Sunday, May 29, 2016

The People and the Land

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

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Food, Wine and Someone You Love

May 23, 2016 – Food and Wine

Hi, again, everybody and welcome back to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s blog about wine, food, culture, people, and geography.
Let’s begin with the premise that wine serves three main purposes.  First, it brings pleasure.  Second, it enhances food.  Third, it is shared with friends or someone you love.  It isn’t a cocktail and alcohol is not the point.  It is part of a civilized and balanced life, integrated in moderation with other elements of enjoyment, not consumed to the point of intoxication.  I also like to say that what grows together goes together.  The traditional dishes of Burgundian cuisine are meant for pairing with the wines of Burgundy.  The same can be said for other regions of the world.

A few producers in Burgundy highlight their wines in combination with food at their cellars and even in their homes.  We try to visit at least one of these every year.  
This year we returned for our second visit to the maison of Domaine Jean et Jean-Louis Trapet in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin.  The Trapet family also owns an estate in Alsace, so they include those wines in the meal, too.

These are lunchtime affairs that are meant to be enjoyed slowly over a couple of hours with friends and family.  Today was chilly in Burgundy and there was a crackling wood fire in the giant fireplace of the old home, which we could smell as we entered the estate through the gate.



We settled in at our table …

… and began with a tasting of two grand cru Alsace Rieslings, one from the Schoenenbourg vineyard near the town of Riquewhir where we vacationed a few years ago.  I have memories of going jogging in that vineyard.  The other was from the Schlossberg vineyard a few kilometers away.
Both wines were clean, crisp, and refreshing, but we agreed we could tell a difference between them.  The Schoenenbourg definitely showed more peach and apple fruit, while the Schlossberg was more minerally and not as fruity.  Both wines are bone dry, both harvested around the same time of the same year, both vinified using essentially the same techniques.  The differences can be explained only by the soil and other characteristics of the sites where the grapes are grown.  This concept is known in French as terroir, which basically means the expression of the place.

When you think of it, the relationship of the place to how something is experienced makes perfect sense. When we lived in Mississippi, watermelon from Smith County was especially prized.  In Michigan, apples from particular orchards taste different from others and cherries from northern Michigan are considered the best.  Mary has talked fondly of Gravenstein apples that were grown around Sebastopol in Sonoma County as being special.


Gougéres arrived with the Riesling, then the first course was prosciutto and the reds started coming out.

The presentation of the reds progressed from village to grand cru.  Briefly, the wines of Burgundy are classified this way, keeping in mind that the whites are Chardonnay and the reds are Pinot Noir.

1. At the base is Bourgogne.  Grapes for a Bourgogne can come from anywhere in Burgundy.

2. The next level up is village wine (pronounced vee-LAGE).  Grapes must come from within the area of a specific village such as Gevrey-Chambertin.  These wines have a little more specificity of character than a Bourgogne.

3. The next level up is premier cru.  These wines come from specific sites that are classified as among the best, express great character and depth, and are much more expensive.  There are hundreds of these vineyards, but some are tiny and only 11-12% of all wines from Burgundy are premier cru.  These are definitely special occasion or at least weekend wines, not everyday sippers.

4. The top level is grand cru.  Now it’s show off time.  There are only 33 of these vineyards so the supply to the world is very small, the demand is high, and prices can be through the roof.  These wines have such distinction of site that only the vineyard name appears on the label.  Not even the village name where the vineyard is located appears.  To say these are special occasion wines is an understatement.  These are wines that demand something of the consumer.  These are definitely not wines that are drunk casually with your hand around the bowl of the glass while talking about how your day went.  When you’re drinking a grand cru, the wine is the star of the show, the focus of attention.  Only 2% of all wine produced in Burgundy is a grand cru.
Back to Domaine Trapet.  The reds started with a Gevrey-Chambertin village and a Gevrey-Chambertin premier cru, indicated on the label as “1er.”  Gevrey wines are very structured, masculine wines that need a little time to open and reveal themselves and pair well with hearty food.  That’s what these wines showed, especially at such a young age.  The red and dark fruit notes are prominent and the tannins still quite grainy.

Our host brought out the main course of boeuf bourguignon, a Burgundy specialty that was perfect for a chilly, drizzly day in a centuries-old house in front of a warm fire.

The potatoes were served in these cute little enameled cast iron pots.



I'd love to have some of these at home.

Three grands cru came out, two of them very young, a Chapelle-Chambertin and a Latricieres-Chambertin, really much too young to show their full potential.  Even so, they both showed much more depth and intensity than the village and premier cru wines.
The real treat was the 1996 Chambertin, the most prestigious vineyard of the village and the vineyard name that is attached to the village name, Gevrey-Chambertin.

A mature wine like this is a revelation.  After 20 years, some of the exuberant red cherry, berry, plum and currant notes of its youth have diminished.  Instead, a perfume of fresh earth, underbrush, forest floor, and dried flowers is more prominent, like walking through the woods on an autumn day.  The tannins are settled to a silky, mouthcoating texture and a lingering finish that goes on and on after the wine is gone.  A wine experience like this is a memory to treasure.  We may have tasted a mature Chambertin at some point in the past and we’ve had mature grand cru many times, but I don’t remember tasting this particular wine before.  It’s really out of our price range.  The current market value for an older Chambertin is up to $1,000, depending on the reputation of the producer.

A great finish to a meal like this is a cheese course.  Here we have an Époisses and a Comté.  The Époisses is Burgundian and the Comté is from the Franche- Comté region just to the east.




The cheese was accompanied by a Gewurztraminer, a dessert-style wine of Alsace.



Finally, an espresso finished off a wonderful food and wine experience in Burgundy.




Here are pretty iris growing in the nearby Clos de Beze vineyard.

Later in the afternoon we visited Domaine Bouhey in the village adjacent to us, Villers-les-Faye, just to pick up a wine for dinner in the gite.
We tasted the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune and Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and took home a bottle of the Haute-Côtes de Nuits.


After such a lunch at Domaine Trapet, dinner was a snack of charcuterie, fruit, and cheese at the gite.

Here’s the Domaine Bouhey Hautes- Côtes de Nuits, fresh and fruity with red berries and cherry notes.  Not profound at all, but an easy wine to enjoy with a casual meal.  The price is only €6.80, about $8.00.

That’s our post for today.  Thanks for reading Cépage et Cuisine.  Thanks especially for your encouraging comments.  Keep checking back and in the meantime,

Cheers!

Mary♥Brian