GRAPE ESCAPES - BURGUNDY WINE TASTING TOURS
Wine Tasting Holidays and Trips for Wine Lovers
Grape Escapes is a specialist French wine tour operator, offering a broad range of wine tasting tours and trips to the vineyards in the main French wine regions: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, The Rhône and The Loire.
Burgundy Wines
The most famous Burgundy wines, known as “Burgundies” are red wines made from pinot noir grapes or white wines made from chardonnay grapes. The Côte de Nuits is home to the majority of Burgundy’s red Grand Crus and the wines here are reputed to be majestic, intense and firm. The Côte de Beaune is where most of Burgundy’s white Grand Crus can be found. The wines produced here are some of the world’s longest lived, most complex and stylish white wines.
The number of AOCs (specific, legally defined sub areas producing premium wines) in terroir-conscious Burgundy is higher than any other French region, and this practice dates back to medieval times, when monasteries played a key role in developing the wine industry. Immense attention is paid to the area of origin of the wine, and also in which type of soil the grapes are grown. In contrast to Bordeaux, where classifications are awarded to particular Châteaux, Burgundy classifications focus on geography rather than the producer. Looking at a bottle of Burgundy wine, you will notice that the appellation is marked more prominently and that the name of the producer is often featured at the bottom of the bottle, in smaller text.
Burgundy wines are highly acclaimed, and the region is home to some of the most expensive wines in the world. The sensuousness and power of these wines have beguiled wine lovers for centuries and are what make them so special and sought-after today. Wine merchant Harry Waugh once famously said, “The first duty of wine is to be red... the second is to be a Burgundy,” and we could not agree more!