Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/689634
I didn't head to Burgundy unprepared. In the year ahead of my visit I did my best to prepare, and spent hundreds of hours researching the history of the place, its vineyards and wines and the families that owned the domaines. And for my first visit, I traveled with a good friend and fellow vintner Michael Twelftree, owner of Two Hands Winery in Australia, who had visited domaines there before and who held a passion for and deep knowledge of Burgundy. Michael would be of tremendous value on my inaugural journey. I was excited to meet with the owners, winemakers, coopers and others in the Burgundy wine world, and to hear their views on farming, winemaking and barrel regimen. These are the factors that have helped these winemakers turn out the world's most delicious, sub- lime and highly regarded Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays for centuries. My main goal: to understand the place and to hear the thinking around crafting these beautiful and com- plex wines, which were unadulterated expressions of the vineyards these winemakers owned and farmed. s p r i n g / s u m m e r 2 0 1 6 | 5 7 Burgundy's Clos de Vougeot still produces extraordinary wines today—more than 700 years after Cistercians built a wall around it to protect it. Today, it is designated a Grand Cru vineyard.