For the fifth time I took the car with my girlfriend and drove down south through Sweden, Denmark and Germany to spend our summer holiday in Italy and France. I wrote a couple of lines in another thread where I had asked for and received some very good tips for our stays at Lago d’Orta and Ventimiglia. Our time in France was more wine-oriented but I suppose this is still something for the travel forum. I do not expect anyone to read through it but if you do you can certainly reward yourself with a glass of Champagne.
My gf is not very fond of winery visits most of the time so more and more we skip those and focus on enjoying wines in the restaurant setting and do the shopping in small wine stores. Nevertheless we ended up staying a couple kilometers from Bandol in a place called Ollioules. We wanted to do Provence for the first time and happened to find a superb B&B there called Les Terrasses sur Mer, highly recommended. Very near is Domaine de Terrebrune, one of the best ones in the appellation, and we kept a visit as a possibility but in the end decided to enjoy the outdoors instead as behind as was the worst summer in recent memory.
After a fantastic coast cruise from Cassis to see the famous Calanques we ended up in the town of Bandol for an adequate salade niçoise and a terrific glass of Domaines Ott rosé. No two ways about it, rosé wine has never tasted as good as here on a sunny 30°C day. After lunch we did some walking before my girlfriend went shopping for local perfumes, olive oils etc while I headed to the Maison des Vins de Bandol next door. Pretty much all the names are offered here and every day they have two whites, two reds and two rosés open for the visitors to taste for free. In each color they try to choose wines that are very different from each other to showcase the variety of styles. This was most obvious with the reds as the first one was the most fruit-forward Bandol I have ever had while the second, a 2013 Château Barthés, was not hiding its animalistic character one bit. Neither was quite what I was looking for but fortunately I had done my research based on the wines listed on their website. If I hadn’t I would have been probably fine any way as the only employee turned out to be extremely knowledgeable and ready to answer whatever question I might come up with. A fantastic place really to learn about the AOC (and to buy the wines, naturally).
On our way back to Ollioules (a nice town not accustomed to receiving tourists) we stopped at a wine shop and bar called Bouchon. The selection is definitely interesting and I walked away with a full case. However not all the wines were so keenly priced and I found it a bit questionable when the shop keeper claimed that Guiberteau Saumur is made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes. That being said he was very helpful, even placing our bottle of Crochet Sancerre in a plastic bag full of ice when I said that we would be enjoying it at our B&B very soon. The most interesting find in this shop for me was probably Jean-Claude Lapalu’s white Beaujolais-Villages as I did not even know it existed.
The next day we drove to Tain l’Hermitage for lunch. Back in January I had first experienced Le Mangevins, one of the most fun restaurants I know in the whole world. Vincent Dollat is one of those guys who knows his regions wines like no other. While he offers all the legends of the Northern Rhône you can also drink here wines from the future stars of the region that right now nobody knows about. Once again the food cooked by his wife Keiko was absolutely brilliant and matched perfectly the delightfully elegant by the glass offerings (Olivier Dumaine Crozes Hermitage Blanc La Croix du Verre and Domaine Gaylord Machon Crozes Hermitage Lhony).
After the mandatory visit to Valrhona we headed to our small hotel near the northern end of Lac du Bourget. It was great to see the mountains nearing before us - while Provence was great we were excited to be going to Savoie once again. We had no table booked for dinner and our hotel’s wine cabinet looked promising so that’s where we ended up in the evening. Unfortunately the food offerings were not very great but that was compensated by our wine which absolutely was. I had come across Château de La Mar’s wines a couple of years earlier and I did not hesitate one bit when I noticed the 2012 Marestel La Chapelle. Like the other cuvée, Le Verney, it is a dry wine that comes across like it might have some botrytis. It is wonderfully aromatic, complex and ripe yet low in alcohol and with fantastic acidity. I do not know of more beautiful expressions of the Altesse grape.
The next day the plan was to do a tour around the lake so we started by driving to Jongieux where the Marestel vineyard is located. Nothing seems to happen in the village itself but the views are absolutely breathtaking and the vineyard at least partly convincingly steep. Once we reached the town of Aix-les-Bains and had some lunch it was time again for my favorite hobby. Aix-les-Bains seems like a mighty nice place and people living there certainly have it good when it comes to wine shops. The first one we visited was the cleverly named Aix les Vins. The owner approached us quickly, eager to tell about the wines of the region and his personal philosophy. After the first years the wines of Bordeaux got to go as he wanted to focus on Savoie, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rhône. There was a bunch of interesting things available but as Savoie was my main interest I left with a case that included the owner’s favorite red from Languedoc and one of each: Persan, Gringet, Mondeuse, Altesse and Jacquère.
Then it was time to enter the somewhat famous Rhonalia, or more specifically their newish shop called Vinograf. This is the sort of place that some people want to be shush about as the selection is pretty special and the prices as low as it gets. There is a lot of natural wine but this is not really like those hipster wine shops of Paris. I walked in to buy a case and left with two. My gf had to leave half-way through as I chatted and chatted with the helpful and friendly employee (the owner perhaps?). Once again I bought some Savoie but could not resist the allure of the likes of Gonon, Sorrel, Julien Cécillon, Métras and Tribut. I am quite sure that this is the best wine shop I know of.
In the evening we headed up to a joint called Le Belvédère for a dinner. Words would not do justice, it is better the google the view. Considering the location the food is surprisingly good and not very expensive and the lake just seems to become more and more beautiful as it gets darker. It was also hot as hell due to the direct sunshine despite the altitude of 650 or so meters. We had a bottle of Berthollier Chignin-Bergeron Vieilles Vignes that was nice, even though it smelled slightly like cheese. The wine list did also have the cheapest bottle of DRC I have ever seen (350 €) but really, who would even consider drinking Burgundy in Savoie?
The next day it was indeed time for Burgundy as we headed to Pommard to dine in Auprés du Clocher. The main course was a bit uninspiring piece of meat with potato purée but otherwise we enjoyed the dinner tremendously with the famed Époisses dessert being absolutely brilliant. The wine list was unsurprisingly great and I was very happy with my choice, the 2010 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Rouge. The waiter/sommelier let us know that it is his last bottle, sort of congratulating for the good choice. Understandably everyone focuses on Coche’s whites but damn if this was not a fine wine in its own right and a really superb value as well.
The following morning we went to a familiar address: Domaine Dubreuil-Fontaine. We had been there twice before and I have praised their wines here so I do not think much repetition is needed. The vintages were 2015 for whites and 2014 for reds - I know many would prefer it the other way around - but especially the 1er Cru whites seem to be very solid in each and every vintage. Of the reds Aloxe-Corton and Île des Vergelesses were nice enough for me to buy as well. While understandable it is quite sad to witness the price increases taking place: four years ago the white 1ers were 19 and 21 €; now they are 26 and 28 €. They are still not overpriced but definitely not the awesome values they used to be.
Pommard was the first stop on our vacation dictated largely by food and wine. L’Isle sur Serein was the second. Well, really it was all about wine this time. A long time ago the town had been known as the “guardian” of the nearby town of Montréal. Now it is known for having a restaurant that happens to have one of the best wine lists out there. While they really have it all I knew very well that I wanted to drink more Coche. As the list stated that the oldest Meursault (2010) was not yet ready we settled for the 2011 vintage. The greatness of this wine is well documented here and we were definitely not disappointed. It took a while to really get going but once it got there I was absolutely blown away by its complexity, tension and length. The restaurant does not get much credit for its food which is why the very cheap set menu was a really positive surprise. Their cheese selection was truly superb with perfect serving temperatures, the ideal way to polish off the bottle.
Before the dinner when we had first arrived to the town and I was taking our wines to the hotel away from the heat I saw car with its trunk full of cases of Bachelet. I commented “that is some nice wine there” to the driver who then saw the case of Bandol I was carrying and responded “well, that one is not bad either”. After a small chat he introduced himself as Alain Pechery, indeed the owner of the restaurant where we would be eating in a couple of hours.
There is not much to choose from in this town but fortunately Les Epis d’Or B&B is an infinitely better place to stay for a night than the only hotel in Pommard. The couple that owns the place - a local man and a woman of Japanese descent - are some of the nicest people I have come across.
While I would not have minded staying in this town for a little longer to explore the wine list some more we nevertheless headed to Verzenay then to visit a domaine called Hugues Godmé. For a couple of years now they have been separate from the Godmé Sabine domaine. The formed is biodynamic, the latter is not, so it was decided best to continue on different paths. I have no complaints about the cheaper end of the range but really things got a lot more interesting with the Blanc de Noirs. I have had a decent amount of experience with producers from Aÿ, Ambonnay and Bouzy but was quite surprised to see how different the Pinot Noir from the north-facing vineyards of Verzenay can be. These wines are not nearly as big and red-fruited as I was expecting but that is not to say that I was disappointed in any way. The current vintage champagne (2006) is quite excellent for its price, not lacking any acidity the way some others are while being quite developed and showy.
The flagship range consists of three single variety, single vineyard wines. Somewhat surprisingly instead of the GC PN it was the two Premier Cru wines (Chardonnay Les Alouettes Saint Bets and Pinot Meunier Les Romaines) that we liked the most. Especially the 2007 Les Romaines really managed to wow us. It is not that I have not had excellent Pinot Meuniers before (Emmanuel Brochet, Jerome Prevost and Chartogne-Taillet come to mind) but as we were tasting this wine I had to double-check that it is indeed Meunier in the glasses, such was its complexity and grace. A really fine wine probably more than worth the tariff (50 €). Finally we got to taste their experimental 2013 zero dosage, zero sulfur, spontaneously fermented blanc de blancs. Not necessarily better than the three single vineyards yet very enjoyable and at this point no one would be able to tell that no sulfur was added. This is indeed a producer that is not standing still; they have been constantly lowering the dosages but not once did I feel like a wine would be better with more sugar. Indeed their wines are generally quite vinous and they do use oak to some extent but the wines really are not oaky (well, the perhaps the Fins Bois somewhat) nor too much like still wine. Mrs Godmé was a great host and I think we spent around two hours there tasting the wines and chatting with her. A really enjoyable visit all the way.
It is quite amazing how many places in Reims can be closed in August. I was very much interested to try the new Doko Koko Bistro but tough luck, they were on vacation. So we ended up in a place called Le Bocal, located next to Les Halles du Boulingrin. They double as a fishmonger and indeed you go there to eat seafood of high quality and wash it down with (preferably) Champagne. While the main course could have used a bit more flair the different tartars we had for starters were all nothing short of excellent (indeed some do not even eat the main courses here but instead have only the small bites). Even better was our Champagne, 2013 Les Beaux Regards blanc de blancs from the venerable Bérêche, that was the sort of intellectual and hedonistic experience that really demands all your attention. Clearly Montagne de Reims in style, it has plenty of volume and is very enjoyable cold and with the bubbles but really transforms itself as it gets closer to room temp and loses some of the effervescence. Just like their Campania Remensis it is rich and vinous without lacking any freshness. I look forward to adding several bottles of this to my cellar. Otherwise our time in Reims was spent doing the usual stuff, i.e. shopping in Caves du Forum and Cave des Sacres and sipping Champagne in places like Au Bon Manger and Le Wine Bar by Le vintage. While the town is pretty much as touristy as it gets we somehow seem to come back every year.