August 7- Wine Tasting In Beaune

The sun was streaming in the window when we awoke this morning. After a nice breakfast in our flat, Coco (myhomeindijon.com) picked us up and drove us to the railroad station. We will really miss her hospitality. You could not ask for a nicer person with such a wonderful centrally located place to stay. We will definitely return.

The train ride to Beaune was under 30 minutes long and once we arrived, it was less than a 15 minute walk to our accommodation, Hotel la Villa Fleurie. We are very pleased with our room which overlooks a small garden patio. This town is famous for wine and our first stop today was Marche Aux Vins, right in the heart of town. It was built between the 13th and 15th century as a Cordelier's church. Today their vineyards are in the exact same spot where Franciscans grew their grapes to make wine for church service.

The winery tour was self guided. As part of the entry fee, you receive commemorative wine tasting metal cups engraved with the name of the winery. You are then guided down the stairs to the wine cellar. At first the cellar seems dark and eerie, but when our eyes adjusted, we noticed that each of the wines were presented on an old wooden wine barrel with a single lit candle. There were 12-15 wines to taste at your leisure and we brought our own loaf of French bread to cleanse our palates. We couldn't help but notice a French family in front of us. Their elementary school age children proudly uncorked the bottles and served their parents a sip in a very dignified way.

Another section of the winery was inside the ancient church which has retained much of the original stone and features wooden beams on the ceiling and wrought iron candle holders. As a special treat, we purchased a small bottle of wine for later.

A late lunch was at Palais des Gourmets' Salon de The where we tried a crepe smothered with homemade strawberry jam. Across the street in a small park is a little carousel of old-fashioned animals such as a duck, cow, swan, and horses. What a pleasant place for children to play.

Feeling invigorated after lunch, we visited the Basillica of Notre Dame. Inside were beautiful stained glass windows and an old delicately woven tapestry on display depicting the life of Mary.

Dinner tonight was at Brasserie le Carnot. We ate outside and dined on crispy pizza with peppers, onions, cheese, olives, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts, as well as a salad with garden fresh greens, tomatoes, mozarella balls, thinly shaved ham, and juicy melon slices. Tomorrow is a huge farmer's market and we can't wait to visit it.