Bottle of top Burgundy catches my eye one night at Black Bottle in Belltown: a 1999 Très Girard from Morey-St.-Denis. A wine merchant from Portland brought it along for a weekend in Seattle. Complex aromas, earthy and leathery. Smooth as silk. Three days later, as it happens, I'm standing in that very vineyard. A photo-op at the very least.
The domaine that produced this wine in 1999, Michel Magnien, has now passed to his son, Frederick Magnien. And the "Castel" itself has become a respected country hotel.
Along that same line, Georges Duboeuf's vineyards, photographed earlier this month, and his wines, poured at Seattle Center's Bastille Day celebration.
Nothing earthshaking about this; it's just an illustration: wine's first obligation is to be true to its origin. Wars are fought over less, much less.
DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages in a magnum? The bottle costs more than the juice!