The Burgundy
The Burgundy - famous French region for its exciting wine.
Cities and villages: Beaune, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Morey-Saint-Denis, Marsannay-la-Côte Hotels, Dijon
Visite en Bourgogne de 1818france
Visites de Aloxe-Corton (domaine du Comte Sénard), Beaune (Maison Remoissenet, Maison Jadot, les Hospices), et de Clos Vougeot (Confrèrie du Tastevin) en Octobre 2010 par l'association des anciens de la Banque mondiale.
Montureux lès Gray Vereux Montot D70 France Frankreich 21.10.2015
Der Weg ist das Ziel... komm fahr mit in meinem Goggomobil =G=
Sightseeing in Krisenregionen, Armenviertel, Bürgerkriegsgebieten.
Along radioactive Death-Zones, MOAs, No-Go and Civil-War Areas.
IWC 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Sylvain Pitiot
The winner of our lifetime achievement award trained as a cartographer and topographical engineer in Paris rather than as a winemaker. He was living and working in the city of light when his then girlfriend, Valérie Poupon, invited him to come to Meursault to do the harvest at Domaine Prieur where she was working. It was a trip that changed his life. “After that harvest in 1972, I married two passions,” he says: “my wife, and wine, which is my mistress.”
Entirely self-taught, he started his new career in the vineyards of Volnay, working for the minimum wage, voraciously reading up on his adopted region in his spare time. “I was an intellectual,” he remembers. “I wasn’t familiar with shovels and secateurs.” But familiar he soon became. He subsequently got a job as vineyard manager at the Domaine François Germain at the Château de Chorey-lès-Beaune before moving into the cellars of the Hospices de Beaune, where he was the winemaker from 1982 to 1995.
But it was his next move, to the monopole of Clos de Tart, a property he has described as a “sleeping beauty”, which has defined his winemaking career, He immediately took a more rigorous approach to the farming of this historic Grand Cru in Morey-St-Denis, dividing the vineyard into 23 different parcels and creating a database for its 80,000 vines. Visitors to the domaine are always invited to taste seven or eight different barrel samples, made in different ways and drawn from different parts of the vineyard. It’s a test of sorts, but also an education, designed to shows the components that make up a Grand Cru wine.
“It would be criminal not to make great wine here,” he said recently, and that is exactly what he has done during his time in charge, handing over the reins this year to his successor, Jacques Desvauges, at the end of the 2015 harvest, his 20th at the domaine.
Our winner’s achievements as a winemaker are considerable, but he has had an equally significant second career. Using his education to good effect, he started to map the vineyards of Burgundy in the pre-Internet age, initially working alongside his father in law, the writer Pierre Poupon, to publish the Atlas des Grands Vignobles de Bourgogne, in 1985. He has also co-authored Les Vins de Bourgogne with Jean-Charles Servant, a smaller book of maps and data that can be found on the shelves (as well as in the bags and jacket pockets) of anyone who loves Burgundy. The book has been translated into English, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, running to more than 35 editions worldwide. His latest book, Climats et lieux-dits des grands vignobles de Bourgogne, is another major work on Burgundy, co-written with Marie-Hélène Landrieu-Lussigny. If we know the terroirs of Burgundy, at least on paper, it is due in no small measure to our winner tonight. His maps are the maps of Burgundy.
A passionate lover of wine, he is a great teacher and communicator, who worked for ten years at the Lycée Viticiole de Beaune, providing insights for future generations of winemakers, as well as a viticulturist and winemaker of distinction. Under his guidance, Clos de Tart has rejoined the ranks of Burgundy’s elite, and he leaves the Mommesin-owned estate at the peak of its form. When he retires this year to spend more time with his wife, his three daughters and nine grand children, he will continue to pursue his other love: wine. There are the maps, of course, but there are also consultancies to take care of and great bottles to drink.
Ladies and gentlemen, please show your appreciation for the winner of our 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award….Sylvain Pitiot.