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[narrator] Where does really great wine come from?

From the heart and the mind of those who create it.

The finest winemakers are artists,

and what they do is unique.

This is a gala wine-tasting in San Francisco.

Some of the best winemakers in the world are here.

Martine Saunier organizes this annual event.

She has spent most of her life in the world of wine-

in France, in the United States, and around the world.

Martine only imports wine from people she knows personally.

In some cases, she's known these family winemakers

for five generations.

[quiet chatter]

Star of the show are the Burgundies.

Tasting them are sommeliers, chefs,

owners of the best restaurants and wine stores

from across the western United States.

They're deciding what to buy this year,

and it's tough.

Some Burgundies are so rare,

they sell for over a thousand dollars,

and that's the wholesale price.

But why is one bottle of wine

so much more special than another?

It depends on the uniqueness of the taste:

a perfect balance of nature- the terroir-

and human artistry.

To understand why Burgundy

may be the most special wine region on Earth,

you must visit and meet the people.

Travel with us, and with Martine Saunier,

to spend a year in Burgundy.

[narrator] Burgundy lies at the heart of France.

[birds singing]

Human beings have lived here for more that 20,000 years.

To the west there are hills,

and to the east, the rich alluvial plain

of the river Saone.

And it was up this river that the Roman came

2000 years ago,

looking for new lands to conquer,

and new things to discover.

What they found here was a great surprise:

vines of an unparalleled quality,

and so far north!

To be sure, they weren't organized into tidy rows

in vineyards, as they are today.

But the original varietals

of two of the world's most famous grapes

are native to this are.

The white Chardonnay and the red Pinot Noir.

To this day, virtually all Burgundy wine

is made from Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.

These two grapes are the real heroes of our story.

[narrator] The Saunier family

have lived in Southern Burgundy for generations.

They've owned this house since the nineteenth century-

though the house itself dates back to the 1650s.

Martine first came here as a young girl.

Every summer, she would travel out from Paris to visit her aunt

and spend three glorious months in wine country.

This house holds many memories.

In the cellar is an ancient wine press,

still complete in every detail.

It was here, as a girl,

that Martine discovered her passion.

I was a cellar-rat.

They called me a cellar-rat because...

I used to follow the winemaker everywhere.

His name was Camille and he had a horse, La Margaux,

and we went to the vineyard

and I loved every aspect of it.

[narrator] Today, whenever she returns to Burgundy,

Martine shares this house with her brother Jacques,

an old black dog, and the family Deux Chevaux.

[engine shudders and starts]

Driving these things is quite an art.

[engine whirs and gears grind]

An art that's easily forgotten

after a few months in California.

Martine's wine distribution business

is based near San Francisco,

but at least three times a year, she returns to France

to spend time with her winemakers.

[engine revs]

That means personal visits

at all stages of the winemaking year.

She often starts near her own home,

This is the southernmost frontier of Burgundy-

classic Chardonnay country.

Her first appointment is with Dominique Cornin.

Dominique was born just two miles from here,

His father was the first to clear these fields.

[speaking French]

[narrator] Dominique employs a couple of people year-round.

Almost everything is done by hand.

For small producers,

one bad year can wipe them out-

and 2011 had started very strangely in Burgundy.

The New Year was cold,

but then, at the end of February,

a heat-wave hit the region.

For six weeks,

daytime temperatures reached 85 degrees fahrenheit.

By April 12th the vines were three weeks more advanced

than normal.

[speaking French]

[narrator] The fear is frost.

If the buds develop too many leaves to early,

one severe frost can kill the whole lot.

At this stage in the year, there's not much to be done,

except watch the sky and pray.

The unseasonable hot weather

has brought on the vines too far, too fast.

And the almost non-existent rainfall

threatens a serious drought later, in the summer.

along the river Saone,

past ancient cities, to Beaune and Nuits St-Georges,

and all the way up to Dijon.

It's 80 miles long,

but only few miles wide.

In April 2011,

this whole region was suffering from heat and drought.

At the village of Chorey, near Beaune,

new vines are being planted in the dry dirt.

[conversation in French]

During the winter, Michel Gay and his son Sebastien

had grubbed up old vines that were past their best,

and were starting again.

Michel's grapes used to go to the local co-operative,

but 20 years ago, he started making the wine himself.

The family now owns about 24 acres.

By any normal standards of agriculture,

this is still a tiny operation,

but it's profitable because the added value of these wines-

even the less famous ones-

is very large.

What's more,

their 24 acres are spread out across several miles.

A dozen disconnected vineyards.

This is their newest-

tucked into a warm and fortunate corner.

It's smaller than many people's back yards.

What goes on here is more like gardening than agriculture.

[Sebastien speaking French]

[distant churchbells chiming and birds calling]

[narrator] People have been making wine in Burgundy

for almost 2000 years,

but it's never been easy.

When the Roman empire collapsed,

the invading Goths had little taste

for the finer things in life.

The fledgeling wine business might have died completely,

if it wasn't for Christianity.

[narrator] The Christian Mass

requires that the death of Christ

be memorialized in bread and wine.

In the Dark Ages, finding wine was no easy matter

in much of Europe.

But in the monasteries and abbeys of Burgundy,

the communion wine was of a quality unsurpassed anywhere.

These massive churches-

this is the abbey at Tournus-

were built in the Roman style.

The priests and monks who presided over them

preserved much of the Roman knowledge

of fine living and wine

for more than 1000 years.

One small collection of buildings

has survived, incredibly,

from the medieval wine industry in Burgundy.

This is Clos de Vougeot,

headquarters of wine-making for the Cistercian monks.

This was wine production on a heroic scale.

The vast wooden wine-presses still survive,

as do the storage vats,

in a series of huge wooden barns.

And they still stand, right in the middle

of the finest area of Burgundian red-wine production:

[door creaks]

[narrator] To this day,

there are dozens of ancient cellars in Burgundy,

built by Cistercian monks.

This one is owned by the Domaine Morey-Coffinet,

further south, in Chassagne Montrachet.

[conversation in French]

Thibault Morey, just 30,

is now the principal wine-maker,

and his father Michel runs the operation.

Martine visits them two or three times a year

to select wines for her list.

Martine has known this family for almost 40 years:

four generations of wine-makers.

[speaking French]

[speaking French]

[Martine speaking French]

[Thibault speaking French]

[narrator] When the monks built these caves,

they built them to last-

as if they knew we'd still be enjoying the wine,

500 years later.

[birds chirping]

[narrator] This is a fortunate land.

The Saone Valley is incredibly fertile,

though the grapes prefer the gentle slopes.

[water trickling]

The best land of all for the Pinot Noir is here:

It's barely 20 miles long,

but it may be the most prestigious wine-growing area

in the world.

Here, as in the rest of Burgundy,

wines are often named after villages:

Chambolle-Musigny, Gevrey-Chambertin.

These are picture postcard locations full of real charm,

because the people who live in them, for the most part,

are the same families who've lived in them

for hundreds of years.

[speaking French]

[grunts]

[conversation in French]

[speaking French]

[narrator] No two winemakers are the same, in Burgundy.

This is Bruno Clavelier.

In his spare time, he coaches young rugby hopefuls.

He used to play on France's national team,

like his father before him.

And, like his father before him, he makes superb wines.

Hi winery is less than a mile from the rugby field.

[speaking French]

[they aerate the wine in their mouths]

[speaking French]

[narrator] A thousand years ago,

the Cistercian monks had no idea

about this underlying geology, of course.

But they did take note

that grapes from one side of a path

tasted subtly different from those on the other.

Over the years,

each unique terroir

began to be marked by walls and gates.

Each domain was plain to see.

All these little parcels of land are noted on the local maps.

Here is Clos Vougeot in all its detail.

These are not only records of ownership,

but maps of taste.

Each tiny terroir slightly different.

[speaking French]

[insects chirping]

[narrator] In late May 2011, however,

all the vineyards of Burgundy were facing the same problem...

drought.

The youngest vines faced the biggest challenge.

They don't yet have deep roots.

Entire plantings of new vineyards

could be wiped out.

And then, just in time, the rain came.

[thunder rumbling]

But would it be enough?

Rain is vital in Burgundy.

Ancient custom, and the law,

decree there shall be no watering,

no irrigation of vines.

That way, the roots dig deep

into the different layers of rock below,

enhancing the taste.

[narrator] Winemaker Thibault Morey

plays the piano when it's too wet to work in the vineyard.

The rain was brief.

Temporary relief for the vines,

but not the solution for the vintage.

[water trickling]

The water quickly disappears beneath the ground,

to feed the deep roots of the vines,

and to bubble up as springs in the center of ancient villages.

One day in early June,

Dominique Cornin decided to inspect his vines,

with the help of his beloved horse, Coccinelle...

Ladybug.

[Dominique speaking French]

[commanding the horse in French]

[Dominique speaking French]

[narrator] If a wine reflects the character

of the winemaker,

then you'd expect the wines made here,

to be very different from Dominique Cornin's.

This is Cristophe Perrot-Minot.

From his headquarters in Morey-St-Denis,

he owns and manages

dozens of valuable Premier Cru vineyards

and top-of-the-line Grand Crus.

He exports most of his wine

to Germany, Britain, America, China.

This is a business, after all.

[Cristophe speaking French]

[gate crashes]

[speaking French]

30 miles south, in Chassagne Montrachet,

Sunday morning.

Thibault Morey visits the furthest reaches

of the family cellar.

[Thibault speaking French]

[narrator] The most famous wines of Chassagne are white.

Domaine Morey-Coffinet's finest offering

is a Grand Cru Batard.

But some of the Pinot Noirs are extraordinary too.

They get better and better for a quarter of a century.

[conversation in French]

There's a special event today-

a family reunion.

[speaking French]

The two sides of the family, the Moreys and the Coffinets,

are getting together for Sunday lunch,

a hallowed French tradition,

with family wines to match.

[conversation in French]

[narrator] Both of Thibault's grandfathers are here.

They used to be winemakers themselves.

And both grandmothers are here too.

Three generations of winemakers.

[making a toast in French]

[conversation in French continues]

[narrator] It's quite something

to drink a wine you made yourself,

35 years ago.

But wait, there's a fourth generation.

[chatter in French]

Little Celeste is Michel's grand-daughter.

She's just two years old.

[baby talk]

[laughter and chatter]

Will Celeste be the first of a new generation of winemakers

in 20 or 30 years time?

[engine rumbling]

It's not all Sunday lunches, being a winemaker.

You have to be master of all trades,

not just cellar master.

In the high summer, the vineyards are plowed,

to aerate the soil.

Chemical weed-killers are used less and less in Burgundy.

The vines are growing as fast as they ever will.

They must be sorted out and tied up

so that the grapes can be picked more easily.

The whole family turns out to help.

This is Fabienne, Thibault's mother.

Most winemakers trim their vines mechanically.

It's fast and cheap.

But the very best Domains can afford to do everything by hand.

This is Arnaud Mortet,

another of Martine's winemakers.

He prides himself

in personally trimming every single vine he owns.

And he does this several times a year.

And one winemaker doesn't trim her vines at all.

[speaking French]

[narrator] This is Lalou Bise-Leroy,

known as the Queen of Burgundy.

[speaking French]

[speaking French]

[narrator] The intimate relationship

between humans and vines is summed up

[speaking French]

[birds singing]

[narrator] It's mid-summer:

at least two months 'til the harvest.

At Clos Vougeot, there's a celebration.

The chateau opens its doors to the Chevaliers du Tastevin.

The Chevaliers are Burgundy's biggest fans.

More than 500 of the specially selected members

will sit down to a six-course meal,

accompanied by the finest wines of the region.

[counting in French]

Everything has to be just right.

For Burgundy lovers, this is the Holy of Holies.

The tradition dates back only to the 1930's...

but still.

The first round in this test of stamina

is an ice-cold glass of sparkling wine.

Thibault and his wife Christine are Martine Saunier's guests.

[sizzling]

Serving 500 people simultaneously

to a cordon bleu meal

takes a little thought.

Meanwhile, the ceremony begins.

New members will be initiated

into the Knighthood of Wine Tasters.

And then down to the serious business.

It's a six-course banquet:

baby rabbit with a Saint Romain to drink,

sea urchins with a Grand Cru Corton,

All that and more. And entertainment!

[applause]

[narrator] Some people have come 2000 miles

for this dinner,

like these Russian generals.

All this in honor of the wines of Burgundy.

[crickets chirping]

[narrator] when should you start to pick the grapes?

Everyone has to make their own decision.

If possible, avoid the full moon,

it's generally agreed.

It's usually around 100 days after the vines have flowered,

but that depends on the kind of weather you're having.

In 2011, the summer turned wet and cold.

The vines, which had been three weeks in advance in June,

now slowed down.

The harvest was still going to be early,

but how early?

August the 20th? September the first?

You have to watch the sky,

because rain is the decisive factor

at this stage.

[water trickling]

where it's warmer.

And so it was in 2011.

On August the 25th,

Dominique Cornin gathered together a motley band

of students and locals,

and set out for one of his most valuable vineyards.

But there's tension in the air.

It's still only August, and many of the grapes are ready,

and a major rainstorm threatens.

These are high value grapes.

They're being grown for the ancient Hospice de Beaune.

Dominique can't afford to lose any of these.

He's personally out in the fields, all day long,

on the tractor.

And so the harvest begins three weeks earlier than usual,

and the weather forecast is terrible.

[thunder rumbles]

But rain isn't the only problem.

What if it turns to hail?

[Michel speaking French]

[narrator] On August the 31st,

Thibault gets an email from the laboratory.

Their very best grapes are ready to pick,

but storms are forecast,

and their grape-pickers won't arrive for two days.

Michel talks to the lab.

[speaking French]

[narrator] The decision's made.

They'll harvest the Grand Cru Batard tomorrow,

and the family will have to do all the work.

The Batard is the most valuable land the Morey-Coffinets own.

Just up the road from their home,

it produces superb Chardonnay.

But in this sea of vines, they only own six rows.

The question is...

which six?

All that marks their last row

is a knotted piece of cloth.

The task at hand

is for five people to bring in the entire crop,

before the grapes heat up in the noonday sun.

[soft chatter in French]

Picking grapes is back-breaking work.

You get into a rhythm.

As the sun rises, the chatter dies down.

[conversation in French]

[narrator] Before they get too hot,

the grapes are rushed back to the winery.

They're given a quick inspection,

and then they're on the way to the wine press.

White grapes are crushed immediately,

and the juice is separated from the skins and bits of twig.

That is, when you can get the machine started.

[speaking French]

[alarm beeps]

[machine hums]

[narrator] This is what will turn into a Batard Grand Cru-

after 18 months of fermentation and tender loving care.

Today it's just grape juice.

In two years time,

it'll cost you more than $200 a bottle.

[hose sucks]

The juice is immediately pumped

into stainless steel holding tanks, to keep it cool.

That way, fermentation won't begin too soon.

Already, perhaps,

the expert can tell how good the eventual wine may be.

[insects and birds chirp]

The worst thing about the summer of 2011

was that the rain came too close to the harvest.

[flies buzzing]

[Sebastien speaking French]

[machine buzzes]

[narrator] But you can't wait too long,

or the grapes will spoil on the vine.

So, on the 28th of August,

the Gays made their final preparations for the harvest.

Family winemakers need to do everything themselves,

from planting new vines to light welding.

Everything has to be ready for the big day,

right down to the beds set up for the grape-pickers.

And then, it's a waiting game.

Waiting for the perfect day to begin.

By the end of August, all over Burgundy,

fleets of white vans are on the road.

The harvest is in full swing.

An army of temporary workers will be assembled,

some of them old hands, some of them new.

At Sebastien and Michel Gay's, they sign in,

and then it's out to the fields.

It's Michel, Sebastien's father, who runs things in the field.

His problem, in this vineyard, is hail.

Many of the grapes have been damaged,

and that's why they started here,

to save the crop.

[speaking French]

[chatter in French]

[narrator] 9:30 am: first break in the day,

time for a hearty snack.

French grape-pickers expect to be well-fed,

and Michel's one of the crew.

[conversations in French]

It may be only 9:30, but that's no reason not to have a drink

and make a few friends.

[laughter and chatter in French]

9:45: The first batch from the hail-damaged vineyard

is on its way back to the winery.

Sebastien's in charge here.

He can't afford to let any of the damaged grapes

get through the sorting process.

[speaking French]

it's cooler, and they haven't started the harvest yet.

Christophe Perrot-Minot wants to wait 'til the last possible minute

to get the maximum flavor out of his grapes.

He and his winemaker take samples for testing.

Note, it's the owner of the Domain

who does this work personally.

Christophe knows every row of vines in over 20 vineyards,

[speaking French]

[narrator] Perrot-Minot will now take these grapes

back to the lab, his lab, for analysis.

Only then will he know when to harvest.

Absolute precision is required.

[speaking French together]

[narrator] An exact number of grapes is counted out...

and then crushed.

[machine hissing]

The grape juice is filtered, and then analyzed by computer.

Are these grapes ready?

[beeps]

The read-out says it all: acidity, sugar content.

What was once done by hunch alone,

is now a science.

The wild card is the weather.

You might want to wait a day or two, but you don't want rain.

[speaking French]

[narrator] Another storm is on the way,

and Perrot-Minot is taking no chances.

He'll start tomorrow.

[chatter in French]

[narrator] The procedure is more or less the same,

at every winery in Burgundy.

Assemble the troops at 7 o'clock and-

first things first- do the paperwork.

This being France,

there's an unimaginable quantity of paperwork.

Every single employee has to be entirely legal.

Five separate government departments

and the police check on who's working.

Christophe's father leads the troops out into the fields,

but the briefing is given by his son.

[speaking French]

[narrator] The briefing over,

the harvesters are assigned their duties.

Now, the hard work begins.

Every move is supervised by the Perrot-Minots.

Every bucket of grapes is scrutinized.

[speaking French]

[narrator] So worried is Christophe

about the rotten grapes,

that he hurries back to the winery...

in fact, he runs.

The first batch has already arrived

and is now being processed.

[speaking French]

[narrator] Everybody is completely focused

on the grapes.

[speaking French]

But Christophe will soon have something else to worry about.

[police sirens approaching]

Who's have guessed that the police would choose today

to arrive and check everybody's work permit...

And stop the photography too, of course.

[helicopter blades thumping]

Not only do they come to your door,

they're watching you from the sky.

Helicopter patrols check who's harvesting where and when.

Christophe's father has seen it all before.

[chatter in French]

[narrator] Lunchtime for the grape-pickers

at Domaine Morey-Coffinet.

There'll be four courses, all prepared, cooked and served,

by Thibault's mother, Fabienne.

Fabienne will put on this kind of meal,

for 27 people,

twice a day, for a week.

It's not surprising that most of the locals,

and some of the students,

come back here, to work the harvest,

year after year.

all the attention is on the grapes

at the winery of Lalou Bize-Leroy.

[speaking French]

[narrator] Pinot Noir produces a low yield.

The best grapes are incredibly valuable.

20 pairs of eyes are checking them.

The sharpest eyes of all are Lalou's.

Since she started wine-making,

she has supervised the quality of her grapes...

personally.

Not a single blemish will be permitted.

At last, it's all over.

The harvest is finished at Domaine Morey-Coffinet.

[humming]

[laughter]

There's a tradition here that on the last afternoon,

there's some fun.

They let off steam.

The youngest grape-picker gets to tease the boss.

There's some horsing around.

Then there's happy chaos.

[laughter and screaming]

At the heart of the chaos, Michel Morey,

owner of the Domain.

Not every winery sees the boss join in the craziness.

[chatter in French]

[narrator] Everyone knows it's time to relax.

Back at the house,

preparations are in hand for a more sophisticated celebration.

Cleaned up, after the food-fight in the fields,

the grape-pickers come to a party in the cellars,

to honor the harvest of 2011.

Everyone's here, hosted of course by Michel and Thibault.

They're pouring a selection of bottles from the last ten years.

Even Celeste is part of the party,

of course.

Now is a time to reflect, to consider past vintages,

to taste and to enjoy.

Maps of Burgundy, the Chassagne region,

remind the students that they're following

a thousand-year tradition.

Like generations before them,

they're learning from those who know fine wine.

Outside in the fields,

the first signs of autumn are appearing.

The vine-leaves have done their work for the year.

They've harvested the sun, they've created the grapes.

Now, they die.

Every year, it's a spectacular show.

Sebastien Gay is the first of all the winemakers

to punch down his grapes.

Pigeage, as it's known, is only done to red grapes,

and helps to infuse the juice

with the red color and flavor of the skins.

These are the grapes from the hail-damaged vineyard.

They're starting to ferment of their own accord,

so this must be done soon, and fast.

From here on, every winemaker does things their own way.

[speaking French]

[narrator] How to do pigeage isn't a secret.

It's what the winemakers learn from doing it that's important.

Some of them insist on getting right into the tank,

to understand what they're dealing with.

[speaking French]

[narrator] Just down the road from Perrot-Minot,

Lalou Bize-Leroy is reviewing her harvest with Martine.

[speaking French]

[speaking French]

[narrator] Down this sorting table

come very special grapes.

From them, Lalou Bize-Leroy makes some of the rarest,

most famous, most expensive wines on Earth.

Each one created by its own unique combination of yeasts.

The future value of what's in these vats is hard to imagine.

And if you go downstairs, you enter Aladdin's cave,

because here are Lalou's wines in barrel,

and visitors get to try whatever is offered.

What's offered is very good indeed.

[speaking French]

[wind blowing]

[narrator] In the depths of winter,

the winemakers of Burgundy go to ground.

Barrels add flavor, over time.

But every day, they lose a little of their contents to evaporation.

Too much air in the barrel does no favors to red wine,

so they need to be topped up, at least once a week.

The wine also likes to be gently stirred.

[Thibault speaking French]

[bottling machine hums loudly]

[narrator] But is there room in the modern world

for the winemaker-artist,

who creates unique wines to suit his own personality?

[narrator] How much will the standard tastes

of the international market force Burgundy to change?

How will the winemakers survive,

if they insist on allowing each vintage

to be its own unique self?

[crow cawing]

4000 miles to the west of France,

lies one of Burgundy's most important markets,

the United States.

This is Blackberry Farm, a luxury resort in Tennessee.

[chatter and laughter]

[all] Cheers!

[narrator] A group of friends get together

to enjoy the best of Burgundy.

These are people who look for wines that are unique.

[Peter Harper] Wonderful color. Wonderful.

[man] This is spectacular.

[narrator] They are tasting

Christophe Perrot-Minot's 2008 Chambertin.

[chatter]

Wonderful.

Now I'm going to introduce you

to my third winemaker I brought specially,

He is the grandson of Marc Morey,

famous winemaker.

And also, I have to tell you,

Thibault is a great pianist also.

[all talking]

This wine is very delicate,

and it needs maybe eight or ten years to open.

But we'll try to taste it now.

[narrator] The future of Burgundy

depends on the taste of connoisseurs like these.

This is a Premier Cru, very famous

in Burgundy.

[narrator] Later, there'll be a dinner,

with a Burgundy to match each course.

This is wine like this you should have made.

How about to Blackberry Farm?

[all] To Blackberry Farm.

And to good friends.

[all] Good friends.

[narrator] As the year turns,

the wine-making families go out in ones and twos,

to prune their vines.

This will make the root stalk stronger

for the next harvest.

They burn the dead wood right here in the field.

The ashes fall to the ground, making good natural fertilizer.

This is something they've done for hundreds of years.

But then, there's a lot of things they do in Burgundy,

that they've been doing for hundreds of years.

In a couple of months, exactly when, who knows,

the first signs of spring will come again,

and then, it'll be another year in Burgundy.