The Fox Force Four was back in Beaune, back at the beautiful Hotel de Remparts in the center of the city. Good to see the old friends, good to be back in Beaune. We were spoiled with 26 degrees celcius and sunshine, allowing us to spend a wonderful evening at the terrasse of a little place I found last year. Nothing fancy – but decent food. Uffe and I ordered 2 starters and waited a good 90 min for the Norwegians to arrive.
We had 5 tastings planned for the coming days, among those three new smaller wineries – with amazing wines as we would discover.
As it turned out the tastings were very successful, meaning there was a slight logistic problem, which good friends Pernille and Patrick solved by letting the Northern friends have a few square meters of their garage for a while.
Here are some impressions from the trip
Athos, D´Artagnan and Porthos at the cellars of Michel Caillot.
Aramis at the vineyards of Michel Caillot
“Brigitte Bardot” at our service…
Between two tastings we went back to the hotel and opened a bottle of red – well Julie (almost) did. Julie was besides being very pretty, also a sweet and service minded receptionist, – bus as we learned, – soon to go back to her real line of business, – a travel agent. So, the day we left it was also her last day at work 😦
Kjetil entertaining a group of very kind American and Canadian tourists.
As always the last evening we had our last dinner at Lameloise. I love Lameloise. I will never get tired of dining here. Its like coming home. The familiar faces of the staff and the warm welcome by Frederic Lamy.
Home sweet home…
We had hoped to find the nice Chicago couple we met at Cave Madeleine the evening before, because we understood they were set to dine here. I suspect an audible error – and they might have been dining at close by Levernois, I guess for an American – the twang – those can easily be mistaken – Levernois – Lameloise – but food wise – there is no compare. And we were in for the better part of that comparison. Still I hope you had a great stay and dinner dear Mary and Frank.
The top moment of the entire trip occured when Hubert, the sommelier asked us whether we had made our wine choices (from the great wine list).
I answered him, we will like the same as last year. A big smile was his reply, and he elaborated – I was hoping for that. Now that meant we gave him free hands too arrange some bottles to be tasted blind, and within a certain total price limit. He said, I have been thinking about it all day, which wines to choose etc. Now that is – beside the effort of checking or remembering – an outstanding level of service – and you are bound to feel special, and so we did.
Here are some shots from the menu
Champagne…
A little fois gras lollipop
Third round of amuses
Scallops and crab – still not started the menu.
Fois Gras with oxe-tail
Second best dish of the evening, what a dish.
Saint-Pierre
Lobster
The last piece of the best bread in the world.
As mentioned in my prior posts about Lameloise. This bread is to die for.
Langoustine
Lamb
Lameloise & Lamb – a perfect marriage. Always. Best dish of the evening.
At this point a personal issue arised – known by insiders as “The Chagny Situation” – the cheese would be my last dish of the evening. No sweets for me tonight – which is probably good for my hips – but cheese at Lameloise, is also always perfect selection and perfect maturity.
Kjetil choosing his selection.
What a drop, best wine of the evening. I almost had it, guessing Bonnes Mares.
So, dear Frederic Lamy and all your exceptional staff. There were absolutly no flaws this evening. Everything was perfect and as always, I hope to be back rather sooner than later. Please extend our thank you to the whole team. Eric Pras, thank you for a great meal. As good as it gets.
So this wraps up a great trip – well almost – because the following morning we had a last tasting at Mischief and Mayhem in Aloxe Corton where good friends – wonderful Fiona and warm Michael Bragg had prepared a brunch to go with their exceptional wines.
What more do you need a Sunday morning.
So, this was it – I shall leave you with a picture to fit the situation, Athos checking out…
The Three Musketeers..
Thanks for your friendship guys…see u around.
Food, Wine and Rock´n´roll 