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Thu, 27 Oct 2011
Je reviens chez moi
Reflections, from a distance
Well, I'm home again. It's interesting to return, and maybe see both countries
(France and Australia) from a different perspective.
Certainly there's a lot I miss about France, much of it to do with the food and wine.
I can't just nip down to the shops and buy a decent bottle of Volnay for €20 or so.
And the good French cheeses....
I also miss the cafés. In particular, it's hard to find cafés in Australia
that have reasonably priced, interesting food. There are many very good, expensive ones,
and a lot that sell okay food, at a lasagne-and-chips sort of level, but nothing like France.
And so many cafés here close at about 3pm. Just when I'm thinking about afternoon
coffee....
Travelling through the French countryside certainly was enjoyable and interesting. I got to
visit many beautiful small villages and a number of interesting wine domaines.
And eating a good meal in a French restaurant still seems to be one of the high
points of civillised life: good food, good wine -- but not just that, it's almost
a ritual, the formula the same -- wine, entrée, plat principal, dessert --
but the details (the important details!) different.
I'm trying to decide at the moment if I have enough material to write separate weblog
posts about some of the domaines I visited. Domaine Macle (Château-Chalon) and
Domaine Pierre Overnoy (Pupillin) would both seem interesting enough to write about,
but in both cases my visit was very short.
Oh yes, and shopping malls. I always seem to end up in shopping malls in Australia,
whilst I managed to avoid them completely in France. I do have a somewhat irrational
dislike of them. I think they're one thing in Australia that I'll never really get
used to...
posted at: 04:03 | path: /travel/france |
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Burgundy 2011: Pommard, Volnay and Mersault.
Getting back into blogging, finally. Some travel blogging.
Today, hired a bike in Beaune and cycled to Pommard, Volnay and Mersault.
The Cote-de-Beaune is looking beautiful, with the grape vines all still
in leaf, and grapes hanging off the vines, almost ready to be picked. Almost,
just a few days until harvest...
Stopped first in Pommard. I had a meeting arranged for 10h30 at
Domaine Mussy.
I didn't have a map of Pommard, so tried using my phone's navigation software.
It crashed, so I had to reboot it. Thanks, Google... Got there finally 15 minutes
late but luckily they did not mind.
M. Meuzard, the winemaker, doesn't speak English, but Mme. Meuzard does. We head
down into the cellar for a tasting. The cellar is low-ceillinged, 15th-century. The
winery was founded over four hundred years ago -- in 1646 -- and has been in the
same family ever since. Mme. shows me the barrel room -- they do not use much new oak,
only ~10%, as it obscures the terroir.
The barrel room, Domaine Mussy.
I try some wines. I try first the 2009 Beaune Epenottes -- a very good year, but still
young and very closed. Needs at least 4 years, according to Mme. Meuzard. I try then the
2001 from the same vineyard -- elegant, perfumed, some evolved/autumnal characters
on the nose, tannins still firm but elegant, red fruit. Mme. Meuzard says that this
is their most feminine wine.
I am asked what sort of wine I would prefer -- Masculine (structured, intense) or feminine
(lighter, perfumed). I am not used to thinking of wines in these terms, so hesitate.
Try a more masculine wine next -- 2001 Beaune-Montremots. More tannins, but still
very elegant. Good structure. Ten years old but would last longer. I forgot to try
their Pommard, unfortunately. Next time...
M. Meuzard is enthusiastic to hear I am a student winemaker from Australia. I wish I
could speak more French, so I could have spoken properly with him....
As I am leaving, realise I bought some wine but forgot to pay, so head back. Too
easy to get distracted when enjoying a good conversation...
Head to Volnay, then Mersault. Cycle around Mersault for a bit, then see
a shop called Art du
Tonneau, a barrelmaker. He has a short video in French, so I go in. The shopkeeper --
perhaps M. Gillet, the tonnelier -- doesn't speak much English but gives some
commentary to the video. He sells in Australia, including to some very
well-regarded domaines. He kindly offers me a coffee while I watch the video --
I have an espresso.
Afterwards, I head to Volnay and try to see a domaine there. I try one first, but
they only sell by the case so cannot give me a tasting. I try another, more-or-less
at random -- Domaine Christophe Vaudoisey. I ask "parlez-vous anglais?", but get a non,
he only speaks French. Ah, a problem. I ask for a tasting, je voudrais gouter votre vin?
He doesn't really follow my bad French. After a minute, he asks if I would like
a "degustation"... ah, that's the word I should have used, but forgot...
I follow him down to the cellar. I try a Volnay first, then two Volnay 1er cru. The
Volnay is very good, but both 1er crus have a certain something extra... more character,
more structure.
Then I notice he also has a Mersault, a 1er cru also. I try this last -- wrong order,
but can't be helped. I buy one bottle of a Volnay 1er cru -- 'je voudrais...' is the correct
phrase, and I remember it for once.
On the way back to Beaune, I finally have the lunch I packed this morning. It's 17h, not
exactly lunch time, but still...
Rain is forecast for tomorrow, and the skies still glower, threatening with grey clouds.
The grapes wait for harvest. The vignerons, I presume, pray the rain is not too heavy, not this
late in the year.
posted at: 03:36 | path: /travel/france/burgundy |
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Picnics
I had a picnic lunch today. A baguette, some cheese and a terrine. All that was missing was the bottle of wine...
I thought: this picnic, although very simple, would be impossible in Australia. Why? A good cheese, made with unpasteurised milk is expensive and hard to get (used to be illegal, but rules on unpasterised cheeses are slowly starting to relax...). I might find a decent baguette if I'm lucky enough to live near a good bakery. The terrine would be simpler (though what I had, partridge and almond, would be impossible).
Oh, and I mentioned wine. As far as I know, you're not allowed to drink in public places (eg, parks) in most of Australia. Seems okay in France, and rioting has not yet broken out as a result...
posted at: 03:36 | path: /travel/france/burgundy |
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Fri, 26 Aug 2011
Dijon
My weblogging continues...
Today was meant to be the day I visited Gevrey-Chambertin. A train from Beaune stops
there reguarly. I wanted to branch out, and see some of Burgundy beyond the Cotes de
Beaune.
I hadn't counted on the weather. Rain, thunder, lightening. Not good. Especially with
the grape harvest only days away. Mildew suddenly becomes a threat, and picking grapes
in the rain is no fun.
So I go to Dijon. Dijon, to see the old streets and the cathedral with the gargoyles.
In Dijon, my first stop is the first church I see -- the church of St. Benigne. A lovely,
typical Gothic church, it hides a secret: a romanesque crypt from the 11th century.
I descend. The first room is low and wide, with many romanesque columns. A statue of
Christ, his arms outstretched in welcome. Another room: a rotunda, surrounded by columns.
An altar. A doorway through to a gallo-roman chapel, once at ground level, now part of the
crypt. Another doorway leads off, to more passageways. Most are still blocked, buried, yet
to be excavated.
Reluctantly, I head back up into the daylight. The museum of archaeology nextdoor beckons.
Here I find more treasures: a bronze age gold torc, more than 1kg of gold -- a metal more
common then, oddly, than now. A roman statue of doves. Post-roman enamels and belt-buckles,
intricate in their working.
The best is in the lowest level: an old medieval room full of roman funerary memorials, memories
of the long dead. Early medieval wooden figures, dredged from river mud.
Street in Dijon
Out in the light again, I head for the Palais des Ducs. A follow one sign, only to find it
leads in the wrong direction. I find another, and follow that. After walking around in
circles, I find it eventually. It is now the town hall and the Musee des Beaux Arts. I wonder
around, and see what I can of the exterior.
I notice another church: Notre Dame. I am drawn by the impressive gargoyles on the exterior.
Coming closer, I notice portions of the portice still have some of their original paint, just
faint traces but still there.
Inside, I notice a few original scraps of wallpainting survive from the 15th century. A
service is in progress in a candlelit side chapel: song fills the church.
I head for the train. I don't like to leave: there is always one more thing to look at,
another photograph to take. I don't want to miss the train, though. I head on.
At the station, I can't find the machine to validate my ticket.
Eventually I find it, not on the platform, but inside
the station. On the train I can relax: I haven't missed it, I'm getting back in time for
dinner. Beaune beckons.
posted at: 09:10 | path: /travel/france/burgundy |
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