Having had such an early start to get off the Saône we decided to finish our day at lunchtime, which meant just 9 locks and 15 kms along the canal. The lock keeper advised there was a nice halte in a small place called Rully so we took her advice and stopped.
What luck that we were right opposite a Vin Cave advertising degustation (tasting) of their wines and rum. Rum? The French don’t make rum! The owner of this cave does. Well, not strictly true, he buys white rum in Martinique and brings it back to while away several years, if not decades, in wine casks to give it depth of colour and taste, then he adds all sorts of spices and flavours to create a wonderful variety of white (Chardonnay casks) and dark (Pinot Noir casks) rums.
Having tasted most of the red wines on offer and 3 of the different rums we came away with 2 bottles of Rully Pinot Noir and a bottle of Flibustier Rhum, flavoured with ginger, orange, star anise and vanilla, among other delights.
Our host was Matil, a very knowledgable young lady who has chosen this for her career and is hoping to go to Bordeaux next year to learn about that particular wine region. We had a very enjoyable hour and a half and had a little snooze when we got back to the boat!
Adventures with Thirza 