Weekend in Burgundy, Part 2

Trip date: September 2014

Our weekend in Beaune was off to a good start, we awoke the next day to brilliant sunshine and found the Saturday market going on in town. There were lots of delicacies such as sausages, cheeses, honey, and even a stand selling whole truffles!

The market closes at 1pm so don't go too late. We walked around the town for a bit, it is so cute and really lovely, especially when it isn't raining! We decided to have lunch at the restaurant Le Conty at an outside table on their patio, in the shadow of the cathadral. 

A little champagne, steak tartare for me, grilled lobster for Forest, and a shared cheese plate...hello Saturday!

Ready for the day, we drove out to Chateau Meursault for a tasting. Poor Forest, I kept making her pull over as the damn scenery was just too beautiful! 

Like the day before at Marché aux Beaune, the chateau also has their tasting set up as a self-guided cellar tour where you end up in a series of small cellar rooms for the tasting. We had 4 whites and 4 reds to taste but unfortunately there was only one woman trying to pour for 3 rooms of people and the entire thing was a complete cluster fuck. The wines however were very nice, especially a 2009 Premier Cru Meursault, and we bought a few to take back to Paris and share with friends. 

From here we drove to Volnay. We kept a look out for open caves since we weren't able to make any appointments due to the harvest going on. We stumbled upon Domaine Albert Boillot where winemaker Raymond Boillot greeted us. This man was absolutely charming, taking us on a little tour of his winery and cellars, tasting us through his nice selection of wines made from the Volnay and Pommard areas, and telling us about his family's history in the wine business; he is the tenth generation of wine makers in the family! Also all of Boillot's wines are between 8 and 22 Euro! Amazing QPR!

After making some purchases we walked around the tiny town a bit and came upon Domaine Françoise Mure et Fils, the winemaker was outside and offered to show us around and taste two of his wines. Unfortunately we didn't like either and when we thanked him and started to leave he was quite rude about the fact that he opened wines for us to taste but we weren't buying. C'est la vie.

From here we drove all of 1.5 miles to Pommard, past the lovely vineyards with their leaves just starting to turn fall colors, and filled with teams of people picking grapes and heading to the crushers.

We saw an 'open' sign at Maison G. Brzezinski and found another super nice winemaker, Gilles Brzezinski, who tasted us through his well priced and delicious Burgundies. All in all a great day and actually quite fun hunting down open places vs running to make appointments.

typical rear view mirror sight along the back roads of Burgundy

Just outside of Beaune we made a quick stop for gas and I had to laugh and take this photo when I went in to pay; you can see that to the right of the cashier desk is a tiny bar in the gas station and it was obviously happy hour for the local men (and one smart woman!).

It was also about time for happy hour for Forest and I, one can only drink wine for so long! Martinis were had at the bar at the very quaint Hotel de la Poste back in Beaune before wandering around town for the evening.

We had some fantastic rillettes and charcuterie at the super fun Table du Square, the cafe has a large outside patio that was obviously everyone's favorite place to be on a warm fall evening! Amazing lists of wines from the region, by the glass, gives you a chance to try some you may not have gotten into during your stay.

It was finally dark and time for the Beaune Trail of Light. Seven of the city's already beautiful buildings are illuminated in an amazing light show that goes from June until September. I'd say this is a serious do-not-miss. It's free, allows you to stroll around the town at night, (we stopped along the way for wine at the Maison du Colombier, which has a great view of one of the buildings) and is really just incredibly stunning. I'd also suggest clicking through the link above as their photography of the buildings is amazing.

And with that our amazing day in Burgundy, and pretty much exactly what I dreamt of a day in Burgundy should be like, came to an end.

The next morning we checked out of our funny little Airbnb, and headed back in to Beaune one last time (on this trip anyway!) to go to the Sunday brocante. This type of market is a bit different than a marché au puces in that the later is more of a flea market (hence the name) and the former is more real antiques and therefore a bit pricier. I bought two gorgeous silver wine coasters to use at home, these are the best types of souviners for me (besides my crazy, tacky magnet collection).

Back on the road we headed north along the famed Routes de Grand Cru. Although we didn't get to do as many tastings as we had planned for, seeing the harvest happening in the fields and the colors on the leaves, smelling the fresh crush of grapes in the air, it was an absolutely gorgeous time to be in Burgundy. We had a lovely last lunch in Fixin at Au Clos Napoleon, complete with a bottle of 2010 Guy et Yvann Dufouleur Clos du Chapitre Fixin 1st Cru Burgundy, beef with Époisses sauce, scalloped potatoes, and a gorgeous selection of cheese for dessert. A perfect wrap to the trip and we were headed back to Paris!

All pretty Burgundy photos here.
Part 1 here. 

Weekend in Burgundy, Part 1

Trip date: September 2014

First off, a weekend is nowhere near enough time to spend in Burgundy. Second, if the thought of driving through picturesque Bourgogne villages, tasting wine in chateaus, and eating delicious meals paired with said wines doesn't sound like your kind of holiday, we probably won't get along.

September of 2014, Forest and I left Lyon and made the easy drive towards Beaune, which would be our home-base while in the wine country. We stopped in the town of Puligny-Montrachet and had a decadent lunch at Le Montrachet, seated outside on their elegant terrace. Few things make me happier than enjoying the sun with a glass of Cremant, a tasting menu, a bottle of 2010 Bzikot Puligny- Montrachet, and a luscious cheese trolly!

We had a bit of time before we needed to check into our Airbnb in Beaune so we walked across the street for our first wine tasting at the Caveau de Puligny-Montrachet. This is a wine shop that also does tastes; once we got a chance to sit up at the counter and get some information from owner Julien Wallerand it was a very nice experience. We had 6 wines for 18Euro each, my favorites were the 2012 Puligny-Montrachet from both Domaine Bzikot and D. Jean Pascal & Fils (the latter was a 1er Cru)

We made our way to Beaune, driving past the tiny villages of Meursault and Volnay. I was blown away glimpsing these famous appellations that mark the bottles of some of the best wines in the world. To see how truly small they are is head shaking! We found our Airbnb, which was a little house just outside Beaune, made a quick run to the grocery store for provisions, and had aperos in the back yard that seemed to be expecting a much bigger party.

That night we had dinner at the charming Ma Cuisine. The restaurant is housed in a little wine cave and is quite well known in town. The owners were very helpful as we tried working through the 800+ bottle wine list. Some delicious charcuterie, garlicky Burgundy snails, a lovely 2010 Gran Cru Corton, and a nightcap of rare Spanish Chartreuse made for a fabulous first dinner!

Friday morning we decided to drive the short way into town as it was gray and drizzly. We started with a 3-fixe lunch at the Caves Madeleine and a 2011 Butterfield Monthélie Blanc, an appellation I'd never had before. This little restaurant had really great food, wine, and service!

We dashed through town in the rain to make our first tasting appointment at the grand daddy, Domaine Drouhin. Our vacation had coincided with the season's harvest, which we found out when we started calling and emailing for tasting appointments and were told by the smaller houses that they would all be in the vineyards!

At Drouhin we had a nice tour and tasting of six wines in the cellar. All the wines were great but the highlight for me was getting to taste the 2008 Meursault-Genevrieres Premier Cru Hospices de Beaune.

When we were done it was still raining so instead of heading out to the surrounding villages we stopped in at the Marché aux Vins right in town and signed up for a tasting. This was a self-guided tour of the cellars, with self-pouring tasting stops along the way. We had one white and one rosé, which were ok, and then a 2008 Chateau Marsannay Marsannay which was good, and a 2006 Comte de Moucheron Premier Cru Beaune which was quite nice. We finished in a space that use to be a church where they had a dispensing machine of Grand Crus which we got to choose two from. It was pretty funny that the entire tour and tasting was self done. I'd say this is a fun thing to do if you're palate is a bit busted from other tastings or you are with people who are not geeking out on the individual wine makers and houses as much as you are!

We headed home to chill out, have an apero, get cleaned up, and then out to dinner at 21 Boulevard. Our meal here was excellent! The restaurant is in an old farmhouse and we were seated in the cave area, low lit with curved ceilings. They offered a delicious 3-course menu; the highlight for me were ravioli with escargot and sweetbreads in a garlic cream broth. Swoon! We chose a nice Cote de Nuits Village from their massive list, followed by a nightcap of Marc de Bourgogne. 

So far Burgundy was working out quite well for me!

Part 2 here. Photos here.