Welcome to the Burgundy on a Plate (long overdue) wine and food blog!

There's no doubt about it. Burgundy has my heart (in fact, has had my heart since the 80's)!! Then I used to cook on hotel barges and had a great budget to play with! On the Canal du Midi, I could buy fresh produce from lockkeepers' gardens, pick my own peas and beans with the help of the passengers and even buy chickens for dinner that were still running around (the wringing of chickens' necks in front of american clients was certainly a new experience for most of them)!

But when I worked in the wine and gastronomic region of Burgundy, the sheer beauty of the Burgundy canal, the vineyard landscape around Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, the regional cuisine, the wonderful wine and the fascinating history of the area left a lasting impact on me.

The sad day I left Burgundy I told myself that one day I would come back and set up my own business. It took a long time and as I sat in meetings in my corporate and well paid job, my mind would often float back to Burgundy and wonder what I was doing in London!

So in 2005, I set off in my dutch barge 'Goede Verwachting' crossed the channel and took three weeks to arrive in Burgundy via various canals and rivers in the french waterway network. From there I endured one of the worst winters in Burgundy's recent history whilst putting my business together, gritting my teeth and shivering in my inadequately heated boat.

Burgundy on a Plate Wine and Food tours is the result and now a few years later in 2011 I am preparing for the 6th season. I've met some amazing people since I started, both amateur wine lovers and wine professionals alike. My background as a chef, particularly the couple of years cooking in Burgundy have served me well with Burgundy on a Plate. So I've survived and although it can be difficult with world events and the unpredicatable nature of tourism, I would not wish to be doing anything else!

http://www.burgundyonaplate.com

May 2013

I'm not very gifted on Blogger but I have decided to continue my Burgundy on a Plate Wine & Food tour blog!  So here I am two years after my first post and at the beginning of the new season 2013.  We have had the longest winter with lots of grey skies and rain.  Last weekend saw an unusual site in the vineyards - these ducks taking a swim in amongst the vines!  Photograph is courtesy of Domaine Chicotot in Nuits St Georges.

Apart from this, as you can see, the first leaves are appearing on the vines and as I write today we have warm sunshine which I hope will bring lots of visitors to Burgundy to enjoy one of my wine tours!

 The photo below is from the vineyards of Morey St Denis in the grand cru plot Clos de la Roche! Clos de la Roche is one of the grand crus that we taste on my wine tours in Cote de Nuits