MORE WINE TASTING

Couvent des Cordeliers

Sunday afternoon rolled out a little lazily. We enjoyed our walk around the walls and were ready for a little wine tasting. Earlier on our walk we had seen the Convent of the Cordeliers and thought it might be a good place to start.
The tour of the caves was self-guided. The convent was originally a cloistered order of Claritians (Poor Clares) associated with the Order of Saint Francis of Assisi. We learned that an earlier king had pawned some important religious relics (a piece of the True Cross and a spine from the Crown of Thorns). Louis XIV sent four monks to Venice to get them out of hock. On their way back they founded the convent. The nuns had taken a vow of poverty so they lived on donations from the big winemakers and landowners of the region. During the revolution the convent was seized during the month of Brumaire, Year 4 and was eventually sold during the month of Ventose, Year 6 (What ever happened to the revolutionary calendar?).


The cave below the convent where the nuns kept their wine and had secret rites for the devil (no doubt).

After the tour we emerged from the caves into the wine tasting room. We had to pay 5 euros to taste five wines but we got to keep the commemorative glasses (just like DisneyLand except the glasses are plastic and you only get to taste Coke). We sampled two whites and three reds. Of the whites we liked the Meursault 2004 the best. they started us off with a cheap Savigny-les-Beaune 1999 just to show you the difference between an aged white and a young white. We got the message – with whites, younger is better.
Of the reds we liked the Gevrey-Chambertin 2005 the best. The lady explained to us that 2005 was a great year for Burgundy. She told us we should keep it in the cave for at least 10 years. It’s a little daunting to think that my purpose in life is to stay alive until 2015 so that I can enjoy this wine. Maybe the Dalai Lama should incorporate wine appreciation into his Buddhist practise.
To finish they threw in a free taste of a dessert wine that we ended up buying. A very pleasant afternoon!



Old storefront in Beaune.