Three of the Greatest Wine Books in the World
Up a small, wooded, winding road above a tiny French town sits a neighborhood. At the end of that road sits a house.
It is a lovely house, but not a grand one. More than modest, certainly, but not lavish. Four bedrooms, several bathrooms, a small kitchen, and an inviting swimming pool overlooking vineyards in the distance. The furniture is comfortable but simple. The house is warm and welcoming, but at first glance, nothing about it announces itself as extraordinary.
That changes when you notice the three books sitting on the small coffee table in the living room.
They are the only books of their kind. And, in their own way, they may be three of the greatest wine books ever written.
The house belongs to Jean and Noelle François, owners of, among other things, François Frères Cooperage, which sits less than a mile down the hill. François Frères is one of the great cooperages of the world. They make several different styles of barrels, but their deepest renown comes from Burgundy barrels used for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Across the globe, many of the finest producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay use François Frères barrels to craft wines that go on to receive acclaim from critics and consumers alike. I am one small example. As many of you know, I have been making Pinot Noir for 32 years now, and in some of those vintages, I have made a lot of different Pinot Noirs. I am not sure I have ever made one that was untouched by either a new or used François Frères barrel.
For more than 33 years, Jean and Noelle have allowed members of the wine community who support their barrels to stay in this guest house. And since the beginning, they have kept a guest book there. Now, after three decades, there are three guest books. Those who stay are invited to write a note, record a memory, offer thanks, leave behind a little proof that they passed through.
On a recent trip, I spent time reading through all three.
It was time very well spent.
Of course, there are many notes of gratitude to Jean and Noelle. A free place to stay in Burgundy is no small thing, and it deserves thanks. But the books are far more than a collection of polite thank-you notes.
Some guests recorded the wines they consumed while staying in the house. Brian Talley of Talley Vineyards appears to have done particularly well back in 1994, noting a substantial Chassagne-Montrachet tasting that included producers such as Colin-Deleger and Bachelet.
Others focused less on the wines and more on the meaning of the place itself. Winemaker Steve Leveque wrote that the house was not merely a wonderful place to stay, but that it made it “hard to imagine a better start to our honeymoon.”
Some brought their children. Nick Franscioni was just 11 years old when he stayed there with his brother, sister, and parents, Gary and Rosella Franscioni of ROAR Wines. Nick made it quite clear what impressed him most: “France has been cool, but this house is the coolest!”
He then praised the swimming pool, as any self-respecting 11-year-old would.
Today, Nick is one of my best friends and helps run a large part of ROAR Winery alongside the rest of the Franscioni family. Reading his childhood note, knowing the man he became, was one of the many quiet pleasures of those books.
Some entries are written in French, though most are in English. Some guests used the pages to show off their artistic talents, including one beautiful drawing of a Pinot Noir leaf. Other drawings showed perhaps more inspiration than ability, but somehow those may be even better.
And then there is Mel Knox.
Nobody appears in those books more often than Mel. For many years, Mel sold François Frères barrels in the United States before his retirement. Mel is, quite simply, a character. I feel a little sorry for anyone in the wine business who never experienced the singular event that was a Mel Knox visit and tasting.
In 1994, Mel began a running critique of the guest house that seems to continue for years: the beds lacked “Magic Fingers.”
For those fortunate enough not to know, Magic Fingers were once found in certain hotels — or perhaps more accurately, motels — where a quarter would activate a vibrating bed. Apparently, Mel believed the François guest house would be improved by this addition. Based on the entries I read, despite his persistence, Jean and Noelle never installed them.
Although Anne Moses made a slightly suggestive comment about staying there with her husband, James Hall — both of Patz & Hall Winery — and finding Magic Fingers. I have decided not to ask them about this.
The entries come from all over the world. Winemakers from South Africa, New Zealand, China, and countless other places have added their voices to the books. Each note is different, yet together they form something larger: a record of a community passing through one house, one vintage, one moment at a time.
There are also melancholy reminders.
Some winemaking couples signed the books together and are no longer together. There is a gap from March 2020 to the end of 2021 — a quiet, blank reminder of what the entire world endured during the COVID pandemic.
And then there is the first page of the first book.
The first group to sign, in 1993, included the legendary Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat. Jim meant an enormous amount to so many of us in our wine journeys. When he passed away in May of 2021, many of us were stunned. Seeing his signature there, right at the beginning, made me happy and sad at the same time.
When my wife, Morét, and I checked out, we wrote our own notes in the third book. Then we closed it and left the house behind.
We were only the latest entry. We will certainly not be the last.
Those three books are, in one sense, a story about wine and barrels. They are a record of how a commercial relationship between a barrel maker and a winemaker does not have to remain merely commercial. It can become friendship. It can become hospitality. It can become memory.
But for me, more than anything, those books are a reminder that wine is really the story of people.
We are a wine community — all of us together. We share cellars and vineyards, successes and failures, tastings and dinners, marriages and divorces, births and deaths, laughter and loss. Over 33 years, many of us have shared the same house, slept in the same rooms, sat at the same table, looked out over the same small French town, and then left a few words behind for the next person to discover.
Together, we are wine.
And together, we stand, fall, and pick ourselves back up again.