Saturday, June 30, 2012

"Tasting" wine in Bourgogne

I am afraid to write about a recent weekend in Bourgogne.
I am very aware that every blogger who has been to France has written such a blog. I am not sure if I am more worried about theirs being better or mine being the same. Nevertheless it was a weekend totally deserving of some writing.

In typical Melanie fashion I added a wee bit of stress before departure. Short story -  I lost my train ticket. In a rather bizarre purchase arrangement, I was not able to just print out a new copy. So I bought a new one. Oh well.

Thursday evening we all eventually arrived in Beaune to much sampling of local wine. My favorite of the evening was a Givry. We had a bit of local cuisine at Le Bistrot Bourguignon and a relatively early night, knowing Friday had much in store. Like exchanging our train tickets for an earlier arrival Sunday, finding what turned out to be rather rickety bikes, and cycling largely in the wrong direction to arrive at Ladoix-Serrigny, still hoping to find Aloxe-Corton. By 2PM and we were hungry and tired. A rather humble looking spot Les Terasses de Corton offered a terrace and lunch. In fact we enjoyed a really good meal of boeuf bourgignon or cochon de lait accompanied by a very nice bottle of Aloxe-Croton, because it was local and we were not sure we would ever find its home.

We did find it and had the opportunity to taste several very nice wines chez Christophe Vaudoisey. I believe several bottles found their way home on our bikes including one now at my place.


Friday night was very casual, with wine at Le Galion followed by dinner (joues de boeuf in bourgignon sauce for me) and then dinner with a very good bottle of Nuits St. George at Le Conty. We had to walk at least 30 paces to move from one to the other, and both afforded us this view of a beautiful old building with a very modern light show.




Saturday was our day to cycle,
on a cyclepath, through the vineyards.


Pommard, Volnay, Merseault, all went by in a flash as we attempted to arrive at Montrachet in time for a highly recommended lunch at a starred Michelin restaurant, Le Montrachet. And what a fine lunch it was. A little platter of warm apps appeared almost immediately, followed by a proper amuse-bouche. My entree was something delicious, followed by my main course of something even more delicious.




We had local wine, cherries in wine sauce, between the dessert amuse bouche, and the milliardises shown on the right. The unpretentious thingies on the left were the best thing I have ever tasted. I offered to arm wrestle Simon for his, but a true gentleman he offered it to me instead.



Although Carole and Simon were eager to go to Chateau Merseault, Alison and I chose a leisurely ride back through the villages we had seen at a blur on the way. I must say it was a lovely afternoon.




And then it was Sunday. 
A very nice visit to Hotel-Dieu-Hospices de Beaune. 




Built in 1441 to care for the poor it remained in operation until 1965 or so. If you ever needed to be in a hospital in the Middle Ages this was the pace to be! It even had its own winery. And a still for making pharmaceuticals. And beautiful paintings. And tapestries. Just go see it between wine tastings. You will not be disappointed.
And just one last wine tasting at Vins de Bourgogne on our way out of town...


I learned a lot about wine this weekend - still know next to nothing but could order a decent bottle of Bourgogne in a restaurant if I needed to!

1 comment:

  1. Cycling. Wine. French countryside? Oh Mon Dieu! You're living the life.

    ReplyDelete

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