May 26, 2016 - Wine, Food, and Friends ... Especially Friends

May 26, 2016 – Wine, Food, and Friends … Especially Friends

Hi, everybody, and welcome to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s blog about wine, food, culture, and people.

Today, our last full day in Burgundy, was a day to experience local products and spend some time with Marie and Yves Zecchini, the owners of our gite who also live on the property.

We started our day by visiting Fromagerie Gaugry, a cheese producing facility in Brochon, about 20 minutes from us.  As you have seen from almost all of our posts, cheese is important to French cuisine, both in cooking and as a course on its own at meals.

The fromagerie produces a variety of cheeses, but the most famous is Époisses, named for the town in Burgundy where this washed rind cheese was first made.  

Gaugry is the only producer in Burgundy that continues to make raw milk Époisses.

Mary enjoyed a sample of their cheeses.  Although Époisses is often regarded as a “stinky” cheese, Mary thought the Gaugry cheese was milder than the Époisses we enjoy at home.  Perhaps that is because it is much fresher and not made from pasteurized milk.

Marie and Yves Zecchini own the gite and live on the property.  Over the years they have become friends.  We know their children and grandchildren and exchange messages with them all through the year.  They invited us to share lunch with them today.

We all went to La Bouzerotte, a small restaurant in a small, rural village called Bouze-lés-Beaune.

Yves began the lunch by ordering this Saint Romain blanc, which was delicious.

He also ordered this Santenay Comme to accompany the main course.

Mary ordered a dish called la meurette d’œuf au Brillât-Savarin, eggs poached in a sauce of the cheese of the same name, also including thin slices of smoked duck.

My dish was a fish, maybe seabass, with chorizo, lentils, mushrooms, and a crème de moutarde, a mustard cream sauce, all delicious, of course.

Yves, affectionately called Bidou by Marie and all their friends, is a man of the earth.  When his course of steak arrived, he dismissed the knife that was provided in the place setting and instead produced his own bone-handled blade, used it for lunch, wiped it with his napkin, and closed and returned it to his pocket.

Yves had rum cake for dessert and I recorded this playful video.

What a fun afternoon we shared with these wonderful people.  It is so gratifying to have developed this relationship that now endures.  The people are part of what is so enjoyable about coming here.  And whether we're talking about the beauty of the world around us, friends, family, or others whom we love, relationships are what life is all about, isn’t it?

After lunch we all went to Tonellerie Remond, a barrel cooperage in Ladoix-Serrigny.  Marie arranged the visit at our request.

Tonellerie Remond is a major producer of wine barrels with a worldwide distribution.  We learned they have an office in Sonoma, California although all the production is here in Ladoix.

Here are staves curing outside, which takes two years.

In this photo, you see one of the supervisors showing Marie that oak from different forests has different grains, fine-grained or tight-grained.

Here’s a closer look at the differences in wood grain.  Tighter grain imparts a more subtle oak influence to wine.  Wine producers decide what type of grain they want in order to produce the desired expression of wine.

Here are unfinished barrels beginning to take shape.

This video shows how the staves are molded to a uniform level.

The barrels are placed over these flame torches to toast the inside of the barrels.  The degree of toast is also decided by the wine producer.  Toasting is done at Tonellerie Remond during the morning, so we didn't see that part of the process.

This one is almost ready.  It just needs some sanding.

And these are ready to go.

After such an elaborate lunch, the last thing we wanted late in the day was a big dinner.  We went to the nearby village of Pernand-Vergelesses to a neighborhood bar and just ordered a burger and fries, served without a bun and called steak haché et frites.  We had the entire place to ourselves.

Here’s a view of Corton-Charlemagne, snapped from the terrace of the restaurant.  Tomorrow, we transfer to Champagne, stopping on the way in Chablis.  I always feel a little wistful on the evening before we depart from here because of our affection for the place, the people, the geography, the culture.  We’re both looking forward to our next stop, though.  Neither of us has ever been to Champagne.

That’s our post for today.  Thanks for reading Cépage et Cuisine and thanks for your encouraging comments.  Keeping checking back for new posts.  Our Champagne experience is bound to be exciting.  Mary loves, loves, loves Champagne!  In the meantime,

Cheers!

Mary♥Brian