As I close in on the mid-point of this expedition, I can think of no other place I would rather be. Not counting of course, being at my mother's house, sitting at the dinner table having roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli with creme sauce, and her famous rolls. Never blog while your hungry. We are driving from Paris to the Burgundy region. Our first stop in Burgundy will be the town of Dijon. Dijon has more to offer than just mustard, although there's plenty of that here. We arrived at the campsite around 4PM. It's another great location. Beautiful lakes and canals surround the camp and its just 10 minutes from the center of town. Dijon is one of Europe's best preserved cities. Great 17th and 18th century architecture, good restaurants and one very cool thing - there is no charge to visit the cities museums.
We decide to bike from our campsite to ground zero for many a Pinot lover. The Cote D Or'. Literally, The Golden Slope. The ride is nothing less than spectacular. The fruited vines are just about to be harvested. You can actually smell the grapes in the air. It really brings the wine geek out in me. I took over 50 pictures of just grapes hanging on the vine. Our first stop was the town of Marsannay, where we took an incredible tour of Chapeau Marsannay. The tour guide spoke first in French then repeated in English. This added to the tour experience. Mid way through the tour, it becomes self-guided. Once in the dimly lit caves, you can go at you own pace, through tens of thousands of perfectly lined-up wine bottles, many over 30 years old. At the end of the self-guided portion, was the tasting. Talk about ambiance! The tasting was done by candle light! A series of Candle-lit barrels were set up as tasting stations placed through out the cave. The wines went from decent to an excellent Grand Cru. This was a great tour and at only 10euro it was fairly reasonable, plus you get to keep the glass.
We next biked to the famed town of Gerevy Chambertin, where we had lunch, more wine and a rest before the ride back into town. We took the scenic route right up against the edge of the famed vineyards. We turned down a dirt road that took you smack in the middle of a vineyard. While taking a break to admire the surroundings , we were approached by a nice and very talkative lady around 75 or so. She only spoke French, but that didn't stop her from having a 20 minute conversation with us. We could pick out the occasional wine reference, but beyond that, not much more. I could tell she was passionate about wine as she began to list all the towns. I mainly smiled and nodded. I think she was happy just to have someone to chat with,and I was happy to chat with her as well.
We got up fairly early this morning and decided to head to Beaune. Beaune is the viticultural hot spot of the Burgundy region. We broke camp turned on the GPS and hit the road. The GPS stated 200km from Dijon to Beaune, huh? I was awake during that chapter in geography class and I thought the towns were much closer but, hey if the GPS said it - it must be true. We mentally prepared ourselves for the long drive. We ate an extra-large breakfast so we wouldn't have to stop for lunch and we hit the road. After being on the road for only 20 minutes of our 4 hour journey, I saw a sign that said Beaune 17km, huh? Yes, the GPS was wrong. Well, actually it was operator error. I felt as though the Pinot gods had smiled upon me and had given me four unexpected hours to enjoy the juice. We quickly located a campsite, another awesome location only a 5 minute walk to the center of town.
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