5lbs of foie gras, 5lbs of cheese and a couple of pounds each of Bresse chicken, Charolais beef and an obscene big-ass andouillette later, I find myself back in NYC feeling dazed, exhausted and nicely plumped up. The first night in Burgundy was the only opportunity I had to post while on the road. We had a crazy itinerary. One that caused practically everyone we visited to shake their heads in sympathy. I later discovered that it was BIVB’s first lifestyle trip, which after all the hiccups, miscommunication and sheer madness of the trip, made a lot of sense. Despite all that it was the best press trip EVER. Not so much for educational purposes (it was very Burgundy 101 which bored me silly for the most part) but because the women I traveled with were a hoot.

SOPEXA allowed me to hand pick the writers that would be with me on the voyage to Burgundy. The caveat was that they had to be lifestyle, opposed to straight wine writers. I ended up shin digging for the week with a smart and hilarious French Canadian who had her work cut out as our translator for the week. Next up was the most serene New Yorker who grew up in Rome, knows her food and made me wish she were my big sister (not that I don’t already have an amazing big sister but she’s all the waaay in London). Last but not least was the sassy Texan girl who boldly goes where no one else will. Well, at the very least, she’ll instigate it.

The fifth character of the week was of course Bourgogne and no matter how hauling a press trip it is, if you’re in Burgundy, everything will be fine because the countryside is stunning and the villages are quaint.

Highlights of the trip were:

-The aforementioned first night

-A tasting at Domaine Lafouge’s Auxey Duresses over lunch with a bunch of other producers. Here’s an interesting little piece on Lafouge from the Chambers Street Wine website: http://www.chambersstwines.com/Article.asp?id=55

-Dinner at Château de Bellecroix. A gorgeous hotel and old school restaurant housed in a 17th century building. Check out the website: http://www.chateau-bellecroix.com/

-Lunch and tasting at Domaine Eric de Suremain, a husband and wife duo that practice biodynamic viticulture and vinification in Rully. Plus they use a minimal SO2. I loved the expression on everyone’s face when they took the first sip. You don’t have to know much about wine but you can know a damn amazing wine when you taste one. Beautiful, beautiful Chalonnais wines, which are sadly not available in the States. Importers – listen up….

- A visit and tasting with the brilliant Domaine Guillot-Broux, a natural wine producer in Cruzille brought in by Jenny & Francois. His wines were so good we purchased his white Macon Cruzille ‘06 and his Macon Cruzille ’07 (Gamay), which was still super young but oh so mineral, to BYOB for dinner that night.

-As cheesy as it may sound. The BIVB had us walk through the vineyards in Vergisson with two donkeys. A naff, touristy thing to do that turned out to be fun and adorable until disaster struck and one of them trod on Chantal’s pinkie toe. Even worse yet, we later discovered that the French word for toe is “foot finger.”

-A cooking class where we learned to fillet a fish, especially after we were all knackered and starving because we skipped breakfast in favor of a little more zzzzzzz.

-Our taxi driver, Olivier Spellat, the kindest, sweet driver I’ve ever known on a press trip. We all fast became friends with him. He took genuine care of us during the many hours when we left to our own devices. Bless his cotton socks.

-Not to mention all the times when the group wasn’t at “work” and we spent the time pissing ourselves laughing.

There you have it – the best of Burg in a nutshell.

Tomorrow I head to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail. I’m half excited and half terrified…..we’re talking bartenders here. How will I ever keep up?