A taste for Burgundy
Wine experts aim to elevate Ja’s wine scene
Published:Thursday | September 12, 2024 | 12:11 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
While Jamaica is known for its rich food culture, the art of wine remains niche. According to Bruno Pepin, director of sales and marketing at Maison Louis Latour, while Jamaica isn’t the biggest buyer of their Burgundy, they, along with local distributor Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited (CPJ) are hoping to build wine culture on the island.
On this, his first trip to Jamaica, Pepin says he has been focusing on training local stakeholders in the intricacies of wine overall, but specifically Burgundy.
Burgundy is a type of wine made in the region of the same name. These wines are typically dry red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes and white wines made from Chardonnay grapes.
Looking back at his beginnings in the industry he told Food, “I got into wine very late. I’m from Paris, not from Burgundy. So it was when I was 22, 23 [years old] that I started going to restaurants and enjoying wine. But it was not immediate, it’s not something that was in my family. Then I became passionate about it. Luckily I was living in Paris so I had access to wine from every region in France. So I ran through Loire initially because Loire is very strong in Paris. And then very soon I learned that the complexity that I like was through Burgundy. And then I decided, after ten years of working in a totally different industry, I moved to Burgundy to work in the wine industry.”
He continued, “I think it’s the potential I could see in promoting and selling and talking about the Burgundy because it is by far the most complex subject in the wine industry. I always say Burgundy is the latest destination when it comes to wine because it is expensive, it is complex, it’s not always easy to find but once you reach that destination, it’s very difficult to be interested in anything else.”
While Louis Latour is known for their premium offerings, Shauntelle Duffus, locale liaison and corporate wine specialist for CPJ, says the partnership is the best way to both create diversity in the local offerings as well as represent a region that is ripe for Jamaican customers.
“Burgundy wines in general do very well in these types of climates,” she began. “I mean it’s tropical, we’re hot all year round, Burgundy wines are primarily Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and they do it in such a light style that it pairs so well with most if not all of the foods that we have. It works well, it keeps you cool and refreshed.”
On one of his earlier days in the country, Pepin had steamed snapper with rice and peas and commented it paired well with Chablis.
Commenting on the growing number of wine lovers Duffus said, “Traditionally Jamaicans, we are a spirits and brews-based country. The wine community in Jamaica is still very young but it is growing and it is growing through CPJ where we do create experiences for persons not only through events like we have tonight, where we’re pulling our food and beverage persons but in other ways as well.”
She went on, “It’s no secret that after COVID, a lot of Jamaicans are travelling a lot more. The experiences they have when they travel, they come back to Jamaica and they want to recreate those experiences and we want CPJ to be part of that story. And we’re able to be a part of that story because you look at our menu and go ‘Oh where in the world do I wanna go today?’.”
Though Pepin has been in the industry for 26 years, he says he is not only excited to help Jamaica develop this sector of the food industry but continue to develop his own palate.
“The more you learn about it, the more you realise you know nothing. So after 26 years, I’ve realised I’ll never know everything and this is also what’s exciting. When you select a bottle of Burgundy on your wine list, even if you know the vineyard or the grower or the vintage, there will always be a level of uncertainty around what you’re going to get and this is what I find fascinating about Burgundy. That level of surprise,” he said marvelling.
Aiding that effort Duffus said, “A part of what we’re doing is pulling people in through the Cellar Society by CPJ. So this is a premium wine club we are inviting persons to join, where you actually have the benefit of trying a new wine on a quarterly basis and benefiting from that as well.”