Wine tour day!

Finally, the day I have been waiting for...actually since we were here 4 years ago! It certainly did not dissapoint, either!

We met our guide Paul...looked around for the others we would be touring with...amd saw...nobody! What fortune to have a private tour of Burgandy for the entire day! 

We toured from Beaune north, almost yo Dijon. We tasted 6 wines from a very small winery in the Corton area, 3 whites and 3 reds. Very good all of them, of course the Ladoix premier cru was the best. Then off to Nuix St Georges for a fabulous lunch at a reataurant that has a very good selection of wines by the glass. I still can't get over how great the wine by the glass is here! We had 2 premier cru red wines...but I can't come up with their names, as Paul picked them for our meal.

Then, off to the Chateua du Clos de Vougeot.

This chateau has amazing history going back to 1058! Besides their amazing wine, they are also known for their wine celebrations and top level annual tastings. 

We got out into the vinyards as we drove,

Here we are at Romanee Conte, some of the most famous wine in this entire area. 



It's so womderful to see in person all these wines I've seen in name only for all these years! I can see now what sets apart the Grand Crus, the Premier Crus, the village wines, and the regional wines! 
Scrat of course had to see for himself. We showed him the rockiness of the soil! It was fascinating to see the soil difference between one side of rhe road, which may be Premier Cru, the other side of the road with Grand Cru! 

In any case, the entire valley of production is only 1-3 miles wide, and maybe 30 miles long.  It's divided up between humdreds of producers...some may only own 3 rows! 

At our last tasting, we bought these treasures

Neither made me tear up like that 2006 I had a couple of nights ago, but they are both very yummy!

Paul was kind enough to bring us to the train station to try to help us figure things out...and found out things do look rather bleak for tomorrow! The ticket agent wasn't even there, the machine wouldn't accept our paper ticket to exchange.  There was a guy there that Paul talked into trying to help figure out how to best get to Paris....but he couldn't say for sure. It looks like we'll go back first thing tomorrow and try again. We do know rhat the train we are booked on is cancelled. Argh!! So, now all we can do is go out for a last dinner and pray tomorrow turns more hopeful! Maybe we can get more of that 2006 wine...