It's been admittedly strange to have my parents here when I myself have been here less than a month and I barely know this city. Also, I've been speaking more English this week than I have in months. But it's been very nice to see them and to discover new parts of Dijon with them.
The weekend was a wonderful example. We had our first excursion -- one day in Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy. Fortunately, two of our group couldn't make it this weekend so my parents got to replace them and come along without any trouble. It worked out perfectly. And the weather was even lovely!
First we went to the wine museum, where we saw all kinds of interesting artifacts and learned about the history of the development of wine. It got me very excited for the wine tasting we were going to do.
The wine tasting itself was truly magnificent. Of course it was my first time ever wine tasting and to have my first time be in the countryside of Burgundy is seriously the most awesome thing ever. I'm pretty freakin' lucky. Of course my parents were loving it too. Dad said it was a completely unique experience, despite all the wine tasting he's done in California.
First we were taken down into the cave (the term used to describe the cellar were the wine is stored, but which is also very accurate to how it felt down there), where we could see some of the wines they had that were by far older than any of us. We walked through the cave, experiencing one fabulous wine after another. Each bottle was placed on a barrel with just a single candle for light in the dark, damp space. We were all of us given little metal bowls to hold our wine, which we would, in theory, taste and then spit out. Well, that didn't really happen. We had to drink if only to soak in the fact that it was legal to do so. There were only a few white at the beginning and after that the rest were red. (All the whites of Burgundy are chardonnay and all the reds are pinot noir.) It was so interesting to note all the differences between the wines. I've never felt very much like I understand wine, even though I love it, but having them all at the same time like that really made all the different flavors very evident. And we tried some of the best, more expensive wines from the region (definitely not the most expensive, though we did pass by some Romanée-conti vineyards). Well, that was all just fine until the wines just kept coming and coming and those little metal cups kept adding up. All in all, I believe we tasted about twenty wines! No one was smashed or anything, but we were definitely a little too tipsy for eleven in the morning.
After filling up a bit with a wonderful Borgognese lunch, we visited the Hospices of Beaune. It was originally a hospital during the Hundred Years War, and was in use until the sixties. What's so remarkable about it, though, is how beautiful it is, especially the roofs.
The Hospice also has a great deal of history, but I could hardly do it justice. Thus, I have photography.
It was a great day, but sadly it's over and the rest of my parents visit will have to wait until another post because I have homework to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment