8 Days in Burgundy

From 2011 to 2018, I went to France multiple times a year for my wine and spirits retail gig. It was the best part of the job, by far. We would drive all over, meet farmers, sample their products, and go on all sorts of adventures. I eventually got a tutor, learned the language, and dedicated myself to deepening those ties. Unfortunately, when I left the company I pretty much lost all of that foundational work, along with the relationships I had established. It’s something I’ve mourned privately for quite some time and I didn’t realize the extent of that sadness until recently.

Now, as we head into year four of Two-Nineteen, I’ve decided to take it back. I called Sophie my old tutor three months ago to start preparing. I reached out to people in Burgundy I admired, but had never once spoken to, and they told me to come. Come do the harvest with us. Hang out in Beaune. Drink wine. Practice your French. Take back your joy. So I’m doing it.

I’ve also been writing quite a bit about my new-found appreciation for both natural and low-intervention wines, which has led to a fascination with certain portfolios, specifically the wines from the Becky Wasserman company. Just about every time I discovered, read about, or stumbled upon an exciting new producer, that bottle would have a Becky Wasserman stamp on the back label. From Domaine Serol to Chanterêves to Weingut Schätzel to La Soufrandière to another tiny producer named Icy Liu, whose wines I had to order from New York in order to sample.

Icy is both a winemaker and an employee of Becky Wasserman, which made me even more curious to meet her. I arrived in Beaune yesterday afternoon, taking the train from Charles de Gaulle to Lyon, then Lyon to Beaune. Icy picked me up at the station and took me to my hotel, then we rendezvoused for dinner later in the evening with Paul Wasserman to drink some wine. Today, I’m meeting with Icy to prep for her harvest, which begins tomorrow in Fleurie.

-David Driscoll