We left you last time as we were about to leave the Rhone and journey into the wondrous world of Burgundy… And what a treat it’s been so far!!

We headed off on the 2.5 hour drive a bit upset to be leaving the wonderful views of Hermitage and the spicy reds… But that was soon forgotten when we got to Meursault, home of some of the finest white Burgundies. A bit of lunch and glass of Meursault to line the stomachs then off to a tasting. We eneded up at Domaine Patrick Javillier near the centre of the village and what a great decision it proved to be. From a simple but elegant Bourgogne Blanc through some wonderful village Meursault and finishing off with a couple of amazing Premier Crus (no Grand Crus in Meursault for some ridiculous reason!) Beautiful aromas of honey and buttered toast, great mouth-filling flavours of the same the same plus a lovely citrus streak of acidity… I’m in Heavan and the Rhone is forgotten! A few more bottles for the boot then off to Beaune, wine capital of Burgundy (that should be the World!).

Out to a great bar/brassiere with 20 or so wines by the glass… We tried most! My fav was a Beaune Premier Cru, Fish opted for the Morey Saint Denis… We were both winners! On Saturday we had our best tasting experience yet. Maison Drouhin is one of the oldest growers/negotiants in Beaune and we had booked a cellar tour and tasting. There were 3 acres of underground cellars beneath the city of Beaune that we walked through them with great commentary from our host Jacquie. Really ingesting and very different to anything we have done so far. But he best as still to come as we got to the cellar tasting room and saw the 9 wines set up for our tasting… OMG as the kids say these days:

Whites.

• Saint Veran Blanc – simple but delicious
• Chablis Premier Cru – pure mineral and fizzing acidity!
• Meursault Premier Cru – I love this stuff!
• Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc – great wine, great story
• Chassange-Montrachet Premier Cru – wow!

Reds

• Chorey Les Beaune – charming and delightful
• Chambolle Musigny – and I thought Volnay was my favourite wine!!
• Beaune Clos des Mouches – best Beaune I’ve ever tasted
• Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru – never thought I’d get the chance!

This obviously worked out to quite an expensive takeaway order… These are for the upstairs collection (invented on this tour!).

We got our feet dirty in the famous vineyards of Corton and Vosne Romanee (Le Richbourg to be precise) on the way to our next post. We’re now sitting in our new home for 3 days overlooking the Clos du Vougeot and getting ready to dig into the powerful reds of the Cotes de Nuits (doubt we’ll get a chance to try the Clos de Beze again though!).

Drink well kiddies and I’ll be back with more when we reach Champagne on Wednesday evening (via Chablis of course!)