Dijon, BeuneMar 2, 2005
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on a rooftop garden over Beaune
| We followed the 'Owl' through the few monuments in Dijon, picking up mustard and pan de e'spice(gingerbread) along the way. We ate lunch at a brasserie that served the largest crepes we've ever seen. Bigger than dinner plates, the savory ones were made of buckwheat and filled with potatoes, cheese, eggs, corn, tomatoes and meat if you wanted. Yum. Tom was our hero and navigated our rental car to the small town of Beaune. This is where Chris and Tom literally fed their passion for food. Each meal was a new tasting adventure for them--escargots, Coq au Vin, Beef Borgoignone, Oef en Merrete, chocolates, a wheel of Epoisses--and they never tired of finding another traditional French item to taste. All inexpensive and all phenomenal. Through Tom we had wine tastings scheduled each day. One at Domaine Boillot, a seemingly boutique winery with a fairly small production and the other at Brochard (founded in 1759) in a 16th century castle. Both tastings opened up new worlds in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the steely characteristic of the Burgundy area giving masculinity to some reds and acidity and structure to fruity whites. We were fortunate to share lunch with Luque Brochard, an elegant man with wine knowledges in his blood and bones. Tradition runs deep in France. Everyone is polite here, saying hello and goodbye to strangers on the train and in shops. Polite is different than warm and we are grateful to those who open up and share their opinions and stories. We will always remember Antoine who closed his wine shop and invited us to stay and talk over a couple of bottles of wine. |
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