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Australia, and Dr. Charles (Chuck) Peterson and his wife, Julie, from
South Bend, Indiana. Their trip took them from Chicago to Paris for
two days, a week aboard the Aprés Tout, and back to Paris for two more
days before departing for Chicago. My wife, Helen (who is French),
and I are spending seven weeks in Europe, centered around this six-
day cruise on a canal system that once served as the major method of
transport and delivery in France.
The four-person crew consists of Rory and Caroline Macrae,
Hannah Sheridan, and Nick Borland. Rory and Caroline are married
and own the business; Nick is a longtime friend of Rory’s and has an
extensive working knowledge of wine and food; Hannah is a recent (and
seamless) addition whose functions are varied and critical to the smooth
operation of the Aprés Tout.
The three comfortable and inviting staterooms (approximately 12
feet x 13 feet) have house-size ceilings (7 feet, 2 inches), are smartly
decorated, and each has a full bathroom including a walk-in shower
that is better than those found in many European hotels: water is
consistently hot and the flow is strong. Lighting is excellent; toiletries
are by Occitane. Guests can choose what Rory has dubbed “Emperor”-
sized beds (known as king-sized to most of us), or two comfortable and
firm twin beds; there are good reading lights on both sides.
Other amenities include Wi-Fi throughout the craft, and an
abundance of lights and electrical outlets. The air-conditioning –
particularly in the staterooms, but throughout – was excellent, quiet,
and
extremely
welcome due to the unusually hot early June weather we
experienced.
The salon, which serves as the guests’ living room, and the
The first night aboard the Aprés Tout, we traveled on the Saône River for a
sunset dinner (from left) Chuck Peterson, Nick Borland, and Julie Peterson
The medieval Clos de Vougeot was purchased in 1929 by a group of
wine merchants calling themselves Confrerie des Chevaliers du Taste-
vin (loosely, the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Wine-Tasting Cup);
it is also where the prestigious Chevaliers du Tastevin award the best
of Cote d’Or wines yearly, and where we boarded a couple WWII
Jeeps to plough through its vineyards; I drove one of the Jeeps.
Thierry Bezeux, owner of L’Or des
Valois, with his truffle hunting dog
Elf; Mr. Bezeux created a “truffle
orchard” by planting seeds in the
limestone soil mixed with ground-
up truffle spores. The hope is that
the spores will cling to
the microfilaments that
attach themselves to the
root system of the trees and will disseminate into the soil.
“Provided that you have the right amount of rainfall and it
comes at the right time of the year,” he says, “you may have a
good truffle harvest.”
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