Fresh from the breadoven at Blanot
It is beautiful sunny weather once more so we set off early to Blanot to visit one of the most popular local brocantes/vide greniers. At brocantes dealers are allowed which usually means better stuff and antiques are for sale. But disappointingly there was the same old truc for the same old prices. Goodness knows why everything second hand is so expensive in France. To my mind if you have a lot of unwanted junk it’s better to sell it at bargain prices so you don’t have to pack it all away again at the end of the day. The prices people ask are just silly so you show interest, ask the price then go home empty handed.
However there were some items which caught our attention which you would never see at the average car boot sale – shotguns and extremely large knives, ‘Napoleon’s’ hat, gin traps, a mirror set in a carthorse collar…. But nothing that we couldn’t live without!
The winepress at St Gengoux le Scisse
As usual when coming home we meandered round to look at the views from the hills and do a bit of sightseeing. This morning we stopped to have a walk round St Gengoux le Scisse, a pretty wine village with a popular cave set amongst the vineyards. We came across this enormous wine press from 1869, by far the oldest and biggest we have ever seen. And we thought they just used to tread the grapes!
La Vieille Eglise at Juliénas
Although we have been living in France for more than two years we are still finding plenty of new experiences to enjoy on our doorstep. We have had visitors to La Maison du Curé who have asked about the best vineyards to buy their wines. Until today we have been unable to offer any advice, not having been brave enough to try la dégustation in a single cave. But all that has started to change today as we went for a little tour around a corner of Beaujolais.
The road to Beaujeu is very spectacular with panoramic views of the Beaujolais vineyards and the surrounding mountains. After a leisurely lunch at Beaujeu we set off for our first cave at Fleurie. Here we sampled several wines and were given lots of information about them by the marchande. We compared wines from the same vineyard but different years, and we tried wines from the same year but from different terroirs.
We were surprised to taste the difference between wines made from the same type of grapes by the same patron but grown in different ‘fields’. The flavour of the wine depends on many things, the aspect of the land, the intrinsic nature of the soil, the weather conditions, drainage and the ability for the soil to retain heat. Everyone agrees that 2009 was a wonderful year for wine, both to drink now and to lay down for drinking later.
We headed back over the hills to Juliénas, the name of which indicates the Roman influence in the area. The Cellier de la Vieille Eglise was a surprise as between the magnificent stained glass windows is a huge fresco showing Bacchus and his near naked entourage of ladies dancing around him. Quite a different atmosphere from the more modern caves we had visited.
The Cave at Vinzelles
It was a short hop back to Mâcon where we stopped to taste some more wines at Vinzelles. You can’t miss it as it is by a roundabout planted with vines with huge wine glasses. Here we bought a box of St Veran which is highly recommended by the people in our village. And some Beaujolais Villages which is more an everyday wine.
So don’t be like us and be afraid to go into the caves and try the wines. There is no obligation to buy. You’ll soon find plenty of wines you like and will have a very pleasant time discovering the Beaujolais region.
The Choir at Azé
There are a series of special events this year for Cluny 2010 which is a celebration of the 1100th anniversary of Cluny Abbey. This evening the local choir performed at a balade chorale (literally choir walk) at Azé, which is the big wine village over the hill to the east of us. Several choirs were invited from different villages. It was a pity that after a week of wall to wall sunshine and warm weather today was cool and cloudy. But luckily there was little rain to dampen the spirits of the singers and their followers.
The event started with the Azé choir singing in the market hall. Then we moved en masse to another location at the edge of the village. A horse and carriage took the children off for a jaunt while the next choir sang. The third venue was the village school yard. We then finished off by returning to the market hall for another rendition from the Azé choir. By that time we were getting cold and hungry and everyone fell on the feast that was spread out on the trestle tables. I don’t think I have ever eaten so well as we have since we came to Burgundy! And if I can’t put two words together tonight it is because of the Azé white wine which must be the best in France.
Gamay Grapes
I’m glad to say the weather has improved greatly this week with several warm sunny days. We are especially glad to be living here following the news from the UK of fierce gales, torrential rain and widespread flooding. I used to find November in the UK gloomy and depressing but here there is much more daylight.
We have started our English conversation meetings for the people in the village. We were most surprised how many already speak extremely good English, which I would not normally expect in a village in deepest Burgundy. Our English friends laugh and say that it is a good way for us to get out of learning French if we can get the neighbours speaking English. However it is still our most fervent wish that one day we will be able to speak French with conviction, if not accuracy. We are helped enormously by our kind neighbours who are most patient with us.
Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! The third Thursday in November is the day that the new Beaujolais wine is released for sale. We are accustomed to the crazy ritual that goes into transporting Beaujolais around the world in a race to serve it as quickly as possible. So we were rather pleased to see it in the local supermarket first thing in the morning and bought some to accompany our dinner that night.
The highlight of this week was the dinner dance held in the Foyer Rural. It was a lot of fun and different from what we remember from dinner dances long ago in that we got up and danced between courses, not just afterwards. The meal was superb as were the wines, produced in the nearby village of Azé. The tables were beautifully decorated with flowers and the napkins were folded into a fleur de lys. We spent some time folding and unfolding them trying to learn how it was done.
We joined the clearing up party this morning and found everyone surprisingly cheerful seeing the dance hadn’t finished until 4am. Finishing off bottles of left over wine was a good enough excuse for becoming slightly tipsy before midi. There is no waiting until the sun is over the yardarm here in the pays de bonvivre!
 "The chateau at Pierreclos")