My career break couldn’t come at a better time. Autumn is my favourite season of the year. It is not too cold, not too warm, just cozy enough to enjoy spending the full day outdoors. I’ve come to Burgundy, France to spend three weeks to immerse myself in the French language and there is no better place to do that as Burgundy is also a premier wine region. If you listened to my TEDx talk, I like to imagine win-win-win situations. In that vein, being here, I created a win-win-wine situation. 

In that vein, being here, I created a win-win-wine situation. 

Terroirs

The first thing I learnt about Burgundy is that this region was the first to introduce the concept of ‘terroirs’. A terroir is a microclimate. It is a physical area of land where particular characteristics influence key qualities of the final wine product. Each terroir is defined by climate conditions such as sun exposure, slope, soil characteristics, water content. A terroir is essentially a unique combination of geological and man-made characteristics. Visually, these look simply like land parcels, but no two land parcels are exactly alike. Sometimes, they are similar enough to be categorized into the same terroir, while in other instances, a highly coveted terroir can be separated by just a trail from a low-tier terroir. Financially, wines from premium terroir designations can demand much higher market values.

Appelations 

Perhaps French kids learn this simultaneously with the alphabet, but I learnt this late in life. The lightly coloured, bubbly goodness associated with expensive taste and momentous occasions, Champagne, can only be called Champagne if it is made in the Champagne region of northeastern France, under highly regulated conditions. Using grapes from other regions, yet using the same fermentation process, yields sparkling wines that cannot be designated with the Champagne brand. Champagne is an appellation. Similarly, grapes grown in the Chablis region can produce AOC designated Chablis wines but only if they also undergo a regulated process. AOC is the Appellation d’origine contrôlée which defines the standards that must be met to gain the right to stamp the associated label on the wine. 

Domaines 

A domaine is an enterprise that owns and manages vineyards, nurtures their grapes to ripeness, harvests and ferments the grapes to produce and bottle the finished product, wine. It’s a vineyard to bottle portfolio. In Burgundy, the meaning holds a lot of weight and means specifically this kind of business. Internationally there are no strictly defined standards, and often wine producers outside of Burgundy may use this term more loosely. 

Chardonnay