Up and at em early as we are need to hit the A6 motorway, today being a Sunday means the motorway is truck free, they are not allowed on the road from midnight to 10.00 pm so the drive easy, we sit on 120 klms and watch them all zoom right past us. Beaune (pronounced Bone) is the heart of the red wine district of Burgandy or more correctly Côte d'Or.

Staying at Aunty Jean's place tonight - called Hotel au Grand St-Jean . The city centre, called Centre Historique is again very old with cobblestone lanes and allyways. Have a wander around in the morning, get wine touring route info and then set out to explore and understand this Pinot Noir grape region.

Well the back lane ways up in the hills have a smell about them, we wind down our windows to take the smell in, yes we work out what the smell is - it is the smell of money! The hills in them these parts are likened to liquid gold. The locals are very quite about it but the plots of vines are generally family held and under no circumstances release to outsiders. The plots are also generally surrounded by stone walls. 1 hectare of vines depending on the location can start at 300,000 euro and if in the Grand Cru area up to 3 million euro. Naturally, the cost of the bottles are related to the cost structure and can reach up to 7,000 euro per bottle with no shortage of takers world wide.

We decided to take on a wine route that that took us high into the hills but got lost (again), a guy in a car pulls up beside us and in broken English as our broken French is deplorable tells us that he lives close by and that we will never find our way out but with his help we may get to see another day! The people right throughout our trip thus far have been fantastic, if you engage with them they will generally go above and beyond to help out and let me tell you we have needed plenty of assistance .

Once back on the right track we head on the vins tourists trail, by some good luck rather than good fortune we come across the village in the low lying hills called Pommard. This area we find out is a premium area for Burgundy.

The wine tasting system is not like Australia at all, we have cellar doors at most winery's, here this type of operation would only make up say 5% of the operations. They all operate out of central locations, some a long way from the actual winery and the fruit may then also come from many different plots within the area. The outlets are called Caves du vins. In some places more than one company get together and promote maybe a particular town and their areas wines.

Anyway, back to our little nugget at Pommard. We go into one of these caves and start chatting with the lady Daphine who has been working this cave du vin for 12 local estate owners for 14 years, always a bonus for us is if their English is better than average by French standards . Our lucky streak continues, she explains all about the different areas within and how the different soil structures can effect the fruit, the soil is more rocky than you can possibly imagine and all the high quality fruit comes from very hilly landscapes. The Pommard village area also just so happens to have some of the very best vinerons in the world and as such also some of the best red wine going around.

We get chatting more and settle in as Daphine has a good understanding of Australia, particularly wine regions. She then goes to a back room and returns with a bottle of wine, it is a Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir! Paradigm Hill estate, she says that she knows the owner well and he gave this wine to her last time he was here. It turns out that the owners,George and Ruth have a villa here in the town and spend time here twice a year - as you do. When I said that I also live in the Mornington Peninsula, well the tourist tasting bottles were shoved to one side and the fine crus started hitting our tasting glasses .

As Norman once succinctly put it - Gold, Gold, Gold.

We did purchase as fine a bottle at the best value she could suggest, a Pommard 1st Cru, whilst not at Grand Cru status it was damn fine sipping up in the hills overlooking the vines and valley below with our standard daily fare of baguette, cheese and jambon.

The drive through the small villages which in many cases are nothing more than working areas are just so picture postcard, life on a day to day basis is standard for the local people but for those that brush through anything but, all that I can tell you is that the smell of money does not diminish and the only thing different is that the gold colour that flows out of the valleys is burgundy in colour.

Night in at a cheap hotel again, still a bed is a bed. More money to spend on posh Burgandy! I have promised John a special retreat for the last night in France tomorrow so need to work on this.