Superstars of the wine world

Another trip up the autoroute du soleil brought us to the tiny village of Bouilland, about 10km North of Savigny les Beaunes and 17km West of Nuits St Georges, so truly in the heart of Burgundy and arguably the finest wines in the world.
Naturally we had to spend some time visiting the famous vineyards and admiring the perfect Burgundian villages with the familiar names. It absolutely poured with rain on our first day so we admired them from the relatively dry inside of the car though we did make a foray into Beaune protected by umbrellas and waterproofs so that we could admire this lovely town (and find a laundry!). Despite the rain the villages were so charming, lying on the hillsides and completely surrounded by vines. Volnay, Montrachet, Pommard, Vatenay and of course Newts and Geffries (Nuits St George and Gevray Chambertin as they have long been known in the Chambers family!), were all lovely, even without the golden sunshine on the South facing slopes for which they are famous.
The next day it had mainly stopped raining but was windy and cold so we headed into Dijon for a good look round this interesting city, home to mustard and the dukes of Burgundy. We found ourselves at a quirky little hotel, which offered one of the best restaurants in Burgundy, the Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin, with prices to match, so we decided that lunch would be a good idea rather than pay their prices for dinner every night. We did enjoy a very fine meal on the first evening, as we’d booked in advance but we decided it was a special treat kind of place with a very limited menu and at 60 Euros a head would remain a one off. We therefore enjoyed discovering Oeufs Meurette (eggs cooked in red wine with bacon), Jambon Persille (ham terrine with parsley) and the obligatory boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin and snails. Naturally we also had to enjoy some local grape product to go with, including a tasting in Dijon of 3 wines (Aligote, Savigny les Beaunes and Gervray Chambertin). We also tried a local rose, which tasted OK but being the colour of tizer, was a bit off putting!
We drove up to Chablis, which was not quite a glamorous as the Southern grand crus villages but again the rolling hills covered in vines were lovely. John had done his home work with Lonely Planet though and discovered that Noyers, a small village a bit further south was worth a visit. It certainly was, almost like a mini version of Cahors, enclosed totally in a bend of the river with a castle up on the hill to protect it from the North. We walked round the town, ate another delicious lunch, then spent the afternoon climbing the hill and admiring the view from the site of the castle which is being restored.
By Friday the sun had come out again, though not nearly as warm as last week and with more of a feel of autumn in the air. We took the opportunity of fine sunshine to take a long walk around the Bouilland valley, which is steep and wooded with limestone escarpments so no vines there. It was a fabulous walk, the trees still so green and our huge climb was rewarded with a view to the west across to the Massif Central and what felt like half of France spread out before us. We rewarded ourselves with a small beer at the bar in the village, presided over by a fierce Madame who does not encourage customers to linger!