WARNING!!! If you intend to read this post all the way through, grab a glass of your favourite beverage and settle in – it’s a long one…
We had a lot of distractions today, which helped keep our minds off of Chaos.
Yesterday, we had an unexpected and pleasant surprise when Franck and Laura, the cottage owners, showed up at our door to say hello. They arrived on Monday from Victoria, and are staying in their larger home, La Maison des Chaumes, up the road.
We made arrangements to meet Franck in Beaune and he took us around to show us their apartment property in a quiet neighbourhood in the old centre of the town. I had always wondered what lay behind those unobtrusive doors in most neighbourhoods and today I got to find out. This plainer than plain entry door hid a lovely, modern, yet charming second floor apartment, brimming over with lots of character, perfect for 2 couples, and so close to all the action. It was almost perfect, just missing a balcony and private parking. This is definitely an option should we wish to return and stay in town.
Then Franck took us downstairs to show us the cellar. Steve and I were expecting to see some kind of storage space, like there is at the cottage. What a surprise we got! Back on the street, Franck unlocked and opened metal double doors that stood no higher than 2 feet. Once open, he lifted the metal plates in the sidewalk that covered stone steps leading into a cellar. To get into the cellar, we had to go down the steps backwards, bending over until we were at the bottom so that we wouldn’t hit our heads on the stone ceiling. This was no storage space. This was a cellar in the true French sense. It was about 30’ square, with low ceilings high enough for us to stand comfortably in. It was all stone, complete with a few arches. There was crushed gravel on the floor, a wine barrel table, a stone table, a stone sink and draining board (there was a water supply), a rack that held many wine glasses, stone frames on 2 walls that held wine bottle storage, lots of stored wine, perfect ambient lighting, and a cooling system to keep all the wine at the right temperature. What a gem, completely underground and hidden from sight! The original use of the cellar, back in the day, was for coal storage. During the renovation of their apartment, he and the crew used this space to put all the debris, knowing that he would one day turn it into this little piece of paradise. Get this – when the time came, they had to be very careful to not dig too far down when excavating the garbage and some of the floor to enable enough height to stand up, as Beaune has layers of underground caves and it might have been possible to dig too deep and fall through into another cellar below this one!!! It took Franck and some friends 2 years to complete the cellar, but what a reward at the end. Unfortunately, it is not part of the rental package of the apartment 🙁
We returned to the large family home, La Maison des Chaume, in Villers-la-Faye and had a look around that one. This would be ideal to come back to with another couple as well. It’s larger, more modern, has a 2-sided porch with lots of outdoor eating spaces, and a view of… what else… vinyards.
And all that before lunch!
Franck is making arrangements for us to see the final property in the next village tomorrow.
This afternoon, we returned to Beaune for our wine tasting lesson at Vin Sensation.
We were the only ones at this session, which was okay. It would have been better with more people, for more opinions, but we both learned wine stuff (so sophisticated!) and left with more knowledge than we arrived with! Let’s see how much I can remember, as there were no take-aways and we didn’t take notes. I will not be held responsible for the accuracy of the following details!
Wine from the Bourgogne area makes up a very, very small percentage of wine production for all of France – something like 5%. Chablis grapes are used exclusively for white wine, and white wine makes up approx 60% of production in this region. Pinot Noir grapes are used exclusively for red wine.
There are 4 different levels of wine production, regulated by an official French board:
- The Grand Cru wines are produced from sections in some vineyards that have been designated as the best growing soil – they have nothing to do with how the wine is processed. Grapes are harvested from the middle section of the slopes in these areas because of sun and wind exposure, temperature, and how moist or dry the soil is. Labels identify these wines as Grand Cru, along with the name of the village. These wines are the most expensive.
- 1er Cru wines are from the same designated vineyards, but use the grapes from the top and/or bottom of the slope. Labels identify these wines as 1er Cru, along with the name of the village. These wines are still pricey, but less so than the Grand Cru.
- Non “Cru” wines are produced using grapes from only one plot from several owned by the same Domaine in a village. Their labels identify the village and the name of the plot (all plots are named).
- Regional wines are what they appear to be. They are produced using combinations of grapes from different Domaines and plots. Their labels identify the wine by region, not by village – for example Bourgogne, the region vs. Ladoix, a village in Bourgogne. These are the least pricey wines.
Theory aside – now for the fun stuff!
We started with reds, five in total, all blind tasted just in case we knew anything about the wines from the labels – fat chance!
Young reds are very translucent and are blue-red – the more transparent and the more blue, the younger. Older reds are cloudier and orange-red. The more cloudy and the more orange, the older. That is the first wine fact we’re coming home smarter about!
Reds have three qualities – acidity, tannins, mellowness. Basically (very basically – remember from whom you’re getting this information), acidic wines make you salivate (identified by how much you involuntarily swallow after you’ve swallowed the wine – I know, you’re supposed to spit the wine out, but what the hell, we are on vacation); tannic wines make the front of your mouth feel dry (as in, the inside of your mouth might feel like it’s sticking to your teeth); mellow wines are a nice balance between the other two. There are various degrees of acidity, tannins, and mellowness, determined by things like how quickly you experience these sensations, and how long they last. That is the second wine fact we’re coming home smarter about!
Then there are the actual flavours you can identify in each wine. Young reds are “fresher”, more fruity and floral; older reds aren’t (that’s helpful, isn’t it?) more spicy, oak-ey, earthy. This is the third wine fact we’re NOT coming home smarter about! We did quite well with the transparency and the colours. We did okay with qualities. We really struggled with the flavours. Oh well, something to work on!
Next came the whites, four in total, all blind tasted again despite us not knowing one label from another. (Unlike other wine tastings I’ve experienced – including the one at the Patriarch last week – where we started with whites, we started with reds so that we would be able to appreciate the tannins in the red wines. Who knew!)
Young whites are very translucent and have a greenish tinge to them. Older whites are not as translucent and are more golden. This is the fourth wine fact we’re coming home smarter about, although the ability to see the differences in the whites, without side-by-side comparisons, was more difficult.
Whites have only two qualities – acidity and mellowness – as there are no tannins in white wine. That is the fifth wine fact that we’re coming home smarter about, although, from that fact, one would assume that they wouldn’t produce a dry feeling in your mouth. In my humble, very inexperienced opinion, one would be wrong, but what do I really know?
Then come the flavours… again, younger whites are “fresher”, more fruity and floral. The older ones aren’t, more spicy and oak-ey, not so much earthy like reds. This is the sixth wine fact we’re also NOT coming back smarter about. Not only did we not do brilliantly with the white flavours, we weren’t so good with their qualities and colours, either. Apparently, we aren’t the only ones deficient here – it’s universally more difficult to judge white wines. Or, our lovely instructress was only trying to make us feel better!!!
Whatever! We had a really fun lesson in wine tasting and also learned that, when comparing one wine to another, you don’t swish your mouth with water between wines, or eat bread, as you’ll then cleanse your palate and will have to start over again. Hmmm… That might be a good excuse to sip a bit more!
All that hard work (yes, it was work), made us hungry and, as it was already shortly after 6, we settled at an outside table back at La Concorde for another nice dinner. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of eating a fabulous meal, on a terrace, watching the world go by.
All across Europe, there is a Fete de la Musique on the 21st of June to celebrate the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer. In many, many cities, including Beaune, various musical groups set up in squares or on corners, or on church steps, to perform. The entertainment started while we were eating and continued well after we headed back home. We wandered from group to group – some were better than others – and left around 10pm. It was still fairly light outside, then the darkness moved in quickly and enveloped us by the time we returned to the cottage.
That was a very, very, good day and a huge distraction from our loss!