Noyers, Irancy

After a fabulous breakfast at the Abbey

And some "bouncy-bounce"

Chloe and Stephanie took the kids to a dino park in the morning while I went for a ride (Footage of the Abbey at the end!):



I had a somewhat disastrous series of tire blowouts, but it was still really pleasant riding.

 The Yonne river is still maintained as a throughway for boats, complete with operational locks.  It looks like a lot of people spend their vacations on the river and it reminded me of an article that I read a long time ago about Americans renting and buying barges, which I can't seem to find.  I did find this one though, which specifically mentions the Yonne river.  Anyway, after a lot of time on the side of the road, I eventually made it back to the Abbey, and spent some time looking for wineries on the web.  I also discovered that we were near another of the plus beaux villages de France called Noyers.

 We packed everyone up and drove the sinous and remarkably vineyard free countryside to Noyers, a pretty village with half timbered houses built along a bend in the Serein river.  After drinks and snacks, I took the kids down to the promenade by the river and we watched fat fish swim by a very frustrated looking fisherman.  We decided that one particular fish was the "chef des poissons" and tried to convince chloe to dive in to catch him/her.
From there, we went to a relatively unknown wine region known as Irancy.  The region had, once upon a time produced wine for the royal court, but after the Phylloxerra plague and some other problems (mold?  I can't remember) they apparently re-planted with plonk producing wines.  In recent years though, they have replanted with pinot noir and invested in an AOC certification.

After a tasting, we bought a few bottles from the Serge Bienvenu cave.  There were a few notices up on the wall proudly proclaiming their non-organicness!

Finally, back to the estate, where I took some photos:

And then we went to dinner in nearby Vermenton