Bourgogne en Fête

One of the plus factors of living and working in Burgundy is the number of wine festivals that take place through the year. Lynne Hammond looks at two of the major celebrations.

Tending the vines might look romantic but the winegrowers work extremely hard – long hours, hard and physical work so when they relax, they really know how to enjoy themselves.

Festival of St. Vincent

In January, we celebrate the Festival of St.Vincent. Imagine walking into a village that is a kaleidoscope of colour – roses are in flower, bedding plants a cascade of colour and shrubs in leaf. Your first thought is that your eyes must be deceiving you because the colours are of summer but the temperature is zero at best and it’s either snowing or just about to start!

But it’s true because the flowers and colours are produced from paper. Literally thousands of intricate, realistic flowers turning winter into summer and produced by the women-folk of the village throughout the year.

St Vincent is the patron saint of winegrowers and each year a Festival is organised by the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (the brotherhood of Burgundy winegrowers) on the first Saturday after 22nd January – the feast day of St Vincent.

The ceremony takes place in different winegrowing villages each year and in one or other of Burgundy’s winegrowing districts.

The Saturday begins early in the morning with a procession of members of the Confrérie and local winegrowers to attend a mass attended by the Grand Council of the Order. Following the mass the assembled group attend the Extraordinary Chapter of the brotherhood to honour the President for the St Vincent village of that year.

St Vincent celebrations attract tens of thousands of people over the weekend – you buy a specially designed commemorative glass for about 10 Euros and then tour the village where local winegrowers have opened their cellars for wine tasting, and join in the fun.

In addition special dinners are organised along with street entertainment and street food to help soak up the wine.

This year (2007) St Vincent was held in Nuits St George, which was decorated as if it was a warm spring day. The morning started foggy and cold following a week of snow, but by afternoon the sun came out and the weekend was a great success with over 30,000 people visiting on the Saturday and Sunday.

Beaune Wine Auction

Fast forward through the year to the third weekend in November and we have the “Les Trois Glorieuses” or the three glorious days.

The three days are centred on the Hospice de Beaune wine auction, which is the oldest and most traditional wine auction in the world. It dates from 1859 when 189 barrels of fine Burgundy wine were sold.

© Michel Joly

The weekend, though, starts with a street festival in Beaune and an open house wine tasting in the town where it is possible to taste the latest vintages. On the Saturday afternoon there is also a half-marathon race through the vineyards surrounding Beaune.

Sunday dawns to the world-famous wine auction of the new harvest held in the Hospice or Hotel-Dieu. The Hotel-Dieu was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, then Chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy as a home for poor invalids.

In 1971 President Pompidou inaugurated a new modern hospital and the Hotel Dieu then became a museum. The courtyard with its Burgundy style glazed tiles is a sight to literally take the breath away while the building itself contains the hospital wards retained in their original, ancient state plus a superb collection of priceless treasures.

The Hospice vineyards of some 60 hectares are scattered through the principal appellations of the Cote de Beaune and a small area of the Cote de Nuits.

The auction brings in approximately 1.5 million Euros per year and a proportion of the sale value still goes towards the care of the sick and modernising and maintaining the modern hospital in Beaune. The day’s climax is a grand candlelight dinner in the old Hospice de Beaune.

For those with a strong constitution (or, more accurately, able to obtain a ticket which is virtually impossible) the third day (Monday) of the Trois Glorieuses is all about Meursault and its Paulée. Meursault, the so-called capital of the great white Burgundies has revived the custom of a Paulee or feast to mark the end of the grape harvest. Nowadays the Paulée brings together winegrowers, their workers, friends, wine experts and writers from all around the world. Each of the guests brings his own bottles and, quite literally, it is possible to taste over 150 wines during a feast that commences at midday and finishes when the last person staggers out of the venue, the Chateau de Meursault.

For those keen to sharpen their prose a literary prize of a 100 bottles of Meursault is presented at the Paulée on the basis of a writers work – nominally linked to their writings on the vine and wine, fact or fiction.

Santé et Bonne Fête!

Lynne Hammond

Burgundy Discovery offers small group personal guided wine tasting tours to the independent family growers typical to Burgundy. Full details are at www.burgundydiscovery.com.
If you are interested in a tour at the time of the St Vincent or Three Glorious Days please email
lynne@burgundydiscovery.com

Places to stay

Hostellerie Le Cèdre **** Beaune

Hotel de la Poste **** Beaune

Château de Challanges *** Beaune

Hotel le Richebourg **** Vosne Romanée