I'm writing this to you from the beautiful city of Beaune where I have just spend three days touring the vineyards and tasting their incredible wines. This is an ancient city with centuries of history and a pedigree of producing some of the world's best wines. 

While wine is king here, cuisine is a huge part of the cultural equation as well. I have enjoyed some amazing meals in the cafes and brasseries here. The two local legends are:

Escargot - snails that live in the Burgundy vineyards are collected from the soil. They are seared in the shell and served in a garlic, pesto, butter sauce. While the texture might be a little challenging for some, the flavor is to die for!

We enjoyed our Escargot with a wonderful Chablis (Chardonnay) from Louis Jadot.

Beef Bourgnonne - very tender medallions of beef in a rich and flavorful sauce served with noodles on the side. The tenderness of the beef is the key here, as it it literally falling to pieces as you eat it.

We enjoyed our Beef with an incredible Premiere Cru Burgundy (Pinot Noir) from Joseph Drouhin.

Our visit to Drouhin's historic wine caves was a highlight of the trip as we were guided through the labrynth by Jean-Pierre Cropsal who has over 40 years experience in the Burgundy wine industry. He also guided through a tasting of 18 wines with the grande finale being a 1995 Grand Cru!

The Cru system is worth explaining. It is the Burgundian classification of grapes to signify levels of quality. Grand Cru is the highest and Premiere Cru the second highest. 

We had a chance to get out into some amazing vineyards and observe the harvest which is happening in full force right now. Some of the AOCs (sub regions) we visited included:

Gevrey-Chambertain

Morey-Saint Denis

Volnay

Montrachet

I'll be writing a full print article on the epic tasting at Joseph Drouhin. The article will include information on an upcoming local event that will re-create the tasting I did in the caves!