As the head winemaker for the legendary Burgundy wine house, Maison Louis Jadot (Jadot), Frédéric Barnier gets many incredible benefits. One of them is traveling around the world, selling some of the most famous wines around the globe, rooted in a long history of high-quality wines that goes back over 150 years.
The wines labeled with Bourgogne on the front, without any other area following it, represent regional wines from the esteemed Burgundy wine region that can come from anywhere within that region. Yet Frédéric has another great benefit as he gets to taste Jadot 1er Cru (Premier Cru) and Grand Cru wines all the time because, as the head winemaker, he needs to know these wines backward and forward which can be astonishing as these wines can range from hundreds of dollars to thousands.
On one such visit, before Covid even existed, he was able to bring his wife on a trip to New York City, and he found himself having dinner with his wife and a bottle of Bourgogne Pinot Noir. But on that particular night, he just wanted to drink the wine, which is the best one to “first discover Burgundy Pinot Noir,” and he was taken aback by how much he enjoyed it. The Bourgogne Pinot Noir that Frédéric drank that night with his wife was fresh, balanced and elegant, with fresh fruits and flowers that had a hint of minerality. “We forget that it is a very good wine,” said Frédéric, as winemakers have to spend most of their time, especially if they work for a top fine wine producer, analyzing all the aspects of their past and present ultra-premium wines. But when it came to wanting a delicious wine representative of Burgundy, there is no better wine than Bourgogne.
Excerpt taken from Forbes.com
Author: Catherine Todd
