Finding Domaine Lafarge started off as an uncertain conquest! The charming village of Volnay is quite hilly with narrow winding streets. As if the natural challenge of finding rue de la Combe wasn’t enough, it turned out that the street was undergoing major road repair. After seeking guidance from two different sympathetic residents, we finally…
Month: January 2014
Feast of Saint Vincent: A Burgundy Tradition
Each year in January, 80 wine villages throughout Burgundy celebrate the feast of Saint Vincent as the guardian of winemakers. While the officially designated feast date is January 22, many wine villages organize elaborate festivals around that date honoring the 20th century tradition of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. For example, on January 18…
It’s a Family Affair
Family inheritance is a familiar and important concept in most countries, with inevitable cultural variations. But nowhere is inheritance more important than in the wine regions of France, and nowhere is it more complex and fascinating than in Burgundy. The Napoleonic Law of Succession (early 1800s) stipulates that property must be distributed to family members…
Chevalier du Cep Henri IV de Givry
Henry IV provided the inspiration for the Chevalier du Cep festival more than 400 years ago. It is widely said and entirely accepted that the red wines of Givry, situated in the Cote Chalonnaise, were King Henry’s favorites. Now as then, they are fresh, lively and approachable wines meant for early drinking. But in the…