Final Impressions of Burgundy

The trip to Burgundy is over. Boo-hoo. Back to reality. A few random thoughts, photos, and impressions about Burgundy:

The countryside is beautiful and peaceful.

Every morning we were awakened to swans swimming alongside our boat.






What is this photo of? (see answer below)








The French take their dogs everywhere, but have become good at posting bag stations to encourage people to pick up after the dogs.









We drank a lot of great wines at lunch and in the tasting cellars that were equally as good as the Grand Crus. I think if you took a good bottle of Pinot Noir from California or Oregon and did a blind tasting with a Grand Cru from Burgundy you would conclude that they were both excellent. You may be able to tell the two apart, but they would both be very satisfying.



Answer to question from above: a stack of bottles of 2006 La Tâche wine at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Our Final Exam in Burgundy Wines

Today we completed our education in the wines of Burgundy. This was a tough course, but I think we will all get A's.

A big "thank you" to Jean-Pierre Cropsal from Domaine Joseph Drouhin for guiding us through the delights of wines from Burgundy. And a huge thanks to the crew of the Napoleon for all their wonderful services the entire week.

Our final dinner on board was another gastronomic feast. Escargot, Fillet of Beef with Fois Gras and Truffle Sauce, Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert, and of course, a cheese course. All week long, Vanessa our cheese expert, selected three outstanding cheeses every evening. When we get home, we will be very spoiled and have to search all over for cheeses like we had in France.

See our wine blog for the menu and list of wines served this evening.

Discussing the Challenges of the Wine Industry

Today, we visited the last of the Grand Cru wineries on our itinerary, Domaine Ponsot. And who should escort us, but the managing director himself, Laurent Ponsot. Your first impression is that this guy can't be a serious winemaker. Long hair with a pony tail.

But he is very serious, and a smart, savvy businessman who also enjoys life. He has driven a Harley-Davidson across the U.S. with his wife on the back seat - TWICE. He drives a white Corvette around the roads of Burgundy. He used to be a mountain climber, but after suffering injuries in an auto accident years ago, he became a private pilot.

Laurent Ponsot tries to manage his vineyards the old fashioned way - his rows of vines are oriented horizontally on the hillsides, not vertically like most vineyards. It makes it much more difficult to tend the vines, but minimizes erosion. He also utilizes many old, proven techniques in his winemaking, avoiding some of the new technologies.

He has very limited production and his wines are highly coveted by collectors. So much so, that he has been an activist on the topic of counterfeit wines being sold at auctions. He even flew to NY in May when he questioned the authenticity of an auction lot of his older wines. He discovered that only one bottle in the lot was authentic - the rest were fake. See this article from Wine Spectator about the incident.

Article on counterfeit wines










Laurent and his wife Claude joined us for dinner this evening. Laurent personally prepared the dessert - strawberries macerated in Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche wine. Scrumptuous.

See our wine blog for the menu and list of wines served at dinner this evening.

Meeting and Dining with the Master

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti - among fans and collectors of wines from Burgundy, the name stands for the reference standard by which all other wines are measured. All Grand Cru wines, this winery is almost impossible to find and even more difficult to visit. No signs, not open to the public, no publicity. The picture I took is from the tiny sign on the doorbell post.

Yet somehow, Orient-Express got us into the winery for a visit hosted by the managing director, Aubert de Villaine. And what a visit! He took us on a walk up into his hillside vineyards.



These are hallowed grounds for people that appreciate Burgundy wines. La Tache. Romanee-Conti. Echezeaux. St. Vivant. Richebourg. The first thing that impresses you is how small the vineyards are. No wonder the production of these Grand Cru wines is so limited. These vineyards are tiny compared to the well known vineyards in Napa and Sonoma.

Next, we were escorted on a tour of the wine cellars. Row after row of barrels and bottles. I couldn't add up the value of the inventory in there, but it must be an enormous sum.




Then out comes the cork screw and Aubert starts to open several bottles for us to taste. Amazing! But we were far from done with our experience. A brief ride back to the barge, a quick shower, and dinner. Our guests for the evening were Aubert and his wife Pamela. Our chef Conn turned out a fantastic meal and the wines were all from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. It was a once-in-a-lifetime meal. When will we again have a fine meal with FIVE different wines from DRC which the man himself selected to pair with the food.

The final wine of the evening was a 1971 Romanee-Conti. The same year as Aubert and Pamela were married (about two weeks after Caren and I were married). And Aubert and Caren share the same birthday (just a few years apart).


See our wine blog for the menu and list of wines served.

Picnic in the Vineyards

After our strenuous (ha ha) bicycle ride, we immediately set off for a picnic lunch in the Clos des Mouches vineyard on a hillside overlooking Beaune. We can't seem to go for more than eight hours without wine and food.

What a gorgeous site! And what a gorgeous day - 50 miles visibility! We can see up and down the Cote d'Or.

Clos des Mouches means "Enclosure of the Honey Bees". The vineyard was so named because of bee keepers that established hives in the area as far back as the 16th century. It is one of the finest Premier Cru vineyards in Burgundy, especially well known for its Chardonnay.

Burning Off the Calories

We have been indulging in too much wine and good food. Time to burn off some calories. So while the Napoleon cruises to its next dock at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, we hopped on the bicycles and set off on a 20km ride across the Burgundy countryside. Great, deserted roads for bicycling, even if it is on beach cruisers with foot brakes and no gears. Passing the many fields of sunflowers, we were compelled to take some photos.

A few impressions of the Burgundy countryside: 1) It seems like no one gets up very early to go to work. 2) Every town, no matter how small, has at least one bakery. 3) Everyone walking down the street has at least two baguettes under their arm. To use as clubs for protection? I think not. For eating with fresh jam while drinking French press coffee all morning? Absolutely.

Dinner in the Drouhin-Laroze Cellar

This evening we visited the house (?) of Philippe and Christine Drouhin at the Domaine Drouhin-Laroze. (I don't think they are close relations to last night's dinner guest.) They have a small estate in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin.

Conn (our chef) had the night off, so our hosts prepared dinner for us and served it in the family cellar - actually the stone-lined, underground wine cellar where all the barrels and bottles of their fabulous Burgundy wine are stored. Their house is "upstairs" above the cellar.

And what a meal! Gourgeres (French cheese puffs), homemade terrines, stuffed mushrooms, quiches, wild boar (from their property), cheeses, and a dessert to die for - chocolate mousse and carmelized apples. All this was accompanied by magnums of their Domaine's famous Grand Cru wines. (I asked if their daughter had a boy friend and unfortunately the answer was yes.)

See our wine blog for the entire menu and list of wines we tasted.

Glad I'm not driving home tonight.

A Country Vacation Cottage?

I guess that if we don't buy a second home in La Quinta, this one may do, but only if there is a golf course nearby.

This afternoon, we visited Chateau Germolles, one of the oldest castles in Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy purchased the property in 1380 for his first wife. Supposedly, this was one of several chateaus the Duchess moved around between with her entourage of 70-80 staff.

Today, two brothers who are descendents of owners in the 19th century, live in the chateau and are restoring the entire estate.

In the U.S., we would call this a "gut job." I'd be making a dozen trips a day to Home Depot if I were working on this place. Here in France, they treat properties like this as national treasures, but don't provide a lot of funding to restore or maintain them.

It is an incredible chateau that has undergone several architectural remodels and experienced numerous fires over the decades (before the era of lightning rods). But it has gobs of history and is a beautiful property.

An Afternoon in Beaune

We are in the heart of Burgundy - the city of Beaune (pronounced "bone"). This ancient city is built around the wine industry. Like the Napa of France.

We started by visiting the most famous landmark in Beaune - the Hospices de Beaune. It was built in the 15th century as a hospital for the poor and needy. The building is distinctive for its glazed tile roof.

An important wine auction is held here every autumn. The auction used to wield such importance that it established the price of wines from Burgundy for the entire year.

Then we visited the cellars of Domaine Joseph Drouhin, deep under the streets of Beaune. We were led by Veronique Boss-Drouhin, one of the four children currently running the business and the head winemaker for Domaine Drouhin (the winery they own in Oregon).

This is one of the largest wine operations in Burgundy (we will visit the winery itself later in the week) and one of the oldest wine cellars. There is a great history to the cellars and how they were protected from the Germans in WWII. A chapter in the book "Wine and War" is devoted to how the people in Beaune saved their valuable wine.

We made our own history with a glorious tasting of several wines in the cellars, followed by another gastronomic feast prepared by Conn on the barge with Veronique as our guest. See our wine blog for the menu and list of wines served.

Going To (Wine) School

This morning we attended a seminar - conducted by Jean-Pierre Cropsal - on the geology, history, and various appellations of Burgundy. I thought I was back in IBM training. Flip charts!!

The French have made the laws pertaining to vineyard designations in Burgundy so complex it's amazing anyone can figure out what to buy. We now know that "Villages" desingation means it's good stuff and probably grown on the flat, valley floor. "Premier Cru" designation means it's very good stuff from grapes probably grown on hillsides with limestone and lots of rocks. And the "Grand Cru" designation means it's so good and so expensive that you better protect your credit cards. The "Grand Cru" designation for a vineyard is limited and controlled. Collectors cherish Grand Cru wines from Burgundy and bid up certain ones at auction to astronomical prices.

We have also learned that several wineries may own blocks in the same Grand Cru vineyard, one owner may sell grapes to multiple wineries, and there are "negociants" that just buy grapes and make their wine wherever (and maybe buy wine bottled by someone else so they can merely stick their own label on it). Do you follow all this?

It is getting close to lunch time and you know what that means? Our first wine of the day and a scrumptous meal prepared by Conn.

Grand Cru River Cruise - Day 1

We are on the Napoleon, a barge owned by Afloat in France, an Orient-Express Company. We boarded just outside of Macon after taking the TGV train from Paris. There are only eight of us on the trip, with a crew of six (nice ratio). For the next six nights, we will be traveling thru Burgundy on the River Saone, visiting several Grand Cru vineyards and tasting all 33 of the Grand Crus. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for anyone who appreciates wine.

Tonight we met and had dinner with Jean-Pierre Cropsal, the Public Relations Officer for Domaine Joseph Drouhin, based in Beaune, the heart of Burgundy wine country. He is our host, guest lecturer, and wine guide extraordinaire. He has worked at Domaine Joseph Drouhin for over 30 years. Caren says he looks like Agatha Christie's character Hercule Poirot.




The chef on our boat is Conn, a Irishman with an incredible talent for creating amazing meals in a confined galley. Our tour guide is Jonathan, a young French-Canadian. Vanessa and Sarah are our hostesses. Patrice is the captain and John is the mate.

See our wine blog for a complete list of today's wines and the menu for dinner.

Dinner this evening was topped off by a small surprise that Jean-Pierre brought from his own cellar.

If this is what Day 1 offered, we can't imagine what the rest of the week will bring.

Wine Tasting the Grand Crus of Burgundy

Tomorrow, we are off to France for a week and a half. First, a few days in Paris. Then an Orient-Express river barge cruise thru Burgundy. This is a unique trip they organize once a year to taste the 33 Grand Cru wines of Burgundy and visit several of the wineries.

Only 12 passengers on the barge. If this is anything like the other Orient-Express trips, hotels, and river cruises we've taken around the world, this will be an amazing culinary and wine experience.

I tried to recall the various Orient-Express travels we've taken:

• Road to Mandalay River Cruise in Myanmar


• Orient-Express Safari Camps in Botswana


• La Residence Phou Vao in Luang Prabang, Laos


• Their (4) hotels in Peru - Miraflores Park Hotel in Lima, Colca Lodge in Colca Canyon, Hotel Monasterio in Cusco, and Sanctuary Lodge in Machu Picchu

Check out our postings along the way as we savor different wine tastings. Will definitely have to make comparisons to California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to see which we prefer.

Chanra's Invention

I got a phone call from our friend Chanra in Cambodia. He told me that he built a bathroom for his truck. I couldn't understand what he meant, so I assumed something got lost in the translation. I asked him to email me some pictures.

Sure enough. He built a bathroom for one of his trucks. This invention is for use by tourists that he takes on mountain bike trips throughout Cambodia.

What an ingenious device! After a muddy day of mountain biking, shower yourself off before heading for a beer or two.

Chanra's ingenuity amazes me.

New Feature on our Blog

We recently added a new feature to our blog - "Our Vino of the Day". Look for the link in the right hand column. Click on the link to see our new, companion blog with postings of the different wines we taste each week. Comments are welcome.

Check it out at this link: Our Vino of the Day