Wine to not miss
 

My wife and I will be in France, Swizterland and Germany for 3 weeks, starting May 20th. Anyone suggest wines to make sure we sample? Were to get them and how much. We will be in Paris, Beaune, Champagne region, burgandy region, alsas (sp?) region, rhien river region, etc.

Oh my, that is a tall order so I am going to generalize. First, make sure you get a current vintage chart rating the vintages IN EACH REGION(and don't only look for vintages in the high 90's as these often take 10 years or more to mature). The idea is to avoid bad years (those rated 79 or less). Next, go to your local wine stores and look at the various wines from each region you are expecting to visit- becoming somewhat familier with the offerings of each region. Finally, do not purchase the expensive wines you can get here in the States. I recommend purchasing the wines not imported here and which are usually smaller producers. This is where you will find the best values. The only exception my be in Beaune where most producers are small and price their Burgundy like liquid gold. The Pinot Noir grape raised in Burgundy is considered one of the toughest grapes to grow properly so vintage is critical! The Alsace region produces great Pinot Gris (the same grape as Pinot Grigio in Italy but far superior IMHO) and Pinot Blanc as well as gewerztraminer. In Germany, the noble grape is Reisling. While in Paris, you will be able to purchse wines from all over France that you will not be able to find elsewhere on your journey. Notable considerations are Cote Rotie and Bordeaux offerings.

To "pop", from a fellow wine-lover that was overwhelmed by "areinert"'s question, but wanted to reply...GOOD ANSWER!

While in Paris do not miss the opportunity to buy some Chateauneuf du Pape!

US

areinert:Better yet, from Beaune, make the easy daytrip to the Chateauneuf du Pape area and do some wine tasting at the wineries. One of my favorites is the Mourre Des Pedrix at Domaine De La Charbonniere. Excellent!
From Beaune, the wine growing region of Burgundy, the Cote d'or or "golden hillsides" is all around you. The TI across the street from the Hospice de Beaune (a must see) offers arrangements for wine tours which will take you to as many as five wineries in a full wine tasting day, transportation included. This is an excellent opportunity to get to at least one Grand Cruz Winery and several secondary locations. On your own, go to Pommard which is one of my favorites. I remember my first trip. I spoke no French and the gentleman behind the tasting bar spoke no English. Yet, we managed to have a lengthy conversation about wine and terroir. I thought I was in paradise. Have a great trip.

Where do you get a current vintage chart?

areinert

Wine Spectator
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Vi...,1183,,00.html

Robert Parker
http://www.winetech.com/html/vintchrt.html

Take the wine road in Alsace. You'll have a lot of opportunity to taste wine in the small towns. You might even have one person choose to be the designated driver. I believe that the Neuchatel area of Switzerland is one of its wine growing regions. It might be interesting to taste and bring back something that is less known back home.

Hi, Areinert,

A few comments:

If you can get hold of the Sept/Oct 2002 issue (I believe) of Food and Wine magazine, there's a great set of articles on several wine regions in Europe, along with some wine recommendations in a variety of price ranges.

Second, as a Californian who drinks wines regularly, but who is by no means anything close to an expert, I found the white wines in Burgundy to be both fantastic in taste and fantastic values compared to the reds (Pinot Noirs). [We were there last September]. Two white wines we had that we especially enjoyed (each in the $25-$30 range): Chablis Premier Cru Les Lys Domaine William Fevre 1999; and 2000 Saint-Aubin 1er Cre Les Frionnes Hubert Camy. I had numerous Pinot Noirs and only found one I really liked the whole time -- found the reds to be much more a "hit and miss" experience.

Finally, in Champagne, we did the Mumm tour. They sell something called Mumm de Cramant champagne that is only sold, I believe, in a few areas surrounding Champagne and is not available (except for a few select restaurants) in the US. It is a Grand Cru, ran about 35 Euros, and is fantastic (we just had a bottle last weekend).

Highly recommend picking up a few bottles of all the items I mentioned above.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip.

John H.

.

It did help John...I wonder how possible it is to get one of those old magazines? Did you actually go to those wineries?

areinert - May I suggest the excellent series "Touring in Wine Country" edited by Hugh Johnson (#1 wine guru). In the series are "Mosel & Rheingau", "Alsace", "Bordeaux", Burgundy", and "Loire". These are excellent overall tour guides as well as guides to wines and vinyards. The book on the Mosel was my constant companion for the month we spent recently in that area.

Wren,

I did not visit those wineries (though the Food and Wine article -- which I saw after I returned from my trip -- mentions the author stopping for a tasting at Hubert Lamy in St-Aubin). The wines I had were recommended in restaurants. (Ma Cusine in Beaune is great for food and wine at extremely reasonable prices; they run a wine store next door as well. Book ahead).

The www.foodandwine.com web site had the text of the articles I mentioned: the main article is at: http://www.foodandwine.com/invoke.cf...BC0002B3309983
[Alternatively, just type "Burgundy" into the site's search engine, choose "articles" from the pull down menu from where to search, and you'll come to one Burgundy article and links to others]. A public library should have hard copy as well.

Have a great trip -- Beaune is wonderful!

John H.

Wren,

I copied a Fodor's posting when I went to Burgundy last year. I didn't actually stop at these wineries and cannot vouch for the quality of their wines, but I thought this would be good material for everyone on this thread. (Thanks to the original poster, whose name I did not note):

Dijon: Caves de l'Espace Grevin, 13 Avenue Albert 1er. Open daily.
Tastings in the cellar beneath the city's new waxworks museum.

Dijon: Caveau de la Port Guillaume, Place Darcy. Open every afternoon.

Beaune: Cave des Hautes-Cotes, Route de Pommard. Open Monday - Saturday.

Beaune: Cave des Cordeliers, 6 Rue de l'Hotel-Dieu. Open daily. Tastings
in a Franciscan friars abbey.

Beaune: Marche aux Vins, Rue Nicolas Rollin. Open daily. Wine-tasting
cellar in front of the Hospices. This place has almost unlimited wine tasting (at least 20 different bottles of reds and whites) inside the caves for a fee (I think it was no more than $12). The wines vary from the not-so heralded ones to the best ones that were sold at auctions at Hospice de Beaune.

Beaune: Patriarche Pere et Fils, 7 Rue du College. The largest cellars in
Burgundy.

Nuit-St-Georges: Morin Pere et Fils, 9 Quai Fleury. Open daily. An 18th
century cellar.

Nuit-St-Georges: Cave Moillard-Grivot, Route RN74. Open Monday to Friday.

Santenay: Domain de la Buissiere

Vougeot: La Grande Cave, Route RN 74. Open daily. Tasting of "grands
vins" in ancient cellars.

SOmeone else posted the following: Some of our favorites: Domain Jean Moreau in Santenay, Marquis D'Agerville in Volnay, Chateau Pommard in Pommard, Philippe LeClerc in Gevrey Chambertin, Michael LeFlaive in Volnay(I think). We had reservations for Jean Moreau and the Marquis, Chateau Pommard offers tours and tastings, Philippe LeClerc has a tasting room open to the public,and Michael LeFlaive, well we just knocked on his door and he was most gracious.
(Again, thanks to the original poster).

John H.

John, Thanks for all the suggestions. I will print this out to take with us. We are staying in Nuit St. Georges, and will be exploring the area for a few days. This will help to narrow down all the many possibilities!!

We toured the Patriarche Pere et Fils cellar last July. 12th & 18th century - they wind under much of Beaune & store thousands of bottles. Very impressive.

It was a 'business' tour arranged by a manufacturer we represent. We had tastings & dinner. Wines are for sale, of course.

I don't know whether they have general public tours - ours was for 50 people & arranged locally.

see
http://www.patriarche.com/index-uk.html