Burgundy

Again, we left early from Lyon to a hotel in Dijon. As soon as we checked in, we took a local train for Beaune, which is the capitol of the Burgundy wine region. One of the major grape varietals of this region is my favorite, pinot noir. We already booked a wine tasting tour for the afternoon, but decided to check out a wine tasting room within walking distance.

The winery is called Bouchard Aine & Fils.

                                                                       Nice building

     The remodeled cellar is a tour route / tasting room

We tasted 4 wines there. Some of them are way more tannic than what I'm used to. But the last wine, which is 2000 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, was something special. I'm not a big fan of French wines in general because they are a little too dry for me. This is also a dry wine, however, it comes with lots of different flavors. It was like I was eating different fruits at the same time. Very impressive.

Before the wine tasting tour we booked, we had some time so that we went to a bistro restaurant. Because it's Sunday today, we didn't have many choices. And this place was pretty packed. The name is Dame Tartine, just by the landmark of Beaune, Hotel Dieu.

The portions of this restaurant were very generous, like Pierre Orsi that we went last night. Is that a French thing??

                                                                  Pork Pate, very good

                                            Brie-like cheese on top of toasted baguette

                          Pork with creamy mustard sauce (of course mustard, it's just by Dijon)

               Chicken breast with creamy sauce. Unfortunately, the chicken was over cooked.....

                                                         Apple tart and crème anglais

                                 Cassis sorbet. Cassis is a specialty of this region, nicely tangy


After lunch, we did the wine tasting tour. We drove quite far. On the way, we saw huge vineyards. I thought I was used to see pretty big vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. But it seemed these continued on forever. The guide stopped by at the vineyard for a specific wine, Romanee-Conti. The grapes here must be super premium. Because they had a sign, we took a picture (sorry, it's not very clear).

Even after that, the guide kept driving. Where are we going? Are we tasting any wine??

Finally we arrived at Domain Gerard Quivy. In Bordeaux, the winery's name begins from Chateaux but it's Domaine in the Burgundy region. The winery is located in a small very cute village, called Gevrey-Chambertin.

                                                                         This is inside

We tasted 4 kinds of red burgundy wines. Like the guide mentioned, this is not the sort of winery that a tourist can find out about easily. So, I feel like we had a special experience.



After the tasting, we came back to Dijon. I was looking for a restaurant that serves traditional burgundy dishes. Unfortunately, all the nice restaurants are closed on Sunday. The only reasonably traditional restaurant that we could find was Le Gril Raure. It's a kind of between a traditional restaurant and family restaurant. Anyway, I was determined to have escargot and beef bourguignon in Dijon. I found escargot cassoulet but not beef bourguignon at this restaurant...

                        This is escargot cassoulet. It was very mushroomy. But nice and creamy.

                 Another type of pork pate. I like the one I had in Beaune in the afternoon, though.

                                                          Sautéed pork in tomato sauce

Simple steak. The way French people prepare steak is different from what a normal American would expect. I would say at least 1 degrees (sometimes 2 degrees) different. If you want medium rare, ask for medium. French medium rare is pretty much American rare....

                                                            Citrus mousse, very tangy

                                          Crème brulee. Why not, we are in France!


Tomorrow, we are moving to San Sebastian, Spain. I wish we had planned a bit more time in the Burgundy region because I really enjoyed the foods here. Even though the food appears rustic and simple, I could taste that quite a bit of effort went into its preparation. I'm planning to spend a few days in Paris at the end of this trip. Hope I can have this type of food there.