Beaune: where drowning in wine is a good thing!by Lucy KomisarThe Duke of Clarence, having been condemned to death by his brother, the King of England, declared “I wish to be drowned in a barrel of Beaune wine, so that my death will be effortless and peaceful.” This may be an apocryphal story. It’s on a French tourism website, but I can’t find a cite. It’s not in “Richard III,” in which the Duke, Richard’s rival brother, is imprisoned in the Tower of London and drowned in a vat of Malmsey by the evil King’s thugs. But, so what! How can one not admire the panache of such a statement? Beaune, parliamentary capital of the Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century, the time that the Duke, whose real name was George Plantagenet, lived, is a charmed, charming town of 23,000 and for centuries the heart of the Burgundy wine trade. Even the medieval buildings take you back to the 15th century! Let’s amend the Duke’s comment: I wish to explore the fascinating village of Beaune, all the while drinking Beaune wine so that my meanderings are effortless and peaceful. They were indeed so not long ago on a visit to this magical corner of France.  Starting with history, the Hôtel de Ville - Hospices de Beaune is a huge, gorgeous structure whose magical tiles are deservedly renowned. It was built in 1443 by Nicholas Rolin, chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy, to care for victims of the poverty and famine brought on by the Hundred Years’ War. Civilians as ever suffered from war most. Add to that the ravages of the Black Plague. The building’s Gothic façade and roofs of glazed multicolored tiles reminded me of temples in Thailand.
 Patients lived on bunks set along the sides of the Great Hall opened in 1452. Tables were moved to the middle for dining. Patients, in fact lived in the hospital until 1971, when they were moved to a new structure. Now only some retirees lives on the grounds.
Our guide Véronique Gauthier pointed to proof that Rolin must have been a romantic or at least a clever gentleman. In the floor tiles and elsewhere you will see the “Seulle” (only) motto which means that his wife Giugone de Salins was the only one in his thoughts! The Hospices also still keeps 61 hectares of vineyards, and its annual November charity wine auction is the largest in the world. Ah, wine again. Perhaps that improved Monsieur Rolin’s disposition and affection.  So, let’s go straight-away to the main subject at hand, which is wine! I discovered a terrific place called Sensation Vin, run by Céline Dandelot and Damien Delattre, who have matched old-style “it tastes like raspberries, it smells like mushrooms,” (or is it the other way around?) with high-tech training in which wine lovers sit at a table with real glasses and use power point-aids to learn about the wines. It opened in April 2006. Classes last from an hour to several days and are aimed at from novices to experts. First there are, for novices, the differences denominated by region, village, premier cru and grand cru. Then she helps train nose and palate. We were avid students as Céline had us examine the color of the wine, swirl it, smell it and finally taste. We checked boxes on her handouts to describe the smells and tastes we experienced. And then she suggested when we were right and, diplomatically, when we might be wrong!
 After the class, it was time to go into the field. Safari Tours wine tours, leave from the Tourist Office at 6 Blvd Perpreuil, with about half a dozen people piled into a van that makes its way through a choice of routes. The tour is in English and takes about 2 ½ hours. We chose the southern route, to Côte de Beaune and Hautes Côte de Beaune, through unpaved wine trails and typical villages. This is Pommard (red) and Meursault (white) country. We stopped in a field to hear a talk about the growing process. Did you know, for example, that the vineyard rows are designed so that special plows (that reminded me of giant animals), high enough in the middle to clear the vines, move down the furrows to turn over the dirt on both sides of the plants?
 The pièce de résistance was the taste test. We got a private welcome at the fine Domaine Mazilly Père et Fils (father and son) vineyard run by a fourth generation wine growing family. The winery is located in the village of Meloisey, between Meursault and Pommard. Later, I looked up a review of Mazilly wines: “With a very modern winery, the wines are very traditional with an emphasis on fruit and elegance. Oak aging for 12 to 18 months, add depth and complexity. (Our guide took us into the caves to see the oak barrels.) The Gevrey-Chambertin "Vieilles Vignes" - often receiving excellent reviews - is rich and complex with aromas of cooked cherries, leather and mushrooms.” Well, Céline, I don’t recall learning about leather!!!
Wines go with food and food often requires spices. Especially in medieval times and later, when something was needed to cover up the bad effects of poor refrigeration. Hence spices. And hence mustard. Moutarderie Fallot is an old family factory that has been making mustard since 1840 and still uses the old ways. Now, for the past five years, you can visit the Fallot’s interactive museum to experience the making and the tasting.  A class of students was there when we arrived, and they were fascinated by the lecture (in French) and anxious to try their hands. I tried too, and it was a lot easier than I imagined. Just put some mustard seeds and vinegar in a mortar and push around a pestle for a while: presto, mustard! I brought back a collection of fancy varieties, including cassis and tarragon.
Then it was time to put it altogether, the wine and the flavors that celebrate Burgundy cuisine. We had a memorable dinner at the Le Jardin des Remparts, a gourmet establishment run by Emmanuelle and Roland Chanliaud since 1990. The “remparts” are the ramparts that once encircled Beaune and are still present nearby.  It was a balmy night, and we sat in a terrace garden under a panoply of large white umbrellas covering slatted wooden tables and chairs. When the weather turned threatening, the staff moved everyone into the elegant pink and purple dining room inside. The experience was a shared event, and we ended up in interesting conversation with the couple who were seated next to us. They were driving to the Riviera, as they regularly did from Paris, and they made a habit of stopping in Beaune on the way. And of visiting this restaurant.
 The menu was seasonal haute cuisine: roast fish with honey and cumin, roast pigeon in its juices, tuna with garlic and ginger. I chose an amazing dish of salmon and shrimp, and that was only an appetizer! This was a culinary high point of our visit.
 We stayed at the Hôtel de la Poste, a former 19th-century coaching inn made up of cream color 2 and 3 story buildings, slate mansard roofs and slate gray shutters. Inside, the bar has an art deco feel, with dark woods and red wall coverings. We had breakfast in “Le Relais,” the classical dining room, traditional-style chairs and tables, with pink cloths bringing a sense that the room is part of the garden you see out the windows. The hotel is located just at the edge of the old town, with parking for cars, not too far from the train station, and walking distance to everything.
For more casual surroundings, we tried Le Conty, which has an outdoor café and a cave, where you can also do wine tastings. By then, of course, we knew what we liked and simply quaffed If you go  Beaune is 186 miles from Paris, about 25 miles from Dijon’s Longvic airport. It’s only 2 hours by TGV rail from Paris. Contact RailEurope to get advance single tickets (no waiting on station lines) or a money-saving Eurailpass for France or Europe, depending on your travel plans. http://www.raileurope.com or 888-382-7245.
Beaune Tourist Office, 6 Blvd Perpreuil, 33 (0)3 8026 2130, http://www.beaune-burgundy.com, Burgundy tourism http://www.burgundy-tourism.com Hôtel de Ville - Hospices de Beaune, BP 104, F-21200 Beaune, 33 (0)3 80 24 45 00, Fax : 33 (0)3 80 24 45 99, hospices.beaune@wanadoo.fr http://www.hospices-de-beaune.com/gb/hospices/. Open daily.  Sensation Vin, 1 rue d’Enfer, 33 (0)3 8022 1757, contact@sensation-vin.com, http://www.sensation-vin.com, daily 10 to 7.
Safari Tour wine tours, 33 (0)3 80 24 79 12 and (0)3 80 24 09 20, bacchuswinetours@wanadoo.fr, http://www.burgundy-tourism-safaritours.com, duration 2 hours. French and/or English, leaves from Tourist Office, 6 Blvd Perpreuil. Burgundy wines and wine tourism, http://www.bourgogne-wines.com Moutarderie Fallot, 31 rue du Faubourg Bretonnière, 33 (0)3 80 26 21 30, contacts@ot-beaune.fr, http://www.fallot.com. (Mon-Sat 9:30 to 6. One-hour guided visits 10 and 11 :30.) Restaurant Le Jardin des Remparts, 10 rue Hôtel Dieu, 33 (0)3 8024 7941, info@le-jardin-des-remparts.com, http://www.le-jardin-des-remparts.com for seasonal menus and reservations. Tues-Sat.  Hôtel de la Poste ****, Blvd George Clemenceau, 33 (0)3 8022 0811, 36 rooms, no smoking, restaurant, bistro and bar. poste.hotel@najeti.com, reservation@hoteldelapostebeaune.com, http://www.hoteldelapostebeaune.com
 Restaurant Le Conty, 5 rue Ziem, 33 (0)3 8022 6394.
by Lucy Komisar. |
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