Days 11 & 12, October 17 and 18

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Wednesday October 17, 2012 – Day 11

We started our day in Beaune at the local street market, which is smaller on Wednesdays than it is on Saturdays, and picked up some cured olives and bread to go along with our cheese and salami from the day before for a picnic later in the day. With all of our supplies in hand we drove out into the wine country of Burgundy and came across one of our favorite wineries from when we were here in the year 2000, Chateau de Pommard. Little did we know how much had changed since our last visit. When we were here in 2000 we were greeted by the winemaker and taken on a small tour to the caves and tasted a few vintages. Now the winery has a visitor center, art collection, and a more formal tour. Since we had been through the winery before we asked the young lady in the visitor center if we could purchase a few bottles to take home. Well a few bottles soon became a case as we tasted and chatted with young man who assisted us in what we wanted. Fortunately we could ship the wine home instead of packing it along with us. After leaving the winery we found a picnic table among the vineyards and decided to have our lunch. The weather was not as warm as we would have liked but then again, we are on vacation, and in the heart of Burgundy, so no complaining was allowed.

We headed back to our hotel and parked the rental car so we could do some wine tasting in the caves of Beaune. Our first stop was the caves of Marche Aux Vins. After a small fee we were given sommelier’s tasting cup and directed to the caves. Here is where the fun begins, in the caves are wine barrels on end and on each is a bottle of wine where you pour your own taste. There is minimal lighting with most of the light coming from a candle on each wine barrel. In total we tasted 3 white wines and 8 reds in about an hours time with no pressure to buy any of them, what a great experience. Although this sounds like a lot of wine, remember we had small sommelier’s tasting cups (which we got to keep at the end of the tour). We did find a favorite and decided to buy a bottle to enjoy later.

Our next stop was the caves of Patriarche and as before after a small fee we entered the underground caves with our sommelier’s tasting cup to pour our own tastings. Like before we tasted 3 white wines and 10 reds, but who’s counting? Again we found a favorite and purchased a bottle to take with us. We met a couple from Georgia and exchanged a few travel stories along the way. We would recommend going to the wine caves if you get a chance to come through the area.

We headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a while and then walked around Beaune at night to see more of the sights lit up like the church the night before. Jim read about another English pub in town, Pickwick’s, so we decided to give it a try. To his disappointment the pub did not have any English beer, the only thing close was Murphy’s Irish Stout so he ordered a pint, and Lisa had a blond ale, nothing special. Overall it was another great day of vacation.



Thursday October 18 – Day 12

We wanted to go on another bike ride like we had done during our first trip here in 2000. We had been watching the weather and chose today for our bike ride. Our plan was to go back to the bike rental shop we rented from before. The ownership had changed but the gentleman who assisted us was just as nice and helpful as the guy we met before. However he was not the first to greet us, his dog made sure we were very welcome before the owner reached us. The owner provided instructions on where to go in three villages outside of Beaune and the sites to see. By just signing a piece of paper he gave us two bikes and sent us on our way.



Lisa was a little nervous as part of our journey was on busy roads with crazy French drivers but we were soon on a less busy road heading toward Savigny Les Beaune. We found a store to buy a couple of sandwiches and with left over supplies from the day before we were set for another picnic in wine country. The bike rental guy recommended a visit to the chateau in town for the museum and the wine tasting. The problem is we arrived at noon and most things in France shut down between noon and 2 PM so we decided to head towards the next village on our bikes. Since neither of us has ridden a bike in awhile, let’s just say our backsides were starting to hurt a little. After climbing a few small hills through the vineyards we found ourselves on the edge of the village of Pernard-Vergelesses. From a distance we could tell there would be more hills to climb so we found a picnic bench and decided to have lunch again amongst the vineyards.



Our next stop was the village of Aloxe-Corton which also had a couple of large Chateaus but we decided to just ride through the vineyards and appreciate where we were. Our plan was to head back to the Chateau in Savigny Les Beaune and check out the museum. We arrived a little after 2 PM and started our tour. To our surprise the eccentric owner of the chateau has some interesting hobbies including collecting, motorcycles, small models of motorcycles, Fiat racecars, antique tractors, airplanes, model airplanes, helicopters, fire trucks, and a few other interesting things. Considering we were in one of the most famous wine producing areas in the world the last thing we thought we would come across was a eclectic collection like this. The Chateau was full of this stuff and the grounds around the chateau were filled with parts of just about anything associated with the collection, including huge boxes of airplane and motorcycle parts.

After a visit of about an hour we decided to head back to Beaune and return our bicycles. When we arrived the guy at the rental shop asked us about our day and Jim mentioned our visit to the museum at the Chateau and made a comment about all the junk he had seen and whoever owns the place must have a problem. This is when the guy at the bike shop mentioned he grew up with the owner of the Chateau and helped him with his collection, talk about an odd moment. On top of that just before we got back to the bike shop Lisa ran over something that punctured the tire and it was soon flat. So in about five minutes Jim insulted the guy’s friend and returned a bike with a flat tire. Oh well, we paid the rental fee and walked back to the hotel just happy to not be sitting on those small bicycle seats!

We decided to spend our last night in Beaune by having a nice French dinner at our hotel. Our reservation was for 8:30 and when we arrived we were greeted by no less than three people helping us to our table. After sitting down we are almost immediately given a pre-appetizer. It is a mushroom mousse with a foie gras whip topping along with a tiny savory puff pastry, piece of ham, and a parmesan twist. Next is the real appetizer, a mushroom risotto and so far, everything is very good. Jim’s entrée is a beef filet with a port sauce and Lisa has the piglet, small pork chops from a very young pig, with applesauce and apple with a savory filling of some sort. Next is the pre-dessert, which is a vanilla custard with a raspberry coulee. For the real dessert we have a chocolate mousse with a custard tart. Jim looks to the next table and his jaw drops. There is a cheese cart full of at least 30 cheeses and Jim asked the waiter to take the trolley to our room. Thankfully they did not do so.



Today is our niece’s birthday so we want to wish Jamie a happy birthday! Tomorrow we head to Belgium. This has been a great trip so far and we are looking forward to more treat adventures.

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Photos

JIm's Favorite Stall at the Market
A large selection of cured meats and salamis

Wine Tasting in one of the Caves
Do we look like we are having fun?

Wine Tasting Station in the Cave
Each bottle to taste is on top of the barrel and you pour your own sample.

Lisa on her bike
Also not happy Jim took her picture

Pinot Grapes still on the vine
Even though it is mid-October some of the vines still had grapes

Inside the Chateau at Savigny Les Beaune
Some parts of the chateau were nice to see