It was another game day yesterday for our traveling team. We started out at 7:00 with puffy eyes after sleeping only a few hours and had to walk to the station after picking up a colleague in crime. Not having insight into the itinerary I was surprised to see that we rented a car and not jump on the train. The day was an education in wine. The Louis Latour cooperage was amazing as barrels are such an integrated part of winemaking and all the Hemel-en-Aarde wineries use oak for their “Burgundies”. Off to Louis Latour’s gravity-fed cellar was superb. Besides the excellent wines that we tasted and the gourmet meal we had it was a huge honour to walk amongst all the ancient bottles of wine.
The unexpected surprise came when we stopped at Henri de Henri de Villamont in Beaune. We met the owner, Pierre Jhean, the evening before and like all Frenchmen he was charming and invited us to his cellar. We tasted superb wines and I still have the taste of 1966 Pinot noir in my mouth.