The Art of Tasting Burgundy Wines

16th May 2009

The Regional Council of Burgundy and The Burgundy Wine School organised a "Seminar on the Art of Tasting Burgundy Wines" at the Hilton Hotel from May 14th to 16th and I decided it was time to really get into some serious education about Burgundy and her wines. So, for three whole days from Thursday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm, it was back to class, attending lectures and having some practical exercises in tasting wines - red, white and sparkling......

The seminar attracted 30 over participants, most of them accomplished connoisseurs of fine wines, including some wine traders, sommeliers and restaurant managers.

The seminar was lead by Jean-Pierre Renard from Burgundy. I also had the opportunity to meet up with some well-known luminaries in the local wine circle including wine writer/speaker Tan Kah Hin (in white) and wine writer / educator Lim Hwee Peng (far right).

Jean-Pierre Renard is a veteran educator of Burgundy wine for over 30 years - his knowledge about Burgundy wine is truly amazing - ask him about whatever vintage for a particular wine type and he will tell you how good it is..........He made a great selection of 45 different Burgundy wines for us to taste in the three days of the seminar and we enjoyed most of them.

And so for those three days, there was much we learned about the 100 Appellations d'Origine Controlees (AOCs) in Burgundy - 23 regional appellations, 44 village appellations and 33 Grand crus......., the compostion of wine, proper wine tasting techniques, etc

So I now know a bit about Pinot Noir - the queen of great red wine varieties and why it can make the most exciting red wine in the world, especially if grown on the limestone soil of Burgundy. For white wine in Burgundy, it is mostly chardonnay and , to a lesser extend the aligote grape.....and so on.







And hey, they even gave each participant an honorary diploma at the end of the seminar....