Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Burgundy, a reality to import

Beaune Viticultural High School, Clos Vougeot, Bureau Interprofessionel des vins de Bourgogne. These are just some of the stages that characterized the study trip to Burgundy organized by IRVOS and aimed at producers and technicians of the Sicilian wine sector. Five intense days, from 17 to 22 July, which unfolded along the territories, or perhaps better defined as terroirs, of the prestigious Burgundy wine.

From Beaune to Macon, an immense, infinite expanse of vineyards: ten thousand plants per hectare. An average production of fifty-five hectoliters per hectare, or approximately one hundred and ten thousand bottles. These are the numbers of the wine region famous throughout the world and which still manages to place its production on the international market at very high prices. The strong point? Communication, teamwork and strong national identity. “Aspects that certainly need to be learned and brought to our land, to Sicily”, is the unanimous comment of the forty participants, including men and women of Sicilian wine, in the study trip. “Our wines are of the highest quality – commented the oenologist Gianni Giardina who led the group together with Lucio Monte, head of the scientific technical area of IRVOS – but there is still much to learn and do. It is not enough to create quality but we must also aim to know how to transmit it to the world."

Surely worth imitating? The BIVB, or the Bureau Interprofessionel des vins de Bourgogne: a reality created to promote and defend Burgundy wines. “A reality – claims Josè Rallo of the Donnafugata winery – to be imported. We, the producers, are the ones who make our future, and as such we must be an active part." Between visits to the Burgundy vineyards, cellars, meetings with French producers and tastings, the study trip proved to be very interesting and stimulating. Not only from a technical point of view, but above all it has served as a catalyst for new ideas and new perspectives to be applied to the world of Sicilian wines. Among the prominent personalities met, the professor of oenology at the University of Dijon Bernard Hudelot: in Burgundy he is considered the "creative" of the sector, yet his strength lies in his wines aged up to twenty years. “From thirty to forty-eight months – he reveals with a hint of pride – I let my wines mature in barrique”. Soil, climate, environment, genetics of the vineyards, man's savoir faire, are the determining elements for Burgundy wine.