Great vintages in Burgundy, France, happen about as often as getting your passport renewed, so they are celebrated with the appropriate pomp and circumstance reserved for the persnickety pinot noir grape that accounts for 100 percent of the red wine produced in the region. Located about 160 miles south of Paris, the region begins at the town of Dijon and runs southward another 80 miles, almost to the city of Lyon. The climate has a tendency to run on the cooler side, giving grapes a long growing season.

The 2009 vintage is being referred to as a vintage of “nines,” alluding to other great vintages that occurred in ’59, ’69, ’79, ’89 and ’99. The cool, calm winter led to a mild spring, which was punctuated by the perfect amount of rain in April and May. The summer was dry but not too hot, with a few heavy downpours in late August. The weather was dry and sunny in September and harvest went smoothly with little or no worry of fungus or grape rot.