May 24, 2016 – The People
and the Land
Hi again, bonjour à tous, and welcome back to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s blog
about wine, food, culture, people, and place.
Burgundy is a relatively
small region in France. Most communities
are quiet farming villages, practically within walking distance, one to the
next. The economy is based heavily on
agriculture. Our village,
Magny-les-Villers, is very small, only deux
cent habitant, 200 people. As I
walked out of the gite early this
morning to go the boulangerie, I was struck by the quiet beauty of Marie’s and
Yves’ home.
They have their garden
planted to various fruits and vegetables. Marie
hangs her laundry on a clothesline in the garden.
The vineyard just beyond
their garden has grazing horses between the rows.
The attachment of the Burgundians
to their place is beautiful to see. Of
course, we in America have family homes, beautiful gardens, and deep attachments
to our place, too, but Burgundy and all of France and Europe are just older
places. The church just steps from the gite dates to the Roman era of Gaul,
older than any manmade object in America with the possible exception of native
American burial mounds. Many families
date their homes back more than a dozen generations. We’ve met vignerons who are the 15th
generation to grow grapes on the same property.
Agricultural products in France,
whether wine or cheese or anything else, are identified mainly by their place
of origin, not the people who made it. Look
at this wine label. It doesn’t say
Chardonnay, the name of the grape. It
says Volnay, the name of the village, and Santenots, the name of the vineyard
where the grapes were grown. The place
gives the wine its unique character, different from any other place on earth.
This is the Hill of
Corton with its famous crest of woods, just a couple of minutes from our gite.
The vineyard on the left of the photo, still in the shadow of the
morning sun, is Corton-Charlemagne, one of the most prized Chardonnay vineyards
in the world.
Our little boulangerie in
Ladoix-Serrigny is typical of many in France, offering an array of breads and
pastries.
Mary’s choice today was a
tarte aux pommes.
Before our estate visit
of the day, we went back to Bar L’Etoile in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Here’s a photo of a classic dish in Burgundy,
œufs-en-murette, which is eggs poached in a reduction sauce of Pinot Noir,
onions, bacon, and mushrooms. This photo
does not do justice to how delicious they are, especially along with a side of pomme frites, good old French fries.
We visited Domaine
Collotte, a small producer in Marsannay.
We’ve gotten their Bourgogne from Morgan & York, our favorite deli
in Ann Arbor.
We were met by Isabelle
Collotte, the fourth generation of her family to produce wine from the
domaine. Isabelle’s story is quite
interesting. She attended school in
Beaune for viticulture and enology, studying there for six years before taking
over the estate in Marsannay.
Amazingly, she is not yet
age 23, but has been working and training at the estate and at school. Already, she has seven vintages of
experience.
All of her wines are
delightful. The family owns small
parcels in Marsannay, Fixin (pronounced Fee-sawn), and Chambolle-Musigny. You can see in this photo they also produce a
rosé, which is common only in Marsannay.
Burgundy suffered a hard
freeze the morning of April 26, damaging the budding vines. It is the worst freeze at this time of year
in over 30 years with crop yields to be severely reduced as a result. Domaine Collotte’s yields will be reduced by
80-100%, depending on the exact location of each vineyard. They are not a large producer in the first
place, so a weather development such as this is a financial catastrophe for
them. Yields in the past few years have
also been reduced because of hail and other weather factors. The Burgundians are overdue for a good
vintage with good weather. Undoubtedly,
prices will go up again.
Walking around Marsannay
after our visit at Domaine Collotte, we wandered into the mayor’s office. There is a list of past mayors, dating to
1780, which predates even the French revolution!
Driving back to the gite,
we stopped by the famous vineyards of Vosne-Romanée. Here’s Richebourg.
La Romanée-Conti, like
many grand cru sites, attracts a great deal of wine tourism. The vineyards are carefully managed and the
owners don’t really want people just walking through them.
These are pampered
vines that grow pampered grapes. No
mechanized equipment is allowed.
Turning
of the soil is handled by horse and plow in a way that brings to mind another
time. No insecticides, herbicides, or
fertilizers are applied. It is all very
natural, which is a much more expensive way to farm.
This cross at the edge of
La Romanée-Conti was placed in 1723.
Crosses like this are common throughout France, a reflection of the
influence and power of the monks and the church before the revolution.
And here’s a view of the
village of Vosne-Romanée. You can see
these are small communities.
We scheduled a wine
pairing dinner at Domaine Olivier Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet for the
evening. It was sort of like the lunch
at Domaine Trapet except with mostly white wine. An item you see here in this photo is the
container for spitting. Spitting is very
common here in France, and necessary when tasting through nine wines before
dinner, the same nine wines with food, then driving home late at night on
narrow French roads. Like most
Americans, Mary is uncomfortable with the idea of spitting, so she takes a sip
and then pours the rest into the container.
We tasted through the
range of Bourgogne, village wines from Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and
Chassagne-Montrachet ...
...then premier cru wines from the same villages.
Once again, the
differences from place to place were readily apparent. The grapes are all from the same varietal,
Chardonnay with its characteristic citrus, tree fruit, and mineral character, picked at approximately the same time, vinified in the same
manner. The differences in how they are
experienced can be explained only by the sites of origin, the French concept of
terroir. For example,
Chassagne-Montrachet has more clay and more density of soil, which holds water
and tends to convey a rounder, richer quality in the mouth than grapes from the
more sandy and well-drained soils of Meursault.
The food for the evening
included a first course of smoked salmon with whipped goat cheese in a citrus
sauce and diced vegetables.
The main course was pork
tenderloin with whole and pureed sweet peas and sliced almonds.
The main dish was served
with two red premier cru wines from Meursault and Volnay.
Mary finished off with a
raspberry sorbet and I had my usual
cheese course.
Like our previous
experiences, this was a long, leisurely meal experience in the French style over
an evening, talking about each wine and food course, our experiences of the day
and plans for the coming days, enjoying my wife’s company. Our reservation was at 7:30 p.m. and we left
after 10:00 p.m.
Remember the three
purposes … bring pleasure, enhancing food, shared with friends or someone you
love.
That’s our post for
today. We hope you enjoyed it and found
it interesting. Thanks for reading us at
Cépage et Cuisine. And thanks for the supportive comments. Knowing that you’re reading the blog keeps us
motivated to post. In the meantime,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
