Beaune is beautiful.
Compact old city with small restaurants, shops and cobblestone streets.
Our dinner the night before was the classic dish Boeuf Bourguignon. It was perfectly prepared and melted in our
mouths. Good wine finishing off with a
plate of cheese. Interesting
conversation fueled by good food and wine, made it another great evening in
France.
Although we have a great apartment in Beaune, it did not
come with parking. Each evening we have
to find a location where we can park for twelve hours without getting
ticketed. The apartment is a second
floor walkup and is owned by a woman in Paris.
This is her “country” home. Very
well located and spacious for an apartment, with windows open wide to take
advantage of the sights and sounds of the city.
The only downside is that we are right next to a church and the bells
start around 8:00am in the morning ringing in the day.
On Tuesday morning we woke up early to meet our new friend
Michael at the Caveau Chassange-Montrachet.
It was about five miles outside of Beaune but in the heart of Montrachet
wine country. The caveau we visited,
carried the high end Montrachets and we sat down for a tasting. Eleven bottles of wine later (no we did not “drink”
11 bottles); we had chosen the ones we like the best. These Burgundys, both white and red, were the
best of the best vintners. I remembered
that the white Montrachets were some of my favorite from days gone by. Basically, the only grapes used in a Montrachets
are chardonnay and pinot noir.
From there we took the advice of the vintner helping us with
our selection of wine and found a lunch place in center village of Montrachets
in Hotel Chevral. It was excellent from
the butternut squash soup and a French “shepard’s pie” (NOT what they called
it!) to the selection of cheese and crème brulee.
We headed back to Beaune for the afternoon and Marsha and
Bob headed out to the Hospital Dieu which is very famous. Bill and I walked around town and checked out
the local markets and shops.
We met back for dinner at “Madeline’s”. This restaurant serves only local grown
products and makes up its menu each day from the products available. They only take reservations and no walk-
ins. We each chose a different entrée and
salad so that we could sample the fare.
There was duck, bouef (prepared two ways), and fish. All were prepared delicately and full of
flavor. The soup and salads were
wonderful. I ended up with a shredded
red cabbage with bacon in each bite soaked in a vinaigrette dressing. The flavor was remarkable.
Another day ends, with two wonderful meals and delicious
wines.
The weather has turned cool so we are sleeping with the
windows open again tonight.
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