Sommelier Scholarship Trip to Burgundy

by Raj Vaidya
January 22, 2024

As many of you may know, Daniel founded the Sommelier Scholarship Fund nearly a decade ago, initially as an initiative on his own but since 2021 an official non-profit organization which is committed to offering wine professionals in the US an opportunity to visit the great producers of France and really learn about wines and the regions ‘sur place’. I’ve been able to be a part of the organization since the early days, and was lucky to play host to four young talents on their first trip to Burgundy over a week this month. To get to introduce these eager young minds and palates to the region I love and that has taught me so much is truly an honor, and a blast to see it through their eyes too.

I thought I’d share a few highlights this week, starting with a visit to the storied and nearly inaccessible Domaine de la Romanée Conti. Bertrand de Villaine was kind enough to welcome us, and we tasted the 2022 vintage from barrels. Some wines had been racked off their lees to be blended, so we were not able to taste every cuvée the domaine makes. This, we learned, is a relatively new process at DRC. Prior to 1990 every barrel was bottled individually, so if (for example) they made 90 barrels of La Tâche as they did in 1990, they would bottle each barrel one by one, meaning that there were 90 different micro cuvées bottled! Crazy to think how such a storied domaine would bottle this way until so recently. After 1990 they started blending as many as 6 barrels together at a time for bottling, and now they’ve finally switched to using large tanks and blending all the barrels before bottling. Certainly the fanciest, and amongst the most memorable visits of our trip.

Another highlight was our visit to Domaine Lafarge in Volnay. Always a favorite for myself, this tasting proved to be truly special, as Frédéric Lafarge hosted us to a wonderful exploration of the top vineyards in Beaune, Meursault, Volnay and Pommard. Fred is a special creature, super kind and humble and also extremely generous. He pulled a dusty map out from behind a barrel and proceeded to give the scholars a tour of the vineyards from deep in the cellar, carefully explaining the differences between these Côte de Beaune communes where he often has holdings that skirt the appellations’ borders. He wrapped up our tasting with a special treat, a half bottle of Clos de Chênes 2005!

One final visit worth highlighting was our last tasting of the trip: Vincent Dauvissat in Chablis. I’ve long been of the opinion that Vincent produces the most beautiful wines in the appellation, and the 2022 vintage did not disappoint. We tasted through his range in the kitchen above his cellar, as he was in the middle of racking the 2023’s as they had just finished malolactic fermentations and there was too much movement and strewn about hoses in the cave. Vincent seems quite pleased with his 22’s'; the vintage shows great precision despite it being a fairly ripe harvest. In some ways, this was even more impressive than many of our other visits as Vincent is a bit shy, almost hermit-like, and so the chance to taste with him and enjoy a glass of a 2004 Preuses Grand Cru - which he poured us blind at the end of the tasting - really spoke to the scholars, and to the mission of our endeavor. While the scholars have long known Dauvissat’s name and thought of him and his wines as being super rare and hard to access, we were able to show them that in fact he is a lovely man who makes beautiful wines in a truly simple cellar.

It was a great trip indeed and we built some great memories. Our work with the scholarship fund is certainly helping our professional community; the feedback we get from the scholars, the vignerons and the donors who support us has been extremely heartening. If you find yourself in a giving mood, remember that all donations to Sommelier Scholarship Fund are tax deductible, so please reach out to me directly and I can tell you more about how you could support this important educational, cultural initiative.