One of a kind

Rather than using wine-biz connections, I hooked up with legendary importer Becky Wasserman-Hone via a longtime friend from Nashville. She has built a career on unearthing gems from around France, but our meeting was more social than business.

So when we met for lunch, along with my friend Joe and our three spouses, I didn't take many notes. But I was able to glean a few nuggets.

*“Here’s how provincial we are about wine in Burgundy. My son called from New York and said ‘I had a Pingus.' I thought he had contracted a venereal disease.”

*She has lived in France for four decades and has no intention of moving back to the States. But she enjoys her two or so trips per year back to her native land. They're business trips, mostly, except for "“Milkshakes, coffee milkshakes," she said with a Homer Simpson-esque faraway look in her eyes. "I get one right away. Also, soft-shell crab, the perfect hamburger and fried chicken.”

*Wasserman-Hone is a strong believer in natural cellars. "Air conditioning is a killer of wine," she said. Her husband, Russell Hone, added, "Burgundy is naturally susceptible because the wines are so natural, not treated." That might explain those crummy Gevrey-Chambertins from my dad's closet cellar that soured me on red Burgs for a good long while. :-)

*We discussed what makes Montrachet and Vosne-Romanee so special and distinctive, the soil and microclimate and such. She provided an interesting metaphorical take on the notion of terroir: "That’s why there are animals that only live in a certain forest in Madagascar, because what they eat is grown only there. It’s something that can’t be replicated."