Day 4-Burgundy-Dinner at Bistro d' Hotel

Right before dinner we tasted one of Kermit's Champagne producers at the hotel. J. Lassale. Joules Lassale is the founder and his widow took over and she asked her daughter to help with the winemaking. Her granddaughter helps run the business today, so it is a female run Champagne house.

Tasting order:
Brut Reserve N/V Cachet D'or-only made for US-means gold-blend of '05 & '04
N/V Imperial Preference-blend of '04 & '03
Brut Rose-really good-85% Pinot Noir
2002 J. Lassale Blanc de Blanc-also good
2002 Special Club Late Disgorged-comes in an old school bottle-60% Chardonnay/40% Pinot Noir
N/V Blanc de Blanc-aged in wood and undergoes malolactic fermentation
N/V Blanc de Blanc Xtra Brut
N/V Grand Reserve Brut-80% Chardonnay/20% Pinot Noir-base of '06 w/ 20-30% '05 & '04
1985 Brut Rose
N/V Cuvee R
2002 Blanc de Blanc-Pure chalk soil
2002 Cuvee 'Angeline'-60% Pinot Noir/40% Chardonnay

Dinner tonight was at a quaint restaurant in Burgundy that the group always goes to. They allow us to bring our own wine and we each winemaker we have visited thus far has donated some older vintage stuff to drink. Before dinner, we had some free time, so I wandered around Beaune, (almost getting lost). Beaune is a great shopping city and has a lot of interesting shops. I picked up a couple Cuban cigars today and smoked one after dinner in the courtyard of the hotel. It started snowing heavily while I was smoking, so I moved to an inner courtyard with a roof to finish smoking, which must be really nice in the summer. I had an Escargot Pot Pie, essentially, and some grilled scallops for dinner.

Wines at the table:
2006 Domaine la Cadette La Chateleine
2003 Domaine Savary Chablis
1997 Domaine Lavantureux
2000 Bernard Raveneau Montee de Tonnerre, 1er Cru
2003 Gomaine Gachot-Minot Cotes de Nuits Village
2002 Lucien Boillot Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles
2002 Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee 'Les Chaumes' 1er Cru
2001 Maume Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru
2000 Domaine Francois Berthau Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru
2000 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-St-George 'Les Perrieres'
1989 Pierre Guillemot Savigny-Les-Beaune 'Les Serpentiere'
2005 Bizot Vosne-Romanee Vielles Vignes