Thursday and we drive to Beaune stopping in Nuits-St-Georges for a coffee for Christoph. It’s a pretty village along the wine road, but bigger than most.
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| Found this little butterfly on the way, it's on a city grate. |
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| Loved this statue. |
On to Beaune and lunch is first on order, quiche and salad, decent but not wonderful. We went to the Hotel-Dieu des Hospices Civils de Beaune with the multi-coloured tiles on the roofs and did the self guided tour with tape for more explanation. Here is a link with a better picture and more information https://holeinthedonut.com/2017/09/12/photo-hotel-dieu-in-beaune-france/
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| The roof tiles are typical of this region, but usually in less quantity. |
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| A nun model praying for one of her patients, note the instruments in the foreground. |
It was hospital for both rich and poor, separated into wards, you can read about it here www.hospices-de-beaune.fr The site is well maintained, beautifully outlaid with re-enactment of the rooms uses.
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| Part of the kitchen which was large. |
It was under a bit of construction at one end. The audio tape was well done explaining all the rooms and history behind them. A person could spend anywhere from an hour to three on site. We spent about an hour because we had other things to do that day.
Then to the Edmond Fallot Mustard Mill, there is an hour or so guided tour through the mill to show how the mustard is made. Third generation family owned, I bought the traditional mustard called Moutarde de Bourgogne which is sold everywhere in this region but I don’t think I’ve had this brand before, mostly available in stores is the Maille brand, also from this area. Read more about the two brands on my food tour post, coming up.
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| Original delivery truck or facsimile of it. |
We had made an appointment for a wine tour at Clos St Louis in Fixin, where we had been at the beginning of the week so didn’t have time for the Fallot tour. A family owned winery operated by wife Virginie, husband Philippe and daughter Martine Bernard, who hosted us the first time and will take over the winery when her father retires. Looking at him, and the tour he gave us, retirement won’t be any time soon. He explained the typical farmer’s woes, weather, finding pickers, etc, all of which I could relate to having been raised on a farm.
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| In the cask, all carefully labeled with Philippe's special coding. |
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| In the bottle, not capped or labeled, they do that closer to sale, capped and labels are taxable, naked bottles are not until they are readied for sale. |
The vintners are all independents in this region, they have their own equipment, some of which is only used at harvest time. There is no cooperative organization as there is in some wine producing areas to share equipment. Philippe explained that everyone would need the equipment at the same time which is the major reason they have their own. Another good visit and we saw the entire inside operation this time.
Travelling around the countryside here, if you take the fast highways there are tolls calculated on the kilometres between getting on and off, not a huge amount for a tourist but would add up for a frequent traveller. Of course, then I wonder if truckers could buy a monthly pass, didn't find out.
Cheers, Bev
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