I spent most of last week as a guest of the Burgundy Wine Board visiting vineyards and wine makers in the region, dining at some of the area’s best restaurants and generally having a fantastic time learning about all things deliciously Bourgogne.
Needless to say, I had an absolute blast, and I truly learned a lot. I’m lining up specific content for the next few weeks (and maybe even months) based on my visit. But before all that, I thought it would be cool just to publish a few brief daily write ups about my experiences. Here’s the first in my short series of Wine Tasting in Burgundy posts.
Highlights from Day One (Tuesday 8 May 2012)
– Met the two dudes I was to spent the next few days touring with: Mark Anstead of the Cambridgeshire Wine School and Rob Crossan, “the UK’s most jet lagged freelance travel writer”. Both laid back guys and wine enthusiasts. The three of us gathered at St Pancras and took the Eurostar to Paris, then a train to Dijon where we cabbed it the rest of the way to the little town of Beaune, the so called capital of Burgundy wines.
– In Beaune, we stayed at the Best Western Hotel Henry II. Perfectly adequate and walking distance from everything in the town centre – it seemed like a decent, budget friendly place to crash. I’d be fine with staying there again on future visits.
– Dinner our first night was at Loiseau des Vignes. Gorgeous. My Parisian born girlfriend said “wow” when she found out I’d eaten there; I actually uttered the same thing myself while enjoying my meal. Loiseau des Vignes is famous for being the first restaurant in Europe to offer an entire list of wines by the glass, with close to 70 different wines, a number of which cannot be found nowadays. It’s also home to arguably the yummiest damn cheese board in the world and one of the tastiest soufflés I’ve ever had. Triple wow.
Visit www.discovertheorigin.co.uk to find out more about what makes Burgundy and its wines so special.
