The sun is shining and
the temperature is pleasant! It has been
cold and wet here in Burgundy, so a day like today is a welcome respite. Yves came outside to greet us with a big
smile. Il fait du soleil! The sun
is shining!
Here's a photo of Marie’s
and Yves’ house, which is on the property with the gite where we are staying.
The picture at the top of the post is their back yard. The photo below shows pansies growing from between the rocks on the wall of the stairs leading to their door.
If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ve surmised that gite is what we call a vacation rental
house or cottage in English. It is
pronounced with a soft “g” sound, like “zheet.”
These are often a good value and can be fully equipped. Ours has a complete kitchen with a four
burner cooktop, oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer, two bedrooms, two baths,
Internet access, linens, everything we need.
Magny-les-Villers is about a 10 minute drive to Beaune where all
necessary amenities can be found. The
cost for nine days is €550, which translates to about $720 at the current
exchange rate, about $80 per day. Can’t
beat that.
Today was Chablis
day. We always plan a day to drive to
this northernmost region of Burgundy, about an hour and a half up the A6 AutoRoute
from Beaune. It is also about the
northernmost region of France where grapes for premium still wine will
ripen. Alsace is at about the same
latitude. Champagne is farther north,
but produces only sparkling wine.
We love visiting Chablis. Mary loves the vibe of the place, the small
town atmosphere, the architectural style, the white, chalky soil and appearance
of the structures. Chablis produces only
white wine, only from Chardonnay, from vines grown on soil called Kimmeridgian. The area was under water in ancient times and
the soil is composed of limestone from decaying fossilized sea shells. The soil, along with the climate and other
characteristics, conveys a fresh, minerally, citrusy, highly perfumed quality
to the wines. The wines are usually
vinified without much oak barrel influence so the mineral and fruit notes come
through more clearly. Another nice thing
about the wines of Chablis is their value in comparison to many of the great
white Burgundies, which can be expensive.
Our only tasting appointment of
the day was at Domaine Louis Michel (pronounced like Louie Michelle), a
well-known but still fairly small producer in Chablis. Like many Burgundy estates, the domaine has
been in the same family for generations, nearly 200 years. Their wines see no oak barrels at all, only
stainless steel tanks. The style of
wines is classically Chablis, crisp, clean, with fresh acidity, stony
minerality, and citrus and tree fruit notes.
Pascale tasted us through the wines, progressing from Chablis village to premier cru. Recent vintages have produced low yields because of the weather, so she could not pour any of the grand cru wines.
For lunch, I wanted to
find a restaurant that served an appetizer I especially love in Burgundy called
œufs en meurette, which are eggs
poached in red wine with herbs and bacon.
A nice lady in the tourism office suggested La Feuilette.
The street where the
restaurant is found is a typical, narrow Burgundy village street, practically
what we would call a back alley in the U.S.
While walking around, we saw this car parked in the street with its doors open, illustrating how narrow the streets can be, about the width of a parking place at a typical American shopping mall. Imagine trying to pass an oncoming vehicle! Somehow, they manage it.
While walking around, we saw this car parked in the street with its doors open, illustrating how narrow the streets can be, about the width of a parking place at a typical American shopping mall. Imagine trying to pass an oncoming vehicle! Somehow, they manage it.
We always seem to be the
first to arrive. At noon or so for lunch or 7:00 for dinner, our normal mealtimes are
earlier than most French restaurant patrons.
While we were sitting here, alone, someone walked in without a
reservation and was turned away because all the tables were reserved. Sure enough, within a half-hour, the place
was completely full.
Here I am, studying the
menu, called la carte in French. The “menu” is actually a three course meal in
France, an appetizer, called an entrée,
a main course, called la plat, and
cheese or dessert.
Mary didn’t want a complete meal, so she had a salad of greens, beef carpaccio, hard-boiled egg, and tomatoes. Here she is, waiting on wine and food.
Mary didn’t want a complete meal, so she had a salad of greens, beef carpaccio, hard-boiled egg, and tomatoes. Here she is, waiting on wine and food.
I had my œufs en meurette à la Bourguignonne,
which were delicious.
The plat was baked whitefish in a fennel
cream sauce with carrots, fennel, and celery, very inventive.
The wine was local
Chablis, unlabeled, inexpensive, delicious. At first, we thought it was a water bottle, but the water was brought later in a pitcher. I watched the server dispense the wine for other patrons. It basically came from a spigot on a very large bulk container.
After lunch, we drove to
the top of the grand cru vineyards of Chablis.
We come up here every year to take photos and enjoy the view. The grand cru vineyards enjoy a beautiful southwest
exposure and the soil clearly shows the white, chalky limestone. Blooming canola is seen in the distance and the
rooftops and steeples of the town below.
The two photos above are the Les Clos grand cru of Chablis. For some reason, it is the Chablis grand cru I see most often in American wine shops. If you want to splurge on a very high quality Chablis at this level, Les Clos is a good bet. Pair it with shellfish or a flaky white fish preparation on a weekend or special occasion with someone you love and I promise you won't be disappointed.
For those who are adventurous and would like to spend a day or two in Chablis, there are hiking trails that wind through all the grand cru vineyards. For a wine geek like me, that would be pretty exciting.
We took the drive back to Magny-les-Villers on the backroads. It is about three hours instead of 90 minutes, but it is a rolling postcard of beautiful small towns, meadows, forests, flowers, and history. It gets us off the beaten tourist path, so we can experience more authentic French countryside.
We stopped for a coffee
at this bar and restaurant in L’isle-sur-Serein.
This is Guillon, a town
along the Serein River. Serein
translates to serene, which is a good reflection of the calm, slow, peaceful
nature of this river.
Époisses is an old castle
town that is best known now for its eponymous cheese. It certainly is one of our favorites.
Semur-en-Auxois is a
larger, medieval town on a bend in the river that was strategically important
hundreds of years ago. The large towers
or ramparts are original to the old castle from the 11th or 12th century.
The church is also historic and very beautiful from a distance. Every year, we say we will come back to Semur to spend a day and we must plan that for our next trip.
The church is also historic and very beautiful from a distance. Every year, we say we will come back to Semur to spend a day and we must plan that for our next trip.
Farther down the road and close to Beaune is the village of Ste. Sabine. We love this image of the beautiful church, towering over the village, and set against the green hillside. I think it gives you an idea of the powerful and prominent role played by the church in medieval Europe, but not so much today. The bells ring every day at the church in Magny-les-Villers, but the schedule posted at the door indicates it is on a circuit with other small churches in the area, each one hosting mass about every eight weeks.
This photo is from a
hilltop in Magny-les-Villers, back home at the end of Chablis day. The image illustrates how small and nearby
many of these villages are in Burgundy.
I’m standing at the edge of a vineyard just up the hill from the gite. The village in front of me is Villers-la-Faye, separated from
Magny-les-Villers by a farm field, 0.5 km apart, about a quarter mile. The
next village in the distance is Chaux, about the same size as
Villers-la-Faye. Each village is an easy
walk from one another, which was important in the medieval history of Burgundy.
Dinner was at Ma Cuisine
in Beaune, a restaurant we have visited twice before. It has gotten some press in the U.S., so it
is popular among Americans who are vacationing in the area. That was certainly true today when we
visited. Almost every table was
populated by English speakers, either American or British.
Here’s Pierre, advising
us about our wine choice.
The carte du vin unexpectedly showed this wine and at a reasonable price. Pierre said, “It is not dead. It still has life and freshness.” We’re on vacation, so we decided to try it. How often do we have the chance to experience a wine that is nearly 50 years old? It was a Domaine des Hautes Cornieres Santenay village wine by Chapelle et fils 1966.
The color of the wine had evolved to a pale amber. Pierre decanted the wine because of sediment that had collected after all these years. The aromas were amazing, wet earth, forest floor, dried flowers and herbs, but what most surprised us was it still had fruit aromas and flavors. The palate was fresh, still very alive, balanced, with cherry fruit, berries, dried citrus peel, and mineral notes.
I have had many wines
that were just as delicious, but the story of this wine attracted us to
it. I was 10 years old when the grapes
were harvested. Many of the
people who picked the grapes and made the wine are elderly or have passed
away. Lyndon Johnson was President. Think of all that has happened in the world
since the grapes were picked, vinified, and the wine put into this bottle that
we opened tonight at Ma Cuisine.
Americans walked on the moon, Vietnam and other wars were fought,
advances in civil rights, technology, sports, all of it. We grew up, married, had children,
grandchildren, experienced joy and fulfillment, sorrow and loss. And all that time, this wine was right here
in this bottle, in a cellar in Beaune, waiting to be opened and consumed. It is remarkable to consider its history, and
ours.
Dinner was
delicious. Mary had a smoked salmon entrée.
I had escargots.
Her main
course was côte du veau, veal
chop.
Mine was magret de canard roti, roast breast of duck.
That’s our post for
today. We hope you found it interesting
and enjoyed it. Keep checking back at Cépage et Cuisine for more of our France adventure.
Thanks for reading us. In the
meantime,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian