We recently had another big day out – this time back to Beaune. Beaune’s famous for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Reg found a wine tasting place on the internet – Marche’ aux Vins – that gave you an overview of the area. We headed straight there last Tuesday morning. It cost us 10Euro each – excellent value. There were 3 Chardonnays and 12 Pinot Noirs to taste – one of which was a Grand Cru. We started in the cellar and worked our way up into the chapel. It was great!!! Beats trying to find places in a limited time frame – you would need a week to do what we did in an hour and a half. The Grand Cru was stunning – Reg gave it top marks of 19/20. Next was a Aloxe-Corton Pinot Noir at 18.5, and at half the price. We now have one in our safe keeping – put aside for a special occasion.
We then left Beaune to visit a little owner run winery/cave in the village of Saint-Martin-sous-Montagaigi called “Domain Hubert Garry”. Yes – Hubert was home! His wines were very nice – maybe suffered from some not so great oak barrels but okay. Hubert showed us around and was very friendly. His english was limited but we managed to understand each other enough to get by. Lots of pointing and hand waving – we are getting very proficient at charades!
Next we drove south through some lovely countryside to a little village called Charrency. We’d read about a little family run restaurant there – Auberge Le Petit Blanc – apparently excellent. I tired snails for the first time – not bad. We also had a great pate, a stunning beef bourguignon and a lovely Mercurey Pinot Noir. Took half of the wine home – we are trying to be careful!!
We also had an unexpected miniature day out yesterday in Saulieu – the main town near here. We went to shop – we have guests for dinner tonight – only to discover that everything was shut. We are still getting used to the siesta at lunch time thing but didn’t expect the supermarkets to be closed. Anyway it gave us a chance to look around Saulieu and I was impressed – interesting main street – long, winding and narrow. Some great little shops. Our favourite was a little patisserie – lots of goodies in the window. We found a very famous Michelin star restaurant and looked at the menu board outside (entree 50euro, main 80euro) before venturing around to the local cafe for a hotdog and a glass of house wine. Both the food and wine were great – and with the total bill under 10euro we certainly couldn’t complain about the price!
Well, that’s it. We have to get ready for our guests. Mike (Peter and Rowena’s gardener), his wife and grandson are due soon.
Lots of love
Di and Reg
This entry was posted in Europe, France, House Sits, Liernais, Burgundy