Last day in Burgundy

It was our last day in Beaune. This is a picture of the scene just outside our front door, as we waited for Alain le taxi to appear - he'd kindly agreed to look after our suitcases for the morning.

Then we grabbed ourselves some pain au chocolat and some other local speciality in ACC's case, and took them to the "locals' bar" for coffee. This is a very nice place to spend a quiet half an hour as old men read newspapers in silence. You even get a mini toblerone with your coffee! (I'm easily pleased.)

Breakfast out of the way, it was time for some shopping. I was devastated to find that Mon Millesime was closed, as I'd been looking forward to a good mooch round there, but never mind. The next stop was a new wine shop which seems to be owned by the same bloke who owns La Boutique Des Domaines directly opposite. I was hoping to pick up some old Dujac Marc de Bourgogne. Sadly he was out of stock. My morning wasn't going too well. Fortunately it rapidly improved.

We visited another new shop, this one attached to a rather fancy restaurant on Petit Place Carnot, which sold me a bottle of Roulot Marc so that I could recreate part of the Le Montrachet experience at home. Admittedly it was in a paper bag with a string handle which later made a bid for freedom.

Next up was the cheese shop. I braved this by myself and had prepared a sentence in French in my head to ask for it to be vacuum packed but the brusque young man who served me didn't have time for any of that. Get on with it woman!

At least I got a photo of the laser guided cheese cutter. And I did get the cheese vacuum packed after asking again, but all in one bag together which seemed a bit weird. All in all, it wasn't the best customer experience ever. But worth it to get my hands on some Regal de Bourgogne.

Then it was on to the chocolate shop to pick up some presents for home.

At this point I received an exciting phone call. ACC was in Magnum, literally next door, and they had just taken delivery of an exciting parcel including some old Marc! I wasted no time in getting there and cut a deal which I was very happy with. It made my morning! All that remained was for ACC to visit the cassis shop, and it was time for lunch.

It's becoming something of a tradition that we have our last lunch at Loiseau des Vignes, which is always great. This time we were slightly caught out in that having taken our order the maitre d' reappeared to tell us that the menu we had chosen from wasn't actually available - 1st November is a saints day and so we were required to choose from a more expensive set menu instead. We rationalised this to ourselves on the grounds that it also included the cheese course which we would have wanted anyway...

We had an excellent lunch and this beef Wellington thing reminded me strangely of a Ginger Pig sausage roll, in appearance at least. To drink, we were able to have a variety of things as they specialise in wine by the glass.

For the cheese course, we were offered a choice, "assiette ou chariot?" to which there was only one possible answer, and the variety of Epoisses-style goodies had to be seen to be believed. If only I had a cheese chariot!

Finally it was time to depart. Alain le taxi collected us and whisked us back to Beaune station for the train home. Another magnificent trip had come to an end. Thanks very much to ACC and I hope to do it all again next year!

La Dilettante and Epoisses burger, Friday 31st October

On Friday evening we'd finished our tasting itinerary, and were ready for some downtime. Where better than La Dilettante, the new wine bar run by Lolo, who was previously proprietor at Caves Madeleine. This was the first time I'd been to this place, which is on Rue du Faubourg Bretonnière just outside the ring road on the way to Pommard. It was very different from Le Bout de Monde, much smaller and brighter - more like a cafe with wine! We drank some artisan beer and had some little plates of food and ACC chatted to the friendly waitress about her possible upcoming trip to London.

I enjoyed looking at the bottles on the wall - lots of interesting things there. There were also some cool arty wine festival posters.

However, we'd only been allowed in on the understanding that we pushed off quite quickly, as our table had been reserved for others later in the evening. It was time for Epoisses Burger Quest!

In an attempt to improve my French, I'd bought a random copy of wine mag Bougogne Aujourd'hui which I read on the Eurostar on the way down, and it had a small article about street food coming to Beaune - a burger truck selling Epoisses burgers! Naturally this caught my eye and research had established that on a Friday night the truck could be found near the BP garage on one of the roads leading out of Beaune.

We'd walked along this particular dual carriageway before, several years ago, on a memorable trip to the Grand Boutique du Vin. On that occasion, the journey had seemed endless and doubts were expressed as to the existence of the Grand Boutique, only for it to appear after about half an hour like an oasis in the desert. This time, the green lights of the BP garage appeared rather sooner, which was a relief as the road was rather sinister in the dark. As we approached we could see that the burger van was quite an event!

It was Halloween, hence the fancy dress of some of the queue. Others had donned red trousers just for the hell of it.

We perused the menu and opted for L'espicéen, the one with the Epoisses. We went for a meal deal which included frites and beer. Later we realised that the price of the "deal" was exactly the same as that for the individual components added together. Memo to self for next time!

There was a bench next to the truck which was unoccupied so we sat there to eat, receiving weird looks from everyone else. It seems that most people ring up and place their order beforehand, then collect it and take it home. That's not really street food is it? Admittedly the thought of asking Alain le taxi to collect ours on a future occasion while we stayed in the warmth and comfort of the gite did cross our minds.

The burger was great, but to be honest for me the Epoisses didn't really come across - the onion compote was more exciting. But I'd definitely have it again! The chips and beer were very good too. I brought the menu home so that we'd have the details for future reference.

Afterwards, we walked back into town and received quite a shock when a rabid dog tried to attack us. Fortunately it was on the other side of a high wall! A restorative trip to Route 66 on Place Carnot was in order, and then we called it a night. But we still had one great meal to come.

Domaine Odoul-Coquard, Friday 31st October

We were slightly early for our next appointment, so we spent some time hanging out near a giant car park in the middle of Morey-St-Denis . It's not a particularly big village, so I was mystified by the size of the car park. Someone had parked a giant camper van there and I thought if I had a giant camper van there would be worse places to hang out than the Côte de Nuits...

Then it was time to go, and we walked the short distance to Domaine Odoul-Coquard. I'd only visited once before, back in 2008. This time we received a warm welcome from Sebastien who seemed to be in a very cheery mood. I'd met him back when he was over in London earlier in the year and it was great to renew the acquaintance. When it emerged that this was our final tasting, he immediately said "Saving the best till last!"

Upstairs in the tasting room there were some new barrels, still wrapped in clingfilm, and a rather lovely painting - a vision of Morey-St-Denis as heaven, basically. Can't argue with that.

Then it was time to go downstairs for the tasting. We tasted ten wines altogether and unfortunately my pen packed up in the middle so some of my notes are not as detailed as they might otherwise have been, but for me the highlights were as follows:

Bourgogne Rouge - this is a recurring favourite at AduV Towers and this vintage didn't disappoint. It had that rich house style, with lovely sweet fruit.

Morey-St-Denis "Aux Chesaux". This was a great expression of Morey which often reminds me of black forest gateaux with its dark chocolate and black cherries. Aux Chesaux is a lieu-dit on the edge of the premier cru vineyards and for me this was premier cru quality.

Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru Les Baudes. This was very perfumed and I found the palate surprisingly rich and big but Sebastien described it as delicate and feminine so maybe there was something wrong with my taste buds after that strange lunch earlier. In fact, by comparison with his premier cru Moreys and Gevrey, it was relatively restrained. I liked it a lot!

Finally, the two grand crus were amazing and I'd struggle to say which I preferred. The Charmes-Chambertin was elegant and delicious with great concentration. I managed to spill the remnants everywhere as I was attempting to return it to the barrel, and felt like an idiot, but Sebastien kindly said "C'est ne pas grave". The Clos de Vougeot had explosive fruit and an amazing finish. I managed not to spill any of it as the others watched - the pressure was certainly on - but hopefully I'll be allowed back. A final decision on these will have to wait for 13th January at the Burgundy Portfolio en primeur tasting which promises to be quite an event.

To sum up, I would say the house style here is quite flash. These are big, rich, glossy wines, dark and delicious. Merci beaucoup to Sebastien for a wonderful final tasting (and for the bottle of Gevrey which he kindly gave us as we were leaving)!

An unusual lunch, Friday 31st October

After saying goodbye to Gilbert, we walked down the hill from Chambolle-Musigny and eventually came to the main road. It wouldn't be a trip to Burgundy without a bit of walking along a main road with no pavement, as lorries thundered past just inches away. Fortunately we didn't have too far to go before we reached our lunch destination, Relais des Grands Crus in Morey St-Denis.

I'd heard all sorts of tales about this place and it's probably just as well that I had a rough idea of what to expect, as it was very different from the other places we'd visited. It's basically a truckers' caff and when you go in, there's a room with long benches occupied by a rowdy bunch. The waitress quickly sized us up and put us in the alternative room, which is posher and has individual tables. Clearly she didn't think I'd be able to handle the rowdy room and indeed I was grateful for that.

For a while, we were the only occupants of the posh room, but then an elderly couple were also shown in, who also must have been judged too fragile to cope with the rowdiness. It also looked like they might have been expecting a coach party which never materialised.

The menu was on a blackboard over by the bar. You get a four course meal and half a bottle of surprisingly-decent house wine for 12.80 euros - it's hard to argue with that! Our main dilemma was whether to have brussels sprouts or chips with our main course.

For the starter, we had to go back into the rowdy room where a cold buffet was laid out. Naturally, I went long on rillettes and pate en croute.

In order to reach the rowdy room, we had to walk through a small room which was full of fancy-dress gear including various interesting pieces of headwear (the pink cowboy hat in particular is seared into my memory). At some point in the proceedings, the waitress gets dressed up and conducts a raffle in the rowdy room, creating additional levels of rowdiness. It was all very jolly.

Strangely I didn't take a photo of the main course, possibly because it wasn't very photogenic - I had the rabbit and it came with what seemed to be oven chips, hearty but not the most exciting fare. For pudding I had this creme caramel generously smothered in golden syrup - type 2 diabetes on a plate.

Afterwards, we walked up the slope into Morey proper. Was it me or was the village further away than it seemed at first sight? Maybe that was just the effect of walking uphill after a big lunch. It was very warm and the vines were a glorious golden colour in the sun. We had one more tasting to go.

Domaine Felettig, Friday 31st October

On Friday morning, Alain le taxi collected us for another trip up to the Côte de Nuits. There was a top-secret assignation en route but the main event for the morning was a visit to Domaine Felettig in Chambolle-Musigny. Just the name Chambolle-Musigny lifts the spirits, I find.

We met Christine, and then Gilbert appeared along with daughter who we were told is learning English at school. I'd better watch what I write in that case... except it's all good. I also found out the use of the giant glass spotted in Athenaeum the previous day - Gilbert used one during the tasting and poured some wine from the tank or barrel into it to start with, then used a pipette to transfer some to each tasting glass. This was a very educational trip!

We tasted 15 wines from 2013 altogether so I shan't describe them all, but for me, the highlights at the different levels were:

Bourgogne Rouge - very charming nose, elegant, still a bit tingly (it had just been sulphured, I believe), a baby Chambolle.

Bourgogne Rose - this was exceptionally pale, and very aromatic with good weight and length. It will be lovely in the summer and I found myself thinking my mother would like it.

Chambolle-Musigny Clos Village - we had this after the village Chambolle, which I liked a lot, but this had more of everything, a more intense nose, it was more silky, and it felt like a premier cru to me. Apparently it's now a monopole.

Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru les Feusselottes - rude words were used in my notes, in a positive way! It was lovely, with good concentration, pure fruit, nice weight, and complexity. A winner.

Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru les Charmes - I have written "best yet!" and quite honestly I didn't want to spit it out. Gilbert said it was very rich, and it had a lovely weight and texture and lots of appealing fruit. Delicious.

Echezeaux grand cru - this is the pinnacle of the pyramid at this domaine and two barrels were made in 2013 and 2014 also. It was a great, complex wine and had great length. Come back in ten years...

After this, we went back upstairs to the tasting room where we tasted some other bits and pieces in bottle. The Hautes Cotes de Nuits 2012 made me very happy with its raspberry compote nose, and the Gevrey-Chambertin 2012 was also very much my kind of thing, a very elegant style of Gevrey with richness and depth.

All in all, it was a wonderful, comprehensive tasting, a veritable Chambolle-Musigny masterclass. For me, the wines of this domaine are serious, complex and refined. It's classy stuff.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Gilbert spotted me taking a surreptitious photo of a shelf of bottles of vieux marc de bourgogne and without any prompting gave me a bottle, with the words "Amatrice du Marc". This was very generous! I love this marc and it transports me back to happy days in Burgundy. Merci Gilbert!

Domaine Emmanuel Giboulot and lunch at Le Montrachet, Thursday 30th October

After coffee we still had time for a wander round Athenaeum, the shop on Place Carnot which sells books and all sorts of exciting wine gadgetry. ACC found a wonderful book with very detailed maps and explanations of vineyard names, while I was particularly taken with this giant glass. I found out the next day what it's for!

Then it was time to meet Bill at Place Madeleine and head on down to Domaine Giboulot. Here we were greeted by a very nice young man wearing an interesting ensemble including a floppy hat and some pale pink tracksuit bottoms. It seemed that Emmanuel wasn't there - he'd had to see a man about a tractor, or something - so this chap and another young lady, who was possibly the secretary, gave us the tasting. It would have been nice to see Emmanuel but his wines spoke for themselves.

We tasted eight altogether, all from the 2013 vintage. For me the highlights were the Terres Burgondes blanc, which is made from pinot beurot (the local name for pinot gris) - this was very attractive, easy drinking with notes of lemon and butter, and had a great balance of acidity and weight. I've been drinking the 2009 lately, and it's been going down very well. On the red side, the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits en Gregoire was amazing, with a heavenly nose and crunchy fruit, and the Côte de Beaune Les Pierres Blanches had a lovely rich nose, good weight and was just generally beautiful. As usual the domaine's trademark purity and elegance were present and correct.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to Bill and met up with Alain le taxi who took us off to Puligny yet again for an occasion I'd been looking forward to for ages - lunch at Le Montrachet! I have fond memories of the sommelière twinkling at me when we went there last year but sadly she wasn't around this time. A kir soon cheered me up and we embarked on the accomplished set lunch which is a steal at 32 euros. We enjoyed perusing the magnificent wine list (available online here), and in the end settled on a bottle of 1998 Beaune 1er cru du Chateau from Bouchard which caused the sommelier to raise an eyebrow but we stuck to our guns and didn't regret it - it was a wonderful golden colour and opened up after half an hour or so.

We were in no great rush so decided to have a comparative tasting of fine and marc from Domaine Roulot to finish - half a measure of each, but happily the free-pouring sommelier seemed to give us quite a generous glass of each both! We took it outside on to the terrace, which was warm in the afternoon sun, and had the place to ourselves. One of these days I'm going to spend a weekend here...

Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Thurs 30th October

On the Thursday morning, Alain le taxi collected us at 9.10 and took us to Jean-Claude Rateau's domaine on the outskirts of Beaune. I'd expressed doubts as to whether a taxi was necessary, as it's not really that far, but in the end I was glad we did as it was quite a cold morning and it would have been a strenuous uphill walk first thing. Last year we were late getting there; this year it was nice to be early and we killed some time sitting on a wall by the property overlooking the vineyards. Once again, it was very foggy.

The post van dropped off some post, Jean-Claude appeared and we cracked on! As with Maison en Belles Lies the previous day, it was a very different story from last year, and things were looking much brighter with a cellar full of barrels. Was it our imagination or did Jean-Claude's wonderful moustache even look less droopy?

As usual, we were tasting the 2013 vintage and commenced with the reds. First up, Beaune les Beaux et Bons, which is wine from two adjoining vineyards, les Beaux Fougets and les Bons Feuvres. It had a lovely strawberry nose, nice weight and good acidity, and I liked it a lot. Coincidentally, I'm looking forward to drinking some of the 2012 vintage this evening, and the label says that it has aromas of black cherries. Whatever fruit it smells of, it's delicious.

Then it was on to Beaune Les Prévolles, which was also lovely - more serious, elegant, more floral (I think Jean-Claude said) and with a great finish. Very pretty again. Next was a Gevrey-Chambertin; I wasn't expecting that! I'm not normally mad about Gevrey but this seemed to me to be Gevrey in the style of Beaune and it was very perfumed, elegant and succulent.

2014 looks promising...

The Beaune 1er cru les Reversées was noticeably more serious than the first two and very "soyeux" (silky). If I understood correctly - 50/50 chance - it was made from very old vines, and it seemed more powerful than the others. So was the Beaune 1er cru les Bressandes, which Jean-Claude described as more rich. This was heavier, and for me had an interesting hint of the farmyard thing going on on the nose. It would be one to tuck away for a few years.

Hidden treasure! 

Finally, we tried the white Beaune 1er cru les Coucherias. This was the first wine I encountered from the domaine, when G bought it back from France a couple of years ago, and it wowed us - an instant 10 on the Premier Cru Project scale. The 2013 had that distinctive white Beaune nose that I love so much. It had a nice weight, was complex, and with a great finish. I seem to have put 2 stars next to it which is high praise indeed. All in all, Jean-Claude said he thought 2013 was a very pretty vintage and he has certainly made some very attractive biodynamic wines that I can't wait to drink in due course.

Afterwards, we'd been planning to walk back into the town centre but Jean-Claude kindly offered us a lift in his van, so we squashed up three in a row in the front and were deposited in Place Carnot with time for a coffee before our next appointment. The day had got off to an excellent start!

Domaine Perrin and Maison en Belles Lies, Wed 29th Oct

After lunch at Le Terroir, we were picked up by Julien, whisked along various windy roads, through Chagny (past Lameloise!) and back up to the Cote d'Or where the first stop was Volnay.

View from the main square in Volnay

We were visiting Domaine Perrin, and were greeted by Vincent and his wife, Marie-Christine, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I think this was one of the first tastings of the 2013 vintage that they had carried out.

We kicked off with the white Saint-Romain, which ACC told me is an aligoté - I never realised this before despite quaffing large quantities of the 2008, or perhaps I'd forgotten. (Update: it appears I got completely the wrong end of the stick here. The aligote is not the same as the St-Romain, but is aged in St-Romain barrels. Mea culpa.) Must clearly re-evaluate my prejudice against stance on aligoté. Vincent said he had used less sulphur than previously (if I understood correctly) - he is generally moving to a more natural approach, and this seemed to have paid off as the wine had a very nice weight. I found it more difficult to assess the Meursault, which is another wine I've loved in the past, possibly because it had only been in bottle for a month and was still a bit shocked.

On the red side, the bourgogne rouge had a nice cherry thing going on on the nose, and was mouth-tingling with good acidity and crunchy fruit. The village Volnay was clearly related, but bigger and broader, while the two Pommards (Vaumurien and Chanlains respectively) were very elegant expressions of Pommard with a lot of tannin and I thought would need several years to come round, especially the Chanlains. The Volnay 1er cru Carelle sous la Chapelle was one of my favourites, with a really interesting nose, good structure and smoothness, while the 1er cru Gigottes had an enticing nose, great concentration and elegance, and a great finish - it may need the best part of a decade but when it gets there it will be fabulous. I shall have to give some serious thought to which one(s) it's going to be for me this year. Thank you very much to Vincent and Marie-Christine for yet another Volnay masterclass.

Then it was time to head off to Saint-Aubin where we were visiting Maison en Belles Lies. I remembered spending quite a long time hanging around in a car park next to what looked like a deserted factory last year. This year, things were very different. There were two men painting a piece of equipment (technical term) in a cheerful yellow colour, similar to the colour of A du V Towers in fact, and we were greeted by Pierre Fenals who seemed very upbeat. We were also joined by Bill Nanson from the Burgundy Report.

Last year, the domaine had been badly affected by hail which had drastically reduced what was on offer. This year, things were looking much brighter and we descended a tiny spiral staircase - it took me about 10 minutes to get down it, stepping very carefully to avoid a tragic accident - to the lower level where there were lots of barrels looking inviting!

We started with the aligoté which I thought was wonderful - vinified in oak, it had a lovely floral nose and was rich and big, unlike one of those nasty thin acidic aligotes that's only good for making kir. Next up was the white Santenay which brought tears to my eyes, not because it was bad, but because of the acidity level. Or maybe I just tasted it too quickly. It was very pure with good minerality and weight. The Monthelie blanc was less sharp, had a hint of honey on the nose, and was very agreeable. Then, the jewel in the crown: Corton-Charlemagne grand cru. What a treat! Pierre explained that he shares the vineyard with Bonneau du Martray and Coche-Dury so he's in excellent company. This was something very special, complex, rich and mouth-coating.

We moved into a different part of the cellar to taste the 2014s which were still fermenting away. They all seemed to be developing nicely, which bodes well for next year! At one point, Pierre was explaining something and suddenly there was a loud CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK which turned out to be Bill taking a photo with his super-whizzy camera. Pierre blinked and we all pretended nothing had happened.

Then it was on to the 2013 reds. First, L'Étrange, which I famously guessed blind at a dinner last year, admittedly only due to vast prior consumption of it since G is a big fan. It's a bit like a passetoutgrains in that it's a mixture of pinot noir and gamay, but if memory serves, PTG is normally 2/3 gamay, 1/3 pinot whereas L'Etrange is the other way round. Disclaimer: this could be completely incorrect. Anyway, it was very nice, had that slightly whiffy trademark nose, and chewy fruit. A relatively light and approachable wine.

Next came the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune which blew me away with its heady, scintillating nose. Pierre described it as tres jolie and it was just my kind of thing - very pinot, very pretty. The Aloxe-Corton was more serious stuff and had that meatier Aloxe thing going on, which certainly has its place but the Hautes-Côtes had ruined me for it. And then finally, the Corton les Perrieres grand cru which I see I put two stars next to in my notes, high praise indeed. It was very serious, rich, complex, interesting and just generally stunning.

We tasted some of the 2014s again bubbling away in their barrels. Already the unique characteristics of the different appellations were shining through. There's a Maranges in 2014 which will please a certain person I know, but it was very tannic at this stage and Pierre described it as more rustic.

Once again this was a very interesting tasting, it was great to see Pierre looking much happier, and the domaine's trademark style, elegance and purity were all in evidence. I don't really know much about biodynamism but it certainly seems to do the business as far as I'm concerned.

View of vineyards in Saint-Aubin

Afterwards, Julien dropped ACC off in Puligny-Montrachet and took me back to Beaune. I felt very swanky travelling in the black Merc by myself, but this luxurious lifestyle was short-lived. After Julien had gone on his way, I attempted to visit the local traitteur to get something to eat, but by the time I'd figured out how the automatic door worked, the sales assistant had disappeared. After hanging around for five minutes I decided to go to Petit Casino instead and procured a tin of lentilles aux saucisses, the French equivalent of beans and four pork sausages, a childhood favourite. It had been an amazing day and I was happy to have a quiet night in watching French game shows and reading a 1930s mystery novel.

Domaine Maurice Protheau and Domaine de la Choupette, Wed 29th Oct

On Wednesday morning, Julien le taxi picked us up at 8.20. Our destination was the Cote Chalonnais, and Mercurey in particular. It was cold and very foggy!

We arrived at Domaine Maurice Protheau which turned out to be based at a big chateau in Mercurey. I'd never been here before, as Mercurey is somewhat off the beaten track, and it seemed to be quite a big operation. Various people were bustling about as we arrived. Madame - I didn't catch her name! - gave us a great tasting of assorted wines from Rully and Mercurey, both red and white.

First the whites. The village Rully and Mercurey were both very pleasant but I homed in on the premier cru (bien sûr) - the Mercurey Les Champs Martin, which was big, and rich with good weight, a serious wine. The bourgogne rouge was juicy and relatively light - the word "croquant" was used, which was a new one for me and means "crunchy". The red Rully was mouth-tinglingly delicious and when Madame suggested it would be good with charcuterie I immediately envisaged a pork pie. My other favourite was the red Mercurey Clos des Noiterons which apparently is a monopole. This had a heady nose of red fruits and tasted like summer pudding. It was very elegant and charming. I suppose now I shall just have to wait and see what selection the Burgundy Portfolio comes up with!

Julien had been waiting for us and our next stop was Santenay to visit Domaine de la Choupette. I visited this domaine a few years ago and am a long-time follower of their red Santenays and Chassagnes in particular. We were greeted by Perrine and this time there were a couple of whites to start with: an exciting new Puligny-Montrachet which was elegant and approachable, and a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeots which seemed quite fruity after the Puligny, and was certainly high quality, a wine to keep.

NB basket of lovely cheesy gougeres!

The reds were the usual tour through Santenay and Chassagne and there was a clear ascending scale in terms of seriousness. I tend to buy different ones in different years to keep things mixed up, and tasting the 2013s, I particularly enjoyed the Santenay Comme Dessus which had juicy red fruits. The village Chassagne seemed very Chassagne and Perrine said it had lots of cassis, while the premier cru Chassagne Morgeots had a very fine, supple texture and was concentrated and complex, with a great finish. Not a wine to drink any time soon! Thanks to Perrine for a very enjoyable tasting.

We had some time to kill before lunch so we popped into the village wine shop where I picked up a couple of obscure premier crus for the Premier Cru Project. Then I took about 100 photos of the fountain on the main square. It's a charming spot and the trees were resplendent with autumnal foliage. We were sitting on a bench when a little tractor thing came whizzing past and the chap on it saw ACC and came to a halt to say hello - it turned out to be Jean Christophe Gutrin, one of the brothers who run Domaine de la Choupette.

At last it was time for lunch at Le Terroir. When I was here before, it was summer and we were able to sit outside, Inside, it felt more formal, but we had a warm welcome from the proprietor and the 21 euro set lunch menu was a bargain. To drink, we had a bottle of Bouzeron from Domaine de Villaine, which was excellent (I was amazed to discover half way through that it was an aligoté!) and great value considering that Monsieur de Villaine is co-owner of the Domaine de la Romanee Conti.

To be continued...