Decoding Burgundy Wine: Pinot Noir, AOC & Beaujolais with Preston Mohr

Burgundy wine is some of the most celebrated — and complex — wine in the world, and in this episode of Fabulously Delicious, Global Wine Advisor Preston Mohr breaks it all down. From Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to the region's 100-plus AOC appellations, Preston explains what makes Burgundy unlike anywhere else and why its terroir is a lifetime study in itself.

We explore the fascinating history behind Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau, the legendary Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction, and the story of how Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, shaped the region's wine landscape in the 1400s by banishing the Gamay grape and replanting with Pinot Noir.

Preston also shares practical wine tasting tips for beginners — how to look, smell, and taste — plus honest advice on what to spend on a bottle, why local wine almost always pairs better with local food, and whether it's worth shipping wine home from France.

An American who knew from the age of eight he would one day live in Paris, Preston eventually made it happen in his early twenties and has now called France home for over eighteen years. He is currently Global Wine Advisor at Vivante, the world's first immersive digital wine tasting platform, where tasting kits are shipped globally and every wine featured is organically or biodynamically produced.

Transcript

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I told my mother at age eight that I was going to move to Paris. I have absolutely no affiliation, no French blood, and my parents did not speak French, nor had they ever been to France before I moved here, so I don't know where this came from. Perhaps a past life. At the age of eight, maybe it Possibly, yes. Bonjour. This is fabulously delicious. The podcast. It's all about delicious French cook it, produce it, talk, write Burgundy wine is renowned around the world as some of the best French wine there is from some of the most expensive wines you can buy to everyday dinner wines. There's a fabulous world of delicious wine to drink, but Burgundy is also known for its food. So how does wine and food To dive further into wines from Burgundy, I'm joined today by Global Wine Advisor, and from his Instagram account, I can see a fabulous French foodie, Preston Moore. Preston, welcome to Fabulously Hello. Thanks for having me. Preston. Before we get into all things little bit to our audience and before you move to France. You actually studied at University history and French studies. What was the attraction of for a young American? I told my mother at age eight that I was going to move to Paris. Okay, I have absolutely no And my parents did not speak French, nor had they ever been to France before I moved here, so I don't know where this came from. Perhaps a past life, right? Uh, but it was always something My brother studied French in in school, and so I thought he was cool and decided to study French as well. And then just the rest is history, as we say, kind of built my life around that love of French culture and language and art and, and then wine and food came a bit later at the age of eight. Maybe it was Petit le pew? Possibly, yes. To go that leap, to actually you've had no affiliation. I thought you'd tell me that maybe your dad was from France or. Or mum was, etc. but no. So what As, as an American, that's, uh, studied French at school to Well, I think that in the scary, but I was young and it I think the excitement value outweighed the risk at that point. You know, when you're in your like, let's just take a chance never really looked back and very happy here. And, uh, certainly a lot of that and the wine that I discovered. You know, once I got over here, I'd always been interested in cooking. My mother taught cooking. It was a home economics teacher, who teaches young people how to essentially, which is actually a job, I should say, in the US. Unfortunately, it's not required But that was her career. And so I grew up around food and cooking and baking and, uh, and that's probably where it started. Uh, and then, you know, got here and really decided that I wanted to focus more on the French side of, of food and cooking and, and then wine. And had you been before, like on I came here once, uh, right And, uh, did you know that typical kind of grand tour that most Americans do their first trip to Europe, which is like one or two nights in each location with a backpack and staying in crappy hostels and, you know, trying to live on five dollars a day, etc. and but came in and out of Paris on that trip. And that was my by far my favorite place we had visited on that trip. Um, so just decided this was And then, uh, did a study abroad but I was one of the only actually to really stay and always kind of figured out a and ended up staying for now So that first time it really would have been a major culture shock. I mean, there's no Palace of some billionaire Trump. Trump towers. We have Trump, we have Trump And you know, that's that's as Um, yeah, not quite the same as Uh, it really would have been a What were some of the from your first sort of foray of My first experiences living here family that I lived with. So I was placed actually in a arrondissement in Paris, and um, kind of aristocratic family, filled with antiques and, you and gorgeous, you know, moldings Uh, and they had a country of a chateau and, uh, but they simple people and really lovely. And, you know, that's how I learned French, actually, because they didn't really speak English and or maybe they did, and they certainly didn't lead on me. Lead me on to believe they spoke So I had to speak French. And I think back then, I know it wasn't that long ago, but you really did need to speak French here. And I see younger people now internships or for studies, and French because the younger are speaking English and are Whereas I feel like it was such an important part to learn the French language. And that's what allowed me to go and start talking to winemakers and bakers and butchers and people that were doing cool things that I wouldn't have been able to really understand otherwise if I didn't speak the language. What's your first food memory of This is actually something I it's so interesting. But when I got to this host family's house, you know, I arrived at the airport and I, you know, this was pre cell phone. So this was like you, you got, calling the family the day saying, I arrive at this time we'll pick you up at this spot. And it was a random street So I flew in. Had to figure out how to get Someone I'd never met at the Uh, and it all worked. Okay. I remember my host mother asking me, what color shirt will you be wearing? You know, and nowadays we It would be like, just pick up say, I'm here. So I arrived, they brought me to been on the overnight flight and And my the host's mother made lunch and I was like, I had had probably quiche Lorraine, but it the ingredients so simple. And you look at a quiche Lorraine recipe and of course there's people who say there's cheese in it and some who say that don't doesn't have cheese or whatever. Whatever version you really Either way, it's fine. It's just pure love. I mean, how can you go wrong cheese and a butter pastry? I mean, it's just everything I So. Ham and cheese pie. It's what we call it in The back in the States is where you developed your interest for wine, though, from my understanding. And it came from, uh, starting sort of, you say introduced you Yes. How did that come about? Well, so he, this is one of my And we grew up together and, become a chef. And I was in university. He was in culinary school. We were sharing a flat and, uh, kinds of food he had prepared And I really wine wasn't on my In fact, as an Australian, I'm sure you'll enjoy this, but I say that, uh, yellow tail Shiraz in magnums got me through university. Oh, no. Preston, this is a wine that every, every, every American knows. This is like what most people. It's like it was eight dollars, for a Magnum. And that's what I was drinking. Uh, if it wasn't beer or whatever, you know, in the time university and he was coming or French wines and, and we were shopping and he would show me it with the wine. And it was just life changing. And I think that that's the to be interested in wine. I thought younger in my or I say becoming a chef. And I think it was that experience of living with him, coming home from culinary school and smelling his clothes and his everything about his body and becoming okay? Actually, no, I don't think I I don't think I want to be a It's not that glamorous. You know, seeing his, like, work clogs that he was wearing covered in splattered grease and all this. And it's not very glamorous as Um, so I decided, okay, I can be to food through the wine door. And so you come to Paris, uh, university, is that right? And you started in hospitality, I did what was that? Why was that? Was that just by fate? Well, yes, it was. In fact, my my parents had came to visit me here. And, uh, it's a flat that was whom I'm still very close. Gail Boisclair, as I believe, she's kind of my, my Paris ways and is, um, a very in fact, still today. And she was she had started she called, uh, perfectly Paris and furnished apartment rentals. And so I met her that way. And after I finished studying, I extra and, uh, talk to her, and And that's essentially kind of and then ended up becoming a For a number of years, she was able to, uh, sponsor me as a, as a official resident and, or as a, you know, work employee for her. And, and then, uh, it was hospitality world with all of from Australia, America, Canada, I saw people coming. I was checking them into the apartments and they'd ask me right away, well, where's your favorite restaurant? Where should we go? Like, tell me about, you know, and, and that's when I started to do research and really start understanding. There was a huge market for this knowledge of food and wine, especially catering towards Anglophones or people here that didn't necessarily speak the language and couldn't just come and walk into a restaurant and, you know, understand what was happening. So knowing Gaelle, it's not the only coincidence that we both the things that we have in common, we both in twenty thirteen started a tourism businesses. So I started Queenie's Food Tours in Melbourne, which was my walking tour business after MasterChef. But you started, um, Paris by Glass, which was a great success. You've had amazing reviews, uh, that you were doing your tours like showing people around Paris different way to do it? Yes. Yeah. So Paris by the glasses, uh, was brought people into the behind food and wine here in Paris, but And it was really something that as I said, just bring people they were visiting. I think it's easy to come Have great meals, have great food, and then leave and kind of forget it. And even in a city like Paris, I mean, there's so much bad food here. And so I almost felt bad and like, okay, I want to be able to understand and go home with a be able to put that into use So I was doing a lot of tastings and tours and was teaching wine classes at a cooking school, etc. and yeah, it was great experience. Met a lot of cool people, have lots of invitations I still need to go see, especially from the Australians. Everyone was always like, come Like stay in my. Yeah, I still have never been, but I need to get out my my Rolodex one day and just like, go pop or pop in to visit all these cool people I've met from all over the world and what I was doing. So what is your favorite wine Oh gosh, I haven't been to a wine bar in over a year and a half. That's right. I do have to. Yeah, I didn't think of that when I was thinking about the question. So what was your favorite wine Um, so I, I have to say it's probably my neighborhood wine bar, which is called Lebanese du Vin in the seventeenth and the Batignolles neighborhood. Not a lot of people come up here, but it happens to be where I live. I am somebody who generally doesn't like going to the most trendy natural wine bars in Paris. Like that's all you read about. First of all, what a lot of is Paris is huge. It's intricate, it's complex. We've got everything we need in So you don't need to cross the And so where all the kind of happening is just kind of far And so I don't necessarily go drink a glass of wine at some second or whatnot. So I like to stay closer to Uh, and yeah, definitely the in home drinking, but yeah, And they have a great selection and I've got to know the owners quite well. And they're just a lovely, you people running this great bar a nice welcoming place. They've got a little dog that is always there and it's quite Paris is amazing at the moment. Have you been out and about? I have, yeah, I haven't actually eaten out in a terrace yet though. I'm planning to do that this I've been kind of letting the I'm not a big crowd person, right? Yes. The older I get, I'm like, I I need to know when I'm going to the restaurant and get there on time. And the table needs to be ready. I don't like waiting in line for food and I don't like I don't like sitting on the roadside either and having the motorcycles, you know, ten centimetres away from my face while I'm eating my steak tartare. But I am planning on going out But I have, I've been walking always, it's always nice to just that energy back in the city. But we do miss the tourists. I think that I wasn't I didn't year I've had that feeling. I feel like the city's become a little bit less cosmopolitan because there aren't all those different cultures and people here, and that's what Paris is all about. So I know that they'll come back ready to, you know, have them go But, um, but now is the time to all those things you want to do reservations and some can't get either. A quick little pause. Fabulous listeners. If you're enjoying the show and goodness in your life, well, fabulously delicious Substack. It's where I share the extra bits that don't make it onto the podcast. My favorite French food finds I'm testing, behind the scenes gossip from life in France. Think of it as your bonus course You can subscribe for free or go If you'd like to support the podcast and help me keep bringing you more French food stories every week, every paid subscription generally makes a difference. Merci beaucoup. You'll find the link in the show Or you can go to Andrew Pryor fabulously dot com for more information. Come for the croissants and stay Getting into wines, and in for us foodies, wine novices. I just like to cook and drink a I'm not an expert in wine at What makes Burgundy wine stand out from all the other wines in France? Great question. I think that Burgundy is all about finesse and elegance, and there are only two main grape varieties in Burgundy Pinot noir for reds and Chardonnay for whites. So there perhaps you know the two most famous grapes throughout the world now, but they come. They both originate from that climate and soil there. To me, it's the only place in I mean, yes, I've had great Chardonnays from other places and great Pinot noirs from other places. But if you really want to try the unadulterated version of these grapes that have now become world famous, it's all about Burgundy. So there's that. And I think that Burgundy is It's kind of a bit of an insiders world because you really need to understand it before you can just enjoy the wines. You know, they're delicious, but Especially the Reds are not I think that if you give them to America, they might think, oh, and white in color. What's wrong with it? Uh, whereas that's what I like they're digestible, they're, going to knock your socks off. Like, you know, they're not They're very much about, they're just in line with what I like in wines, which is mineral and dry and crisp whites and lovely and fresh soft reds without too much alcohol. Right. And so we hear the word mentioned often by wine experts and also food producers in France. The word terroir and excuse my with an Australian accent. For those that don't know, what And then also what is the Terroir really is a very French the taste of a place. It's the taste of wherever that So whether it's wine or butter or cream or cheese or meat, what it is, is it's the accumulation of the natural factors that influence the way that something tastes. And there's also one thing natural that influences terroir, And most people don't think actually driven by the have been living in these places But it's, I would say ninety percent natural and ten percent human influenced. Um, and so terroir is, if you think about it this way, if we grow Chardonnay in Burgundy and we grow that same grape in California and we grow the same grape in Australia, those that same variety will taste three different ways because of the terroir, because each of those three locations has different climate, a different soil, different exposition to the sun, different wind patterns, different growing cycles, etc. and that's really what terroir is. And Burgundy, I would say the terroir there is far too complex to even sum up in, you know, one book. Um, you, you have to study it understand it because of g g, g millions of years. It's, it's created a very complex terroir with microclimates and different types of soil underneath the vines. And that's really what makes Burgundy somewhere you can truly spend your entire kind of drinking, career studying and understanding and then realize, hey, actually, I've only just scratched the surface of this place. It wouldn't be a bad career, No drinking your way through trying to understand the terror of Burgundy. Sounds good to me. Another term for us novices that And this is again, something also about food and wine is AOC. And apparently Burgundy has over vineyards, AOC vineyards, which What is AOC and why does AOC stands for appellation controlled place of origin. So it means that an AOC is a the map that can produce a in a certain fashion. So a good example of this would outside of the wine world, it's using a cheese. Uh, something like, um, let me one that everybody will Everyone's probably had It's this is the same rule that We have it for cheeses as well, from a specific place. It has to come from sheep's It has to be aged a certain It has to really abide by a whole list of rules and regulations to be called Roquefort. So Roquefort is not only a name a way of making cheese. It's almost like a brand where quality from any rock. For even though there are many follow those same rules. And so that it's a guarantee of quality and of origin and of provenance and really of, of really of go back to that quality. And so all of those AOCs in Burgundy are just that, as they're saying, we've only got these two grape varieties to work with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But in these one hundred plus AOCs, these wine grapes will express themselves differently to the point of where we need to give ourselves different names from our neighbors to differentiate ourselves. Beaujolais wine is also a wine from the Burgundy region, and it's famous in France as a table wine. But it's all everybody gets of the year when it's announced. What is Beaujolais wine for us coming to France that don't know Yes, Beaujolais is the and they grow grape there called Gamay was the main red grape until the fifteen hundreds. And, uh, the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold at the time, he found that Gamay was quite harsh and was kind of a bastard grape variety. And so he banished it from his everything with Pinot Noir. And that's how Pinot Noir came to Burgundy from Burgundy originally. But that's how it became so And it was Gamay was really now the Beaujolais region, where It's a very fruity, very easy to But in years past, this grape was used primarily for everyday drinking table wines, like you said. And there are some excellent producers now using this grape and really making more terroir driven, excellent quality style wines. Um, in in Beaujolais. And the Beaujolais Nouveau is And that's in November, they released the wine from that year's harvest, which is quite uncommon most of the time when we make wine, you harvest the grapes in. If we're in the northern hemisphere, you're going to harvest in September and then you're. Well, I guess it's the same for it's just different cycle, you Um, here it would be September. You harvest for most parts and you know, crushed and made into probably the next year in the quality wines, burgundies, age, you know, a year or two Uh, and what they do in with Beaujolais Nouveau, they It only stays about a month or bottled and sold. It's a way of Essentially selling what they've just finished making. Whereas winemakers down there They had no money, so they had no way to really live between the harvest and the following year. So they decided to start commercializing those wines earlier. They're generally the least interesting in terms of quality. Beaujolais wines, um, but easy to drink. And yeah, there's a number of do are made just like a Burgundy There's a lot of fanfare around In November, when they're being everyone's got their signs out wine here, etc.. So, uh, it's It's just a big party. I've done tours of Dijon and came across this fabulous abbey restaurant in the cellars. They did a specialty of beef and the entree starter. And I'm actually known for my Um, on Cooking Fabulously. It's one of my most popular If anyone wants to head over to Uh, but, um, my friends birth bourguignon is the best high compliment from them. Indeed. What I found fabulous at this entree, as we call it in, um, in is um a poached egg served in What other specialties from the Burgundy region are there Yeah. There are so many. What you just spoke about. Oh, Murat is so delicious. If you've never if you've never tried making it, you should all try. And you can kind of do a cheat. You don't necessarily need to just need to have some good beef and there's lots of recipes online, but yeah, it's delicious. Um, it's a Burgundy is actually a very cool region, very cold in the winter. And so the food there is tends So dishes like both bourguignon, the stews and these long cooked dishes are very traditional and common. Uh, there's another starter there, which is a, uh, it's It's like a pressed ham that's And it's very old fashioned. And French, you know, it's kind The young people don't like this type of food anymore, but it's absolutely delicious. Served cold, usually with a Um, so that's another very Um, there's some great cheeses Typically they are traditionally they're washed rind or strong cheeses that have been washed with alcohol as a byproduct of winemaking. They had, you know, what essentially is grappa, which we call in French ma m a r c. And that was an offshoot of of making wine. They could ferment the skins, had, uh, just made into wine and and they used that alcohol to And in doing so, it would protect the cheese, but also would add an extra layer of flavor. So cheese is like a poire, which is probably the most famous from Burgundy. That's a washed rind cheese. It's washed with that, that like, uh, spirit, you know, it's wash the cheese with. There's that. Yeah, there's just so many Um, and it's a great place to I mean, Leon has it's, uh, bouchons, uh, you get the cassis, you've got the mustard from Dijon. I mean, really, you could just stay in the region of Burgundy and, um, and spend a lifetime exploring French food and wine just there. You sure could. And you're right. Between the Ovaria, which is to the west of Burgundy, which has this incredible volcanic soil that grows a lot of different produce, things like the lentils from Puy, etc. it's not very far away. Then over to the right, on the east side of Burgundy, you have the Alps. So you have all these gorgeous mountain cheeses only an hour away. You could be in the Jura where And then driving a couple hours transforming, transforming into And you can get everything you peppers and onions and tomatoes. And so you're right in the heart spot to get get good produce. Getting back to that initial food and wine pairings, um, educated in wine now. What tips can you give the specifically Burgundy wine, but I think that you should first just forget about all this intimidation of food and wine pairing. If you want to drink a red wine meat, I don't care. Just drink wine is what I have Drink good food. Eat good, eat good food and Uh. And that's it. Um, but I would say the quickest like with like, match the intensity of the wine. So lighter, more delicate foods wines and fuller, richer, heavier full bodied wines. And that's it. Just like with like. And that's the best way to go. But don't overthink it. You know, wine, like you've mentioned, Beaujolais, for example, will go with almost any dish. It's a it's a perfect wine for It's a good aperitif even before It's a good food wine with, um, you know, meets or even with those fish. And I mean, you can literally with just about anything. Is it different to pairing wine to drink than it is to cooking with wine? Uh, I think that the ultimate rule is you should never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink. That being said, I don't cook bottles of wine. I'll always have a cheaper wine that I wouldn't mind drinking that I usually do drink while I'm cooking. Uh, and I cook a lot more, I I do with red wine. Uh, and that's just because it And, you know, in what I cook deglazing pans and stuff. Um, I also recommend for people with wine, but you don't have I always have white vermouth in great and it keeps forever. And then you always have something to add into a source or, you know, to deglaze the pan. And it's actually based on wine. You know what? Vermouth is wine based and has It's a great thing to have You can also freeze wine if you have leftover wine, which is never a problem in my house, but you can freeze it into ice cube trays and have those in your freezer and have those just pop into the pan when you're finished. But I think the rules are the Just pair like with like, you know, don't want to wine to cook with. That's too overpowering. I think it'd be interesting to Andrew, do you use a Burgundy Yes. Well, when I'm in France, I do. Yes. I specifically will go and find Uh, just, I don't know, there's something romantic in the notion about that. I was just curious. Yeah. Because I think Burgundy, expensive wine to. And it does play. If you're going to make a beef bourguignon, you're using an entire bottle or almost a whole bottle. I mean, that can be quite And so I was just curious if you dinner at my house. Yeah, I actually, I listened to some great tips from you about should we be looking for price wine to, you know, to have enjoy Yeah, you don't need to spend a And I think that, um, popular culture kind of tells people or convinces people that you do need to spend a lot of money to have a good wine, but it's not the case. There's some great winemakers everyday drinking wines for bottle here in France. I'm speaking of, of course, these are always more expensive in America or in Australia, etc. unfortunately. But here in France I would say Yes, definitely more than eight Uh, because three euros of that just the cork, the bottle, the etc.. So if you are buying a bottle of wine, what you're thirty cents worth. You know, it's very, very low. Whereas if you spend eight, ten, twelve euros, you're already tripling your quantity or your quality level of, of wine in the bottle. Um, I think for me, I, as the I've, I drink now actually. And so I prefer to spend a bit And I don't drink wine every day used to in my youth and I would on the weekends or leading up to bottle on Thursday and Friday. And really with restaurants and a half, two, it's it's to a restaurant and spend when bottle of wine at a restaurant, probably paid eight or ten euros So you should spend fifty or you're, you're just having, you Um, if I come to France from doing wine tastings and things whole lot of wine and getting it Or should I just be learning and going back home and buying I think that's a great question. I would recommend always going regardless of where you are, and I drink French wine because I'm If I were living in Germany, I'd in Spain, of course, yes, you of champagne or something from But I don't drink Australian because, well, they have to be It has a carbon footprint. Also, I think that local foods go better with the local wines too. So if you're back in Australia, you should drink Australian wine with Australian meat and Australian vegetables and everything that you can get locally. That's my my view. But definitely French wine is my So I think even if I ever did French wine in some capacity. But I wouldn't recommend Um, certainly not for the you have these customs duties If you do bring wine back or countries like America, we can We ship, for example, Chateau de Palmer where I work, we ship our wines all throughout the world in America, very easy to get our wines shipped and there's no customs duties or taxes or anything. Um, so I think I would, yeah, prioritize local merchants, but treat yourself to something nice and imported every once in a while when you're trying wines as a, as a non-expert like myself, um, it can be a bit intimidating, this whole sort of tasting process. And there's a bucket there that I'm supposed to spit it in, which I don't really like the idea of. I prefer to drink the wine. What am I supposed to be doing There's all this sort of slurpy And some people sort of, you What am I supposed to be doing? And what am I supposed to be looking for when you're tasting a wine? The first thing you should ask yourself is, do I like this wine? And that's really all you need But there are all these things professionals, and people at It's just you look, you smell Those are the three steps we eat our eyes as well. So the visual effect of the wine feels in your, on your palette, the clarity, the, um, the depth me is probably the most fun or people at home can start about the families of aromas You don't have to pick out, you that people probably have never But just think about families of aromas and it's going to help you identify maybe what you like. Okay, this wine smells like Oh, okay. Liked it. So I can use that as an go to a restaurant and I can I don't know where it was from, blackberry and smoky note. It was very dark in color and it you know, and that's something And after just kind of learning put those things into practice uh, wherever they go. Getting back to the traditions place called the Born Hospice in that it auctions off. Can you tell us about that? Indeed. Obesity born is an incredibly It's actually an old medieval the sick, the poor, sick people one to care for them or had no And so they, they became one of the largest landowners in Burgundy, and they owned a lot of vineyards. And the vineyard usually came to very prominent person. So there were a lot of wealthy Burgundy that would donate land Essentially, they were doing this at all in, you know, the whole Catholic tradition of basically saying, here you go, here's some money or some land, and I want my free pass to, to, to heaven. And so over time, they became They still own a lot of, of And so the tradition became that land and they would sell it each auction, and they would take all towards the hospital. It wasn't until, I think the actually was or was not used as They now have a modern building can visit this. But my one of my colleagues, her mother in law, was actually born there in the hospice, and she's still alive. She's like in her seventies. Amazing. So yeah, it was a working functional hospital up until quite recently. And but this tradition of the, of the auction goes on and it takes place every year in November. Yeah. And it raises money not just for the hospital, but now it raises money for other hospitals, from my understanding and other other. Yeah. I think it's the. Etc.. Exactly. Yeah. The Fondation des hopitaux de France, I think is who it helps now. So for our listeners out there France and they want to visit a Uh, what where do you recommend they go and when's the best time to visit? Well, anytime is a good time to summer and the fall. Winter is very nice too, but it can be quite bleak and a bit cold. Very a little grey and kind of It's perfectly nice to warm up all that, but if you'd like to outside, do some cycling or some eating out on terraces, etc. um, really the best times. Uh, the, I would say that your home base should be in Bowen, which is a city of about thirty thousand people. So it's quite sizeable, but it's city centre very manageable. You don't need a car. You can walk everywhere. And from there you can then use some of the vineyards. I do recommend hiring a car or tour or something, because it's within walking distance. Their tasting rooms and cellars but to go actually out into the bike or a car to do so. Uh, and there's lots of great places to visit and, um, Chateau de Pomar where I work, we're open every day of the year and or almost every day of the year, but every day of the week, I should say. And, uh, we're one of the only places in Burgundy to really welcome visitors. Um, not a lot of most of the by small families. And you have to call up, make an You can't just turn up in your Whereas we do that and there are Chateau de Meursault is one as We always recommend booking in quite rare in Burgundy. It's not so much of a developed Like you would have more in you take a, you know, you just along the way. Like you've got to plan ahead, book your tastings, go and run it really like a, you know, um, a schedule. Um, can you go to a winery at a winery at harvest time? Can you help out picking grapes or is that not really your best tourist experience of visiting a French winery? In fact, it's in France. It's actually against the law participate or to do work And during the harvest, like a here of just playing around in bunches, that's fine. But actually working the harvest, you have to be officially employed. And so for foreigners, it's very Uh, and so I wouldn't recommend And also it's a time when most And so those couple weeks are The cities are very busy as well people coming there. They need to be lodged and fed And so it's not an ideal time. I would say just before or just Preston, you are currently the Yes. That's right. Did I say that correctly? Vivaan, what is vivante? Yes. Vivante is an offshoot of. Well, it was started by the same founder and CEO of Chateau de Pomar. And we are the world's first immersive digital wine tasting platform. And we have our own technology our wine advisors on my team you can join one of our tastings We have tasting kits that include six individual one hundred millilitres bottles of different wines, and you can taste along in real time and learn about regions from around the world. All of our wines are made They're made in either biodynamically, and we really practices and make people winemakers that are really are not only better for you, but And so we've worked with a whole number of partners throughout France, and we'll eventually be going to Italy and Spain and further afield in the coming years. And featuring this live streaming educational content that you can find on our website. And becoming a member allows you to gain access to, to that content that we have and watch these experiences whenever you'd like. Fabulous. And so do you ship the kits We do. Yes. Yeah. Okay, great. Finally, I wanted to ask you It's been in the news a lot The great frost that happened What happened? And how is it going to affect Yeah, this was a big issue a So in fact, what happens with stages of the spring is when the and opens up, and if we have can actually, the frost can kill will have no grapes. So it's a, it's a big problem. And it's becoming more prevalent have these warmer days. And so the buds start to burst, night and we get the frost in or three in the morning is the With organic and biodynamic producers, there's really not a lot that can be done other than homeopathic remedies, but other conventional winemakers, if they have the money and the resources, they can put these pots they call the smudge pots, which is essentially a big heater. They put in the vineyard. The very rich winemakers that helicopters, and the helicopters middle of the night. And that air movement actually Um, that's not done so much in If they have the issue of frost. So there's other ways of doing Uh, but um, it is, yeah, it's Unfortunately, it's probably It will only get worse as time Uh, there's really nothing we And, um, what it does is it year's harvest because those produce any fruit that year. So it can dramatically limit the the yields and the crop of that year's harvest. Is this recent? Has it? When was the last time this It's happened a couple years in This was quite a bad year for Uh, it happens almost every year year was very widespread. Preston, it's been a fabulous Um, you've taught me and I'm sure our listeners so much about Burgundy wines. Uh, we will have to talk to you regions in the future, I think That would be great. Where do they find vivante and where do they find yourself online? You can find us at vivante v I v And you'll see myself and all of provide our experiences. You can watch a couple of them I'd be happy to provide anyone anyone reaches out to you, email address with them and be So that's where you'll find me Great. Thank you, Preston, for joining We're all lined up and ready to drink some Burgundy wine, I think. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. What an amazingly educational Preston Moore from vivante. Preston really gave us some pairing, and just a fantastic the region itself. I can't wait to pick his brain another time on all things French wine. If you liked this episode of please subscribe wherever you That way, you'll be sure to get Leave a comment and a five star Even maybe if you're on Apple or fabulously delicious with your Either by the share link, social I'd love to be shared around. Don't forget, you can see me cooking up a storm of French food on cooking fabulously on YouTube. Great food pics and follow my French life story via Instagram at andreea.p. Fabulously. My name is Andrew Prior and my do, do it fabulously. So join me next week on Fabulously Delicious for another fabulous French foodie guest and topic. Merci Bon app.