KPB
Posts: 4651
Joined: 11/25/2012 From: Ithaca, New York Status: offline
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I was last in the area a few years back, so I won't suggest hotels or restaurants (there is no lack of either!) But I can weigh in on the wine question. First, it is actually easy to find wine stores in that area; just google "Vins Spiriteaux Beaune" (or substitute any city name you like in the area). Google will show a nice little map, reviews of the stores, etc. Here's the issue, and it is universal in Europe: by and large, they just don't drink the super expensive wines. As a result, the hard to find wines (from a USA perspective) are often impossible to find over there. Lack of sales volume and limited numbers of vendors (sometimes just the winery itself) push prices up, not down, so you sometimes do see a rare bottle, but then the price is even higher than in New York. In fact invariably, these hard to find wines are actually much cheaper in places with high turnover and lots of competition, so New York (or anywhere in the US via wine-searcher) will kill on pricing, plus you can find the wines, plus they get shipped to your front door, or your local FedEx "hold for pickup" counter. Visiting wineries is a fine thing to do if you plan ahead. I tend to only visit places I know because I own their wines at home, and can talk about the wines with the winemaker if I get a chance. So if you have lots of wines from such-and-such a producer, call or email and you may be able to make an appointment and meet the person who made them. But don't just turn up unannounced -- you must make appointments, unless the web site specifically says they have a tasting room and gives hours. And be on time! When you visit, in France, it is mostly to taste and buy, not just to taste and thank them. And yes, you can definitely bring wine home with you later -- pack it well, then check it into the air cargo counter. There are even special padded shippers you can easily buy. But because of this aspect of them exporting the expensive stuff, both the good stores and the wineries will tend to be showing off great successes that you never would have heard of (and other wines that are currently for sale), but not the super famous stuff. If you manage to visit Leroy, for example, you'll taste wines that cost 50 Euros from their negotiant operation, although they might be ok with selling you a bottle for 750 euros from her high-end winery (and you won't get to taste that one). This is just the way it works. Europeans mostly gave up on the ultra rare bottles decades ago, so the average sales counter at a winery is dealing with locals who drive over on a weekend, try wines they can afford, and buy six bottles or a case, or a few cases. It isn't like Napa where you pay a mega tasting fee and then actually get to taste the famous wines. European wineries mostly operate like "mom and pop" family businesses, and the people who visit are there to buy bottles for their cellar, and are locals, not ultra-rich tourists. So they don't orient the experience towards the rich tourists, the way Napa does. For this reason, I actually limit my wine tasting visits in Europe (and I have been in Europe multiple times per year since 1969, basically). I don't want to end up with a carload of mid-range wines, unless we have a family event, and I'm not so keen to try and bring them back (I have horrible memories of a case of Pegau da Capo, the 2007, that fell from the luggage thing just as the wine was about to arrive in my waiting arms in Syracuse! Only 3 broke... but that was it for the thing having been a great idea!) I view both wineries and stores as places to get wine to actually drink, or maybe to leave with my sister-in-law or brother-in-law for a future visit. And I almost never even run into famous bottles there -- in Paris, maybe, but not in places like Beaune. It isn't what they drink locally. Have fun!
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Ken Birman The Professor of Brettology
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