Beyond Romanee-Conti and into the diverse world of historic French wine region


The impact of Japanese comic book series, “The Drops of God,” on Burgundy and its wine can still be felt.

When the press highlighted the bottle of wine that inspired “The Drops of God” and the series itself put the spotlight on Burgundy, the storied region in eastern France got noticed.

It was a bottle of 1985 Domaine de La Romanee-Conti Echezeaux from Burgundy that fueled Shin and Yuko Kibayashi’s passion for wine, a passion that was subsequently channeled into the duo’s series.

It was only a matter of time before the press was buzzing about the series’ influence on the Asian wine market, including South Korea.

That was approximately four years ago. The fervor has yet to die down.

According to Bureau Interprofessional des Vins de Bourgogne press contact Cecile Mathiaud, “The Drops of God” still brings South Koreans to the region.

While Japanese comic books may have played a role in drawing South Koreans to Burgundy, the region itself has long been famed for producing some of the world’s greatest wines by oenophiles for many years.

There is Domaine de La Romanee-Conti and Henri Jayer to name a few, but these come with a price tag, as explained by Domaines et Saveurs Collection president-negociant Jeanne Marie de Champs, who was in Seoul to represent Burgundy and its wine.

“It’s like when you buy a car, you are dreaming of buying a Rolls Royce,” said de Champs, 58. “Romanee-Conti is a dream of many. It’s a great wine.”

“Me, in my life, I have tasted it three times,” she explained how it is a wine that even she cannot easily afford.

“We have many, many other wines which are great.”

While Grand cru and Premier cru wines rank high in the grading stratosphere, the lower level village or regional appellations are also worth a taste.

“Usually if you like one producer’s wine, the Grand and Premier crus, then you will like the village or regional appellations from that producer as well,” said Mathiaud, 37.

“There are so many good wines which I can afford,” de Champs said. “Sometimes you have that magic combination of food with a simple kind of wine.”

De Champs also noted that while the 2009 Burgundy vintages attracted a great deal of press as a good year, “you have great wine in 2008.”

“Now it will be a great wine,” she said, agreeing that because 2008 vintages stayed relatively under the radar, pricing might also be more wallet-friendly.

To understand the impetus wine lovers have for Burgundy wine, one must understand that the region boasts such variations in land and climate that it is oft-believed that even wine produced less than a mile apart from each other taste different even though only two grape varieties ― Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ― dominate most of the region.

Burgundy wine, in essence, is seen as a mirror of each quirk and characteristic of its terroir. For example, according to de Champs, Clos de Vougeot ― a famous Grand cru-designated vineyard within the Cotes de Nuits (the area within the Cote d’ Or known for producing top grade Pinot Noirs) ― alone has 77 growers.

“Every grower gets his own grapes and makes his own wines,” she said. “It is like having 77 restaurants with their own chefs who all make boeuf bourgignon, but each version tastes different.”

The wine’s chameleon-like persona does not end there.

“You will enjoy them in their youth because they are elegant, delicate, not too square,” said Mathiaud. “They will age greatly. These wines are really interesting to follow through time.”

As for the pairing of Pinot Noir with Asian cuisine, de Champs said that efforts made in Burgundy “to keep residual sugar below 2 percent” results in reds that are not too sweet, which in turn makes it compatible with Asian dishes because there less of a clash of sugar from the wine with the spices in the food.

When it comes to properly enjoying Burgundy red, de Champs stressed that there is a tendency to serve them too warm.

According to de Champs, room temperature back then (when Burgundians dwelled in castles that had no central heating) was significantly lower than it is today. A safe bet is to serve it a little cooler and then use your hands to warm the glass.

By Jean Oh (oh_jean@heraldcorp.com)