Then we headed out for our afternoon drive through the Burgundy countryside south of Beaune. This is primarily known as white wine country, but these chardonnays are the best in the world, each one with a character of its own due to terroir and yearly climate variations. As you leave Beaune you first hit Pommard one of the last really red wine towns south of Beaune. But we continued on through Volnay to our favourite, Auxey Durress. Fortunately our regular visit to Phippe Prunier-Damy was not affected by the vendage. Madame came out of the kitchen with her apron on to allow us to taste 8 different offerings. She is always very friendly and despite knowing no English, we had a good time with her. Dennis & I both left with ½ dozen good ones + the all important marc – the latter totally under the table, since they are not licensed to sell spirits.
From there we drove through the amazing wine towns of Meursault, Puligny Montrachet and Chassagne Montrachet, only to be followed by Santenay. We continued on through the narrow winding streets of many other Haut Cotes villages. They were all bustling with the vendage, but we managed to stay out of their way. In one village called Rochepot, we were most impressed with its chateau, high up on the treed hillside. Although we drove up to it, we resisted the admission price, not wanting to take the time. It was a brilliantly blue skied day and still a bit cool, but we thoroughly enjoyed the drive.