We discovered that Dijon, which is famous for its mustard, doesn’t grow much mustard any more though it is still produced here. Most of it is imported from USA and processed here! Very disappointing.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Clos St Louis, which is a small family owned and operated vineyard, to have a look at how a French winemaker makes wine. It was interesting, I guess the process is the same wherever you happen to be, but good to see on such a small scale. There are a lot of rules about what can go on a label, how many bunches of grapes per vine, and so on. All grapes in Burgundy are either chardonnay or pinot noir, they can’t grow anything else. Philippe, our winemaker, has about 15 hectares of land but in different places so he makes a few different wines. They can’t be blended, however, and each parcel of land has its own label – very confusing!
Dinner at the chateau was fun, we had a good table of people and there was a lot of laughter. The food and wine were good, too, though I missed out on the red of course. We had a specialty of the region which is pork fed on acorns, very tasty!
Tuesday 29 July
We left Dijon at the very civilised hour of 9 am and headed towards Chamonix – I’m not sure whether we are still in France or have crossed into Switzerland. France, I think, but will have to check. The Alps are indeed Alpine, very beautiful mountains. Our hotel room looks towards Mont Blanc, which is spectacular. We can’t see the top today, but glaciers can be seen and there’s little river making a very long waterfall down the mountainside. We are lucky enough to have a balcony and it has been very relaxing sitting out there enjoying the fresh air and scenery.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Clos St Louis, which is a small family owned and operated vineyard, to have a look at how a French winemaker makes wine. It was interesting, I guess the process is the same wherever you happen to be, but good to see on such a small scale. There are a lot of rules about what can go on a label, how many bunches of grapes per vine, and so on. All grapes in Burgundy are either chardonnay or pinot noir, they can’t grow anything else. Philippe, our winemaker, has about 15 hectares of land but in different places so he makes a few different wines. They can’t be blended, however, and each parcel of land has its own label – very confusing!
Dinner at the chateau was fun, we had a good table of people and there was a lot of laughter. The food and wine were good, too, though I missed out on the red of course. We had a specialty of the region which is pork fed on acorns, very tasty!
Tuesday 29 July
We left Dijon at the very civilised hour of 9 am and headed towards Chamonix – I’m not sure whether we are still in France or have crossed into Switzerland. France, I think, but will have to check. The Alps are indeed Alpine, very beautiful mountains. Our hotel room looks towards Mont Blanc, which is spectacular. We can’t see the top today, but glaciers can be seen and there’s little river making a very long waterfall down the mountainside. We are lucky enough to have a balcony and it has been very relaxing sitting out there enjoying the fresh air and scenery.
1 comment:
Sounds like you're having a great time :) I really like the Mont Blanc photo!
(A little news from home, by the way - we bought a car (subject to finance being approved, which it should be) - a little Mazda2.)
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