France Adventure, Day 6 – May 28, 2013 – Old and New Burgundy

Bonjour, toute le monde.  Hello, everybody.  Welcome back to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog.  We started our France adventure with a post May 23.  You can see the earlier posts by clicking on “Older Posts” at the bottom of the blog page.

Like I do almost every morning, I got up before Mary and went down the hill to the boulangerie in Ladoix-Serrigny.  Today, I thought the tartelette de pommes, apple tart, looked good.  Mary made a happy sound when she opened the bag, so I think it was a good choice.

Our tasting appointment was at Domaine Rossignol-Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin.  A few years ago I managed to obtain several bottles of the Rossignol-Trapet Latricieres-Chambertin 2004, which turned out to be a smash hit at a couple of wine events at our home.  I tried to get an appointment at the domaine a year ago but was unsuccessful, so I was delighted when they agreed to see us this year.

The Rossignol and Trapet families have produced wine in Burgundy for hundreds of years, dating back to the 1500s, but the Rossignol-Trapet domaine is quite young.  The brothers who run the domaine are the sons of a marriage of Jacques Rossignol and Mado Trapet.  They own vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin, Beaune, and Savigny-les-Beaune.

Their cellar and winery are very new by Burgundy standards, having been constructed only about 20 years ago and with a modern appearance on the outside.

A delightful young lady, Aurélie, who works for the Rossignols, took us to the cellar to taste through their wines.  The wines are stunning, complex, wonderful expressions of their sites.  I would be happy to buy them but, unfortunately, they are not exported to the U.S.  Aurélie said she would be glad to ship wines to us for €175 per case, but that’s too expensive for me.  I’ll just have to keep my eye out for it on auction sites, which is how I acquired the Latricieres-Chambertin a few years ago.

We went in search of lunch and moseyed into Chambolle-Musigny, another famous wine village in Burgundy.  This is a view down a hill to illustrate how the village is nestled against the hillside. 

 

 

 

 

 

We parked at l’eglise and noticed the door was open, so we took a look inside. 

 

The step at the door was engraved with a prayer, but it is too worn to make out, reflecting hundreds of years and the steps of countless churchgoers and visitors.  I can see the name Joseph and a reference to “the carpenter,” but that’s about it.  We can't tell if it's all French or if some of it is Latin.  If anybody reading the blog can shed more light, please comment!

This inscription on the wall inside the church is also hard to translate, but seems to indicate the church was built at least as far back as 1643.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The deterioration in the statue has to mean the church is very old.

Nice new hymn books are stacked just inside the church.  Mary, who was raised in the Catholic church and attended Catholic schools, immediately recognized this hymn.  “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.  Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.  Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”  The section headers in red are translated to “God is love,” “People, clap your hands,” and “Joy of my youth.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the beautiful stained glass above the altar. 

 

 

 

 

 

Vineyard workers’ huts like these are common in the vineyards of Burgundy.

This photo shows how little leafing has occurred so far because of the cold, wet spring.  A closer look below shows the vines have not bloomed fully, although a few tiny clusters are visible.

 

Crosses such as these are very common, a reflection of the role of the church in the earlier life of Burgundy.  Benedictine monks first established the abbeys and monasteries of Burgundy in the 900s.  The Cistercians came a bit later, in the 1100s, even more severe than the Benedictines.  A well-known wine journalist sometimes refers to especially austere wines as "Cistercian."  It was the Cistercians who determined over time that different sites produced wines with characteristics that were distinct from one another.  The monks demarcated and named the vineyards according to the expression of the wines they produced.  Geologists now know that as one vineyard ends and another begins, as determined by the monks centuries ago, there is usually a change in soil type and sometimes other physical characteristics.  Something else that is interesting about Burgundy is that the Cistercians planted only two grape varieties, one white and one red, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Over hundreds of years, they learned that Burgundy is best suited for these grapes and not others.  They believed that God spoke through the land and that blending with other grapes, as is usually done in other regions of France, would interfere with the expression of God’s message.  After the French revolution, the new government took the vineyards from the church and the nobility, but the crosses are still out there, watching over the vineyards, and they are still demarcated and named as they were by the Cistercians.

We went to Beaune for lunch at a brasserie on Place Carnot called La Concorde, which has the appearance of the way we think a brasserie should look.

 

We visited an art gallery after lunch, one of those that was closed Sunday.  We both liked a painting we saw at the first gallery, large enough to work over our fireplace at home, a beautiful French countryside landscape.  We agreed we’d be willing to pay a good price for it, perhaps $1,000 and have it crated and shipped to Plymouth, Michigan.  Inside we went, like we knew what we were doing, browsed around for a while, and asked the lady who was tending the gallery, Combien ça coûte?  How much does it cost?  Her reply was “dix mille euros.”  She repeated it in English, I guess because she noticed the astonished expression on my face.  “Ten thousand euros,” about $13,000.  We smiled, thanked her, and walked out into the rain.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner that evening was at Le P’tit Paradis in Beaune. 

 

 

 

 

 

We called ahead to make the reservation and when we arrived, guess what …

 

... we were the first to arrive.  We were greeted by three young women who were sitting on the stoop next door, smoking a cigarette.  One of them invited us to come on in.  In her best English she said, “Please wait for us.  We finish our smoke.”

In addition to la carte on the chalkboard, they were conveniently printed in both French and English.  As the restaurant filled, which accommodates only about 22 people, we could have been at a French restaurant in Chicago.  All but one table was populated by Americans. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a very nice time, though, starting with a Crémant de Bourgogne. 

 

 

 

Mary didn’t order an entrée first course, but nibbled on the pâté de thon avec croustillants, bread crisps and tuna spread. 

 

I had a sensational first course called Cocotte d’œuf au Lard et Crème d’Asperges avec Sucette de Parmesan, which translates to coddled egg with bacon and asparagus cream and a Parmesan cheese lollipop.  The eggs are poached in a cream layer on the bottom with the bacon and the cream of asparagus is on top.  This is a fabulous dish!  I’ve never had anything like it. 

 

And here’s the Parmesan lollipop.  I must say, it has been a long time since I've had a lollipop!

We both had Pavé de Charolais au Beurre d’Époisses, steak with a sauce of butter, cream, and Époisses.  Honestly, the steak was ordinary, but the cheese sauce was amazing!  It made the dinner … we both raved about it!  We want to try this at home.

 

Delphine, our delightful and witty server, said it is “old Époisses, new Époisses, and cream,” as if it is that easy.  We can’t wait to try it on a nice grilled ribeye, sitting with friends on our deck on a nice summer evening.

 

 

The wine was a Domaine Jean-Pierre Mugneret Vosne-Romanée 2004.  It was just the right age for a village-level wine.  Vosne-Romanée is known for wines of great elegance and I wasn’t sure it would stand up to a hearty steak dish, but Delphine was enthusiastic about the choice and it did just fine.

 

It showed that great Burgundy character of a combination of earthy notes, flowers, perhaps rose petals, and red and dark fruit aromas.  The palate was silky with a nice mouthfilling texture, good acidity and good structure to pair with the dish.  Flavors were mostly red and dark fruit, dark cherry, perhaps even plum.  It was beautifully balanced, elements of tannins, acidity, alcohol, and fruit in harmony.  The restaurant price was €63.

Mary had a delicious dessert of Tarte Chocolat-Praliné, Glace au Lait.  You can guess what I had …

 

...  assiette du fromage, assorted cheeses.

 

And coffee, of course.

 

It was a lovely evening.  The ambience, the food, Delphine’s personality, the location all combined for a memorable dinner.  We held hands and strolled to the end of Rue Paradis, where I turned around and took this picture with Le P’tit Paradis on the right.

 

The weather cleared up during dinner.  Our car was parked at the end of the street, which is where I took this photo of the sky over the Beaune rooftops, in the dusky twilight, not yet dark at 10:00 p.m.  A happy couple returned to the gite in Magny-les-Villers.

That’s our post for today.  We hope you enjoyed it.  Keep checking back at Cépage et Cuisine as we continue our France adventure.  In the meantime,

Cheers!

Mary♥Brian