France, Part 2: Burgundy

Nothing like a weekend of war to put you in the mood for drinking wine. We were eager to start the second leg of our journey and the sheer indulgence it promised: long, leisurely, decadent meals during which we never have to utter the words "kids menu" or "high chair;" and wine with lunch, dinner, and, yes, even breakfast. In other words, gluttony of the highest order.

Our first order of business was to get to Burgundy, six hours away. We needed to fill up the car. French gas pumps took credit cards; this should have been a piece of cake. Turns out: (1) Most local gas stations in France lack attendants on Sundays and (2) while you can still fill up with a credit card, it can't be an American card, because they lack the requisite microchip thingamabob. After four unsuccessful attempts to fill up the car, which was now down to under an eighth of a tank of gas, we began to panic. While sitting at a gas station on the outskirts of Caen, we decided to take drastic measures. I spotted a cute, twenty-something woman filling up her car and slowly walked up to her and said (probably with a Texas drawl), "Hi. Parlais Engles?" She said, smiling, "Yes." I explained our situation and asked her if she would take 50 euro in cash in exchange for her putting 50 euro of gas in our car with her credit card. She agreed immediately and seemed genuinely happy to help two clueless American tourists. We were so grateful to her. I wanted to take her picture but didn't want to freak her out even more than we probably already had. Crisis averted.

We spent the rest of the drive admiring the French countryside and wondering how this country ever got the reputation for being rude to Americans, since, in addition to having a woman save our vacation, we had yet to encounter any person being anything less than kind and courteous to us.

Our basecamp in Burgundy was in a town called Beaune. We stayed in the old city center at Hotel Central.

(Warning - the rest of this post is filled with intolerably dorky descriptions of food and drink by two major wine geeks. Proceed with caution.)



Our first dinner in Beaune was one of our few unplanned meals. We wandered around until we found a restaurant called Piqu Boef. It was divine. We ate Burgundian specialties: Boef Bourgignon, escargot, Charolais beef steak, and chocolate for dessert. We drank a 2006 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle Musigny and a 2008 Domaine Ramonet Puligny Montrachet. Our gastronomic adventure was off to a very good start.

Winery Tours

Before I start with this recap, here's a very brief description of wine from Burgundy. First, with only a few tiny exceptions, the only grapes grown in Burgundy are chardonnay and pinot noir. So you would think that pretty much all the wine here would taste sort of the same since it comes from the same kind of grapes, right? Wrong. Burgundy wines vary greatly in smell, taste, color, and texture. It all depends on what the French call terroir, which refers to all the different characteristics of the land in which the grapes are grown. In Burgundy this means where on the slope (see below) the grapes grow; what kind of soil they grow in (chalky, rocky, etc.); and what amount of rainfall the vines see. And one more thing -- if you think you don't like chardonnay, try one from Burgundy before you give up on it. It tastes totally different from California chardonnay.

Okay boring wine lesson over.

Our only full day in Burgundy was devoted to touring wineries. Months before our trip, Brian made appointments with several winemakers. He also had the foresight to hire a driver for the day, so we wouldn't have to worry about getting lost or drinking and driving.

Instead of visiting the large, well-known wineries, we wanted to visit the wineries whose wine we drink regularly at home.

Our first stop of the day was a 10:00 am appointment at Domaine Michel Gros in a tiny town called Vosne Romanee. There is no way we would have found the place without our driver. It was on a tiny street and there was no sign.

The Michel Gros Cellar:





This picture really shows the slope for which Burgundy is famous:


This centuries old walled-in vineyard, called Clos de Reas, also is well-known:


Here Brian and I stand at the corner of one of the most famous (and most expensive - we've never actually been able to drink any of the wine from here) Burgundian vineyards: Romanee Conti. You can see the slope in this picture too.


After our visit with Michel Gros, we stopped in at the Chateau de Clos de Vougeot, where monks made wine for, no kidding, about 1,000 years.





We had a lunch reservation at Le Chambolle. This tiny restaurant in Chambolle-Musigny was a delight in every way. We drank a Marc Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "En Virondot" 2007 and a Hudelot-Boillet Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "Les Charmes" 2007. Unfortunately we didn't write down what we ate and have already forgotten. But we remember that it was really, really good.

That afternoon we visited two more wineries. The first visit amounted to not much more than a tasting, but the second, with Louis Jadot, was much more involved. We got to tour the winery itself, pictured below.



Then we got to do barrel tastings, which were really fun. Wine ages in barrels for anywhere from twelve months to three years before it is put into bottles. We got to sample several 2009 wines that had not yet completed the 'vinification' process. (In case you were wondering how we weren't falling down drunk by the end of the day, we did a lot of spitting during the tastings. Spitting is a little weird at first, but you get used to it.)

In this picture, our tour guide, who is also the director of international marketing for Jadot (no idea how we warranted such a big wig tour guide, but she was really, really great), pulls wine from a barrel for us to taste.




Dinner that night was at Ma Cuisine, which came highly recommended, and it did not disappoint. It was a tiny restaurant down this alleyway.



Ma Cuisine doesn't have a printed menu; it lists the evening's offerings on a chalkboard and you choose from the options listed there. Brian ordered the roast pigeon, which sounds gross, but tasted unbelievably good. We lingered over dinner here, sitting and talking for about two hours or so before finally heading out.

The next morning, Brian had one more winery tour scheduled, and I was sort of wine-toured-out. So I spent the morning shopping for souvenirs for Amanda and Elizabeth while Brian visited the Domain Bouchard Pere & Fils. Pictures from his adventure are below.







With souvenirs purchased and the car packed, it was time to say goodbye to Burgundy. We had experienced so much during our short time in France. But the trip wouldn't be complete without Paris. Off we went.