This area is dedicated to wine professionals including sommeliers, restaurateurs, wine store owners importers and trainers. Welcome to your very own BIVB website where you can find all the tips and tools you need. You will find documentation, photography, training tools and all kinds of other useful information here to facilitate your search. You can also browse our events and training calendar and you are welcome to attend any that appeal. If you require any further information then don’t hesitate to contact us!
Bourgogne wines have their sights set on Sweden and Norway in March with masterclasses and press dinners.
On 6 and 13 March, Bourgogne wines will be in Oslo and Stockholm respectively for masterclasses and press dinners. Sweden and Norway are two loyal markets, respectively the 7th and 8th biggest importers of Bourgogne wines around the world. Highly appreciative of top-of-the-range wines, these mature markets will benefit by opening up to Village and Régionale appellations with a geographical denomination, that are lesser-known but which offer a varied range of more affordable wines.
On March 6, Norway will host two Masterclasses that will propose to explore a new range of wines from Bourgogne not yet enough available on this market.
The first session will be for local restaurateurs and sommeliers. The second will target journalists, importers, and market influencers. Both sessions will be hosted by Bourgogne wine ambassador Liora Levi.
The press dinner, which will be held in a traditional Norwegian restaurant, will feature some lesser-known Village appellations such as Fixin, Viré-Clessé, Pernand-Vergelesses, and Givry, along with some local cuisine.
In Sweden, on 13 March, the spotlight will be on Chablis. Chablis wines have always been very popular in Scandinavia, and Sweden is their fifth-biggest export market.
Two masterclasses will be dedicated to exploring the entire range from Petit Chablis to Chablis Grand Cru. The first one will be for professional restaurateurs and sommeliers, while the second will welcome journalists, importers, and influencers.
Following this, a press dinner will extend the experience with some indulgent food and wine combinations.
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Find out more about Bourgogne Côte d’Or.
Did you know? The Bourgogne Côte d’Or AOC is the “youngest” of the Régionale appellations with a geographical denomination.
In 2017, the producers in Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits obtained the possibility to the geographical denomination “Côte d’Or” to some of their Régionale appellation Bourgogne. The Bourgogne Côte d’Or appellation was born.
This geographical denomination is reserved for still red and white wines produced within 40 villages within the defined region.
Terroir
The vines of Bourgogne Côte d’Or grow over a diagonal shape running northeast to southwest and arranged across a succession of slopes at between 200-450 meters above sea level in a temperate climate that tends to be hot and dry. The vines mainly face southeast and grow on the foothills of the Côte, on old alluvium made up of clay scree and colluvial deposits, clay loam, and gravel at the ends of the valleys.
The reds are cherry in color with hints of deep ruby. The nose offers touches of cherry, blackcurrant, and blackberry, with hints of pomegranate and peony. In the mouth, they are smooth and delicate, with fine tannins and a fleshy fruitiness that peaks with a fresh and light finish.
The whites are pale straw gold in color with touches of silvery yellow-green. The nose reveals touches of lemon, pear, almond, acacia blossom, and hawthorn, sometimes with notes of aniseed, peach, lime blossom, mint, and pineapple. The mouth is full of well-rounded fleshy fruitiness that grows more saline and lemony towards the finish, with aromas of licorice and brioche.
Hong Kong: A mature market that loves high-quality Bourgogne wines
Hong Kong is the fourth biggest market in terms of value for Bourgogne wine. In constant evolution, it is gradually opening up to the lesser-known appellations.
Revenue from Bourgogne wines was up 24% in the first 11 months of 2018 to 55.5 million euros – a new record, following on from strong growth in 2017. This sets a new record in terms of value, after the two years of 2016 and 2017, which already saw strong growth.
Over the same period, the volume of white Bourgogne wines exported to Hong Kong continued to grow, reaching the equivalent of 490,500 75cl bottles. Revenue was up a healthy 43.5% to 13.46 million euros. This is quite unusual in Asia, where markets are traditionally oriented towards red wines.
The red Régionale AOC “Bourgogne” dominated the market, with 39% of total exports (down 6.3% on the first 11 months of 2017). VillageandVillage Premier Cru appellations of the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits came second, with 31% of the volume exported and 29% of all revenue (up 25.6% on the first 11 months of 2017).
In specialist wine stores, Bourgogne wines remain well represented.
Bourgogne wines did well in this sector, in second place in terms of the number of references per point of sale among the worldwide offer of wines. They were available in 91% of the stores surveyed, accounting for 17.8% of the offer.
The Chablis wine competition was held in January, under the presidency of Tim Atkin, Master of Wine and world-renowned wine critic.
This competition is unique in that Chablis producers are not allowed to judge the wines that could be their own. The 86-strong jury is thus made up of journalists, restaurateurs, sommeliers, traders, enologists, and wine lovers.
The competition has two stages. The wines are first tasted by the jury, then those with the highest scores go before a super-jury which awards the medals.
The winning wines are used by the BIVB during marketing and training events in France and abroad and act as the worthy ambassadors for Chablis wines throughout 2019.
With maps, guides, diagrams, and videos, the Bourgogne Wine Board’s (BIVB) Media Library has everything you could ever want. This tool brings together all the documentation produced by the BIVB, and makes it freely available to all.
Maybe you need a map of the region, or perhaps the latest production figures. All of this and more is available for download from the Media Library, and you can be sure all information is up-to-date and has been validated by professionals.
You can also find objects for sale, such as bottle-openers, sommeliers’ aprons, and sparkling wine stoppers, along with plenty of gift ideas, such as neckties, shopping bags, and games for the kids to help you share the Bourgogne wines experience.
Around 250 Bourgogne wine industry professionals, including producers, sommeliers, traders, restaurateurs, representatives of cooperative cellars, and journalists, will select the most representative wines of each appellation and vintage from some 500 wines, with a focus on quality, pleasure, and authenticity.
This edition for spring 2019 will be presided over by Éric Goettelmann, Executive Head Sommelier for the Bernard Loiseau group, and Meilleur Ouvrier de France in his category in 2018.
Contact us if you’d like to be a member of the jury.
After London and Hong-Kong, Bourgogne Week is continuing its world tour, this time landing for a week in Japan.
For this edition of the event, industry players, including importers, winestore owners, restaurateurs, and wine bars, are invited to promote their selection of Bourgogne wines through events such as tastings, meetings with the producers, and in-store or online promotions. A major marketing campaign orchestrated by the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) will support these activities and ensure visibility for each event.
This year, the BIVB is once again hosting a series of gatherings including masterclasses, press lunches, and other PR events. Several winegrowers and négociants will also be making the trip to present their ranges of Bourgogne wines during a major tasting event and to support local partners.
Whether you’re an organizer or a participant, make sure you note the dates in your diary for this unique week-long campaign dedicated to Bourgogne wines. More information will be available soon.
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Stay in touch with Bourgogne wines, and find out who won our prize draw!
You have demonstrated your enthusiasm for keeping up-to-date with all the latest news from Bourgogne wines and we thank you for that!
We had a really great response to our survey at the end of 2018, and we’d like to thank all those who participated. Everyone who signed up will now be regularly receiving this newsletter from Bourgogne wines, keeping you up-to-speed with all the latest news and promotional events happening where you are.
Every participant was entered into a prize draw to win a 12-bottle case of Bourgogne Grand Crus and the winner was the Cavavin winestore, here in Bourgogne.
And don’t forget to keep us up to date if you change your contact details to ensure you don’t miss out on any communication from Bourgogne wines.
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Video
Winemaking in Bourgogne during the winter months
The work in the vines doesn’t stop when the leaves fall. Far from it! Discover what goes on in the vines, season after season.
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Diary of our events
France :
1 January to 31 December 2019
The BIVB is partnering WSET
1 December 2018 to 30 June 2019
Come and join us at our professional Bourgogne wine workshops in Beaune.
The perfect opportunity for wine industry professionals, including winestore owners, sommeliers, restaurateurs, and buyers, to improve their understanding of Bourgogne wines, from tastings to terroir, and from appellations to food and wine combinations.
11 March to 1 July 2019
Les Ateliers Prestige by Fabrice Sommier are back!
A new program of events will be running across the whole of France
Nice: 11 March Lille: 25 March Nantes: 20 May Bordeaux: 17 June Lyon: 1 July
Abroad:
1 January to 31 December 2019
The BIVB is partnering WSET
25 February to 1 March – Hong Kong
Bourgogne Week Hong Kong 2019
6 March – Oslo
Masterclass on Bourgogne Wines for restaurateurs and sommeliers, in the morning.
6 March – Oslo
Masterclass on Bourgogne Wines for journalists, importers, and influencers, in the afternoon.
6 March – Oslo
Bourgogne wines press dinner
13 March – Stockholm
Masterclasses on Chablis wines
Bourgogne vs. Burgundy: to re-affirm their identity, the region and the producers are reverting back to the original French iteration of the name, Bourgogne.
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