THE ESSENTIALS: YOUR BURGUNDY WINE JOURNEY 

Unlock Burgundy wine secrets

From Monday to Friday, at 10.30 am, enjoy a wine tasting class lasting 2 hours. 
“The Essentials” offers you an excellent introduction to Burgundy wines. This tasting class will help you make the most of the wine experiences that will undoubtedly be part of your stay in Burgundy, while giving you the tools to taste wine with greater confidence.

Master wine tasting techniques

Around one of our two tasting tables, we explore the essential concepts needed to understand Burgundy and its prestigious wines: the geography of the vineyards, the hierarchy of the appellations, geology and soil, grape varieties… We will reply to your questions: Why can two wines taste so different when they come from neighbouring vineyard plots? Why do we find the 1er and grand cru wines in the middle of the slopes? Etc…

Blind taste 8 exceptional Burgundy wines

Next, it’s time to taste. We begin with an introduction to wine tasting techniques, then a blind tasting of 8 wines, 2 of them are "grand cru" and all chosen from the four levels of appellations in Burgundy (whites and reds). To give you a wide overview of the wine region, we have selected wines from estates in the different Burgundian wine growing areas, from Chablis to Mâcon, including Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune and Côte Chalonnaise. 

Detailed program: 

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BURGUNDY FUNDAMENTALS
Review of the essentials of Burgundy: the wines from Burgundy & the grapes, the geography, the AOC system, how to read a label…

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INTRODUCTION TO WINE TASTING
The techniques of tasting: visual, aromatic and palate evaluation

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TASTING
Blind tasting of 8 wines (no influence of the label). The wines are from different areas in Burgundy with a selection of “regional”, “village”, “premier cru” and “grand cru” appellations, for both white and red wines.

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Wines for tasting : examples

White wines 

Mâcon Verzé 2017 – Puligny-Montrachet « Les Charmes » 2020 – Rully 1er cru Rabourcé 2023 – Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2021

Red wines 

Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2023 – Vosne-Romanée 2019 – Mercurey 1er cru les Vasées 2019 – Corton Les Paulands Grand Cru 2022

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Your tasting instructors : Damien Delattre (34 years of experience) or Céline Dandelot (24 years of experience)

Glass used : Mouth-blown crystel glass, « Universel » model from Sydonios, manufactured in Northern France

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Going further

Why did you create The Essentials class?