Elden Selections Offers Burgundy Wine Tasting Opportunities

We can learn a lot about life from the wine world – both what is to come, and what has gone before us, when we study what our predecessors have done. This sort of symbolism is sometimes quite subtle – but sometimes it’s the elephant in the room, as it is with the enormous wine wheel that sits proudly in the Domaine de Cromey wine tasting room. 

Four hundred years ago, it was used to operate a huge Burgundy wine press, and was in use up until at least the start of the last century. It represents more than just a traditional mechanism, though. It also tells part of the story of the building we taste our wines in. 

Let us introduce you to our wine tasting room. If you try to imagine a sports bar crossed with a private-members’ club, with a flavor of baronial splendour too, you won’t go far wrong. It’s located in a part of Cromey that used to be a winemaking facility in the sixteenth century. What’s more, it was actually the main winemaking centre around here, being the source of the wines that the nobility here enjoyed – the same nobility who called the ‘Chateau de Cromey’ as it was then, home. 

Many centuries may have passed since then, but we’re proud to say that this building is back in business as our tasting room! It gives us so much pleasure to think that after nearly 400 years, people are once again enjoying wines here. We’ve taken great care to keep the original features and construction, (with a few necessary modern improvements) to make wine tasting here as fun and comfortable as possible. 

We’d love to introduce you to them in person, too. Imagine walking from an elegant Burgundy wine tasting room to our dining room at Cromey and being in the awe-inspiring presence of wine machinery dating back to the early 19th century!

There really is something truly unique about tasting wine on the ground that the vines grew on, and where it was aged so carefully. It’s that spirit of the wine that just can’t be found anywhere else. You feel it even more when you pair the wines with Burgundy food from the locale too. (To read more about this, head over to our article on Pairing Burgundy Wine and Burgundy Cheese). We have many clients who make their pilgrimage here to Domaine de Cromey to find their own physical link between the wines they enjoy, and the place they really come from.

Burgundy Wine Tasting Together at Domaine de Cromey

Want to know what happens in our tasting sessions? Well, we talk a lot and drink wine, obviously – chatting about the producers of the wines, how we first got to know them, their family story, and how things have changed for them here over the decades. We’ll talk a bit about the villages that the wines originate from (and which are described here in summary). We explain how the individual plots the wines grow on can affect the wines’ personality and character, and how the vinification process happens. 

You can learn everything you’ll ever need to know about wine tasting at these sessions, and it can be as technical (or not!) as you require. For instance, did you know that there are various stages of enjoying wines, according to what our nose, eyes and palate tells us? That first impression in the mouth is what we call the ‘attack’ and it’s how the wine introduces itself to you. Then comes the next stage – the mouthfeel, which is the sensation you get when you roll the wine around your tongue. 

Other factors to think about are things like oak – not all wines have it of course, but for those which are aged in oak barrels, the taste of oak can divide people. Some are fans, and some are not. It definitely lends an extra layer to the taste profile of a wine. And then at the end comes the wine’s “finish” – what impression does the wine leave you with? Maybe it changes for a while on your palate, or does it go out with a bang, or gently taper away? You might feel like it has cleansed your palate, meaning it’s probably a good wine to have between rich food courses. 

There’s also something we call a ‘drinking window’ - that’s the time when we think the wines can be enjoyed at their best. And one other bonus of tasting with us is that you are far more likely to come across wines you never knew you loved, and broaden your tastes…

However, there’s no need to wait until you can visit us in person to get into the world of wine tasting – you can start today, using a tool we have on our BurgundyWine.com website, known as the Palate Advisor. It is specially designed to help you taste and discover wines; allow us to explain what it can do for you.

Online Burgundy Wine Palate Advisor Tool

When you’re on our wine shop website, you’ll see a Palate Advisor tool button in the top right of centre options menu. Or, another way to access it is to click on the Wine Shop button and open the tool in one of the expandable menus on the left-hand side. 

At a basic level, it lists the main categories of types of flavors that a wine can exhibit. But these are not simply names or labels that wines are supposed to have – it’s more than that. They come directly from our more than three decades’ worth of experience living here in Burgundy. It’s the ethos that runs right through Domaine de Cromey and our wine shop – an uncompromising, organic pursuit which has become our passion in life, to find excellence in the simplest things. All of the wines the palate advisor lists come from winemakers who are masters of their art – these are their greatest wines, and we’ve followed their journey from vine to bottle to cellar, across many vintages. 

For instance, if your taste is for earthy, woody red wines, then the palate advisor will find them for you instantly. Or if you prefer big, bold reds then click that option and you’ll be presented with wines of that type from our cellars. There are multiple categories for great Burgundy white wines too, from juicy and floral, through to crisp and flinty. Why not explore what the tool can do for you?

Look out for our series of blog articles about using the palate advisor tool coming up for more on this subject. 

Virtual Burgundy Wine Tastings with Elden Selections Producers 

Did you know that from time to time we also run virtual Burgundy wine tasting sessions online? These sessions, featuring some of the many producers Elden Selections works with, are designed to bring you knowledge about them you won’t get anywhere else, and explain the inside story behind these fascinating people and their wines. You get to ask all the questions you’ve always wanted to have answered, to the people who know best. Were you right about that aroma you thought you detected on the nose of that wine? What about that flavor you can’t quite discern? This is your chance to get the answers and expand your passion.

You can find the latest information about these virtual wine tasting sessions at this link.  

Above all, here at Elden Selections, we aim to make Burgundy wine tasting accessible to everyone, wherever they are and whatever their current level of wine knowledge. It’s not something to be daunted by; it’s something that everyone can learn and use to enhance their enjoyment of wine. 

From all of us at Elden Selections, happy tasting! 

To get full tasting notes for all our wines, as well as specially hand-selected wines from the best of our small appellations and producers, why not become a member of our Burgundy Wine Club? You also get free entry into a draw for a 4-day/3-night stay at Domaine de Cromey. And to read more blog articles about your favorite wines, head over to the blog at BurgundyWine.com.