Back from Burgundy

What a trip! We had an amazing time - saw beautiful country, shared the kinds of experiences that happen only while on vacation and that help to nourish a relationship, learned a great deal about the wines of Burgundy, pounded the pavement in Paris for four days, and more. I am simply too tired to write much more now (no thanks to Air France - more on that debacle some other time), but I cannot resist posting a few pictures now. And I wanted to stop this string of days without a post... This is the house next to our little hotel in Aloxe Corton.

We stayed at the hotel Villa Louise (picture below with orange leaves) in Aloxe-Corton, a small town just north of Beaune. And I mean small. There are no restaurants, no Tabacs (the little shops where people buy cigarettes and cigars, sometimes coffee and sometimes newspapers and magazines), no stores period in Aloxe-Corton. But a lot of wine is made from grapes classified as belonging to this tiny town. In fact, the only Grand Cru red wines that come from the southern part of Burgundy, the Cotes de Beaune, come from Aloxe-Corton.

That brings up something that I learned while tasting and learning about the wines that is really valuable to me: a humble Bourgogne or Haut-Cotes-de-Beaune wine made from grapes from all over Beaune, can offer the same degree of pleasure and satisfaction, the same ability to fascinate the taster with complex aromas and flavors, the same depth of experience as the most rare and expensive Grand Cru wine. To chase after Grand Cru and Premier Cru wines simply because they are so titled is to miss out on many great wines, and is sometimes to spend too much money on wines that are only okay, or that need to be aged for 10 years in order to exhibit the qualities that distinguish them as Grand or Premier Crus.

Whoah...I had to re-read that sentence three times to get it...and I knew what I meant before I wrote it! Time for bed. I am excited to share some experiences and tasting notes from our trip, and I will get right on that tomorrow.

Above: on the road from Aloxe-Corton to Pernand Vergelesses. Typical of the old brick walls that line many small roads, and that often surround vinyards of higher reputation. Vinyards surrounded by walls are called "Clos." Hard to tell because the resolution is not great in the background, but the entire hillside is covered with vines. The area in Burgundy that is not paved is essentially one huge grapevine.

Above: vinyards of Aloxe-Corton. We woke up to intense mist every morning in Burgundy. This typicaly burned off by noon. Right: rainbow off the road between Beaune and Aloxe-Corton.