beaune will take place November 20, 2011 in Beaune. Last night (Monday, October 24th, 2011) I attended a tasting at Christie's, the auction house, of some of the wines that will be offered -- you can see the list below. Magical Journey".

You can see to Dijon and almost to Beaune. That's not a good way to taste. The way they taste, I won't do it. This is the final post about my conversation with Jean-Marie Fourrier. It was an honor and a pleasure to interview him, and I hope that you've enjoyed reading about it. BG: I want to ask you about farming. Jacques.

JMF: For my generation, we all had to go to wine school in Beaune in the 1980's. My father kicked him out of the cellar and said to him "My job is to make wine, your job is to taste it, not to tell me how to make it." Neal Rosenthal came to visit in 1996 and he tasted the wines and said that the wine was good, but not overly exciting.

It tasted like butterscotch and Madeira after 10 minutes open and showed almost nothing of why Corton-Charlemagne can be great, especially in the hands of perhaps its most classically revered producer. We then had two wines from the Grèves vineyard in Beaune. 1989 Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Grèves , $65. It's also a challenge.

so if you are reading this for the first time, before reading the "tale" below you should know that the goal of this exercise is to taste wines blind and deduce the vintage, grape, and other matters of importance. immediately thought the Cote de Beaune for it seemed like a red wine produced in a region better known for white wines.

It's interesting to see the way your own tastes change, to put yourself back in the mindset of making these decisions. 2005 Paul Pernot Beaune Clos du Dessus des Marconnets , $23, Fruit of the Vines Imports. The results have not been terribly impressive so far. Kind of like reading an old journal entry. Live and learn.

first met Anne - very briefly - at a tasting by women winemakers in Pommard a few years ago. In my last travels to Beaune in November I ordered wine from Beaune quite a bit, impressed by the flavor profile and value. will speak of the three whites together, as each seemed a good example of their terroir.

Dinner at Clos Vougeot was the highlight for many at the festivities surrounding Hospices de Beaune, yet every aspect of it was educational and broadening. For me, the day began walking from Beaune to the Palais de Congres in the rain and attending the 11:30 special presentation of 2007 and 2008 Chablis Grand Cru and Cote de Nuits-Villages.

Extremely honored to be present at the Domaine Lamarche La Grande Rue verticle in Vosne Romanee just before the 2010 Hospices de Beaune auction on November 18. Jeanne-Marie De Champs helped orchestrate this fabulous tasting of top wine writers, critics, and other experts, including Master of Wine and journalist Clive Coastes.

Rapet is a energetic, compact man with dark hair and a curious resemblance to his forefathers whose ancient black and white photograph occupies a wall of the tasting room. Rapet eagerly guides us through a tasting of his excellent wines, which begins with a barrel fermented Aligote 09 matured in 20% new French oak (pressed, no crushing).

“Welcome,&# says Jean-Baptiste, an energetic dark-haired man, ushering us inside his very modern tasting room of this newly built structure. tall young receptionist leads us to the chandelier-lit tasting table and we are given glasses for the tasting of 2009s to follow. It is aged in old oak barrels and quite refreshing.

Her taste and specifications for those producers in her collection is very high, so I look forward to meeting the four producers she has chosen for our visit. The Tasting. The first wine we taste is the En Remilly, yet we taste before malolactic fermentation. No Coats Needed in the Cellar.

Today Sylvain is giving me a tour of the property and a tasting. It is November, very chilly, and in Beaune the region is gearing up for the Hospices de Beaune. In the cellar, Sylvain selects red wine from several barrels for a tasting of the 2010 and 2009 and 2008 vintage, including the 06 Foret St. George. The Cellar.

Chinese film star inaugurated the annual Hospice de Beaune auction, where the catalogues also had Mandarin on the cover. Tags: tasting sized pours SIPPED: critiquing the critics. Robert De Niro honors Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic achievements–by commenting on his wine (and their scores). LA Weekly ]. SIPPED: Lafitte.

Results are just in for the 150th Hospices de Beaune Auction, with 5,132,075 Million Euros raised for Charity and a record 400,000 Euro record price for "La Piece Des Presidents. Christie's organized the sale and also tastings of the wines of the Hospices Beaune all over the world. of the sale. Europe accounted for 85.5%

But not in the unripe sense, in otherwise ripe wines, it is a vegetal, raw cedar, seaweedy, unpleasant aroma and taste. Here are the wines we drank, in the order that we drank them with our dinner: Jean-Marc Morey Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. also thought Morey's Beaune Grèves was in a good spot for immediate drinking. Vivant.

macon tasting. After tasting nearly a week of ’08 it was great to taste the library wines. had met them both in New York when they had led a tasting for the popular London Lennie’s restaurant. We had navigation but very curious if we would find their house in a village outside Beaune. link].

It was a gorgeous day and I was in the mood to taste some delicious wine. This tasting was a bit rushed, as there were two other tastings to attend that day … Clos de Vougeot and Vosne-Romanee, presented by the Clos de Vougeot Defence Association and the Richebourgh-Romanee Defense Association. View from hotel.

But I kid you not, the calendar has been so reliable that I'm starting to plan dinners and tastings around it. But when was the last time you drank (not tasted) 7 bottles of wine in an evening and every one of them was showed beautifully? I'm starting to believe in the influence of lunar cycles on wine. And there have been exceptions.

Yet tasting through the village level Chablis in the 2008 vintage at the Union des Grands Crus de Chablis tasting this past Monday any wine lover would be pleased to buy on this level. The wines I tasted were fresh and delightful with very high acidity and a strong mineral content. But where was my friend Panos?

Closer in quality to the top guns than Savigny-lès-Beaune is to Chambertin. They also reminded me of what Chablis is supposed to taste like - the fruit, the white flower, everything is infused with this seashell iodine character. It's not that I don't like Fèvre's wines, I haven't had enough of them to know for sure.

I had some of the fellas over the other night to have dinner and drink red wine from Savigny-lès-Beaune. Why Savigny-lès-Beaune? Still, I learned a lot from this, particularly about the differences in terroir within Savigny-lès-Beaune. Drinking them next to each other was a great lesson in Savigny-lès-Beaune terroir.

Becky works in Beaune and lives with her husband Russell in a village called Bouilland, in "the back coast" behind Savigny-lès-Beaune. was thinking about work as a bilingual receptionist at one of the Beaune hotels, but I knew a cooper in Saint Romain who asked a favor of me. BG: How did you get started in the wine business?

We couldn't decide on appetizers (called small lots ) because we wanted to taste them all. Savio Soares has a few wines on the list (Mouressipe from the Languedoc, Marcillet from Savigny-Les-Beaune, Héaulé from the Loire). love this area, actually, the stretch of 6th avenue between the Gowanus expressway and Greenwood Cemetery.

Last Wednesday, Christie’s opened their their Board Room doors for a tasting of 17 wines from the Hospices de Beaune, preceding the official auction that Christie’s has officiated since 2005. For Burgundy aficionados [.].

Born in Bavaria, trained as an architecture in Toulouse, Ludwig Binderangel got the wine bug, attended the viticole in Beaune. He had never even tasted Jura beforehand. Can you imagine tasting an oxidative wine for the first time after working with burgundy chardonnay and saying, what the hell, let's make that? Get that?

A friend recently hosted his tasting group and invited me as a stand-in. They were blind tasting 2004 white Burgundies, a great theme in and of itself. But the group added a fascinating wrinkle to this tasting. We agreed not to discuss during the tasting, and we got to work. And it tasted awful too. But unexciting.

recently drank a glorious bottle of 1995 Chandon de Briailles Corton-Clos du Roi , a bottle I purchased in December of 2008 while in Beaune. never tasted this wine young, and then decided that I would age it about 14 years before drinking the next bottle. Is that weird, to invest 12 years in a wine that I've never before tasted?

I recently had the distinct pleasure of participating in the Wine & Spirits Burgundy tasting panel. There were several days, each with more than one session of tasting. In one session we tasted Meursault, 21 wines from the 2007 vintage. love the Wine & Spirits tasting format. These wines are not easy to taste.

Here are some that moved me, along with a few impressions: 1995 Mount Eden Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains - if California wine tasted like this, I would drink lots of California wine. 1996 Michel Lafarge Beaune 1er Cru Grèves - I had so much fun drinking this wine. Top notch wine. Really intriguing wine. Great Beaujolais.

But here are some picks from their terrific tasting. Montchovet Such a sweet couple who run their domaine in Bouze les Beaune, not far from where Pacalet had his cellar. Anyway, they do a completely charming Bourgone Grand Ordinaire (gamay) and a kick ass cremant and a 2003 hautes cotes de beaune very worth drinking.

Why is this 2005 Bourgogne lovely and the above two not as lovely, my personal taste aside? Leclerc's Bourgogne vines are in Gevrey somewhere, and perhaps they experienced more favorable climate than the Savigny-based vines of Maréchal or the Beaune and Pommard based vines of Des Croix. But that's because it's true. very lovely wine.

think this free tasting in Chambers Street Wines's old, empty retail space is designed to introduce consumers to "real" wine. According to the tasting sheet, "All these growers work in the most 'natural' way possible, avoiding chemical treatments in the vineyards or the use of selected yeasts or additives of any kind in the cellar.

This is a blend of mostly Chardonnay and some Aligoté made in Savigny-lès-Beaune by a producer that makes only Crémant, highly unusual for a Burgundy producer. But it tastes fine, not too sweet, inoffensive. NV Domaine Parigot & Richard Crémant de Bourgogne Blanc de Blancs , $20, Becky Wasserman Selections. Is that tacky?

He uses a range for wines tasted in barrel - a wine might be scored 88-91, for example. Wines tasted when market-ready are assigned single scores. 90 point Beaune wine that costs $37 is the same qualitatively as a 90 point Beaune that retails for $85. 90 points in Beaune is 90 points. And why not hate?

David says that things happened very quickly - the old Domaine Duchet in Beaune was up for sale, he mentioned this to investors he knew via Camille Giroud, they looked at the plots together and made an offer the following day. We arrived at their house and David first took us to the cellar to taste his wines. This is classy wine.

would also have to have some Burgundy, and the 2005 vintage in the Côte de Beaune is where the good values are to be found in plentiful quantities. These would include anything from Chandon de Briailles , Patrick Bize , Jean-Mark Pavelot and Camus-Bruchon in Savigny-les-Beaune, the “happy hunting ground” for red Burgundy bargain shoppers.

Every visit without exception was excellent, an incredible learning experience, compelling wines, and the excitement each time of walking into a dark cellar full of barrels, glass in hand - what wines will they pour and what will they taste like? One of my favorites was our visit to the cellars of Philippe Pacalet in Beaune.

NYT restaurant critic Frank Bruni goes public about his dislike of Sauvignon Blanc as he tasted one from California, “he offered a grimace and a cry of anguish.&# SPIT: 2008 Hospice de Beaune. SIPPED: too much. This raised the hackles of bloggers at CNN (perhaps because they could only find it for $500?). Thanks, Arthur ! ).

So after the hard and wonderful work of the Terry Theise Portfolio tasting, we rushed over to the east side for Louis/Dressner tasting. There was simply no way to taste everything, even if this were the only tasting of the day. The Italian wines - I didn't taste 'em. Wines of the Savoie - didn't taste 'em.

Pernand-Vergelesses and Savigny-Les-Beaune, its neighbor to the south, are the two villages in the Côte de Beaune that I look to for great values in red wine. haven't tasted mine yet, have you? Make your morning coffee at home - why pay almost 3 bucks for it each day? There are many little ways to reduce spending.

They're both as far away and as different from Savenni è res, for example, as Champagne is from Beaune. You read it too - Eric Asimov recently wrote a compelling article about Sherry, and his tasting panel sampled 25 of them. This past month I made a point of opening a few bottles that we don't normally drink. Pouilly Fum é too.

There are also loads of tasting notes and scores, but it's up to you to determine whether or not his 93 point score translates to your personal 93, whatever that may be. don't get to do that kind of extensive tasting, but I got a good start at the Polaner tasting a few weeks ago. In a normal year good wine makers make good wine.

Grapes were harvested without a lot of rot or other damage, even from plots that qualify only for the regional designation of Bourgogne, Côte de Beaune Villages, or Côte de Nuits Villages. The trick is determining which ones are to your taste. 2005 in Burgundy is one of those vintages in which all wines can be great. And forth.

2005 Simon Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Forneaux , $55, 3 bottles. guess I wanted to taste their wine and this was the chance - off vintage village wine. Just like you, I have my limits on what I'll spend on a bottle of wine. When I'm buying a case of wine for everyday drinking purposes, the average cost per bottle is about $15.

Tasting with friends: 12 Year Old Long Island wines with Lenn and company. Industry tasting : Terry Theise Grower Champagnes at the Michael Skurnik tasting. Most expensive wine I tasted that is worth every penny, without even the slightest question : NV Henri Billiot Champagne Cuvee Laetitia (about $75 retail). So good.

think of Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romaneé, Gevrey-Chambertin, and the storied villages of the Côte de Nuits, and also of Puligny, Meursault, Volnay, and the other superstars of the Côte de Beaune. This way, we're going to develop an extensive set of tasting notes and experiences with a specific set of interesting and affordable wines.

I am still talking about the Martin Scott Portfolio Tasting, but I'm changing it up here at Brooklynguy's place. When I get to go to a tasting like Martin Scott's, I get really excited, and in my excitement I shared lots of my personal wine scores in previous posts. But the Cote de Beaune is the place to go. How do I know this?

The beautiful thing about going to the Martin Scott Portfolio Tasting, for me, is that I get to taste Burgundy wines that I have never before tasted, and that in all likelihood I will not taste again unless I go next year. Such an impressive lineup of producers, such a pleasure to taste through the wines.

2005 Paul Pernot Beaune Clos du Dessus des Marconnets is a beautiful wine and a great value (between $23-30, depending on where you shop) in a wonderful but expensive Burgundy vintage. tasted and then bought more of this wine back in January. It tasted like pinetar or lacquer. Makes for unpleasant drinking during these years.

I've basically accepted the fact that the bulk of my 05 Burgundy will be from the Cote de Beaune. I'm going to read a load of tasting notes, sure, and have faith in a producer's reputation, but my main plan is to taste Bourgogne wines from producers I'm interested in. Maybe another taste of the Bourgogne is in order

Last time I made a pledge to taste wines from all 12 appellations in the region and to share what I learn with you. Beaujolais Nouveau, the sweet and pleasant kool-aid with a kick that is so celebrated in France - that is not what I will be tasting and discussing. First time checking out the Beaujolais Challenge? Okay, that's it.

The two "lesser" regions I refer to are the Cote Chalonnaise and the Maconnais, both south of the Cote de Beaune and north of Beaujolais. The reds can be a little high toned and cranberry-shrill for me, but I should taste more. cannot get that 2005 Jean Manciat Macon-Charnay out of my mind since I first had it at a tasting.

A few wines of interest from the past few weeks that don't get their own post: Burgundy 2003 Marechal Savigny Les Beaune Vieille Vignes , $ unknown (restaurant purchase). If I'm not mistaken, it was this wine that won the NYTimes tasting panels' "Village Burgundy" blind tasting a little over a year ago. Wrong. just as good.

Auxey-Duresses is a village in the Cote de Beaune, a neighbor of Meursault, Monthelie, and Saint Aubin. am not expert enough to weigh in on that one, but I can say that I have tasted several examples of white and red wines from the village and I like them in general. And Lafouge is one of my favorites.

on Saturday, thinking I would be the first guy at Chambers Street Wines for the tasting. And as a reader named Andrew pointed out in his comments on Spring Tastings in NYC , many of the people in the store seemed to have no idea what was going on, they were there simply because they walked by and smelled the wine in the air.

But here they are, the wines that we should be able to find right now on retail shelves (and I will indicate where I bought mine), my absolute favorite under $25 Pinots: 2005 Paul Pernot Beaune Clos du Dessus des Marconnets , $22 ( Garnet , Chambers Street says they will carry it soon). Why not? So that's it?" You ask, "only those two wines?

And because of its close proximity to the Cotes de Beaune with its glorious whites from Montrachet and Mersault, but less stellar, more uneven reds, the wines of Nuits-Saint-Georges can be overlooked when thinking about great reds of Burgundy. So instead I will taste whatever I can get my hands on. Why is this? But it's a start.

look forward to tasting a few and to deciding for myself if I think they live up to the hype. This is a wine that we both liked at the Domaine, but it was hard to get a good sense of it there - it was very tight, and we had just tasted a flight of whites. was delighted to find four different reds from Paul Pernot. Yes, yes.

And they each make a Bourgogne wine, sometimes a Cote-de-Beaune or Cote-de-Nuits Villages, a Village level wine, and then usually one or more 1er Crus, maybe even a Grand Cru or two. tried a 1999 Meo-Camuzet Bourgogne at dinner one night at Ma Cuisine, a restaurant in Beaune, and it was insipid and uninspiring stuff. Not good.

We had 2005 Domaine Roulot Bourgogne Aligote with the soup, and it was exactly as it should be - light, crisp, clean tasting, briny and citrusy acidity. We opened (an hour before eating) two white Burgundies to taste with the quiche. We tasted at Domaine Pernot while in Burgundy, so this was a sentimental favorite. loved it.

Somebody who happens to produce at least 15 different wines and serves you tastes of each wine during your meal. Sure, it would have been E40, but that version included tasting only 5 wines, the entry-level Aligote and Bourgogne wines. E50 got you the "grand tasting" which included the village, 1er Cru, and Grand Cru wines.

first tasted a Pernot wine a little over a year ago and it was a 2003 Bourgogne red wine. They are not blockbusters (I cannot talk about the two Grand Crus as I have never tasted them), but are somewhat austere and subtle. More elegant than the other 2005 Bourgogne whites that I tasted. 2001 Beaune Clos de dessus les Marconnets.

She got us tickets to the Hospices de Beaune auction, and she made appointments for us to visit a few of her growers, and we didn't discuss our tastes before she made the appointments. We tasted 9 wines and I just couldn't keep tasting notes if I was going to fully enjoy the experience.

It was a beautiful drive through a valley, expansive views of hills and vineyards, and of the lights of Beaune in the distance. They also own the popular sushi place just outside Beaune called Sushi Kai. Le Charlemagne is owned by the very young chef Laurent Peugeot and his wife Hiroko, originally from Japan. Amazing!

We made our way slowly, nervous husband driving 6 months pregnant wife in tiny stick-shift car on narrow and windy roads through thick fog to Beaune for the Hospices de Beaune wine auction. The Hospices de Beaune ( pictured below ) has served the poor and sick in Burgundy for over 500 years now. Alliteration, anyone? 2003 P.

We had at least 5 restaurants on our eat-here list, but the only one with a table open on Saturday night, our first night in France and the eve of the Hospices de Beaune auction, was Le Gourmandin. She tasted lots of wine, although almost always in minute amounts. Tomorrow we go to the Hospices de Beaune auction

To my taste, the location is perfect also. Just a 10 minute drive from Beaune, the "largest" city in the immediate area, you can easily access restaurants and wineries in the Cotes de Beaune and the Cotes de Nuits. made a beeline for the cave and tasted the wines. Opened for my tasting, and way too young to drink.

We stayed at the hotel Villa Louise ( picture below with orange leaves ) in Aloxe-Corton, a small town just north of Beaune. In fact, the only Grand Cru red wines that come from the southern part of Burgundy, the Cotes de Beaune, come from Aloxe-Corton. Right: rainbow off the road between Beaune and Aloxe-Corton What a trip!

opened a bottle of 2004 Marechal Savigny-les-Beaune and stretched out on the couch, sipping the wine while the Cardinals loaded the bases against Glavine and the Mets. I'm almost too tired to eat, so I have a cold taste of the beef and turnips I braised last night and wow - it's gonna be good when heated up.