I'll have Chardonnay today, s'il vous plait!

     Today was our free day in Beaune (how else could I have caught up on this blog all in one day? phew!) But I did not spend the whole day sleeping, oh no! Even though I might have wanted to when at 8 am I popped out of bed to turn in mine and Alex's journals to Meg--poor old Alex took it easy today as she was not feeling well, so no cameos for her today. We had all intended to go rent bikes and ride through the vineyards, but like many of the best laid plans, this one was foiled. The bike shop was out, so we spent some time in the local Saturday market (Lauren would have especially loved this) and then set out on foot into the grapey unknown.

      I know I went on and on yesterday about how beautiful Burgundy is; well i'm about to do it again. The vineyards were a golden paradise. We strolled through the vines and I made sure to try one red grape--a pinot noir, i would learn later at our wine tasting--and one green grape--a chardonnay. They were small, but sweet and delicious!

      At 4:15, everyone met in the breakfast room to walk over to our wine-tasting at one of the premiere wine makers cellars in Beaune, founded in the 18th century in what was before that a castle the king built to put down Burgundian rebellions in the 14th century! Apparently medieval fortifications have all the right characteristics for ideal wine cellars. Our exceptional guide took us down into the deep to see some of the oldest and most special wines they have dating all the way back to 1843. This winery owns a large portion of land yet only produce 600 perfect bottles of wine a year not counting what they produce using other people's grapes. It is some of the best wine in the world and highly sought after! Burgundy is special, with many rules and regulations on how much, what kind and how people can make wine in their provence, so only the two varieties of grape I mentioned before are allowed--no pinto grigio here!
       At the actual tasting we sampled 6 types of wine, 3 reds and 3 whites. There were big barrels in the middle where you were supposed to spit as it reveals different flavors on the way out. I was suspicious but it actually did! It was a lot of fun learning to taste wine like the pros, and all the flavors you can find in just one sip is pretty cool. More cheese and bread for dinner--hey, it's France!