What comes to mind immediately when you mention Burgundy.
I hope it’s the wine, lots of vineyards, picturesque perfect villages and historical towns like Beaune .
To end the Italy / France tour 2019 we have four days in Burgundy and in that time my group will hopefully be familiar with the 5 regions of Burgundy starting from the South – Maconaise, Chalonaise, Cote D’or, Cote De Beaune and Cote D’Nuits. Visit some of the village appellations that make up each region like Vognay, Pommard, Mersault, Nuit St George to name a few and it would be mean and unlikely to remember the 100’s of wine makers in each.
Choosing wine from the Wine bibles is very different and difficult, Its easy to choose a white or red wine because there is basically only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir!!! Easy to choose a wine by price and budget which can range from 25€ a bottle to thousands. But, knowing individual wine makers who produce bourgogna wines or village wines or Premier Cru or Grand Cru takes a bit of homework .
Really you are hard pressed here to get a bad wine. Some taste a bit acidic and may need aging – but these wines are terrific with food. Through an afternoon with our guide Nicholais in the region of Cote d’Nuit and a very informative wine tasting, the complexity of Burgundian wine starts to sink in.
But everything revolves around the wine industry. Beaune has shop after shop selling wine and offering wine cellar tours. Weird looking tractors keep the vines perfectly clipped ready for the harvest which was to be in a weeks time. When the quiet villages will turn into frenetic energy and the begin the business and long process of turning grapes into precious wine.
The Martin family have come to be close friends. Claire and husband Hubert have driven 6 hours from the south of France to present our Truffle workshop. Jean Louis -Clares brother delights in showing everyone around his walled garden (called a Clos), where he grows everything from inoculated truffle trees, vineyard for family wine, masses of raspberries, black currants and fruit trees. Large vegetable garden full of melons. Plus !!! a high wire adventure playground for his grandson .
Claire always provides an impressive workshop. She introduced my group to something not only they have never tried before but don’t know anything about. Their Logotto dogs, specially trained for truffle hunting were a couple of charmers and won everyone over. It was a terrific day and truffles certainly stole the show.
Jean Louis son Vincent was busy this year – but found time to take me up on the hills behind the Grand Crus vineyards to a darling village called Saint Romain. Up here there are many Coopers – the clever guys that make barrrels out of Oak. Millions of dollars of staves are stacked drying out and seasoning ready to be shaped by hand into barrels .
A visit to Beuane would not be complete without a Saturday morning mixing with the locals in their weekly market. It’s fascinating to watch the French shop from their favourite producers and sadly for us there was no opportunity to buy food this time but the Brocante, clothes and jewellery, along with knives, bags and children’s toys were all too tempting for my group.
The perennial flower beds are at their best and I am always in awe with the stunning colour arrangements all over France. I would love to know where the grand planting scheme comes from. Each year we can only admire and enjoy the vast selection of roadside plantings
Once again I have had a glorious tour with fun interesting people. 2019 has been busy with tours to Scotland, Turkey and finally Italy / France. It’s been busy and rewarding to travel with diverse groups from all over New Zealand and Australia.
How lucky am I to have my wonderful guides, especially Charles who I regard as a very close friend and very helpful when you end up on crutches. 2020 tours are receiving a lot of interest and I am already anticipating another year of travel with like minded inquisitive fun groups.
I do apologise. This blog has take some time to evolve – although I did write it on the way home in the plane. I can’t believe I have been home less than 3 weeks. Dealing with a knee injury, Philips conference in Queenstown a day after arriving home, 24 hours in Christchurch with Anne from the Scotland tour, renovating a new cottage and over the past week a family house party with our children and little people. Consequently time has flown by. We had a fabulous time reminiscing and remembering 30 years in our beautiful house with its view of St Clair Beach and reliving a host of memories. (Some best forgotten ) With sadness and excitement we are putting our house on the market and making a lifestyle change to Central Otago and a smaller house in the city.
Its been a wonderful year and I owe that to many people. Thank you.
