May 20th..Mercurey

Today we kind of didn't have anything planned so we went down to the Tourism office and checked on a Saone River cruise.  Couldn't book until Sunday so we wandered around.  Still no idea of what we were going to do.  Got back in the car and started driving.

We ended up going to Mercurey which is due west of Chalon sur Saone.  Our Chateau has a sister Chateau in Mercurey so we searched it out.  We knew from speaking with our "landlord" that there is a winery next door to Chateau Mercurey.  We stopped in and Francois Raquillet (http://domaineraquillet.free.fr/navig.php3)  was finishing lunch with his wife.  He asked that we wait 10 minutes and then came out to show us his cellar and cave.  Unbelievable.  We checked out a few of his wines and then headed down to lunch on his recommendation.

This is where it gets good....The lunch restaurant, Le Charme (http://www.restaurant-lecharme.com/index.htm), was in a house and the proprietor and her husband tended to the food and service.  Sherry had the Beef Bourguignon WITH LASAGNA PASTA and I had chicken in cream sauce, which is a diet food around here.  Sherry ended up bonding with the wife who gave her the hand written recipe for the main dish, IN FRENCH.  All in all it was a great meal.

As we were leaving we stopped into Domaine Michel Juillot (http://www.domaine-michel-juillot.fr/) and went into their wines and cellar.  There are 1000's of these individual makers who never sniff the US market.

Oh yeah, London truly enjoyed it all and crashed out on the way home.

View from Le CHARME

 DOMAINE MICHEL JUILLOT

 FULL TUMMY BABY

A SPONGEBOB BEST DAY EVER MOMENT!!!!!!!