A Walk To Remember. Wednesday 9th September, 2009.

The afternoon came quickly. We arrived at Domaine Rocheville at 5.30pm to take the thematic walk around the farm which grows grape vines, fruit trees and olives. Magic hour was the perfect time to walk the hills of the farm and to learn all about the nurturing and harvesting of the many things Domaine Rocheville grows. At each numbered point we stopped, and AJ read the information, we began at the cherry trees, then the olives and soon after the vines which were heavy with ripe grapes awaiting the beginning of harvest on Monday – how exciting. The walk lasted two glorious hours, uphill and down dale and we loved every moment of it. We arrived back at the car as the sun disappeared behind the surrounding hills.

AJ’s ‘Concentration de Vehicles’ was to be on again at 8 in Nyons so off we headed. Remember last Wednesday when we arrived to see it and there was nothing there? Well, same scenario this week, what a shame for AJ who was keen to see what it was all about. We returned home for dinner before settling down on the couch for a movie, ‘Gran Torino’ – I would highly recommend it!

Mooching in Gevrey-Chambertin. Monday 27th July 2009.

JR and JC were out the door at 7 to capture the soft hues of the early morning sun on Chateau de Pommard, JR thinks he got a few keepers.

We headed in the direction of the Route des Grand Crus and detoured along the narrower and quieter Circuit Touristique des Hautes Cotes. Vineyards lined the road and we drifted along quietly, gently and happily. JC snoozed in the back while we explored the little village of Morey-St-Denis, it is a pretty village, but thn again, most of the villages around here are.

We ended up in Gevrey-Chambertin where I met Luc at the Chateau. Luc, and Elizabeth (the Chateau's wine maker) had been chatting with me via email over the past weeks and I was hoping to meet them face to face. We made a 2pm rendezvous to have a tour of the vineyards. The Chateau has stood here since before the 11th century, they are not sure of exactly when as the archives are incomplete, but it's old, crumbling and oh so gorgeous.

We found a few nice vineyards to wander while JC slept. The leaves on the vines were mostly green but were interspersed with pretty ones striped with purple, the rows were enclosed by a high stone wall which crept up the side of a hill.

Back in centre ville and JC was back in the land of the living, we all explored Gevrey-Chambertin, it was so quiet, all the shops were closed as is usual between midday and 2pm. They take eating pretty seriously here so all businesses close down for the workers to disappear and tuck into a good lunch.

We had a chat and watched the bottles being hand labeled at Caveau Philippe Leclerc, we were given 3 reds of varying age, all of which were a little to heavy in tannins for me, I am a softy when it comes to reds, JR is quite the opposite and he enjoyed one inparticular, the 1998 1st Cru Les Cazetiers.




It was time to return to Luc at the Chateau for our tour of the vineyards. These vineyards are a little jewel, where the work is done by hand. One plot of vines has an average age of 90 years and we were quietly introduced to a darling of a vine of 120 years. She is slowly fading, this will be her last crop of grapes and she will go to God, bless her. She is making her last offering very special with no less than eleven bunches of grapes on display. This is most unusual from a vine of her age. We visit the winery where the winemaker is hesitant for tours to go, she worries that visitor's perfume will be absorbed by the oak barrels, a valid point when talking wine perfumes and it shows the delicate love and care given to each vintage here at the Chateau.


The door to the 13th century wine cave was opened for us, wine was poured and we were taken on a journey through the tastes of the Chateau. Luc teased with stories of 7 bottles of 1878 Charmes-Chambertin nestled safely inside the cellars, "They are not for sale" he says, "no amount of money could buy them".




We came home in time for JC to throw his things together, have a quick bite, and get to the train station on time for his return to Brussels. See you later JC - thanks for the painted chicken, it is a forever memory!

A quiet family night on the couch was what we all needed so we cracked a block of chocolate and settled in to watch Agent 00, a Leslie Nielsen comedy. Sleep came easy...

Random meetings and Brocante in Bresse. Sunday 26th July 2009.

As JC said when we left home, "We will use my head and JR's driving" so JC sat in the navigators seat for the day and off we went. It was a treat for me to sit in the back with AJ and not have to read a map. That is one thing I wont miss when we return home, the need to navigate maps to get to almost everywhere we go.

Our first stop was not too far from home, in a little village called Corgengoux. JC spotted an old man sitting between two old farmhouses, so we stopped, he went to introduce himself and we all followed. Before long the old man, Paul, was offering us and aperitif. He disappeared into his wine cave and returned with two shiny bottles of rose. His darling wife shuffled into the kitchen and returned with some glasses. An apertitif of pamplemousse sirop and rose wine was poured for all, including Alex (he must look older than his 12 years). JC busied himself with questions and translated every minute detail for us. It was wonderful to hear about the colourful life they lead on their farm.

Their son arrived home, he is in his 50's and unmarried, apparently the girls in the villages don't stay around any more, he lives on the farm with his parents and has taken over the business. It's a hard life with not much monetary reward. Rewards seem to come in other ways though. All three wore wide grins and they were openhearted and generous with their spirit, it appeared they ate pretty well too. I was very interested to dig a little and enquire about their life here. I asked about the vegetables they grew and did they kill their Charolais beef for their own use. On wandering to the vegie patch, we saw they were rather self sufficient. There were chickens, sheep used for meat, hutches of rabbits with coffee coloured fur kelled for meat when needed, and under a cluster of pear, wine peach, and apple trees, Paul revealed a barrel of 700 snails that they will eat in the winter as escargot with garlic and parsley butter. Nearby was a bush filled with red jeweled redcurrants and Paul's vegie patch with rows of potatoes, onions, cabbages and a few varieties of tomatoes - the beef tomatoes were still bright green, unready to be plucked from their stalks, but the roma tomatoes were red as red could be. He grew gladioli too, one in peach was in bloom but the others were still closed waiting to reveal their colour. He grows the gladioli for himself because he likes them, I noticed there was a bunch in a vase in the kitchen, Paul had probably visited his garden, tucked away from the world's prying eyes, this morning, and cut the long stems for him and his wife to enjoy as they ate their Sunday lunch.


To return to the farm house we passed scragly raspberry bushes which still held perfect red teardroped shaped fruits, they were sweet and without a blemish. Paul picked me a stalk of redcurrants to eat, they were a little tart and shiny, shiny red, like a Christmas red. On a stack of old wood beside the track we walked, were preserving jars, large and small, filled with cherries straight from the tree, alcohol and sugar. Paul will leave them in the summer sun for three months before they are ready to be enjoyed as an aperitif. They fill their glasses with the cherry infused alcohol and the fruit too - what a treat!





Today was another example of random meetings with strangers who open their homes and their hearts and help to make our experience so rich. We bade them farewell and thanked them for their generous hospitality, they are some of life's beautiful people that is for sure.



JC spotted the perfect picnic spot, it was delightful and serene. At one point I said for everyone to be quiet and listen, all you could hear were the crickets, birds and the breeze in the treetops. We sat on the edge of a forest with a view of a field of rolled hay. Lunch was simple; fresh bread, fromage, and salad. We finished with a slice of caramel marble cake and were all pretty pleased with life.


We continued onto Lessard-en-Bresse, there was a brocante sale on, kind of like a car boot sale. AJ didn't want to get out of the car but was happy he did after the discovery of a lovely model Lamborghini Countach which was his for a grand total of €2, he haggled it down from €3. JC found a lovely old work bench in cherry wood he is considering having shipped home to Belgium.

JR and JC went off to shoot magic hour and came back in time for JC to cook us all his famous painted chicken. We were banished from the kitchen so he could concentrate on his cooking. He painted the plump chicken with a mix of Dijon mustard, olive oil, vinegar, herbs and seasonings and baked it until the skin bubbled and became crispy. The meat was tender and juicy, a sturdy bird, nice and fleshy. The bird was served with a crisp salad with more of the sweet melon bought from the Saturday market in Beaune, and roast potatoes painted with the same concoction as the chicken. JR and AJ ate enough to feed a small country, it was wholesome and comforting, the kind of food you would be happy to sit down to any day of the week. Thanks JC, your painted chicken has been looked forward to for a long time and it lived up to, and surpassed all expectations.