Every year Burgundy celebrates the Patron Saint of Wine with a festival in one of the key wine villages - and for 2007 it is Nuits-Saint-Georges (21 Cote d'Or, Bourgogne) on the weekend of 27/28 January - although St Vincent's Day is actually on 22 January.
The highlights this year include a concentration on the 2004 vintage which will be on offer from numerous winemakers and negociants.
Negociants are a key feature of the Burgundy wine scene, who buy wines (sometimes just grapes) from small winemakers and blend and market them under their own label. Some of the top names in Burgundy are these merchant/blenders -e.g.Jadot. Although the trend elsewhere in France is towards domaine-bottled and labelled wines, a good negociant can be very useful, especially in Burgundy where many of the domaines are quite small. The vigneron can concentrate on his vines and winemaking, whilst the negociant develops marketing and distribution channels which most small winemakers would be unable to access. Where the negociant blends, this can ensure consistency of style, and can more easily reflect changing tastes and styles.
However, back to the St Vincent Tournante des Nuits Saint Georges - this will have all the trappings of a good wine festival - processions, music, ceremonies, plenty of wines to taste and, being Burgundy, plenty of excellent food to sample. It's a pretty little town, and a weekend here should brighten up an otherwise dull end of January.
For more info see www.saint-vincent-nuits.fr
