Underground
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2010
1
11
Trip End
Jul 06, 2010
Beaune, Burgundy, France
Friday, July 2, 2010
The tollways in France are superb, though you pay for the privilege of travelling at 130km/h on beautiful surfaces. Karl's GPS gently talked us through the twists and turns to Beaune, and we arrived at Hotel des Remparts in good order, albeit with limited time to visit the famous March Aux Vin, wine cellars beneath a former church that Louise and I had visited in 1992, while cycling from London to Barcelona.
We paid our 10 euro each, received our silver-plated sommeliers cup for tasting the wine (later to keep as a souvenir), tasting notes, and then were ushered underground to the first of 15 wine barrels, with a bottle on top of each, lit by a candle.
The wines were made from just two varieties of grape - chardonnay and pinot noir, though the variation in style and taste was vast. It didn't take long for three thirsty blokes to be a bit tipsy, which helped when we were accused of nicking somebody's camera. A guy had left his somewhere, and didn't quite believe us when we said that we didn't have it. Karl suggested that if we did find it, that we leave photos on it that would cause some amusement later....
Toward the end of the tasting we chatted to an American woman who shared with us her story of sitting next to Lance Armstrong on a flight to Colorado. One degree of separation, or is it two?
After our wine tasting, I wandered off to find the park that Lou and I had slept in following our tasting 18 years ago (we were too drunk to cycle, so we walked our bikes to the nearest park, only to wake and realise it was a median strip on a busy road.)
I hooked up with Karl and Duncan for dinner, tucking into a superb plate of escargot, beef burgundy for main, and fig trifle (see pics).
