After nearly eating ourselves to death in Lyon but surviving, we decided it was near high time to try it with wine instead, as we packed up and headed to Burgundy. We had originally thought of travelling through Geneva en route to Dijon, but as we felt neutral on whether to visit Switzerland for a day, we opted for more wine in France.

Our rash decision was nearly regretted as the sight of many strange men with guns, on the side of the road, giving us the stink eye (otherwise know as French eye….or just “regarder” here), made us wonder whether it was rabbit season, or worse…tourist season. Or maybe they were just due a new revolution, and should we turn down the Les Mis blaring over the car radio!?

The first town in Burgundy to meet us was at the southern end in Mâcon…not much to tell you about Mâcon. We bought some bread, as it was Sunday we thought we’d get into the Catholic swing and should start the day with a little…“pain”.   Also, being Sunday and not knowing what we were doing we struggled to find much to drink, but the landscape and towns were beautiful. The one tasting came after we completely interrupted a family sitting down to their dejeuner and made us realise that the years of French lessons might actually come in handy…more than just memorising an impressive poem to use in bars. We did some un-wine tourism, despite mutual protests, to seem some old Abbey at Cluny and a castle or something else without wine. We also struggled to choose where to stay, but settled on the cute enough, Chalon-sur-Saône, which being France on a Sunday night was shut down. However, a milestone was achieved as we found a restaurant that had frogs legs…amazing (although does anything taste bad in garlic and butter?).  James felt disappointed for forgetting to sneak in a battery…sorry Galvin.

Our second day in Burgundy was much more successful as we had an amazing tasting, with a lady who was very lovely, particularly after Lea dropped in the “wow, these are so different from Straylian wines eh?”, which always comes with a smile. The winery was also located around the corner from the Rue Filaterie, which we took as a good sign. We picnicked in the vines, soaked up the sights, drove through to Dijon, past the Grand Cru vines, that all have cemeteries in the middle. We assume these add a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to ‘le terroir’.

In Dijon we walked around the very pretty town, tasted some mustards and had steak and potatoes, because….it’s France and that’s what you do. James also had a “salad”, with cold meats, some sort of hot barbecue sauce and a single poached egg drowned in red wine. Which was heaps, as we all know that one egg in France is…un oeuf.

The next day we opted for an organised “wine” tour back through the vineyards of the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune. There was a lot of teaching about Burgundy’s silly systems and not as much wine as you’d think, so little that when the guide was talking about the cemeteries, James was able to refrain from the previous terroir joke. We made up for it though in our free time in Beaune. Amazing cellars where a paid tasting gets you a glass and access to free pour your own tastings of as many wines as you want in the cave…Were they lucky we only had two hours free???

Staring down the impending drive to the Champagne region, Lea had the idea to throw a chardy in the works and suggest instead we spend a night in Chablis. What an inspired move, one of the cutest towns we’ve been in, cellar doors everywhere (we only managed 6 in 4 hours), lovely people, a room with a view over the watermill stream for a picnic (terrine, cheese, bread…quelle surprise). Parfait. The only thing that could make this town better would be buying a Grand Cru then walking through the Grand Cru vineyards to drink it at sunset.