Wobbling Winos: Day 59 - Beaune to Puligny-Montrachet.

Day 59. Beaune to Puligny Montrachet. 16km, 1:07.

We were met with a grey, rainy day this morning; fortunately we had planned to do some wine tasting and sightseeing in Beaune.

We started off at the Saturday market at Place de la Halles. My favorite thing - to stroll around and see and taste the produce of the region. Most of the fruit was from France, with some figs and apricots and melons from Spain. We stocked up on some delicious sheeps' milk cheese and jammon for supper as we are staying in the country and not sure that there will be a restaurant.

We crossed over the street to the Hotel de Dieu which was built in1443 as a magnificent Gothic Hospital (until 1971). It has beautiful turrets and a a pitched roof covered in colored tiles. A highlight is the magnificent masterpiece Polyptych of The Last Judgement by the 15th Century Flemish artist Rogier van den Weyden.

Just before lunch we made our way to the Basilica Collegiale Notre Dam. It was built from the 12-15 C and was once affiliated to the Monastery of Cluny. It is a beautiful example of Burgundian Romanesque style architecture. There have been some Gothic additions and the two imposing bell towers are from the Renaissance era. There is an exquisite collection of tapestries in the Choir depicting the life of Virgin Mary.

We found a lovely restaurant near the Chapelle St Ettienne for a Plat de Jour which was uncomplicated and delicious.

We had to get to our appointment for a tasting at Louis Jadot at the winery at 14:00 so had a brisk walk to Route de Savigny about 2 km from the centre of town. The winery was bought in 1859 by Henry Louis Denis Jardot. It has grown over the years with the purchase of additional vineyards and currently produces 8-10 million bottles of wine a year. We were met by Christine Botton who took us for a tour through the winery. It was built in 1997 and has a circular design with the wooden casks and stainless steele tanks placed around the edge of the building.This cellar is only used to make Pinot Noir.

The grapes are sorted outside, then brought into the cellar where the de-stemming is done and then the grapes are pressed. The long maceration process of at least 28 days is used to extract the flavours from the skins. From there the wine is put into small casks to mature. A combination of old and new barreled are used. The cellar is extremely efficient with minimum intervention.

We tasted 4 beautiful Chardonnays, 1 Beaujoulais from their Chateaux des Jaques range which has been matured in barrels, and 3 excellent Pinot Noirs. We were totally blown away by the excellent balance of the Chardonnays, the acidity is good and there is just a hint of wood; they are so elegant. Christine said that they do not allow malolactic fermentation, and this is what keeps them fresh and lively with good acidity. The Pinot Noirs were exceptional, also very well balanced with excellent tannins. Great wines!

We picked up our bikes from the hotel; fortunately we could leave them there, and made our way to Puligny Monrachet 15 km away. We took the beautiful cycle route through the vineyards and Grand Cru appellations with a brooding grey sky in the distance. As we left Volnay we could see the storm approaching. It caught up with us 2 km before we reached Mersault, and were pelted with hailstones as big as golf balls in a howling wind. We managed to take shelter, but my legs are covered in round bruises baring witness to this.

In less than 5 minutes the whole 2014 crop was wiped out. As we continued after the storm all the vignerons were driving through their vineyards to assess the damage, my heart goes out to them.

We stayed in a Gite in Puligny Montrachet which was a wonderful find. Our hostess ran around chatting in French, bringing us a clothes dryer for our wet clothes, tea and coffee; we were bowled over by her hospitality. Our supper of baguettes was accompanied by an outstanding Louis Jadot Chardonnay, Marsannay 2011 ( WWS - as close to 10 as we are likely to see on our travels - delicious).

A memorable day!