11: Burgundy and Annecy

In the past six months I've found my way to many of the most interesting venues within a reasonable distance of Grenoble (number 1 on the map). And the pictures have told the story. Grenoble is a great city and an amazing location as a hub for touring the region. Of course, my slant has been more towards the outdoor activities, the hiking, the road trips, etc.  This will be a short description of two places I visited in the past couple of weeks. First off, Burgundy. (numbers 2,3,4 on the map)

 

This is a wonderful area if you like small French villages, very personal wine-tasting experiences, or like to bicycle through the wine country. Burgundy lies roughly between Lyon and Dijon with the center being the beautiful and very old town of Beaune. The southern part of Burgundy, the area between Macon and Lyon, is Beaujolais. The most popular Beaujolais in the USA is no doubt the Beaujolais Nouveau which appears on shelves just before Thanksgiving each year. This is a very young (just bottled!), fruity wine. Georges Duboeuf well regarded, large producer, and his wine is typically found in the stores in the USA. The premium wine of Burgundy is of Pinot Noir grapes and from vintners located near Beaune and Nuits-Saint-Georges just north of Beaune. This wine goes well with beef and, by the way, should be served at about 60F degrees. It should be consumed soon after opening (don't let these breathe like the red wines of Bordeaux) and they should not be swirled in the glass. Apparently, this "damages" the delicate wine and releases too much of its flavor.

Also in this area, near Macon, Chardonnay grapes are commonly grown. Best known in the USA is probably Pouilly-Fuisse, a blend of Chardonnays from the two very small towns located just a few miles west of Macon. Not known for being a great wine, it is a hearty Chardonnay and it certainly works for me.

Enough of the jabber. Now the story.

A friend and I zipped up to Beaune last Saturday morning (2 1/2 hr drive) and, interesting, found the Maison de Tourisme ferme for the day, i.e. CLOSED. Given that we didn't really know too much about the area this was a bit of hiccup in our plans. So we had lunch, and one of the best meals I can remember: boeuf bourguignon, something like a beef stew cooked with Burgundy wine. Excellent! We then set out for some wineries located in the small villages southwest of Beaune on the way back to Macon. At our first stop, in Pommard, at a distributor type of store (not operated by the wine makers themselves), we suffered through the surliness of a woman from England who was anything but a joy. She, like many other Brits I've met here, did not appear happy to be living in France. The French and the Brits haven't been the best of friends lately, well, at least not for probably the last thousand or so years. We made for a hasty retreat. We then wondered into the village of Volnay, another town known for its red wine. These villages are small, say 20 homes, and virtually no one to be seen, but about every other house has a sign that says, in hand-written French, ouvert, i.e. open. The first place we came to said, essentially, "we're open, ring the bell, come on in".  Now, this is a person's home and we were a little concerned about walking right in but, after a moment of doubt, we opened the door and proceeded.

 

 

We were immediately met by the family: an older man and his wife, their attractive daughter, and the poodle, all of whom were laughing and chattering (the dog was barking) and all whose names I have since forgotten or never knew in the first place. The young woman led us to the family cave, the wine cellar in the basement. 

After viewing the family's 20 or so barrels we returned to a room in the house for tasting. The room was nothing more than a bedroom-like room with some of Mom's amateur paintings on display. We sat around a small table. The young woman opened the closet door, pulled out a few bottles of wine, and we began to taste. We had a roaring good laugh session for the better part of a half-hour but about what I'm not sure. Neither of us spoke more than a few words of the other's language! All I remember is that she was a nurse who had just returned to the family business and this was her first day. We were her first customers and we left with a variety of wines.

We followed the country road for an hour and decided to make a stop in the town of Pouilly. This town was even smaller than the last, perhaps 10 buildings. It was getting late, almost 7PM, and we were out of cash. We saw a sign that said Ouvert and which also displayed a Visa/Mastercard logo. We pulled in. The family was on the patio having some food and, of course, wine.

 

 

 

Not wanting to interrupt, we began to leave.  But when we received a signal to stay we parked and walked over to meet the vintner.  The man who met us apologized for his cut-off shorts and after a bit of chuckling we were led to his wine tasting room where we tasted some Pouilly-Fuisse.  He also had available a Cremant, but this was not available for tasting. At $6 a bottle, I couldn't go too wrong so I bought a couple of bottles. This is essentially champagne (actually a sparkling wine) but from a region other than Champagne France. A few days later a wine aficionado friend and I opened a bottle and it was excellent.  If I get back to the area I will be restocking.

 

 

 

Annecy

Now jump to Annecy (number 5 on the map), an absolutely beautiful town about 45 minutes from Grenoble, half way between Grenoble and Geneva. Not much to say about it other than it is on a gorgeous lake, has canals running through the town, and the town is just plain beautiful.  The flowers are in bloom throughout the summer.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the Tour de France bicycle race was in the area last weekend. The weekend prior to the race I went to l'Alpes d'Huez, the ski resort that is the final climb of the day following a 120 mile ride over the Alps at le Col du Galibier. I snapped this photo of Lance Armstrong's sign which, I've been told (and later verified), was wrongfully appropriated (stolen) during race day. So, here's the picture of the now missing sign. (it was replaced a few months later)

Warm regards (literally -- this is the hottest summer on record in France),

Dan.

Grenoble 2003