Category: Uncategorized

Spend even a few days tasting Burgundy, and the power of terroir is hard to miss. During a brief visit last week, we sampled Volnay, Savigny, Givry, Mercurey, and Pommard -- five wines made from the same grape and the same region. But the characters of these wines could not be more disparate.

A quick breakfast at the Abbey, before heading north to Paris. We drop the car at the Gare de Lyon, take the metro to the Marais, and find a crêperie for lunch. Chèvre and salad, then butter and sugar, with dry sparkling cidre to match. It's cooler here, with a blue cloudless sky.

Breakfast is in the light-filled winter dining room -- soft boiled eggs, croissants, local yogurt, chèvre and locally smoked salmon. We borrow a pair of bikes from the Abbey, and set out on a 25k loop around the surrounding countryside.

Croissants and coffee this morning on the Place Carnot, Beaune's central square. We head south mid morning through the Côte d'Or and out the St. Aubin valley to the Chateau de la Rochepot. The castle dates from the 13th century, and was carefully and lovingly restored in the 19th century by a local family. Rochepot boasts classic Burgundian tiled roofs,…

We started the morning on the road, driving due north out of Provence, past Lyon, and into Burgundy. The terrain flattens out and the hills become greener; the sun today is clear and very warm.

We took our coffee in Vaison-la-Romaine this morning, in view of the extensive, sprawling weekly market. The market is an impressive collection of vendors selling everything from meats to wicker baskets to clothes to soaps and spices. We grab a few souvenirs, then head back to Gigondas.

The morning is cool, clear, and sunny; light bounces from the shimmering olive trees. Began the morning with a trip to the local market for lettuce, fruit, sausage, olives, and a collection of cheeses.

A cloudless summit of Mont Blanc greets us on our final morning in Chamonix. After breakfast in a streetside café, we pack our car and head east, out of the Alps and into the Savoie. We drive past orchards, cows, and vineyards as the dense forest behind us fades into flower-filled meadows.

When it’s made well, Puligny-Montrachet is the most elegant of white Burgundies. Though long and rich like its neighbors from Chassagne and Meursault, Puligny shows an added minerality and tension, making it a combination of class and energy in the glass. As writer Jay McInerney once put it, Puligny is “the Grace Kelly of wines.”

For our last day in the Alps we board a cog railway up the south wall of the Mont Blanc Valley. The 20 minute ride brings us from the valley floor up to the base of the Mer de Glace glacier at 6100 feet. The giant "sea of ice" is 220 feet deep and over 4 miles long, snaking between…

Croissants and coffee on the pedestrian street in Chamonix, then a stop at the local grocery for provisions. We drive west along the valley floor -- another perfectly clear blue day. At the base of a winter-only chairlift we park the car, and hike towards the base of the slope.

We begin the morning with croissants (chocolat and natur), coffee, and the French Open. We pick up sandwiches, chocolate, fruit, saucisson, and comté. After a dizzying drive through Les Houches just south of Chamonix, we park the car and begin the hike.

We bid farewell to the sparkling Lake Como this morning, after a last minute coffee and some sugar cookies for the road. Our route took us south toward Milan, then northwest toward the mountains. We decided to cross the Alps via the Simplon Pass, a crossing in use since the Stone Age, but made famous during the reign of Napoleon

Began the morning driving through winding streets to the Sacri Monti of Ossuccio, a series of 17th century churches perched along an ancient cobblestone road. We climbed past all fourteen tiny chapels. each depicting a different scene in life-size wooden figures.

Started the morning in the tiny town grocery -- speck, bread, sugar cookies, croissants, and a wedge of fresh, creamy, decadent talleggio, almost unrecognizable next to the States' Whole Foods variety. A quick stop at a café in Tremezzo, then off on the winding road to Lugano. A roadside goat greets us as we pass into Switzerland.