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 15^th 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