Nuits St. Georges: Burgundy, Black Currants, and Books


I was so excited to finally have a chance to visit Burgundy, one of the world’s top wine regions. I spent a couple of hours in Nuit St. Georges, one of the many wine villages near Dijon, and finally understood how intermingled fields and dwellings are. You walk across the bridge and you're in the fields. The warehouses are in the town itself.


I knew that the best Burgundy wine comes from the slopes, rather than the flat fields below, and the distinction was obvious.


I visited the Cassissium to find out how liqueur de cassis (black currant), another local beverage, is made. The tasting was informative. There is a cheaper version that is less alcoholic, but it tastes mostly of sugar. The higher-alcohol, higher-quality version contains more fruit, which really improves the flavour. It’s definitely worth paying a little more for the better-quality product.


If you’re a Burgundy enthusiast but unable to travel at the moment, here are some books about Burgundy that I’ve enjoyed:
Breakfast in Burgundy: A Hungry Irishman in the Belly of France, Raymond Blake
French Spirits: a House, a Village, and a Love Affair in Burgundy, Jeffrey Greene
My Grape Year, Laura Bradbury (first of four)
Reflections of a Wine Merchant, Neal Rosenthal
To Burgundy and Back Again: A Tale of Wine, France, and Brotherhood, Raymond Blake

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