New Zealand Vignerons go to Burgundy
Date: Wednesday, December 13 @ 07:45:29 MST
Topic: Burgundy and me
Three Central Otago wine producers will travel to Burgundy, in September 2006, for a taste of tradition and culture at the pinot noir capital as part of an inaugural exchange programme.
Viticulturalist Nick Paulin, of Felton Road Wines, Bannockburn, Rippon assistant wine maker Brett Reddington and Otago Polytechnic viticulture lecturer Roger Gibson have all been selected to take part in the exchange between the two regions both renowned for their pinot noir.
They will spend one month in the Cote d'Or region of Burgundy working in vineyards, as well as attending courses at the CFPPA, a viticulture technical institute in Beaune.
The exchange, which has been funded by the participating businesses and with some financial assistance from the Central Otago Winegrowers' Association (COWA), was initially suggested by Rippon winemaker Nick Mills and his friend Sophie Confuron, of France, who had visited Central Otago and fallen in love with the region.
The pair worked with Florence Zito of the CFPPA, and the exchange programme began to take shape.
"There are a lot of similarities between the two regions , we both share the love of the land, and we both want to express what's there," Mills said. "Burgundians will come here to learn a more technical, scientific approach to wine-making, while our exchange members will get a feel for traditional wine-making in the place where the culture of pinot noir was created."
The exchange programme will help set new standards in the wine-making industry, with the two regions striving to find the perfect balance between each others' techniques and practices.
"It's a great way for people to get into viticulture and wineries; you can only teach so much in the classroom, the rest has to be learnt on the vineyard. And there's no better place to do this than in Burgundy," Gibson said.
TZ Wine.com
september 2006
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