Our final day in Burgundy started with a visit to Lucien Le Moine this morning. Tasting notes can be found here.
We had lunch with Mounir and Rotem from Lucien Le Moine at Caveau des Arches.
I started with the salade de roquette to keep things light. This was pretty good as it had Parmesan, cauliflower, carrots...etc.
Magret de canard, griottines - the minute I saw the word "griottines" I knew I was done. These wonderfully sweet cherries were perfect to go with the duck breast. The duck was perhaps a little bit more done than "rosé", but still very tender and delicious. The sauce was just unbelieveable... red wine reduction together with the sweetness from the cherries.
2007 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - mineral, flint, a bit ripe, high acidity on the palate. Later on became ripe and sweeet on the palate, with rounded, buttery notes while still flinty. Honestly this was a little muted for a Coche-Dury...
2006 Rousseau Chambertin - sharp and alcoholic, mint, a little Chinese medicine, root-like, black cherries. Much later on the nose was really really sweet, but palate kinda died and turned pretty disgusting, like drinking bleach…
A pretty enjoyable lunch, and certainly much better than dinner last night...
We took the long ride back to Paris after lunch, and it rained the whole way. At one point I noticed that all the animals grazing on pasture were white: sheep, horses and cattle. Our driver told me that the cattle were of the famous Charolais breed - which some of us had enjoyed at lunch earlier.
Back in Paris, I checked into the Hotel Concorde Montparnasse and immediately ran some errands before heading out to dinner.
We regrouped at Il Vino d'Enrico Bernardo to celebrate Lord Rayas' birthday. Even Juliano, who missed out on the entire trip to Burgundy, flew in to join the party. The lovely wives of Lord Rayas and Juliano also graced us with their presence, so we finally had ladies at our table for the first time in quite a few days...
The restaurant was established by Enrico Bernardo, formerly of Four Seasons George V who won the title of Best Sommelier of the World back in 2004. The concept is refreshing, and really takes food and wine matching to heart. There was no food menu. The diner chooses the wines from the list, and the kitchen sends out dishes to match the wines.
The amuse bouches:
Cream of beet root
Tempura of Parmesan
Rabbit Terrine
2007 Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - big, explosive toasty nose with flint, minerals, fresh lemon. The acidity was a bit high. Drunk together with fish, the acidity disappeared completely, leaving only ripe, sweetness and a round and lovely wine. Better than the Coche-Dury at lunch today.
Tartar of sea bream with wasabi crème fraîche, chives and caviar - this was pretty good, and the wasabi wasn't too strong to detract from the wines.
2006 Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - really sweet, lovely and beautiful... decadent. Sweet straw, honey, nectar, buttery corn. Smooth and round on the palate. Absolutely awesome.
Pan-seared scallops with broccoli sauce, topped with konbu and orange - the scallops were done very well here. The broccoli sauce was a little bland, but the piece of konbu (昆布) was incredibly salty.
Tagliolini with butter and white truffles - this was simply awesome! The tagliolini was done very nicely, with plenty of yummy butter. Of course white truffles made the dish, although we were a little surprised that they chose to shave the truffles in the kitchen and not at the table.
1996 Méo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanée Aux Brûlée - nice and open, with a bit of smoke, black fruits, herbs and spices, sweet fruit, a little preserved prunes. Medium acidity at first but later more acidic, and a bit tannic on the finish.
We celebrated with a birthday cake, which I no longer had the space for in my stomach...
The food was excellent, well-deserving of the restaurant's macaron. This was definitely a good way to wrap up our Burgundy trip. I was glad to be able to celebrate Lord Rayas' birthday with him in Paris.
Two big domaine visits this morning. First stop was at Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier in Chambolle-Musigny. Tasting notes can be found here.
Next stop before lunch was at Domaine Ponsot in Morey-Saint-Denis. We finally got to pick and eat a couple of grapes left hanging on the vines before going in to visit. The grapes were really ripe, sweet and delicious. We later found out that the grapes actually didn't belong on Ponsot land... Oh well. Tasting notes for the Ponsot wines can be found here.
Laurent Ponsot joined us for lunch at Castel de Tres Girard in Morey-Saint-Denis. I didn't go for salad today, and went for the menu Bourguignon instead.
Amuses bouches
Les œufs meurette du Castel de Très Girard - I didn't really like the alternative version I had on my first day here, but these classics were absolutely awesome! The thick, rich red wine sauce, together with caramelized onions and strips of smoky lardon, just made for a perfect combination with the soft, runny eggs. Soaking everything up with toast was just about the best thing ever. I didn't exactly pull a Dyson, but my plate was pretty darn clean...
Traditionnel boeuf bourguignon, carottes, oignons, champignons et tagliatelles fraîches (boeuf origine France) - OK so this was another touristy dish I needed to check off... The beef itself was not bad, pretty tender. The carrots were tasty, as were the strips of lardon. It probably wasn't the best idea to finish the pasta...
Fromages frais et affinés de chez Gaugry à Brochon - the minute I see the name Gaugry I knew I wanted some cheese no matter what. They are the only house that still make Epoisses from raw milk, and how could I come to Burgundy and not have some? I asked for a slice, which wasn't quite as ready as I'd like. The slice of Comté was sweet and decent, though.
We were amused by the name of the dessert - Shake’s pear très Bourguignon - but were too full to stick around and find out what it was.
As our numbers dwindled, so did the number of bottles consumed at our meals. First came the 2007 Mugnier Musigny, which was sweet, fruity, almost jammy with blackberries. Fragrant and really beautiful.
1997 DRC La Tâche - really smoky, minerals, vegetal, smelling of stems, sharp alcohol and green pepper. Second pour was much better.
Our first stop after lunch was Domaine des Lambrays in Morey-Saint-Denis. Tasting notes can be found here.
We had a little gap in between appointments, so I asked for a detour to do something really touristy - to stand in front of the famed cross of Ligier-Belair erected in front of La Tâche. We even managed to pick a bunch of grapes from La Tâche to taste them...
Last stop as the sky dimmed was at Domaine Marquis d'Angerville in Volnay. Tasting notes are here.
Now down to just four of us, we headed to La Régalade for dinner. Pineapple hadn't been here in a while, and it's clear that the standards have gone down.
Our amuse bouche was a little bit of carpaccio de St Jacques aux truffle. This was OK.
I took a large green salade to start, and finished with the œuf brouillade aux truffes. Unfortunately this was way too runny, and the truffles were also of lesser quality. I don't think we'll be coming back to this place.
We had drunk far too much wine at this point, and the wine list wasn't exactly inspirational, so we made do with one bottle for the four of us.
2004 Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses - fragrant and lovely, with grilled meats, mint and smoke. Fairly smooth and elegant on the palate, but the finish was a little short. Lovely nose.
We headed back to the hotel, where a couple of the boys tried to pick out a bottle from the hotel's wine list...
We started the morning with a visit to Domaine Bruno Clair in Marsannay. Tasting notes can be found here.
Our second stop of the day was Domaine Dugat-Py in Gevrey-Chambertin. Tasting notes can be found here.
Lunch today was at Chez Guy in Gevrey-Chambertin. I had some trepidation when I saw the words "and family" written in English...
Two amuse bouches: the mushroom soup was very salty, but I guess that's not surprising. The artichoke cream was not bad.
I had a spoonful of the truffled eggs, which were pretty delicious.
I wanted to keep things light, so I asked for a green salad. The waitress seemed puzzled that I didn't want anything substantial, and asked if I wanted to have some pork terrine with my salad. I agreed to her suggestion and ended up having jambon persillé maison, câpres à queue, cornichons et petits ongions, mesclun à l'huile d'olive... Instead of having terrine with my salad I ended up having a small pile of greens on the side of big chunks of terrine. Argh! At least the terrine was pretty decent...
As I didn't get enough greens the first time around, I asked for a second, much bigger plate of greens. Much happier.
I did have dessert. Figue rôti au Mas Amiel, jus à boire, sorbet figue framboise sounded good, and also tasted pretty good.
2003 DRC Echezeaux- an obvious bargain on the wine list. Initially a little tight, funky, savory, smoky, spices with fruit underneath. Palate was a little flat. Second time around the finish was longer and the wine was more concentrated, with game meat notes.
2006 Méo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Cros-Parantoux- nose was a little closed, with sharp alcohol. A really concentrated wine.
2006 Bachelet Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes- soft, open and fragrant, with mint and a bit of sweet fruit. Round and lovely.
First stop after lunch was Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Tasting notes can be found here.
Next stop was Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux in Vosne-Romanée. We were treated to a lovely bottle of '71. Tasting notes can be found here.
Our final visit of the day was Domaine d'Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée. I had tasted the 2007s and 2008s in Hong Kong a week ago, and this was a chance to try the 2009s and see the progression. Tasting notes can be found here.
Dinner tonight was at Ma Cuisine in Beaune, just a short walk from the hotel. The restaurant is well-known for its solid food as well as its wine list, and is a regular hang-out for many of the winemakers and others in the trade.
Salade de St Jacques poêlées - these were really, really good. The scallops were big, fat and juicy. Perfect execution. The pile of greens in the middle also helped keep things light and balanced.
We shared a few orders of œuf brouillé aux truffes, which were the best we've had so far. The consistency of the eggs were just perfect - not too runny - and there was plenty of black truffle shavings on top as well as in the eggs. Every mouthful was fragrant ad lovely. Each of us could have easily gobbled down a plate or two of these...
The pigeon entier rôti au jus was the best I've had that I can remember, and I've had a few pigeons in my time. The pigeon was plump and incredibly succulent - oozing with juice and flavors emenating from within each bite. Lightly spiced with pepper and herbs outside, and the mushrooms played their supporting role well. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the alcohol talking when I was overcome with emotion while savoring each and every little mouthful of heaven.
The wine list was pretty extensive for a restaurant of this size, and there were a number of gems we unearthed tonight.
1996 Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet - sweet, honey and buttery...so rich and creamy, with a bit of minerals, a hint of acetone. Color was golden yellow. Acidity was quite high on the palate, even though it was hot and burned a little on the finish. Later on the nose showed a bit of grass, oak, more minerals, flint and toast. An incredibly lovely wine.
1961 Henri Sorrel Hermitage - none of us had ever had the privilege to taste this wine before, although the name Sorrel is a distinguished one in Hermitage and one can't exactly go wrong with a '61 Hermitage! Really nice and amazing. Lots of herbs and spices, a little turpentine, sous bois, black olives, soy sauce, smoke and mushrooms. The wine still had reasonable body for its age, but slightly high in acidity and burned the back of my throat on the way down thanks to the alcohol. A real treat to be able to drink this!
1972 Guigal La Mouline - the second bottle of red just had to be this one, with so many fans of La Mouline present and also being Dayliao's birth vintage. I'm sure I am biased when I say that I found this more enjoyable than the '61 Sorrel. Lovely, huge nose with floral, bacon fat, grilled meats, violet, sweet and ripe fruit, prunes. Soooo explosively sweet it was amazing. After more than an hour the floral and sweet nose started to fade.
Yet another wonderful evening...the third in a row! This would be our last evening with a full crew on this trip, and what a way to finish!
Got up this morning and had a fantastic breakfast at Maison Troisgros. Pineapple told us that the bread and pastries here were well worth having, and he wasn't wrong. Surprising the croissant was a little soggy, but the rest of the items in the bread basket - including the wonderful sweet brioche - were awesome. I also nibbled on some saucisson and blood saucisson...
Our first visit was Domaine Michel Niellon. The tasting notes for the wines can be found here.
We had a little time before lunch, so we drove around to take a look at the most famous of all white Burgundy vineyards - Le Montrachet. It's really not that big, and one can see that the different growers who own or lease plots of land in the appellation put up their own gates or markers with pride.
Lunch was at Le Montrachet in Puligny-Montrachet. Against my better judgement, I did not have salad and took the set lunch instead. I would regret this later in the day.
We were served some pretty yummy amuse bouche, including jambon persillé. A pretty good start.
Vichyssoise with salmon - this wasn't bad at all, although interestingly it was green, probably from the parsley.
Les escargots de Bourgogne «en persillé», fraîcher automnale - I thought I'd get the touristy thing out of the way and order the escargot, since we are in Burgundy after all. Turned out to be a little disappointing... Maybe my expectations were too high, but these weren't that big... Flavor-wise they were pretty decent, and each was stuffed with a tiny piece of bread to soak up the sauce.
Le quasi de veau rôti, brochette de shiitake au lard et pomme de terre - I could see that the veal has been overcooked, which ruins this supposedly tasty cut of meat. It's actually part of the loin, which explains its texture. Fortunately not all the pieces were dry and a couple were still pink and moist in the middle. The thick cuts of bacon sandwiched between potato slices were tasty, though...
Velouté d'ananas rôti et citron - the roasted pineapple at the bottom sure was tasty...
Le tartelette sablée aux noix et caramel salé - very nice and sweet, with gin and tonic sorbet on the side.
As we are dining at a restaurant called Le Montrachet, it is only fitting that we enjoy a bottle from the famed vineyard. The 2004 Sauzet Montrachet had a good, buttery nose with toasty oak, flint, minerals, lemon citrus, and honey. Ripe and a little hot on the palate as well as the finish.
2003 Roumier Bonnes Mares - minty, lots of fruit, pine needles, sweet, very beautiful... lots of minerals and almost a little iron. A bit hot on the palate and very sweet. The finish was a little grippy towards the end, and after a while the palate pretty much died.
Next we visited Domaine Hubert de Montille/Domaine du Château de Puligny Montrachet. Tasting notes on the wines are here.
Our final visit of the day was with Domaine Michel Magnien. Tasting notes on the wines can be found here.
We checked into L'Hotel de Beaune and rested up a little before dinner, which was just next door at Le Bistro de L'Hotel. Thankfully we could order à la carte and cut down on the intake. I was only a little bit hungry...
A simple little ham and cheese sandwich to start us off. Very good.
A little cup of butternut squash cream soup was really thick and sweet. Left half of it as it was pretty filling.
We took the chef's suggestion and started with papardelle au beurre et truffles d'Alba. The papardelle wasn't the best, but the white truffle shavings and butter was just amazingly fragrant. Thank you sir, can I have another?
Côte de boeuf grillée «Black Angus» (1.2kg) - this was supposed to be shared by two people, but it was so huge we thought it would feed a party of four easily. The kitchen sent it out bleu without asking us how we wanted it done, and it was promptly sent back. Fortunately the kitchen did a perfect job and didn't overcook it the second time around. It's a damn good piece of beef, with a good amount of fat to make it oh-so-tasty. I don't eat steak all that often, but this is how I want my beef done!
We were served a pile of frites maison in a bamboo steamer basket. Interesting...
Poularde de Bresse de chez mieral rôtie entière - also shared between the 6 of us. Bresse chicken is really the best in the world for me, and this was just about perfect. I got one of the drumsticks, and loved it. The meat was so tasty, especially with the fat of the chicken dripping all over it. The skin was crispy and awesome. Absolutely heavenly.
The restaurant sent out some rice and some creamy mashed potatoes. Lord Rayas was already craving for a bit of home, and I could see his joy as he drizzled chicken oil from my plate over some rice...
Now onto the wines. We have had a lot to drink and taste today, so decided to skip the whites and went straight to reds. Once again Pineapple outdid himself and set us up with a kick-ass set of wines.
1993 Mugnier Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses - a little bit dusty at first, with stewed prunes, grilled meats, a little smoke and leather. Sweet and grassy.
1998 Mugnier Musigny - sweet fruit, mint and ripe melon. Very nice and lovely. Nose kinda showed a little oxidation later on.
1978 DRC La Tâche - O-M-G. This was an awesome wine, and such a privilege to drink! Amazing amount of sweetness in the nose, with sweet grass, bacon, farmy, floral and fragrant, minty... Just absolutely lovely. Mind-blowing.
1985 DRC La Tâche - the other wine in the pairing could only be the '85. A little more muted than the '78, with some mint, sweet fruit, a little ripe with leather notes. Also a little sharp at the beginning.
The evening could only be summed up with one word: AMAZING. With a line-up of legendary wines, and some simple yet wonderfully delicious food.
