Domaine Pascal Clement and Domaine Chaudat, Mon 27th Oct

On Monday morning we had a leisurely start and I was looking forward to a ficelle aux lardons for breakfast but sadly ACC came back from his travels empty-handed. It seemed that no bakeries were open in Beaune early on a Monday morning! We were forced to resort to Dix Carnot, the cafe on Place Carnot, which did a mean pain au chocolat for me and an "escargot" for ACC, and a couple of cafe cremes later we were were raring to go.

We were collected promptly by trusty Alain le taxi who whisked us off to Savigny-les-Beaune where we were to visit Domaine Pascal Clement, a new experience for me. The courtyard was strewn with rugby balls and water pistols and his two sons arrived and greeted us before the man himself appeared waving from an upstairs window.

We had a comprehensive tasting of the 2013 wines made here but rather than list them all I will just select some highlights: the Rully 1er cru which had good weight and minerality, the Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes which I wanted to drink there and then and which the others described as "un jolie Pernand", the Meursault and the Meursault 1er cru which were both very rich,soft and attractive (as you might expect from someone who used to work at Domaine Coche-Dury). On the red side, the bourgogne looked and smelled beautiful and was enjoyably juicy, the Chambolle-Musigny had a wonderful aromatic nose, and the Vosne-Romanee was elegant and stylish, not words I usually associate with Vosne-Romanee! Merci beaucoup to Pascal.

After that, we made our way back down the hill (about a minute's walk) and arrived at Le Morgan, a tiny restaurant which appeared to have just one member of staff! This guy took our order, cooked it, cleared up, and everything. There wasn't a set menu but we shared some jambon persille to start and then each had a main course and a pichet of red and the total was very reasonable. I would certainly go back but NB you need to book in advance - I think the guy would have a heart attack if you just rocked up out of nowhere.

We had some time to kill before our next appointment so walked further down into Savigny, past the Mairie and discovered a rather nice little square with a fountain and some benches. Somehow I got the feeling that there must be a cat around somewhere, and sure enough as I walked round the square I spotted a tabby sleeping on a window-ledge. I persuaded it to wake up and say hello to me, and it spent the next half hour wandering round the square nearly getting run over.

At 2.00, Julien le taxi collected us and took us to Corgoloin where we had an appointment with Madame Chaudat. We visited this domaine last year and the Ladoix in particular has been a great hit. It was a similar story this year. We tasted three wines here: the bourgogne blanc, the Cote de Nuits rouge and the Ladoix, also red. They were all good but as usual the Ladoix was my favourite with its beautiful fruit, elegance and excellent balance. I look forward to getting my hands on some.

After a few minutes sitting on a park bench admiring the description of a one-track road as La Grande Rue, Julien reappeared and dropped me off in Beaune while ACC went on to another appointment. I was able to retrieve my mobile phone which had fallen out of my pocket at Route 66 the previous evening, and picked up some coffee at Casino.

Then we had a spot of rose cremant at the gite before heading off to dinner at Le Cheval Noir. I really like this place. It has a lovely, calm atmosphere, the tables are nicely-spaced, and it's both professional and friendly. It feels as if nothing bad can happen here. You also get lots of extra amuses-gueles and petits-fours etc. We had a very enjoyable meal, only slightly marred by my confusing the word "maigre" with "magret" so I was expecting duck and I got fish! But the mushrooms with the fish were spectacular, so I was very happy. All in all, a great first day of tasting.