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Burgundy - Located at the South Eastern tip of Champagne, the land of Burgundy used to be for Western Europe what China was to Asia:  the “Central Empire” or L’Empire du Milieu.  The early history of the Burgundians, from the Fourth to the Fifteenth Century is really remarkable.  Burgundy was an important crossroad of civilizations and marked the convergence of the Christian faith.  As the favorite dwelling place of the Emperor Charlemagne and seat of the most important monastic orders of Benedictine and Cistercian monks, the majestic abbeys of Cluny, Cîteaux, Vezelay and Fontenay still bear the grandiose imprints of the profound spirituality which animated Europe in those days.   

Famous for the quality of its products, and also for its cultural, artistic and spiritual patrimony, Burgundy was a contact zone, an area that linked the North and the South of Europe and was always open to the outside world. It was a vast exchange area since very ancient times, connecting people from the Alps and the Rhône Valley in the South, to the North of Europe and the Flanders at the East, and forming a bridge between civilizations, inviting travelers and pilgrims from all over Europe on the road to Compostelle. Cities like Dijon, Autun and Beaune are filled with architectural and historical treasures; one of the most remarkable institutions dedicated to charity and faith being the famous “Hôtel Dieu” (Hostel of God) or Hospices de Beaune, which was the first true hospital in the world, financed by the rich and open to the poor.  It is also a land of great rural beauty, a country crisscrossed by waters, rivers, canals and streams. One of its most striking features is the amazing diversity of its soils that look like an immense mosaic over the horizon.  Marked by rugged hills and steep slopes, the countryside also has an amazing softness to it.  Bordered by multiple hedges, trees and small fields, the area abounds in micro-climates interspersed by an incredible variety of small vineyards enclosed by stone walls.  The wide open valleys that shape the land have a surprisingly mild climate and you can see fig trees bear fruit and you can hear crickets during the summer months, which normally occur only several hundreds of miles to the South. 

Names like Pommard, Volnay, Beaune Bressandes, Savigny, Vosne Romanée, Chassagne et Puligny Montrachet, Meursault, Gevrey Chambertin, Nuits Saint Georges, resound with musical poetry, an absolute delight to the ears of a wine lover! With all this diversity, there is also an underlying unity bounded by a high spirit and a solid instinct of happiness that makes people here believe that “God is Burgundian, and He smiles upon His Vines…”  And when He does, the result is a wine which sends thrills of sensual excitement up your spine, a wine which has no equivalent anywhere on Earth…