Left Violinist Lisa Batiashvili, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and cellist Gautier Capugon perform at Musique & Vin’s 2019 edition Above Jean-Baptiste Sautereau plays a viola by Claude Macabrey, commissioned through the festival’s loan scheme for young musicians
C. FOUQUIN
Perhaps you’re familiar with the scenario in which a photo you’ve taken with maximum haste and minimum thought – a rapid ‘just in case’ shot before swiftly re-pocketing your phone – ends up becoming the one image that truly gets to the heart of the experience, as opposed to the many photos you’ve taken that were carefully composed. This is what happened to me this year after attending Burgundy’s music and wine-tasting festival, Musique & Vin au Clos Vougeot. Although I returned home with any number of beautiful images from the eight concerts on offer over the nine-day period in June (major musicians such as cellist Gautier Capuçon and violinist Lisa Batiashvili on stage in characterful wine cellars; vineyards at sunset; exquisite medieval architecture), the photo I keep returning to instead is one hastily snapped in an office two months before the festival even began, during a dinner for festival sponsors at Beaune’s private wine-tasting club, 1243 Bourgogne Society, when on the spur of the moment a handful of us sneaked out between courses.