The Beaune Yard

Beaune France – Marche Aux Vins – Where it all started

This is where it all started.  This might be a long story, sorry Gart. 

On an infamous trip with too many stories to tell right now, I set out on an adventure of a lifetime with my best friend Dan and his brother Michael to go to Oktoberfest 04 via a week and half trip across Europe.  Yes, I am married to a rock star (who was 8 months pregnant at the time).  We started in Paris and rocked the city and then on a great tour across the continent and on our way to Ehrenstetten Germany, the Ruh hometown we stopped in Beaune France.  The idea was that we would go visit some wineries.  Right off of the train we stopped in one place that said essentially Thanks but no thanks (obviously in French) because we did not have an appointment.  Not to be deterred and now more determined than ever we found a little entrance that said that they were doing wine tastings.

At the front desk this nice young girl said that although it was lunch time and they would not guide us on a tour it was fairly self explanatory and we could go on our own.  We got our tasting cups and heading into a small area that had a stone stair case going down.  As we got to the bottom we found ourselves in a catacomb of wine with barrels and open bottles everywhere.  We thought we had outfoxed the wine lady, little did we know they had our number.

We weaved our way through the catacombs looking at the ancient wines in racks and tasting each and every style and vintage they had out.  It is a great way to learn wine and we had a ton of fun.  If one of the bottles was close to empty or empty there was a full rack right there and an opener to make your trip complete.  I dare say that at the end of the journey we were well served and very comfortable.

As we ended our trip through the wine vault we came out in an amazing church hall that was filled with the wines of Marche Aux Vin and met at the middle by a nice older gentleman who guided us to the largest wood table I have ever seen.  We sat like kings in giant wooden chairs while he explained to three fairly toasted Americans the history of Marche Aux Vins.  At the end we placed a well earned order and took a “premium bottle” for our train trip to the next city.

As a side note, there is nothing like living like a European.  Grabbing a bottle of wine, hitting a cheese shop and grabbing cheese and bread and then jumping a train and eating cheese, drinking wine and watching the country side go by.

It was a trip for the ages.  One the way out of town, Dan picked up an olive handled wine opener that is ceremonially used to this day as a reminder of one of the life’s checklist trips.  A trip to Oktoberfest is worth every minute/penny but a trip to Oktoberfest with a stop in Beaune is epic. 

Try Marche Aux Vins wine if you can get it and if not order it at their website it is worth the price.

Now you know why it is called the Beaune Yard.  

Remember that life is too short for bad wine or bad friends.

And as a tribute:  God hates a coward.