I'm sort of tired from writing this up so this is a little cursory.
After a layover day in Dijon, we head out of town on the Burgundy Canal path. Dijons a nice city, not too touristy, but bustle-y and fun. A nice day to roam around.
The canal path is paved for about 20k west of town. The easiest riding imaginable, and very pleasant.
We spent the day mostly following the path, but kicked over for a while along adjacent D routes. Pulled into Pont Royal, just south of Semur en Auxois, around 3 and stay at a chambres dhotes there that used to be the old canal station. The mysterious proprietors produced a great dinner, which my brother and I shared alone in a dining room with a roaring fire while it poured outside.
The next day we continued along the canal, weather threatening, through Montbard, and then turned west through the hills heading over toward the Yonne Valley. Stopped at the TGV tracks for a while and watched a bunch of trains blast by. We stayed the night in Noyers, a very cool little town that doesnt even make the Michelin guide but had old ramparts, etc. We stayed in a gite that was an art space and incorporated the old 13c town wall.
The next day, 3 hours riding got us to Champs sur Yonne, where my folks rented an old mill house sitting right on the Yonne River.
Ill quit the blow by blow and highlight food/wine stuff.
One afternoon L and I walked along the top of the Chablis grand cru vineyards. This is super easy to do and I would highly recommend it for those of you doing a quick stop there even above wandering around the town itself. If you do, be sure to buy an IGN blue Chablis map which identifies the vineyards and topo. You can walk up from town, or there is a little road running between Blanchots and Clos that goes up to a picnic area where you can park and then walk. Amazing how small it all really is, and its also interesting to see Fourchaume, Montee de Tonnerre, and Mont de Mileu, which are really right in line with the grand cru vineyards and also how much of the designated grand cru vineyards really dont have good solar access for example Montee de Tonnerre has a way better aspect than Blanchots.
Had a great dinner at Barnabet in Auxerre. Great food and service. Had a superb 97 Dauvissat Foret that wasnt aggressive but rather just nice complex minerals and honey. Also had an 01 Lafon Monthelie Duresses which was dense and young.
Incidentally, just north of Barnabet is an art gallery with a few bottles I picked up several bottles of Raveneau 06 for very cheap there. The biggest bummer of the trip was that I missed one of the brothers by about 15 minutes he actually was dropping off a couple of cases of wine.
I had been to Auxerre before, but have to say I really liked it a lot this time. Great market, nice core, lots of old timber frame buildings, nice little waterfront, etc. Also, incidentally, there is a huge architectural salvage place on the other side of the river called Michel Materieux that is pretty fun to visit.
Another great meal was at the Auberge dPot dEtain, way out in the boonies in Isle sur Serein. I found out about this place from the Burghound travel guide, and geez, a mind boggling wine list. I think its 2-3k wines. And theyre ridiculously cheap. We had a 97 Raveneau Butteaux (I unfortunately skipped over the Chapelots, not recognizing that thats in the MdT) which was superb though not quite up to the Dauvissat at Barnabet, a 00 Coche Bourgogne blanc which was soft and acceptably oaky (which I almost never think), and then the wine of the trip, a 91 de Montille Volnay Champans, a surprisingly meaty, complex thing that just went.
Tried to visit Dauvissat and only one of the brothers was in town and he was too busy to see us. We went to Savary, a wine Ive always liked, and drank through their line good stuff, but mostly just bottled, and just too compressed. Their 05 Epineil rouge was a delight.
Visited Goisot and it was great. They are totally switched on and it was exciting to try everything. The blancs again had just been bottled and were really tight. A standout was the 06 Sauvignon Gris.
I can tell Im petering out, as you probably are. There were lots of wines drunk this week and I may get around later to posting notes on them. So lets just leave it there!
After a layover day in Dijon, we head out of town on the Burgundy Canal path. Dijons a nice city, not too touristy, but bustle-y and fun. A nice day to roam around.
Ill quit the blow by blow and highlight food/wine stuff.
One afternoon L and I walked along the top of the Chablis grand cru vineyards. This is super easy to do and I would highly recommend it for those of you doing a quick stop there even above wandering around the town itself. If you do, be sure to buy an IGN blue Chablis map which identifies the vineyards and topo. You can walk up from town, or there is a little road running between Blanchots and Clos that goes up to a picnic area where you can park and then walk. Amazing how small it all really is, and its also interesting to see Fourchaume, Montee de Tonnerre, and Mont de Mileu, which are really right in line with the grand cru vineyards and also how much of the designated grand cru vineyards really dont have good solar access for example Montee de Tonnerre has a way better aspect than Blanchots.
Incidentally, just north of Barnabet is an art gallery with a few bottles I picked up several bottles of Raveneau 06 for very cheap there. The biggest bummer of the trip was that I missed one of the brothers by about 15 minutes he actually was dropping off a couple of cases of wine.
I had been to Auxerre before, but have to say I really liked it a lot this time. Great market, nice core, lots of old timber frame buildings, nice little waterfront, etc. Also, incidentally, there is a huge architectural salvage place on the other side of the river called Michel Materieux that is pretty fun to visit.
Another great meal was at the Auberge dPot dEtain, way out in the boonies in Isle sur Serein. I found out about this place from the Burghound travel guide, and geez, a mind boggling wine list. I think its 2-3k wines. And theyre ridiculously cheap. We had a 97 Raveneau Butteaux (I unfortunately skipped over the Chapelots, not recognizing that thats in the MdT) which was superb though not quite up to the Dauvissat at Barnabet, a 00 Coche Bourgogne blanc which was soft and acceptably oaky (which I almost never think), and then the wine of the trip, a 91 de Montille Volnay Champans, a surprisingly meaty, complex thing that just went.
Tried to visit Dauvissat and only one of the brothers was in town and he was too busy to see us. We went to Savary, a wine Ive always liked, and drank through their line good stuff, but mostly just bottled, and just too compressed. Their 05 Epineil rouge was a delight.
Visited Goisot and it was great. They are totally switched on and it was exciting to try everything. The blancs again had just been bottled and were really tight. A standout was the 06 Sauvignon Gris.
I can tell Im petering out, as you probably are. There were lots of wines drunk this week and I may get around later to posting notes on them. So lets just leave it there!
