we leave the comforts of home....

During lunch we passed a few more locks- including the one called Epoisses (Phil's favorite cheese from the region) -

then after the fabulous lunch - we all gave some thought to napping - but decided to visit a few of the sights of this amazing wine region of Burgundy!

and so, we are off on our little bus- CB manages to nap as well as travel- LOL- to the Cote d'Or - and its famous southeastern facing slopes...

our first stop is the Chateau at Clos Vougeot- and the home of the Chevaliers du Tastevin- (from Wikipedia)

Originally founded in 1703 as the Ordre de la Boisson (Order of the Drink), and resurrected under its current name in 1934, the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (translatable as Brotherhood of the Knights of the Wine-Tasting Cup) is an exclusive club of Burgundy wine enthusiasts. It is headquartered in the twelfth-century Château du Clos de Vougeot in the Côte d'Or region of France. It maintains chapters (called Sous-Commanderies) worldwide, but because of its Gallic origins, its name and many of its ceremonial titles are always rendered in French.

we take a brief tour of the facility - and hear some of the history of the wine-making process from the middle ages (by monks in the monastery/abbey)

here are just a few photos-

not that they look silly or anything - and they seem to be singing the song we refer to as the "burgundy song"- LOL

and here is the burgundy song- no need to have working knowledge of French - this one is one you can sing along no matter how many bottles of fabulous wine you have imbibed! LOL

but the day is getting shorter and we have wine to taste! so on we go to Domaine Pierre Amiot to meet with the fifth or maybe the sixth generation of wine makers there and try some of their wines-

now- I may not have mentioned this but we are supposed to be on a moratorium from wine buying until we can get all the cases of wine out of the aisle of the wine cellar and all the wine in the bins (LOL- who is saying "fat chance" out there? I heard you! ...) so we arrived at the Amiot winery to TASTE!

after a cellar tour- brief and painless - we head into the "cave" to taste and Mrs. Amiot pours us some wonderful wines and makes us an offer Phil can't refuse so after tasting all their high end wines we go upstairs and buy three cases (yeah the guy in the back who barked out "fat chance" was 100% on the money! LOL)

the good news is we convinced CBGB to go in on part of it - so it won't all end up in the former aisle of our cellar- LOL

daylight is fading as we make our way back to our luxury digs and dinner from Chef Cyrille!

a fabulous veggie soup!

lamb and ratatouille- of course it sounds better on his menu in French- LOL

the cheeses and an incredibly good dessert-

and evening falls on the canal just outside Longecourt- where in the fields in the morning a hot air balloon (Montgolfier) will be waiting for five of the 12 of us to go ballooning in the morning on a beautiful sunny day- and one so clear they will see the French Alps!

so more to come! as tomorrow we actually do visit Dijon and while we don't buy mustard we do have some great hot chocolate and enjoy browsing in the fabulous market!