Travel to Burgundy Wine Country

Today I want to take you on a trip to France, where my love of all things French began.  We are going to Burgundy wine country to a little village called Pommard.  

Mr. H and I went to France last summer and of the seven places we stayed, Pommard was my favorite.  Yes, I loved Paris' cosmopolitan vibe, its architecture, its culture, its fashion, its food!  But Pommard showed me the romantic countryside, the quiet slow-paced lifestyle of vineyards and wineries.  It's a very small village with a little over 500 inhabitants.  The closest town is Beaune which is about a 10 minute drive.  Pommard's main production is wine.

We stayed at Le Clos du Colombier, a bed and breakfast ran by a husband and wife team who were very hospitable and spoke excellent English.  Their property is surrounded by their vineyard.  One of the first things I noticed about Pommard was how fragrant the air was.  Lavender, herbs, and flowers mingled to create a soft scent that perfumed the entire village.

We enjoyed each evening sitting out amongst the grapes enjoying wine, cheese, and bread.

We took a tour of the Olivier LeFlaive winery and vineyards which is located in nearby Puligny-Montrachet.  Olivier LeFlaive is very highly regarded for its white wines.  I am more of a red wine drinker so I learned a lot about white wines on the tour.  We were fortunate enough to be guided by one of the LeFlaive brothers, Patrick.

The village was so quaint, peaceful and beautiful. I left a piece of my heart there.

Built-In Wine Cabinet

Wine! A drink I love to relax with.  Perfect to pair with almost any meal.  A must-have in our home.

When we moved into this house last fall we really missed the built-in wine rack that we had in our last house.  I just love the look of a built-in wine rack. To me it says "class", it says "elegance", it says "we are prepared to relax and unwind at any given moment."  It's built-in, it's part of the deal. 

All hope for a built-in wine cabinet was not lost because this house did have a built-in cabinet.  I think it was meant to store dishes, linens and towels.  I thought I could do something with the lower compartment, but what? 

Inspiration hit when we were dining at a restaurant in Downtown Denver. They stored their wine on shelves with long skinny dowels separating the wine.  I thought, "That looks so simple! I can do that!" 

          

Before                                                                                After

 

Here is what I did:

• Bought 1/2" thick boards and long wooden dowels that were 1"x 3/4".  I would have preferred 1" x 1" but they didn't have that size.  They come in varying lengths so you can just cut them down to size.  
• I asked Mr. H to cut everything to size for me (I admit I'm scared of power saws!) and I started assembling it.  I left the top shelf without dowels to store decanters and other wine-related items. 
• I used a manual staple/nail gun to fasten all the dowels to the shelves (okay, I'm scared of those air compressor nail guns too!)  A good tip is to cut a piece of wood to use as a spacer so your dowels are spaced evenly. 
• Lastly, I used a simple white paint from Home Depot in a semi-gloss finish and painted the rest of the cabinet as well. 

 

And now we have a built-in wine cabinet once more!

 Cheers!