BURGUNDY - FRANCE
Burgundy - France - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Bites of Burgundy | |||||
| By: Karen Reyment, Issue 44 – Spring 2010 | |||||
| (Burgundy, France) | |||||
| BURGUNDY, THE WINE CAPITAL OF FRANCE, HAS A RICH HISTORY DATING BACK TO THE FOURTH CENTURY WHICH INCLUDES YEARS OF CONQUERING AND BEING DEFEATED BY THE FRANKS, WHO LATER ABSORBED THE REGION INTO MODERN-DAY FRANCE. SOME OF FRANCE’S MOST IMPORTANT CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES FROM THE MIDDLE AGES ARE IN THE BURGUNDY REGION BUT IT IS NOW BEST KNOWN AS ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST IMPORTANT WINE-PRODUCING REGIONS. IT IS RENOWNED FOR BOTH ITS RED AND WHITE WINES, WHICH ARE USUALLY MADE FROM PINOT NOIR AND CHARDONNAY GRAPES RESPECTIVELY, ALTHOUGH OTHER GRAPE VARIETIES SUCH AS PINOT BLANC AND SAUVIGNON BLANC ARE ALSO GROWN IN THE REGION. THE HIGH DEMAND AND EXPENSIVE PRICES OF BURGUNDIES CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE AREA’S REPUTATION FOR PRODUCING THE HIGHEST QUALITY WINES, AS WELL AS THE FACT THAT THEY ARE OFTEN PRODUCED IN SMALL QUANTITIES. EVENTUALLY EVERY LOVER OF FINE FOOD AND WINE IN THE WORLD WILL FIND THEIR WAY TO BURGUNDY, FRANCE. FOOD WRITER AND COTE D’OR RESIDENT KAREN REYMENT TAKES YOU TO HER FAVOURITE PLACES. IMAGES BY JOHN REYMENT. | |||||
| In central Burgundy, above the geranium-splashed village of Volnay there’s a vista of rooftops emerging from an oasis of vines. This is a typical Burgundy landscape. Descend the slopes with me to share in the region’s specialities guided by artisans, masters of wine, and chefs with a little bit of Burgundy running through their blood. We begin behind the craggy stone walls of the largest private wine estate of Burgundy, at Château de Pommard. The flamboyant VIP of the Burgundy wine roads hosts art exhibitions; last year Salvador Dali, this year Pablo Picasso. Inside the château’s kitchen the hearth is straddled by a gorgeous 17th century tournebroches (a self-basting rotisserie) evoking romantic visions of vineyard feasts. Underground, dim tunnels are lined with French oak casks and bottles by the thousand. For the strong of will, Château de Pommard red travels and cellars well, for 20, 30, or 40 years. I have a soft spot for the understated Château de Gevrey-Chambertin, built in 1015, it producing grands vins de Bourgogne using fruit born in its shadows. Winemaker Elisabeth Mitéran and son Luc replant vines one-by-one as they succumb to age. Luc strokes a darling grandmother vine of 120 years; he calls her his treasure, this year will be her last. Winemaking here is about gentle traditions that have been part of the Mitéran family since Luc’s great, great Grandfather purchased the château in 1858. He’ll share these stories during tastings inside the 13th century wine cave. Incidentally, bottles of 1878 Charmes-Chambertin are not for sale, no matter how fat your wallet. On to Château du Clos de Vougeot, steeped in Burgundy’s wine history. The Château was built by the monks of Citeaux in the 12th century and is surrounded by vineyards dating from 1098, some of the most famous in Burgundy. Here you’ll see the world’s largest wine presses requiring 20 men to operate the screw turns. Today, Château du Clos de Vougeot is the seat of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, formed by men of great wine domains. Members include Gershwin, Prince Albert of Monaco, Gerard Depardieu and Australia’s wine man, Peter Bourne. Without the Confrérie the wine region might not have survived the economic crisis of the 1930s during which people stopped buying wine. The Confrérie responded to the crisis by promoting Burgundy’s wines to the world with great success. Enough talk of wine, it’s time to eat and we’ll start at La Ferme de la Ruchotte in the forested hills of the tiny village of Bligny-sur-Ouche. Owner/Chef Frédéric Ménager slipped quietly away from high profile restaurant life after five years at Restaurant Castel de Très Girard in Morey-Saint-Denis and Michelin-starred training under Alain Chapel in his restaurant in Mionnay, close to the city of Lyon. Ménager tells me he learned traditional French cooking and the importance of good produce under Chapel’s instruction. I can vouch it has stood him in good stead. Ruchotte, Ménager’s family home, is taken over by food lovers who come to savour Frédéric’s ancient animal breeds including La Flèche, Gournay and Barbezieux chickens, known for their exquisitely flavoured flesh and Grand Gascon pigs, all nurtured at the Ruchotte farm using biodynamic principles until table-ready. I savoured my pork, and described it as having a deep, farmhouse flavour, Frédéric agreed smiling. Ruchotte is frequented by Michelin luminaries Rostang, Michel Troisgros and Lameloise, who request feasts of roast chicken perfumed with thyme snipped from Ruchotte’s rambling 13th century garden. Australian wine critic James Halliday is also a frequent visitor and says it’s unlike any other place he has eaten. There’s no menu, I ate from a hotch-potch of antique china plates and had to top up my glass while the stove commanded Frédéric’s attention, but Ruchotte served food I am unlikely to ever forget. If the romance of a narrow-gauge train journey appeals to you, Steam Train Degustations are scheduled to depart from Bligny-sur-Ouch’s blue-shuttered station on Thursday evenings during Burgundy’s summer. Check with the tourist office, as degustation journeys don’t run every week. The train clatters through the valley bound for a no-frills soirée catered by local farmers and artisans. It’s a fine introduction to foods that appear with regularity on Burgundy’s menus - wines, terrines and sauces made from Burgundy’s Charolais beef, fromages, jambon persillé, charcuterie, cheesy gougères and the jellied fromage de tête, known as “head cheese”. And to finish; sweet confitures, gelées, sables, honeys, bon-bons, and pains d’épices. A hit-list of places not to be miss in the region begins at Restaurant de la Tour in the commune of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Tour’s Menu Bourguignon is bistro-style and includes beef Bourguignon and bubbling escargots en coquille of which I am a passionate devotee. In nearby sleepy Concoeur et-Corboin, a visit to La Ferme Fruirouge introduced me to all things made from tiny red berries - sauces, liqueurs and ketchup au cassis (blackcurrant), used in the kitchen of Alain Ducasse’s Spoon at Byblos. As a cheese lover I was ecstatic to find the monks of Abbaye de Cîteaux producing Croûte Lavée, a pillow-soft Trappist cheese, cave-matured and turned for 23 days by the hands of Brother Raphael. Here it walks out the door at almost half price compared to other outlets. A visit to Gaugry Fromagerie will acquaint you with the aromatic, rust-coloured Epoisses fromage, another Burgundian star thanks to the devotion of Gaugry’s three generations of cheese makers. Daniel Cachot is the celebrated master of pain d’épices, a gingerbread-like spice loaf sweetened with notes of honey. Daniel insists there are no big secrets to his gold-medal winner, “just good ingredients and small production.” In Dijon, pain d’épices is made into nonnettes, baked in the underground cellar of the half-timbered 15th century house known as La Rose de Vergy, where pain d’épices degustations are held in the sunlit Salon de Thé Wander Dijon’s streets on the Saveurs et Piquant tour to learn about the city’s rich gastronomic history. Pop your head into mustard makers Maille, but save your mustard fetish for Beaune’s La Moutarderie Fallot, a family business since 1840 and the only Moutarderie to produce authentic Moutarde de Bourgogne, born from seeds grown in Burgundy and milled by traditional stone mills. The difference is astounding. On the market scene, I fell for Beaune’s Saturday market held in the shadows of the Hospices de Beaune topped with its famous zigzagged, multi-coloured roof, a visually spectacular market filled with colourful characters of the food and wine-rich Burgundy region. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| WHERE TO VISIT: | |||||
| Château de Pommard, Pommard | |||||
| Château de Gevrey-Chambertin, Gevrey-Chambertin | |||||
| Château du Clos de Vougeot, Vougeot | |||||
| La Ferme de la Ruchotte, Bligny-sur-Ouche | |||||
| La Ferme Fruirouge, Concoeur et-Corboin | |||||
| Abbaye de Cîteaux, Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux | |||||
| Gaugry Fromagerie, Brochon | |||||
| Daniel Cachot, Broin | |||||
| La Rose de Vergy, Dijon | |||||
| La Moutarderie Fallot, Beaune | |||||
| WHERE TO STAY: | |||||
| Domaine Comtesse Michel de Loisy, Nuits-Saint-Georges | |||||
| Abbaye de la Bussière, La Bussière-sur-Ouche, Dijon | |||||
| La Ferme de la Ruchotte, Bligny-sur-Ouche | |||||
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