Maison en Belles Lies, 29th October

We hopped back into Monsieur Parize's taxi and drove over to Saint-Aubin to Maison en Belles Lies. We were half an hour early but Pierre Fenals kindly interrupted his schedule to meet us earlier than anticipated.

The tasting was conducted entirely upstairs which meant no perilous trip down the spiral staircase on this occasion! The sun was shining in and gave the bottles a beautiful luminosity, but they were quite cold which made the tasting more challenging, for me.

Last year we only tasted 4 wines, as the vines were badly hit by hail, but this year there were a whopping 10. All the wines are biodynamic.

Starting with the whites, the Aligote was very pure with lively acidity, and the Bourgogne Blanc had a nice weight, was ripe and clean, like a baby St-Aubin. The Monthelie had good minerality and seemed very proper, the Santenay was approachable and I liked it a lot, and the Corton Charlemagne was top notch, lovely big wine with a wonderful finish.

Moving on to the reds, the Hautes Cote de Beaune was a bright red colour and had a fruity redcurrant nose, and was quite light and juicy on the palate. I found the Aloxe-Corton a bit tannic - although I am told that I may have been confusing tannin and acidity - I expect it just needs time. The village Maranges was easier to get on with and the premier cru Maranges was bigger and more powerful. Finally, the Corton Perrieres was silky, intense and had a lot going on - sous bois, leather, raspberries. I thought it would be sensational a few years down the road.

It appears that fans of L'Etrange will be disappointed as none was made in 2014 but Pierre made a lot in 2015 so that's certainly something to look forward to. Thanks to him for another great tasting.

I'd love one of these for AduV Towers

Domaine de la Choupette, 29th October

Thoughts and solidarity with the French at the moment. Bloody awful.

The journey continued...

We were slightly early for our appointment in Santenay so had a wander round. It really is a very pretty village with the hills rising in the background.

Then Perrine from Domaine de la Choupette appeared, along with her son (it was half term) and we tasted our way through the 2014s.

First were a pair of whites: the Santenay Saint-Jean had a very nice weight and texture and interesting flavours - Perrine mentioned lychee. The Chassagne 1er cru Morgeots was a beautiful pale gold colour and a bit heftier with good acidity and length, and citrussy flavours.

Then it was on to the reds. The Santenay Comme Dessus was a beautiful ruby colour and had lovely fruit and suppleness. The Santenay 1er cru la Comme was less immediately approachable, more serious and reserved but will no doubt show its full colours in time, while the Santenay 1er cru les Rousseaus was new this year. This vineyard is on the west side of the village while la Comme is on the east, and the wine had good structure and complexity.

The village Chassagne was silky with red fruit flavours and was tempting to drink already, while the 1er cru Morgeot was darker in colour with intense fruit on the nose and one could see the quality differential. This is the real deal and as usual, you pays your money and you takes your choice. There will be some difficult decisions to be made come January...

Lunch at Le Bouchon, Meursault, 29th October

After a hectic morning, we were ready for a spot of lunch and were duly transported from the Cote de Nuits to the Cote de Beaune, for lunch at Le Bouchon. I'm not sure why my go-to phrase for this place is "bungalow chic" as it's not actually a bungalow, but there's something about the interior - it's relatively plain and unpretentious.

Unattended mystery bag!

We had the menu du jour for the princely sum of 13.50 euros. First course was self-service from the buffet. This included a quiche lorraine which was cut into slices so big that just one of them would probably have counted as lunch back home but here it was just part of the starter.

The main was some slow-cooked thing with souffle potatoes, and pudding was pears in cassis jelly, if memory serves (I failed to take photos as this isn't really that sort of place). We also had a pot of Bourgogne Blanc from JanotsBos which hit the spot, and subsequently found it for sale in one of the wine shops on the main street.

We had some time to kill before the taxi turned up, so there followed a certain amount of wandering around Meursault.

Grand-mere present and correct

Julien le taxi had a prior engagement that afternoon so left us in the trusty hands of his colleague, Monsieur Parize. We'd actually been in his taxi two years ago, an occasion which had achieved legendary status for reasons which I won't go into here, but which had left a very favourable impression. We clambered into his people carrier. Next stop: Santenay.

Domaine Bony, 29th October

Julien le taxi whisked us off to our next appointment, at Domaine Bony in Nuits St Georges. A new supermarket had appeared across the road since our visit last year! A fine tabby cat and another large yellow dog were hanging around outside. The dog came over to say hello and we were soon all best friends.

Then Fabienne appeared and the tasting could begin. She told us that things had been very busy for her lately and some of the wines were still in barrel, so we didn't taste the full range.

Of the wines we tasted, the Nuits St Georges had a richness and power to it. She uses 20% new oak and there was some discussion of the style - these are not traditional Nuits which is a good thing in my book - they are much more fruity, approachable and generally enjoyable, and don't need to be kept for 20 years to drink.

As usual, I loved the Les Damodes which isn't a premier cru, but feels like one in terms of quality. This had very nice red berries and reminded me of fruit compote, with a lovely silky texture.

Fans of Fabienne's 2009 Passetoutgrains (e.g. me - considerable quantities of the stuff have been glugged at AduV Towers) will be pleased that she made some more in 2014. We tasted this after the Damodes which was unusual, as normally you'd go from lighter to heavier wines, but nevertheless it had a nice fruity nose and was soft, easy-drinking. It's a 50/50 blend of pinot noir and gamay. Fabienne thought the nose was a bit "sauvage" and I knew what she meant but I rather liked it.

We also tasted a couple of whites - an Aligote and a Bourgogne Blanc. The Aligote is made in stainless steel tanks and from vines that are just 4 years old. I normally don't particularly like Aligote but I did enjoy this. It was well-balanced with a nice texture, not thin and acidic like some Aligotes can be. Fabienne told us that a Parisien caviste had compared it to the Aligote made by Lalou Bize-Leroy; having just consulted a certain other wine merchant's website I see the 2010 vintage of this is going for £54 in the UK so hope that Fabienne won't be pricing accordingly... The Bourgogne Blanc is made from 60 year old vines and seemed softer than the Aligote, with a certain creaminess to it. ACC thought it needed some time to knit together, but it was a promising start.

Once again it seemed to me that the 2014s were shaping up well, the quality of the wines from this domaine is consistently good, and thanks to Fabienne for the tasting.

Domaine Audiffred, 29th October

On Thursday morning, Julien le taxi was booked for 9.00 and we emerged from the gite to see him pulling up on the pavement in the distance - no precision driving down the narrow alley for that precious Merc! We were duly whisked off along the trusty Route des Grands Crus to Vosne-Romanee.

It was very foggy and autumnal out in the vineyards.

We turned up at Domaine Audiffred but there was nobody around except some gnomes.

Gnometastic!

Then Henri arrived and the tasting could commence! I was very excited as this was my first tasting of the trip. ACC asked Henri how he had found the 2014 vintage and the reply was that it had been complicated and was a bit like 2010 in terms of power and acidity (if I understood correctly).

We tasted 15 wines from barrel altogether. Some favourites were as follows:

The Bourgogne Rouge was a beautiful bright purple. It had a fruity nose and was a nice weight, and would make a fine house red in a couple of years, I imagine.

The Nuits St Georges was a lovely darker colour, complex with good structure, power and elegance and black fruits. One to keep. The Nuits St Georges Argilliats had a lovely nose, good concentration and there were references to creme de cassis. I tactlessly asked if it's a premier cru and it isn't, but it seems to me that it is at that level.

I very much liked the Pommard "no.2" which I found very charming and more elegant than the more masculine Pommard en Mareau. It might need re-branding for the UK market though...

As one would expect, the Vosne-Romanees are very special here, all the way from the village level, to the Chalandins, to the wonderful Champs Perdrix (I was pleased to see there were 7 barrels of this) which was like a compote of summer berries, and finally what was modestly described as "the 1er cru" i.e. the jewel in the crown, Reignots, which was bursting with delicious sweet fruit. I'd be thrilled to own any of these gems.

Then we tasted a number of older wines in bottle including the red Beaune 2011 which was pretty and elegant with red fruits, the Gevrey-Chambertin 2010 which was soft with a nice weight, and the Vosne-Romanee Champs Perdrix 2010 which ticked all the boxes. It looked beautiful, had an enticing nose and on the palate had a lovely richness and a great finish. The thought immediately occurred that any of these would be a fine addition to a Christmas celebration,

Merci beaucoup to Henri for another masterclass and I look forward to adding some of the 2014s to my collection in January, when the Burgundy Portfolio will be offering them en primeur.

Caveau des Arches, 28th Oct

I'm just back from Burgundy and am pleased to report the 2014 vintage is shaping up very nicely!

I headed out on Wednesday morning taking the usual route i.e. Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, then the delightful RER (platform 44) to the Gare de Lyon, the TGV down to Dijon and then the local train to Beaune. All went according to plan, but I was supposed to meet ACC at Beaune station and found his train from Beaujolais was running late. There was a lot of tutting on the part of the Beaunois at the news of the delay, and I wondered what they would make of the London Midland service.

ACC eventually arrived just a few minutes late and we found Julien le taxi waiting outside who whisked us off to the gite in his lovely car. This was the gite that we stayed in two years ago (the famous socks-on-the-washing-line incident) and this time I didn't venture into the cellar at all, way too spooky especially at Halloween.

I sensed that ACC was feeling thirsty so without further ado we headed into the town centre to buy essential provisions (coffee and loo roll, which we carted about in a transparent plastic bag all evening) and for dinner. We had a quick look round Magnum, which is under new ownership and is no longer called Magnum but something else which appears to have been instantly forgettable. They had some items of interest but seemed to be about to close and we decided to return later in the week.

Then it was off to what I think of as the "locals' bar" for an aperitif. I'm sure this bar would welcome tourists but it's not touristy in the way that the bars on Place Carnot are. I had my first kir of the trip and ACC had a beer, and we got a little bowl of crisps to go with our drinks.

It was now time for dinner and we walked the short distance to Caveau des Arches where we had a table in the "prison" (am not sure if it actually used to be a prison or if that is ACC having a laugh) - it's a little room with just two tables.

We had the three course Menu Bourguignon at 25 euros. To start, we had some jambon persille with a mustard cream, and to drink we had a bottle of this Macon-Milly-Lamartine 2013 from Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon which was superb.

For our main course, we couldn't resist the chicken in an Epoisses sauce, which came with some pasta.

With our pudding/cheese, we had a cheeky half of 2013 Auxey-Duresses from Agnes Paquet which I enjoyed very much. It was delicious, fruity, approachable Auxey.

The assiette du fromages consisted of three cheeses: something fairly dull whose name I didn't catch, some Delice du Pommard and a very fine runny piece of Epoisses.

The couple at the other table in the little room had cheese from the trolley which looked very good. We got a shock when an enormous dog emerged from under their table at the end of the meal. It was like a golden labrador but about four times the size - how it had been under there all along without me noticing was something of a mystery. It regarded us suspiciously for a few minutes and then went and drank some water very noisily ("bonne degustation" quipped ACC).

We went on to have a digestif. Marc from Domaine de la Romanee Conti was available in a 2 cl measure for 25 euros but I didn't feel it was necessary to push the boat out to this extent, so settled for the Chateau de Meursault version instead, twice the amount for 7.50 euros. This suited me very well, while ACC was feeling adventurous and went for something called Manzana which a liqueur served on ice. It was actually surprisingly nice! We thought it was pear liqueur but when we saw similar stuff in the supermarket later, it was described as apple, so now I'm not completely sure, or it may have been something completely different altogether. Clearly another trip to Caveau des Arches is required to clear the matter up. The bill for both of us came to a whisker under a hundred quid, which I think was very reasonable considering what we ate and drank. It was a good start to the trip.