From Lyon to Paris: Total Immersion in Burgundy and Champagne 2023 by
ombiasy WineTours took place from Sunday, July 02 - Thursday, July 13,
2023.
The tour started in Lyon and ended in Paris.
The group consisted of 14 members, including David Miller, who, at the end of each day, shared his impressions of the day with his facebook friends.
With the permission of David, this posting puts together all his postings in on piece. David posted on facebook a text with 3-5 photos. In this posting, however, I combine David's text with my own photos, which was much easier to do than to use his photos (except for the top photo). I apologize. If you want to see his photos you need to go to the facebook page of David.
Summer
2023 - Saturday, July 1: It was a long day of traveling from London to
Lyon, mostly because I had to leave for Heathrow hours before I normally
would because of street closures for the big Gay Pride parade. So I had
some time to kill at the airport. I finally got to Lyon and after I
unpacked I headed to the corner and Le Broc’Bar, my go-to bar under a
big tree (photo courtesy of Christian Schiller). It was a very pleasant
evening.
Summer
2023 - Sunday, July 2: I got up late and went to Old Lyon in the
afternoon. We stopped at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvieres, on
the highest point of the city; there was no Mass in session, so I got to
see the heavily decorated interior. On the walk back down the hill we
stopped at the old Roman amphitheater, still in use a thousand years
later with the addition of a modern soundstage.
Summer
2023 - Sunday, July 2: On Sunday evening we had our first group dinner
at the Grand Cafe des Negociants not far from Lyon’s city hall. It’s a
grand old place serving Lyonnaise food. I had a pate of duck and foie
gras, a saucisson (sausage) with pistachios on a bed—more a sea—of
lentils, and a cheese plate. Wine may have been involved. A pleasant
time was had by all.
Summer
2023 - Monday, July 3: We were up early and on our way to the rolling
hills of Beaujolais, where we visited the Domaines Chermette, now headed
by Pierre-Marie Chermette, who took us out to see the young grapes in
the fields and then led a comprehensive tasting of the domaine’s
products.
Summer
2023 - Monday, July 3: Lunch today was at a simple local place in
Villie-Morgon. Simple doesn’t mean simple, exactly. I had foie gras
mousse, slices of a cured unsmoked pork roast, potatoes with leeks, a
cheese plate and a chocolate mousse—again, wine was involved— at an
extremely reasonable price.
Summer
2023 - Monday afternoon, July 3 - Our next stop in Beaujolais was the
large, modern property of Chateau des Jacques, with its imposing
buildings and pristine facilities. They have a long history of
innovation and continue as leaders in production in Beaujolais.
Summer 2023 - Monday afternoon, July 3: There are acres of sunflowers in Beaujolais!
Summer
2023 - Monday, July 3: We’re spending the night at the Chateau de
Pizay, and it’s an incredible property, from the avenue of sycamores
with yard-thick trunks to the ancient castle keep that is now the main
building to the eccentric topiary garden… Dinner tonight was great; it
started with a perfectly ripe fig and some foie gras mousse, followed by
red mullet in broth, then a piece of sirloin, and finally an eclair
with some vanilla ice cream. Again, wine was involved.
There’s
a little pond behind the main building at Chateau de Pizay. During the
day there’s a fountain splashing in the middle. As the sun goes down,
it’s taken over by frogs. Lots of frogs. Turn the sound on for this
clip. Good night, everyone.
Summer
2023 - Tuesday, July 4: Left Beaujolais and spent the morning in
Pouilly-Fuisse at Domaine Ferret, a producer of good wines since 1840.
The village is small and practically every square foot is cultivated.
Summer
2023 - Tuesday, July 4: Lunch was in Davaye at Le Millesime, the lunch
of the day, which was a sort of quiche Lorraine that had mild sauerkraut
mixed into it, boeuf Bourguinon, and selections from the cheese
platter. There was dessert, too, but I forgot to photograph it.
Summer
2023 - Tuesday, July 4: Not Star Wars. When your crop’s about four feet
tall and grows in very long rows about four feet apart, you have to
design your equipment differently.
Summer
2023 - Tuesday, July 4: Later in the afternoon, we visited Domaine
Menand, a top organic producer in Mercurey whose husband-wife owners do
almost all of the work themselves.
We went back to Beaune for a very
pleasant dinner outside at La Table du Square - a mushroom bisque with a
poached egg, a roasted whole shoulder of lamb, and an apricot tart with
apricot sorbet—apricots are in season. Wine was involved.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday, July 5: 0900 in the morning, standing in dirt and
looking at grapes—that’s what I signed up for. We were outside of
Santenay in the Cote de Beaune, looking at vines owned by the Domaine
Jessiaume, founded in 1850. New owners in 2006 hired an American
winemaker who has led the winery to new heights. They have one of the
nicest tasting rooms I’ve ever been in, a 19th century salon overseen by
Saint Vincent, the patron saint of winemakers.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday, July 5: Later in the morning, we met at the Meursault
city hall for a walk in the vineyards. It was very picturesque,but I
have some trouble walking, so I went halfway and then waited under an
almond tree while the others walked up to the top of the hill behind the
village. I’d seen it five years ago…
Lunch was at L’Agastache, in
Volnay: hummous, braised pork on polenta, and panna cotta, altogether
delightful.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday, July 5: The afternoon was devoted to a tour of the
Chateau de Rully led by Count Raoul de Ternay, whose family has occupied
the castle since it was a fortified keep in the 12th century, or some
26 generations ago. It’s quite a sight. We also had a tasting of some of
the wines produced on the estate at Domaine Rully.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday, July 5 - We had an excellent wine pairing dinner, a
different wine with each course, at Le Relais de Saulx in Beaune—a green
bean salad, marinated salmon with herring roe, Pork with fennel and
carrots, and two kinds of chocolate cream.
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Summer
2023 - Thursday, July 6: This morning we went to Puligny-Montrachet to
visit the grand cru Montrachet winery Maison Olivier Leflaive. I was
here in 2018, but there have been a lot of updates in the facilities
since then. I’m still a bit gimpy so I skipped the 3/4 mile hike out to
the vineyards and back. We were treated to a comprehensive overview of
the operation by Olivier Leflaive himself (I’d met his partner/brother
Patrick in 2018) and then we enjoyed one of the best
luncheons I’ve had this year, three courses plus dessert and seven
wines. We started with a green pea gazpacho. This was followed by
couscous topped with prawns and fennel; then came pork roast with green
beans and pignole in a tomato confit. Dessert was a pistachio tart with
apricot sorbet—did I mention that apricots are in season? The wines were
remarkably good.
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Summer
2023 - Thursday, July 6: We left Puligny-Montrachet and went to Chateau
de Pommard in Pommard, where everything looks different since I was
last there in 2018. They are remodeling most of the buildings and
building a hotel. They’re devoted to biodynamic winemaking and are the
only winery we’ve been on this trip that’s using horse-drawn equipment
on their 50 acres of enclosed fields. The wines,as usual, were very,
very good.
Started
Friday morning, July 7, at a favorite, Domaine Faiveley. Their new
facilities, which resemble an old Paris railroad station, weren’t
finished the last time I was here, and it’s a remarkable space now. The
caves are still enormous, and St. Vincent still watches over them. My
favorite among the wines we tasted hasn’t changed.
Lunch
on Friday July 7at the Hotel Richebourg was very good—a “bruschetta”
that was basically an open-faced grilled cheese sandwich, a really nice
piece of whitefish., and a chocolate dessert that was so rich I couldn’t
eat it all.
VisitSummer
2023 - Friday, July 7: We had had bus trouble and the company sent a
tech with a truck. We were late to lunch and had a truncated tasting at
the hotel afterwards. Then we trundled off to Louis Jadot, a house very
well known to American consumers, where we had a number of very
interesting barrel samples. Their new winery is really well-designed.
Summer
2023 - Saturday, July 8: We started Saturday morning with a vineyards
tour in Vosne-Romanee in the Cote de Nuits; of course we had to stop for
the obligatory photo at the white cross of Romanee-Conti, the source of
the most expensive wines in the world.
We went on to a delightful
Burgundian lunch at Domaine Trapet, with jambon persille (ham with
parsley in aspic), boeuf Bourguignonne, and a cheese plate —wine was
involved, most of it very good.
Summer
2023 - Saturday, July 9: I ended Saturday under the streets in the
heart of Beaune in the caves of Joseph Drouhin, which date to the 13th
century; one branch ends abruptly at a section of Roman wall from even
earlier days.
The others went on to Meursault for a wine festival, but I
went back to the hotel to rest my leg.
Summer
2023 - Sunday, July 9: Up late while the others were off to the
Hospices de Beaune, a medieval hospital and charitable institution whose
annual benefit wine auction is a major event in Burgundy.
Then off to
Vougeot for an al fresco lunch at Au Creux de Vougeot—jambon persille
again, a grilled tuna steak with frites, and fruit compote for dessert. I
ate about a third of it and had half a glass of wine.
After lunch it
was off the the nearby Chateau du Clos de Vougeot, a Renaissance
manor house attached to a 12th-century winemaking facility that was
once the heart of 125 acres of historic grand cru vineyards and today
serves as the headquarters of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin,
an organization dedicated to promoting Burgundy wine. They have
preserved a great many historical artifacts related to winemaking,
including wine presses from the 15th to the 18th centuries which are
marvels of carpentery and early mechanical invention.
My late dinner was
oeufs meurette, eggs poached in wine, and a nice piece of cod. Minimal
wine that night.
Summer
2023 - Monday morning, July 10: We had our first tasting at Domaine
Servin, a large, old, and very well-regarded family wine estate in
Chablis. Before the tasting proper we got to taste a cask sample, right
out of the spigot, and a barrel sample, pulled up with a wine thief. The
wines are very good.
Summer
2023 - Monday morning and lunch, July 10: After Domaine Servin, we went
out into the Chablis countryside to the very small village of Prehy to
visit Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard. We got a detailed look at the
operation, enjoyed a comprehensive tasting, and really enjoyed what they
called their “winemaker’s lunch,” a spread of cold meats and salads and
desserts that was as good-looking as it was tasty. I had a plate of ham
and some rabbit terrine with several different salads, and enjoyed the view from the top floor of their new facility—grapes about as far as you can see in most directions.
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Summer
2023 - Monday evening, July 10: Monday afternoon’s schedule was
mercifully light after our two morning tastings and a big lunch; I
relaxed for several hours until dinner time at the restaurant Restaurant Le Maufoux, Domaine William Fevre. We arrived to discover that the chef and a helper were the only
people there to work the dinner shift, and there was one menu—no real
choices—as a result. We had a very good pork pate, salmon with green
beans, and a cheesecake-y dessert with raspberry sauce. Wine was
involved.
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Summer
2023 - Tuesday morning, July 11: Tuesday saw us leave Chablis on our
way to Epernay in Champagne. We made a stop along the way at the Abbey
of Fontenay, founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118. It’s
remarkable that so many of the Romanesque buildings survived the Hundred
Years War, the French Revolution, and other upheavals. The arched
wooden roof of the monk’s dormitory dates from the mid-15th century.
While no longer an active Cistercian monastery, it is slowly being preserved by the private owners, who live on the property.
Summer
2023 - Tuesday, July 11: After we toured Fontenay Abbeywe went on
into Champagne, stopping in the southern end in the small town of
Gye-sur-Seine for a simple lunch at a local restaurant,
followed by our
first tour and tasting at Champagne Jean Josselin, in business since the
mid-1800s. We met the winemaker and looked at a lot of their new
facilities.
Afterwards we had a long ride the 150 kilometers up to
Epernay, where we’re staying in the heart of town.
I unpacked and
went out to look at some of the big Champagne houses along the Avenue
de Champagne, and settled for some cold cuts and a glass of champagne
for dinner.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday, July 12: The morning started in nearby Chouilly, at
Champagne Legras & Haas, a smaller, family-owned house that had been
growing wine grapes to sell to others for six generations, but in 1991
decided to start making their own champagne. Three brothers now run the
enterprise; we had a tasting and spent time in the cave with Jerome
Legras, one of the brothers.
Then we went on to Champagne Maison Gamet
in the valley of the Marne River,and tasted their wines.
I skipped lunch. Back in Epernay, we visited Champagne Alfred Gratien, a
large producer and one of only two champagne houses left—the other is
Krug—that does all its fermentation in oak. We went 55 feet under the
streets of Epernay to tour their cellars, then had an excellent tasting.
Summer
2023 - Wednesday evening, July 12: My leg was hurting from all the
walking and climbing during the afternoon, and I almost didn’t make it
to our last dinner of the tour at a French-Thai “fusion” restaurant call
Cook’in. Mine was more Thai than French. I got some fish sauce with
chilis to go with my rabbit curry and got my first hot pepper fix in
weeks.
Summer
2023 - Thursday, July 13: We left Epernay and headed to Paris, stopping
in Reims along the way for a tour and tasting at Champagne Ruinart,
producing since 1729. We went about 125 feet underground to see their
storage in caverns created when the Romans excavated stone to build the
city around the 4th century A.D. Ruinart had the nicest tasting room we
experienced on the whole trip. The wines were exceptional, and anyone
who wants to buy some for me will be a friend forever.
Then it was back on the bus to speed to Paris and a very late lunch at
La Coupole in Montmartre—shades of Josephine Baker—after which we went
our separate ways.
It was a great tour—next year, back to Bordeaux!
