Just back from a week in France where I made good use of a bunch of good advice and promised to report back.
First Day: My wife and I were headed to a wedding in the middl-of -owhere Central France, and on the way stopped by the village of Sancerre after taking an all-night flight from D.C.
Sancerre was gorgeous and charming, but we hadn’t slept in 20 hours and wine wasn’t appealing, so we pushed on to our destination.
After 2 days of wedding festivities, we were able to start our trip in earnest, and drove four hours east to Arbois, in the heart of the Jura. The driving in France was half of the fun of the trip, and the road from Saint Amand Montrond to Arbois was pretty for four straight hours.
Arbois is charming small town. Our first stop was Domaine De La Pinte, which has a tasting outpost “downtown” where we tasted through about 8 wines for 6 Euros. I asked the tasting room manager if we should be spitting when tasting and she intimated we’d look like rubes if we didn’t, so this set us on a course of spitting for the whole trip.
These were great wines. Pure, biodynamic Jura wines in a variety of variations. In a theme that would repeat itself over and over, I was sickened by how cheap these wines were, and what limited ability I had to get any home. (We ultimately stashed 6 bottles in checked luggage.) Bought a skin contact “orange” savagnin here, but really all the wines were great, and all about 20 euros a bottle. Had my first–but far from last–vin jaune here. I basically loved every vin jaune I tasted on my trip, but ultimately for my dumb taste buds it tastes remarkably like sherry, at a significantly higher tariff.
Dinner in Arbois on night one was at Les Caudalies. We did the wine pairing of Jura wines with about five dishes, and it was great. Took part in a crazy cheese cart here. Oof.
The next day we went to Jean Bourdy in the speck on the map of Arlay, where we were welcomed into the 15th century cellar by one of the two brothers running the estate. This was basically my idealized France wine tasting experience: tasting with a 15th generation winemaker in a dank, cobwebby cellar. It helped that the wines were fantastic. Mr. Bourdy claimed they do nothing different than what their ancestors did 500 years ago, and their wines felt lively and precise. Awesome stop. Bought a Chateau Chalon vin jaune here.
That afternoon we also stopped by Stephane Tissot on the main drag of Arbois, and the assistant wine maker tasted us through a bunch of stuff, including two sparkling wines, a cofermented blend of red Jura varieties, some savagnin and two single vineyard vin jaunes.
This seemed like a really sophisticated operation, and after about two wines I had no doubt that everything we tried was going to be not just good but excellent. Exciting and exacting wines.
We had dinner on the second night in the nearby (essentially walkable) town of Pupillin at Le Grapiot. This restaurant is apparently famous for having a bunch of rare stuff on the list at standard markup, and I watched two separate tables order a 2012 Overnoy Savagnin (70 euros on the list.)
The Norwegian gentleman sitting next me insisted I have a glass of his bottle after I asked him about it, and damn, that was a tasty and unusual wine. Best meal of the trip here.
After the Jura we drove down to through Switzerland to Annecy, which was thronged with tourists (like us!). After the tranquility of the Jura, this was a change, but the town and lake are beautiful, and we found a good local wine bar (La Cave) and drank local jacquere and mondeuse outside. Not bad at all.
After Annecy we drove to Beaujolais, where we stayed in the tiny hamlet of Saint Lager. By this point, France was freaking hot–like 104 outside–so plans to rent bikes, or hike up Mont Brouilly were scuttled. So we basically just drove, watching one charming village turn into the next. Having seen these names on some of my favorite bottle for much of my adult life, it was a thrill to wind through Morgon and Fleurie and Julienas. Gorgeous countryside.
I made an appointment here at Thivin, and it did not disappoint. The daughter in law of the owner (I believe her husband may make the wine) tasted us through about 8 wines, including 4 single site Mont Brouilly that don’t get exported to the U.S. These wines were lovely, and, cruelly, none cost more than 19 euros. Interestingly, she poured us the european equivalent of the MB bottling many we get here in the states, and said the only difference was it was filtered. She explained that the U.S. bottle was unfiltered because Kermit Lynch could be counted on to transport it refrigerated and handled with extreme care. I bought two bottles of the Cuvee Zacharrie, their somewhat atypical cuvee aged in smaller oak barrels, which cost about $30. We did a quick tour here, too, and it was another 15th century, romantic and moldy affair. Beautiful and surprisingly small place.
I was curious to know what a big Napa style room was like in Beaujolais, so we stopped the grand estate of Chateau Pizay, which is a tasting room, hotel and spa. Turns out it was really chill. We paid a few euros to try 12 tastes from little enomatic dispensers and were the only ones there. Nice wines, and average price was about $12. I think their most expensive bottle was about $20.
Next time I go I’ll make more appointments to taste, but for my first trip I just wanted to see as much as possible.
We had dinner at L’ecume Gourmand, where I took the Berserker consensus advice and ordered the Yvon Metras basic Beaujolais bottling. People were not wrong. It was a lovely and slightly funky bottle. We loved it.
Then it was home.
This was my first trip to France and a few things struck me. One, it was all really easy. Charles De Gaulle was easy. The rental car was easy. Dealing with people despite not knowing any French was easy. No problems.
Two, fine french dining can be a great deal. All of our meals were multi course and were by any definition “fine dining,” and we never paid more than $200 for two people with wine, and my favorite dinner was $117 all-in. I can’t do that in the small town where I live in Virginia.
Lodging was similarly a great deal, with beautiful historic rooms that never exceeded $200.
French people were uniformly really nice to a clueless American struggling communicate.
Anyway, my first time in France was a great one. I’d go back to Arbois and Beaujolais in a second, and will hopefully be able to explore and taste more widely when the weather isn’t so oppressive.
Thanks to everyone who offered their 2 cents.
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