A Little French Wine to Remember

Saturday, October 3 -- We have many fond memories of France, and the wine is one of them.  So, it seems appropriate to memorialize the bottles we encountered during our travels in Burgundy and Alsace.

These are not all the wines we tasted, but they are the ones of which I took photographs while we were confronting them.

September 20 lunch in Beaune

September 21 lunch -  a good white Domaine St. David,

 




September 22, 2015

Between Dijon and Santenay one can take La Route Touristique des Grands Crus and discover the classic Burgundy wines with their aromatic richness and their purple or golden color. This legendary itinerary passes through 31 typically Bourguignon towns and villages, and opens the way to a world-renowned winegrowing region.

September 23, 2015 in Puligny-Montrachet
As soon as you leave Dijon, you are on the Côte de Nuits with its gently sloping plots. This is the cradle for many Grand and Premier Cru wines. Nicknamed the Champs-Elysées of the Bourgogne region, in parts, it is no more than 300 meters wide, and brings together a host of world-famous climats. The word does not refer to meteorology but in this part of France is used to describe the Burgundian vineyard terrior.

To the south of Ladoix-Serrigny, the trail continues on the Côte de Beaune, with its gentle slopes and Bourgogne traditions. Take the time to visit some cellars or maisons de négoce – all year-round the winemakers are willing to share their expertise and lore about the Bourgogne lands with you. If you are lucky, they will invite you to taste their wines too.

September 25 at Chateaux Chassagne-Montrachet

During a trip along La Route des Grands Crus the Vignobles and Decouvertes label will guide you to the region’s must-see places.

In Dijon, for example, we found that you can follow the Owl Trail (marked with brass owls in the sidewalks) which will lead you on a walking tour through 22 of the city’s most historic sites.

September 25 at Chateaux Chassagne-Montrachet

In Nuits-Saint-Georges, you can visit the Imaginarium, an exhibition space for the whole family. It offers two exhibitions that reveal all the mysteries of wine production, both still and sparkling.

Over 23 kilometers between Beaune and Santenay, a well-marked véloroute will lead you through Burgundian countryside.  Or you can travel La Route des Grands Crus on horseback, by little train, on a Solex or a gyropod (a small one-man electric vehicle on which one stands upright). 

September 25 at Chateaux Chassagne-Montrachet

Or, why not fly overhead in a hot-air balloon or take a helicopter ride? Along this exceptional path, the locals will also delight in sharing their festivities with you. All year round, from village to village, there is much to savor along these wine soaked roads.

Tasting Room at Chateaux Chassagne-Montrachet

With Delphine at La Domaine de Pommard

Leaving France

M auregard

Friday, October 2, 2015 -- It is a bright sunny day in Mauregard, and we have plenty of time to prepare, pack and leave.  

Breakfast was pleasant, and afterwards I went out to take some pictures of the old farmstead that pre-dated the hotel Les Herbes Folles.  I was struck by the old photograph hanging on the wall of the restaurant last evening, and I realize that it captures a scene that is just around the corner today. Here are the two images.



Indeed, we need to fill the gas tank on the rental car, and find our way back to the Budget parking garage at Terminal One at Charles de Gaulle airport, so we allowed plenty of time. It was a good thing, because the gas pump was not exactly around the corner. 

After another hassle with the French gas pump, we were filled up and on our way to Charles de Gaulle and the Icelandair flight to Reykjavik and home.

Reims -- the Cathedral and the Champagne

Thursday, October 1 -- It seems too soon to be packing up and leaving Riquewihr, but this is the day we must turn west and drive through the Alsace-Lorraine and Champagne-Adrennes regions of France. We are on our way to a small village, Mauregard, near Charles de Gaulle Airport.  

We finished packing and loaded the car by 9:00 a.m. because we knew a long drive lay ahead.  Google Maps predicts about five hours to the outskirts of Paris via the A4, and we want to stop in Reims to see the cathedral there.

We found Vivienne and did our checkout from the apartment.  I found the bottle bank and we made a significant amount of noise getting rid of green and clear bottle glass of all kinds.  The trash can was out in the garden with a lock on it, but because Thursday was the designated pickup day, it was unlocked.  I filled it up and moved it to the main street of Riquewihr.

Much up and down the stairs but we finally got the car packed and set off, our last departure through the winding alley to the main street and dodging the early morning tourists who had already begun to arrive.  We got some very confusing signals from the Garmin GPS about how to find the A4 to Strasbourg, and maybe it wanted to send us on some secondary roads.  We persevered and eventually found our way to the familiar entrance to the highway.  After that it was basically just cruising along on cruise-control in the morning sunshine, heading north past Strasbourg and on to skirt around Metz. After Metz, we entered an area of broad grain fields that did not look much like France.  The names on the road signs increasingly seemed familiar as the sites of battles in World War One -- Verdun, Argonne,  the Meuse river, and St. Mihiel.  With more time I would have liked to stop and examine the battlefields and memorials from a period just one hundred years ago.

But, Reims beckoned.  We really wanted to see the great cathédrale de Reims, also known as Notre-Dame de Reims -- site where the kings of France were crowned and also scene of a 1429 victory by Joan of Arc.  As it happened, our GPS and Marcia's navigation turned us onto a street that led straight to the front of the cathedral.  We parked a couple blocks away, and walked up in awe of the  three portals laden with statues and statuettes.  

Some kind of renovation was underway, so the central portal and the famous "rose window" dedicated to the Virgin Mary were out of commission. That did not dismay us.  
 
Instead, Marcia noticed the flying buttresses, so close together in this instance.  In Strasbourg, a later cathedral, they were farther apart.  Here they were so close together that some windows on the interior were bricked over to accommodate the spacing.

 
We marveled as well at the Marc Chagall stained glass windows, donated in 1974 to decorate the axis of the apse.  Indeed, this was one of those cathedrals where the medieval stained glass was removed during World War Two and returned after the war by the "Monuments Men." 

In the forecourt stood a horse-mounted statue of Joan of Arc. Quite appropriately, she is looking up at the spires of the magnificent cathedral that she liberated from the English, an act which allowed the Dauphin Charles to be crowned king here in 1429.  

Joan of Arc

 
Well, enough of religion.  It has been a long day, and we're feeling a little dry.  And the home of Taittinger champagne is said to be located nearby atop the ruins of a 13th century Benedictine abbey which are atop a 4th century Roman stone quarry.  That is to say, there's some history here.

Taittinger is one of the last champagne houses to retain its independence and bear the name of its owners.  The Taittinger style is characterized by a high proportion of chardonnay grapes from the Champagne region. With 288 hectares of its own vineyards, Taittinger is a smaller but high quality Champagne house.   

We had no advance reservation but only waited about a half hour for an English-language tour.  The waiting room displayed an artistic array of Taittinger bottles with artist-designed labels from people like Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg.  

Pretty soon we descended, with our guide Nadine, to some 60 feet below ground.  As she explained, the ancient caves keep wines today at about 55 degrees.  It was totally dark except where lights shown on things like the sign commemorating the 1717 visit Peter the Great, Czar of all the Russians, to the Taittinger caves.  There are carvings by monks from the time when the Saint Nicaise Abbey prospered here.  Today the caves are filled with champagne.  The tour finished with a nice tasting of champagne where we got a chance to hear about Nadine's plans for a career in France.


Back on the road, our destination is Mauregard, where we have reserved a couple of rooms in a charming, family-owned and -run hotel in a small village just northwest of Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle. 

However, before we could get there, we had a little adventure.  I had been a bit parsimonious in purchasing fuel at the noontime stop along the superhighway.  As a result, were on fumes and decidedly unlikely to make it to Mauregard as I had planned.  This resulted in a time consuming and stress inducing search for a gas station off the A-4.  We found one, eventually, but it clearly delayed our arrival. 

Les Herbes Folles

Our destination was the Hotel Les Herbes Folles at 1 rue de l'Eglise, 77990 Mauregard, and it is a "find."  Rather than the usual Holiday Inn "light" that you get near airports, this is a modern yet charming French accommodation with two floors of spacious rooms, a restaurant, and all the other amenities. We commandeered one upstairs lounge for a private wine and cheese party before dinner.  And dinner was quite nice.

Yes, We Have No Crémant

Wednesday, September 30 -- Another beautiful morning for a run, and I went up the hills through the vineyards and down through neighboring towns of Hunawihr and Zellenberg.  The latter is actually a little off the road, so maybe I did not run through the main street.  Still a nice morning, and five miles pretty much exactly.

Back at the apartment in Riquewihr, everyone was up and bustling about.  We found that the little red Nespresso coffee machine had given up the ghost, so we made coffee with a normal drip percolator.  In my view, better coffee. 

We set off driving, and decided on my recommendation (as well as positive reviews in the guidebooks) to visit Hunawihr.  We parked in the designated car parking area near the water tanks where Saint Hune, who was canonized in 1520, grew up around the fountain.  The tradition claims that she came there to wash the clothes of the poor.

I had not noticed so much on my morning run the 15th/16th century Church of St Jacques le Majeur overlooking the town of Hunawihr.  The church itself is surrounded by a fortified cemetery (you don't see so many of those).  Moreover, it is a good example of a church that also served as a donjon where the inhabitants could take refuge in case of attack.  The church had once been Catholic and then later Protestant, so the cemetery was divided into the respective faiths. Catholics put up better monuments to their departed family members.

We continued on to Zellenberg, and eventually to Ammerschwihr. On the way we stopped to take pictures of the fantastic garden, graced with gnomes and all sorts of nonsense, alongside the D1b highway.  

Neither Zellenberg nor Ammerschwihr seemed particularly welcoming to tourists.  In one of them, it may have been Zellenberg, we found our way to the premier vintner's courtyard, but the guy we found there had no interest in accommodating us.  We drove on to Ammerschwihr, but they were pretty much closed for lunch too.

In the end, we turned back toward Ribeauvillé. We found a modest cafe on the main street and settled in, enjoying the bright sunshine.  A number of bikers stopped in while we were there, because this is a main spot on the trail up to three castle ruins in the nearby Vosges Mountains.

After lunch and little look around Ribeauvillé, we continued on in search of a good tasting opportunity.  We stopped in the village of Bergheim at the vineyard of Emile et Yvette Halbeisen.  

They were friendly and helpful, but that day were not tasting crémant -- the

sparkling white wine based on pinot gris or champagne grapes -- that day, much to our disappointment.  We did proceed however to taste some riesling and to buy a couple bottles. That was, however, nothing like the seven or eight cases of wine that the girls from Germany were squeezing into their car parked next to us.

Our evening repast was set for the Michelin-rated restaurant, L'Sarment d'Or, in Riquewihr. It features bare 17th century beams, a large medieval fireplace, and is reputed to offer regional cuisine -- things like goose rillettes,

salad and mushrooms, foie gras and Gewurztraminer jelly, veal kidney, fillet of beef with pepper… Marcia said the sauteed fresh foie gras with chanterelles was absolutely fabulous! All of us agreed our main courses were fine, although a bit understated. Most people really enjoyed their desserts, but Marcia's chestnut dessert maybe wasn't the best choice.  

In the end, it was a fine end to our Alsatian eating experience.

High Gothic: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg

 Tuesday, September 29 -- Another bright, sunny morning with the vineyard glowing outside our bathroom window. I decided to go for a 5-mile run through the vineyards, down the hill to Hunawihr, and then back through Zellenberg on the D1b, occasionally stepping of the road to let traffic go by. Workers were picking the late harvest grapes in the fields as I ran back into Riquewihr.

The River Ill

We drove to Strasbourg, about 70 kilometers or 45 minutes on the A35 superhighway. Following the signs for "centre ville" or  "Cathédrale" was sufficient direction to find our way into the city.  We parked in a public garage called Austerlitz near the Quai Saint-Nicolas.  In fact, the city center is on the Grande Île in the River Ill.  The Rhine is not far away, however. 



Well, it does not take too much walking before you turn a corner and there, just

beyond all the tourist shops, rises the towering (466 feet) reddish facade of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg.  Kind of takes your breath away.

We walked up for a closer look, and of course turned right to get a view of the flying buttresses.  This side is more Romanesque in architectural style, having been started in 1015.  



 
  

The inside of the cathedral is no less impressive, with a tall, steeply arched nave leading to the pulpit and the chancel, as well as stained glass windows dating back to the 1200's and 1400's.  We were told that these windows were removed during WWII and stored in a German salt mine.  they were returned to the Cathedral by the by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the United States military -- "the Monuments men."

We paid for the tickets and waited about 45 minutes to see the famous 18-meter tall astronomical clock to strike.  Swiss watchmakers, sculptors, painters and creators of automatons all worked together to build this device.  At precisely 12:30 p.m. one angel sounds the bell while a second turns over an hourglass. Different characters, representing the ages of life (from a child to an old man) parade in front of Death. On the last level are the Apostles, passing in front of Christ. The clock shows much more than the official time; it also indicates solar time, the day of the week (each represented by a god of mythology), the month, the year, the sign of the zodiac, the phase of the moon and the position of several planets. Apparently it can even correctly calculate the date for Easter each year.

After all this hard work, we needed a coffee before setting out on more adventures.  The good news is that the cafes on the square in front of the cathedral do a pretty good business on a sunny morning.  We chose to be inside because it was just a little cool, but many seemed happy to soak up some sun. 

After refreshment, we walked off to the area called La Petite France.  Once the area of fishermen, tanners, and millers, today it is a well-preserved throwback to the old Strasbourg.  The Quai de la Petite France runs along the canal waters and there are nice views of the old houses.  We took some pictures there while searching for a good luncheon spot.  And the hunt for lunch took some doing, menu examination, and comparing of notes. 

La Petite France, Strasbourg

Our task was more difficult because it was a sunny day and many Strasbourgers were out enjoying the warmth. Eventually we found ourselves back on a street fairly close to the cathedral, but we did get a table and the tarte flambée was okay.  And, the wine was priced fairly.

As we drove back to Riquewihr, the idea of a wine tasting or dégustation seemed attractive to everyone.  It would be a chance to taste some of the characteristic wines produced by vignerons in Alsace – riesling, gewürztraminer, sylvaner and pinot noir. Every village we pass through is lined with wine cellars offering tastings.

 
Largely on Faye's recommendation, we turned in to the Trimbach estate in Ribeauvillé. After a couple of wrong turns in the work yard, we found the tasting room.  

The young lady was happy to help us, but she pointed out that we had to be quiet.  The owner was using the other side of the room to give a tasting to a group of wine buyers from America!  We could tell from what we overheard  that they were discussing wine very knowledgably.  

At one point Jean Trimbach came over, introduced himself, and offered us a taste of what he was showing the Americans -- a 2012 Selection de Vieiles Vignes riesling.  It was pretty fine. I was also impressed by the souvenir menus that graced the walls and other indications that the royal family of Sweden like Trimbach wines enough to serve them at family weddings and official state dinners.

We decided to take a few Trimbach bottles with us for "testing" back at the apartment in Riquewihr.  You know, just to be sure it is good stuff.

Back in Riquewihr we parked the car and wandered around the town a little.  As it was nearing six o'clock, the tourists were thinning out.  We planned to eat in the apartment, as I remember.

Bakery in Riquewihr

 
We did stop in the little bakery to buy some kugelhopf -- a a high, fluted, circular coffee bread that is apparently close to the hearts of Alsatians.  Dusted with powdered sugar just as it is sold, kugelhopf beckons from every bakery window.  

We discovered however that it is not sweet, but rather a neutral, plain flavor that could go fine with morning coffee or evening beer, or anything in between.