Leave your tassled loafers at home; this trip, end of March, is a jeans-and-flannel wine tour with British wine merchant Martin Raeburn.
"It's not the traditional trip with a leisurely morning tasting, a long lunch and an afternoon nap," says Raeburn, the director of Amadeus Wines Ltd. "It's a professional trip for me and at the most four guests; we're going to be in the vineyards and the cellars and tasting, tasting, tasting. It's serious business."
Not to mention that it's likely to be cold, wet and windy. But you'll be well-housed, well-fed, and drink great wine.
I've known Martin for years. He's not one of those show-biz media types at the center of glamorous tastings in hotel ballrooms. Instead, he's down among the barrels with the winemakers and cellar masters, or in the fields with the vineyard managers, doing the real work of Burgundy: putting his money on the line to actually buy commercial quantities of the wines he likes.
In the cellars at Louis Jadot and Bonneau du Martray.
Download a PDF of the complete itinerary by clicking here.
To book the trip, go to the InTouch Travel registration page. Because of the extremely limited number of guests, full prepayment is required to hold your booking. Call me if you have any additional questions: 206-770-9567.
Should you go? Read on.
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Raeburn admits this is not a trip for the faint-hearted. "We're going to do commercial, professional-grade tastings in every serious domaine from Chablis to Pouilly-Fuisse," he points out. "For the wine lover, it's a remarkable opportunity to taste top wines with top producers. You'll discover Burgundy like never before."
In the vineyards of Le Corton.
Highlights of the week include private lunches, dinners and tastings with several of Burgundy's leading growers: Louis Moreau, Pascal Marchand, Anne Gros, Nicolas Meo Camuzet, Jacques and Roz Seysses, Comte Philippe Senard, to name a few.
Wines to be tasted include a horizontal tasting of 25 Grand Cru Clos Vougeot; estates scheduled include Rousseau, Charlopin, Trapet, Fourrier, Esmonin, Engel, Latour, Jadot, Rion, Mugnier, Chevillon, Arlot, Potel, Confuron, Sauzet, Leflaive, Roulot, Dujac, Comte Lafon, and more.
Meals at outstanding restaurants with appropriate wines are included as well.
Raised outside of London, Raeburn is a bilingual wine merchant who earned a BA Hons degree in Britain and a postgraduate degree from the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin in Paris.
Martin, on the right, with visitors to Burgundy's Hospice de Beaune
After three years managing a retail wine shop in Paris and reviving the Academie du Vin (Steven Spurrier's original wine school), Martin moved to Burgundy. Based in Beaune, he spent the next six years as the director of Wine Portfolio Management, a privately held wine investment company responsible for buying several million euros worth of France and Italy's finest wines for wholesalers, wine merchants, restaurants and private clients.
Martin currently lives near Cambridge with his French-born wife, Ariane, and their son.
The "Burgundy at Work" trip begins in Paris on Sunday, March 20th, 2006.
Cost, including six nights lodging at the Hotel Le Cep in Beaune, is $7,500 per guest. The trip is limited to four guests. No single supplement, but couples will be upgraded to deluxe suites.
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