France Adventure - May 17, 2012

Bonjour les amis du vin, la cuisine, et les voyages en France !  Hello, friends of wine, food, and travel in France!  Welcome to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog.  We’re back for what seems to be an annual wine, food, and cultural adventure in France (okay with me!).  Like most days in France, today began with a visit to the boulangerie et patisserie in Villers-les-Faye for a fresh croissant or pastry.  This one is la pêche, the peach.  Mary says that in contrast to typical American pastries, such as you might find at a bakery or Starbuck’s, Madame’s pastries are lighter and have less sugar.  In this photo you can see she enjoyed it with jus du clementine.

May 17 is a public and religious holiday in France and much of Europe, Ascension Day, commemorating the ascension of Jesus into heaven.  Actually, to be more correct, Ascension Day is the 40^th day of Easter, always a Thursday, but not always May 17.  Mary says in her Catholic growing up experience, “We always called it Ascension Thursday.”  Lots of establishments are closed today and even the supermarkets had restricted hours.  We went early to LeClerc to get what we needed for the next couple of days.

We picked up a saucisse for lunch, which Mary sliced and cooked a bit, and served it with a little Camembert and a fresh pear, a nice Burgundy lunch.

There were some places we saw on our drive yesterday that we decided we would like to visit, so we returned to the village of Concœur in the Hautes Cotes de Nuits (the upper Cotes). Like many Burgundy villages, it is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, down a country lane. This little shop, Fruirouge, is run by a family who has owned a farm in the community for four generations and grows berries for production into preserves, syrups, and juices. 

The shop is on a steep hillside in an old, old building.

Upon entry, the immediate aromatic impression was wood smoke, sweet fruit and preserves. A wood-burning stove was near the door. Ashes in front of it testified to its recent use as the weather in Burgundy has been chilly and wet. Old uprooted grapevines lie nearby as a source of fuel for the fire.  It is a perfect illustration that Burgundy is first and foremost a rural agricultural region. 

The shop was decorated in cheerful colors to complement the farm products.

The back room had a press that the owner says is over 100 years old, used for generations by the family to crush the fruit, and used that very day in vinegar production.

  Copper pans were visible in the kitchen.

Farm implements decorated the stone walls.

L’Or de Valois is a boutique that sells truffles products and other items from a farm near Corboin.

What was more interesting to us was the chateau which housed the shop, Château d’Entre-Deux-Monts, the "castle between two mountains." This chateau has an amazing history, the original structure on the left in the photo dating back almost 1,000 years (amazing!), according to the shopkeeper.  It was one of several chateaux that were built by the Dukes of Burgundy for defensive purposes.

In this photo you can see what remains of the moat which previously surrounded the chateau. The building to the right of the chateau is of indeterminate age, but at least a few hundred years.

The spaces in the wall in this photo were for gun placements, which means it was built after firearms were available.

Although not far in distance from Nuits-Saint-Georges, the estate is remote in its location and ambience, surrounded by blooming canola. We purchased a crushed truffle product in olive oil and some fresh apple juice from an orchard on the estate.

Walking to dinner in Nuits-Saint-Georges we passed l’eglise, the church, with its imposing tower and characteristic Burgundian tile roof pattern.

Au Caveau Nuiton was our dinner venue.  It is in a cellar below street level.  The server was not sure of the age.  I couldn’t tell if it was an ancient cellar, but if so, it has been restored, of course, and modern materials used such as mortar between the stones.  No matter, we had great fun.

In this photo you see Mary at our corner table. We were the only ones there. Our reservation was for 7:00 p.m. and we’re always the first to arrive. The French do not go to dinner until later. By 8:00, the place is pretty full and active, but we sometimes wonder why people start dinner so late. My theory is that they have more substantial lunches and don’t feel like dinner until later, but we definitely feel like the elderly early birds at 7:00.

Here she is again, intent on studying the carte, the menu.

Here’s the sign for the cave a vins (cave is pronounced with a short a sound, sort of like “kahv”), which is the wine cellar.

The evening began with an aperitif of Cremant de Bourgogne, as we did the previous evening at La Ciboulette.

To my surprise, the carte des vins, the wine list, included a couple of wines from the early 1990s, including this Domaine Clavalier Vosne-Romanée Les Brulées Premier Cru 1991. The price was not through the roof, so I inquired of the server about the longevity of the wine. She assured me it was still drinking quite well, so I took a chance on it.

You can see in these photos that it has been resting in the cave all these years, a dusty bottle and moldy label. I’ll describe the wine later in the post, but for now I’ll just say we were delighted.

Mary ordered a menu selection. In France, a “menu” is what we would call in the U.S. a prix fixe, a fixed fee dinner with a limited selection of a first course “entrée,” the main course “plat,” and either a cheese fromage or dessert course. Her first course was chausson Chèvre et épinard, sort of a pastry turnover of spinach and goat cheese. Take a look at the next few photos and guess for yourself how she liked it.

I ordered a la carte, and chose escargots. I rarely get to enjoy them at home, even when traveling, so I decided to get my fill of them for a while on this trip. These were en coquille, in the shell.

I’m not all that proficient at using the snail tongs and snail fork, but you can see the progression of steps. I did manage to extract and enjoy them all without snapping one of them across the room, like in Pretty Woman (slippery little suckers!).

Like all French restaurant, bistro, or brasserie experiences, there is always the bread.

Mary’s plat was coq au vin, chicken braised in a red wine reduction, in this case a red Burgundy. This photo does not do justice to the dish because of the depth of the wine reduction and the color of the braised chicken, but Mary pronounced it the best she’s ever had. I didn’t try it, but it looked quite different from the Julia Child version Mary prepares at home, which is a more elaborate stewing of the chicken with lots of vegetables and stock and which I enjoy very much.

Mary raved about the wine reduction, which I said looked perfect for sopping.  If I could eat the French bread, I would definitely sop a sauce like that.  Mary said, “I’m not much of a sopper,” but I said, “It’s biblical!” She claimed to have not heard of a biblical reference to “sopping,” so sister Faye, if you’re reading this, please email Mary with one or more specific Bible references to sopping. In fact, she did, at last, tear a piece of the bread and dipped it in the sauce, pronouncing it delicious.

My main course was a faux filet de boeuf avec sauce Époisses, a sirloin strip with a cream sauce made from Époisses, one of my favorite cheeses, made here in Burgundy in and near the town of the same name.

Both dinners also included a delightful sauce of cream and parsley, which I actually preferred to the Époisses sauce.  In fact, I'm going to say here that I think Americans have the advantage over the French when it comes to steak.  I can grill a steak at home that is every bit as good or better than this steak, and certainly in a fine restaurant at home you can get excellent steak.  The one thing the French do better than we do is portion control.  Their portions are generally smaller than ours, which is a good thing.  On the other hand, when was the last time you saw a ribeye the size of a deck of cards?

Dessert for Mary was compote de pomme avec petit biscuit. It sounded so good, so French, but turned out to be apple sauce with a cookie. We both got a good laugh out of that.

I had assiette de trois fromages régionaux, a selection of three local cheeses. One was Époisses, one was a goat cheese, and I can’t remember the third.

We both had coffee, of course.

Back to the wine.  It had plenty of life remaining after 20 years, plenty of energy, but the aromas and flavors were different from a young red wine.  Instead of exuberant fresh fruit, the aromas were tertiary with notes of earth, forest floor, crushed leaves, and spices.  The palate showed a silky smoothness, good acidity, medium body, and similar flavors of citrus peel, dried cherries, red currant, spices, and mineral notes.  It was beautifully balanced, complex, with medium length.  It was a thrill to get this during our Burgundy visit.  13.0% alcohol.

We were the first to arrive at Au Caveau Nuiton, but not the first to leave.  It wasn't the most compelling dining experience we've had in France or the U.S.  It was interesting and enjoyable.  Mary's first course and main course were delicious.  The wine was amazing.  My escargots were delicious.  The steak was fine, but not exceptional in any way.

A wonderful and important difference between dining in France and in the U.S. is that the table is yours for the evening.  The restaurant offers reservations only for the number of tables available, one party for each table per evening.  They have no expectation of “turning” the table for multiple parties.  If you take less than two hours for a meal, you’re rushing.  The expectation is to arrive at a leisurely hour, relax, enjoy the ambience, have conversation, think about the food, the wine, the person who dines with you, the experience, spend the evening, take your time.  It is altogether satisfying.  Of course, we eat at many restaurants in the U.S. and have wonderful, slow meals without rushing, but it is more culturally normal here, I think.

That’s our post for today.  We hope you enjoyed it.  It was another wonderful day with my wonderful wife.  Check back soon for another post at Cépage et Cuisine.  In the meantime,

Cheers!

Mary♥Brian

P.S.  We’re still having problems with reliable Internet connectivity, especially in the evening when I would normally post to the blog.  We will write whenever we can.