I spent a good chunk of two weeks last October in Paris and Reims learning about the concept of 'terroir' and AOC / AOP as it applies to French wines and cheeses (with case studies on Camembert and Reblochon, pasteurised and raw), and the European Union system of 'Appellation' and how it affects the French system, and all the rules and regulations... Fascinating subject for sure.

Cindywho, perhaps I may be of help, depending on how little you wish to know about French wines.
;-)

Good to see someone was checking Micheal, I didn't mean it was grown in the Burgundy region but that it is one of the foreign wines along say with Sancerre you will find on a Burgundy wine list.

DH and I are definitely white Burgundy (chardonnay) fans but I must say I fell in love with Sancerre (sauvignon blanc) while in France. And, it's usually less expensive. Try a rose' while you're there too. They're not like your father's rose'!

I highly recommend a visit at the start of your trip to Beaune to do tasting at the Marche aux Vins: http://www.marcheauxvins.com/vin-bea...-aux-vins.html

You will get to taste a bunch of wines and get information from the people there. Very good value at 10 euros a person!

I like white Burgundy, also, it doesn't taste much like chardonnary from California (luckily, I don't really like California wines much, in general). I like sauvignon blanc from almost anywhere (France and New Zealand especially), except again, California where it usually tastes too much like grapefruit. Of course Sancerre isn't from Burgundy, and I don't think of rose as something you get or want from Burgundy, either, I think of Provence for that or the Rhone river (eg Tavel), and the Loire has some good ones. I wouldn't look for roses in Burgundy myself, but I don't even really like it very much usually, so don't know if they are any good there. I know they don't use the same method or it's not real rose or something, I remember reading about it. I guess with all the good wines from the region, I wouldn't spend my time drinking a rose from Burgundy, that's all.

You are quite right about the Rose not being from Burgundy unless they make one from pinot noir! Hmm, that might be something to look forward to! Rose from south France are dry and quite delicious.

Burgundy does make Rose wine.
Chateau Marsanney is one good one that comes to mind.
Almost every wine making area produce roses though not as great as some of the Provencal ones that I prefer, especially the Bandols. My favorite is Domaine Tempier but only buy it for special occasions because they are very expensive.
My next choice are the roses of Languedoc. The Last few years,
some excellent reds and roses have been showing up in wine shops. For a Languedoc White, I enjoy Pic Poul.

How fun! I am going to check out your recommendations!
I just remembered we have a brut rose champagne we bought for the holiday. So I checked on it and it's Philippe Prie made from 80% pinot noir and 20% chard.

Having tasted Chardonnay grown and made in an area that only knows Sauvignon Blanc I can promise you it smelt and tasted like........... Sauvignon Blanc.

In France it is just as vital to understand the "terroir" as the grape blends. On a second point Pinot Noir suffers from clonal variation, that is the thing mutates very easily to another simialar plant so a Pinot from one vinyard will taste very different from that the next vinyard if the plants came from a different plant centre.

So in a way you have to forget much of the "new world" understanding as you come to the better vinyards of France. Enjoy the discovery.