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!