Déjà vu in Beaune.
Joining the queue at the Hospices new cellars on Friday afternoon
Occasionally when I think I should take a rest from Burgundy, perhaps because there are no assignments in prospect or I have seen enough of one event or another for my view to become jaded, I will decide to take a rest. Absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder….
And then suddenly, weeks after I’ve contacted potential clients, within 2 or 3 days and usually a week before they are needed, I must attend to the needs of four clients !
The jobs vary from a single portrait each( as you are in the area..,) for a magazine and a UK importer, to an eight page article with half a dozen portraits to shoot plus the need to bring everyone together for half an hour for a group shot.
Unlikely as this eventuality sounds you must remember this is Burgundy and anything is possible.
This time I all also find myself heading for Beaune’s big Auction weekend and the Paulée de Meursault to shoot and write two articles for a Norwegian magazine. The next day to spend my day around the courtyard of the Hotel Dieu itself hoping the tourists have all gone as I try to photograph six negociants for a US magazine.
Lets hope this post is not November 2014 all over again.
The writing is a new thing and very satisfying when it flows…. I cannot call myself a wine writer, no one would but apparently as a photographer I have a different way of see things. and I hope to bring some background to the world of tasting notes and scores, vintages and the preferences of experts with far greater ability, experience and discrimination than most of us will ever need, let alone achieve.
Friday
Service with a smile
No need for a glass.
A nice touch is the identity of the vigneron who takes care of that vineyard and he could be serving the samples too
Remember it has not been long in the barrel.
To spit or not to spit…?
Saturday
Ghislaine Barthod and Stéphen Gelin guarding the door at the Beaune Fair
Olivier Lamy on duty
Greg Love with new camera meets Nicolas Rossignol and friend
Nadin Gublin of Jacques Prieur without her pearls
Hmmm, we like that one !
Sylvain Pataille on the Marsannay stand at Beaune’s Palais de Congrés
Time for a glass of Cremant..?
Jacques Carillon pours the Puligny
Laurence the sommelier does his homework
Street food in Beaune
Press tasting at Hospices, concentration at every turn
Every seat taken.
A room full of expertise
And quite a few samples to get through.
Saturday draws to a close.
Sunday
Did Nicolas Rollin have any idea what he had started !
Ludivine Grivault, Hospices winemaker, ready for the big day.
In the streets of Beaune the fun has started at the cork pulling competition.
It goes on for some time with an MC never lost for words….
Sustenance is never far away
Burgundians like a big band !
And the media gather, Vivienne Franks meets Andrew Jefford.
Inside the Hall there is still work to do.
But it does not take long…
to fill up when lunch is over.
Paddles are ready.
And the buyers are waiting.
Outside the photographers are busy
as the celebrity auctioneers arrive to raise money for their charities
The action gets underway.
“Jon, what’s this for?”
Mounir likes a joke.
While Dimitri Bazas of Maison Champy is doing his sums.
Meanwhile the girls are getting the buyers interested in bidding.
and outside technology blends with history and beauty.
Meanwhile, in Place Madeleine the excitement is of another kind.
Waiting for the rush !
Jasper Morris finishes the day with a smile.
jonatcorton 
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