Lunch at L'Agastache and an afternoon in Volnay, 24th June

After breakfast consisting of a pain au chocolat and one third of a giant gougere in my case (I believe the procurer of breakfast may have eaten an entire giant gougere by himself), we eventually made it down the creaky staircase to meet our taxi driver, M. Parize, who escorted us to Volnay in style and joked about making us pay more for having the sun roof open.

We soon found L'Agastache, our lunch destination. It was the first time we'd been here, and we were the first arrivals of the day. We decided to sit outside on the terrace where we admired stinging nettles in plant pots - not quite sure what that was all about - and enjoyed a crisp glass of Bourgogne Aligote 2014 from Domaine Jean-Claude Cluzeaud. For our red, we had a very pretty bourgogne rouge from Domaine Bzikot, and to eat we had the menu du jour. This consisted of a lovely gazpacho with a piece of mozzarella in the middle, followed by a leg of guinea fowl, and finally a great dessert involving finely sliced pineapple and some ice cream. Once again I'm very annoyed at being unable to provide photos, but it was all presented beautifully and was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. I think we'll be back.

Then we headed down to the square, which was bustling with various stalls and cart horses. Entry to the festival was 7 euros each which got you a tasting glass and a programme of the various domaines which were opening their doors to visitors.

We visited a number of these. First up was Domaine Cluzeaud which was somewhat off the beaten track and presented a number of quite old-school Volnays. Even the 2004 still had massive tannins going on. Then it was on to Domaine Sainsol-Rossignol where the tasting was being held in a garage containing a number of large and exciting-looking motorbikes! Just three wines were on offer here but they were fruity and approachable. Then we headed to Domaine Francois Buffet, where we managed to interrupt Madame having her post-lunch coffee. This was a serious operation with many prestigious wines and in some cases, exciting older vintages. I particularly enjoyed the Volnay 1er cru "Le Village".

Next up was Domaine Vincent Perrin, whose wines we know and love. It was at a dinner in January that Vincent and Guillaume suggested we come over for the festival so it was great to see them in situ, and the Volnay 1er cru Mitans 2014 was showing particularly well.

Then we hung around on the usual park bench for a few minutes waiting for our taxi home. There was time for a little snooze (or what the Baron refers to as a "disco nap") before heading back out again for the big dinner on the terrace of Domaine de la Pousse d'Or.