Besançon
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 5:17 pm
(Long, boring, and not much wine talk.)
In France I have been busy with an Autumn school, a conference, and a workshop, but Lucie and I have managed to have some fun. Metabief, a winter resort, is rather boring in the off season, but Besançon was a revelation for us. It is a very pretty place with a city population of around 125K and metropolitan population that is almost twice that. In some ways it is a smaller version of Paris, with a river lined with attractive structures going through the center and excellent public transportation via busses and a brand new tram. The restaurants are moderately priced and good without being fancy. Unlike Paris, the air is clean, the natives are friendly, and you don’t have to watch your step to avoid dog poop. Lucie and I were sorry that we had booked travel to Paris on Saturday rather than Sunday.
I said that the natives of Besancon are friendly, but this is a monumental understatement. Everywhere you find people who go out of their way to be helpful. For example, after visiting the Citadel (the main tourist attraction in Besancon; it is not to be missed) Lucie and I went to the Citadel bus stop. A few minutes later a Ginko van (Ginko is the name of the bus company) pulled up and told us that the bus could not make it up the narrow road to the Citadel because of illegally parked cars. I asked what we should do and was told that we have to walk down the hill. That is not far, but I told the man that Lucie had a broken toe. After conferring with the driver he said, “are you staying in the center? We can drive you to your hotel.” In Paris we would have gotten a shrug of the shoulders, or, more likely, no one would have come to tell us that the bus was not running.
Friendly item #2: We managed to get a booking for Wednesday lunch at Vin et L’Assiette. This is a tiny restaurant on the second floor over a wine shop that has the same owner, Bernard Leroy (good name for a wine geek, yes?). Jan booked for noon after we had a miscommunication—the conference day on Wednesday lasted until 12:45. I called the owner after returning to our hotel at 1:15 to say that we could be there in 10 minutes. He said, “10 minutes; no more. We are not crowded and want to close.” Nevertheless, he gave us a friendly greeting when we arrived. We opted for the menu, which consisted of a properly prepared faux filet with a delicious sauce, a fantastic mousse au chocolat for me that had three different textures, and a great creme brulee laced with Jura Savagnin (which tastes a bit like a dry sherry) for Lucie. Bernard selects the wine after he hears the diners’ preferences. He gladly gave me an extra glass when I asked. We enjoyed some discussions about wines, and at the end of the meal Bernard invited us to come the next day at 11 to taste some wines in the store (which is really a cave). I said that I was in meetings until 3, so he suggested 5 and we agreed. Here is what Lucie wrote to one of our non BWE wine friends about our visit to Bernard’s the next afternoon:
“He has a wine store on street level and behind that is his own private cellar complete with curved limestone bricked ceilings and walls, all different kinds of wine storage (boxes stacked, racks, cut-out areas in the walls) all dust covered and smelling wonderful with a long table down the center aisle. He used to do wine dinners down there but he is our age and said he's too old to do that now running up and down two stories with food, etc. First he pulled out a white local wine from the Jura and then as we talked and he realized we love wine he would pull out one bottle after another saying things like "when I drank this two years ago it was completely closed but we'll see now. And then he would point to cases stacked of different vintages or different wine makers and seemed to know exactly where everything was without checking a list. An he did have cases!!! We sat there for three hours while various friends of his would drop in and have a glass and he would introduce us as "his Texans, Janet and William", and then kiss my hand. We have an invitation to dinner at his house the next time we're in Besancon and an offer of a house if we ever stay a longer time. We had to leave to walk to the conference dinner at 8pm. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast as we've been eating so many good dinners you have to cut back somewhere but by the time we finally ate dinner, after all the wine in the last 4 hours, I was about ready to pass out from hunger.”
While we were tasting, Bernard was contacted by someone who wanted a to dine that night at Vin et L’Assiette. He put the call on hold and asked if we could stay for dinner as his guests. We declined because we had to go to the conference dinner [aside: We asked Bernard about the venue for the conference dinner; he said it was “clean”, which I interpreted as meaning “it will not make you sick”, but a French friend said that it meant that the food was proper but unexciting], which disappointed our new friend. He then grudgingly accepted the phoned in reservation.
As is often the case when wine people get together, the wine took a back seat to the camaraderie. Although I liked the wines I did not imprint them. The last wine Bernard served was a Bordeaux. I think it was a Lalande de Pomerol named Chateau Bel-Air-Marquis-something-or-other, maybe from 2005. What was unusual about this wine is that it is, according to Bernard, vinted in concrete. I vaguely recalled that Chateau Soutard is done that way, and I think Bernard confirmed this (his English is far superior to my French, but 3+ bottles of wine added considerable noise to the communication lines). Perhaps Alex will help out if he has had the stamina to get this far in the post. While fine for drinking now, both Bernard and I felt that the LdP is 5+ years from full maturity. The other wines were also interesting, but in different ways. The first was a Jura Chardonnay-Savagnin blend that tastes more food friendly than pure Savagnin. The second was a Cabernet-Merlot-Syrah-Grenache blend from the south of France. The Syrah was dominate, which Bernard said was a big change from six months ago. Bernard said that the wine should not be held for more than a couple of years while I guessed that in five years the mixture would come into balance. I think the wine has the structure to age. The third wine was a tasty ’08 Cote Rotie from a producer I did not know.
In France I have been busy with an Autumn school, a conference, and a workshop, but Lucie and I have managed to have some fun. Metabief, a winter resort, is rather boring in the off season, but Besançon was a revelation for us. It is a very pretty place with a city population of around 125K and metropolitan population that is almost twice that. In some ways it is a smaller version of Paris, with a river lined with attractive structures going through the center and excellent public transportation via busses and a brand new tram. The restaurants are moderately priced and good without being fancy. Unlike Paris, the air is clean, the natives are friendly, and you don’t have to watch your step to avoid dog poop. Lucie and I were sorry that we had booked travel to Paris on Saturday rather than Sunday.
I said that the natives of Besancon are friendly, but this is a monumental understatement. Everywhere you find people who go out of their way to be helpful. For example, after visiting the Citadel (the main tourist attraction in Besancon; it is not to be missed) Lucie and I went to the Citadel bus stop. A few minutes later a Ginko van (Ginko is the name of the bus company) pulled up and told us that the bus could not make it up the narrow road to the Citadel because of illegally parked cars. I asked what we should do and was told that we have to walk down the hill. That is not far, but I told the man that Lucie had a broken toe. After conferring with the driver he said, “are you staying in the center? We can drive you to your hotel.” In Paris we would have gotten a shrug of the shoulders, or, more likely, no one would have come to tell us that the bus was not running.
Friendly item #2: We managed to get a booking for Wednesday lunch at Vin et L’Assiette. This is a tiny restaurant on the second floor over a wine shop that has the same owner, Bernard Leroy (good name for a wine geek, yes?). Jan booked for noon after we had a miscommunication—the conference day on Wednesday lasted until 12:45. I called the owner after returning to our hotel at 1:15 to say that we could be there in 10 minutes. He said, “10 minutes; no more. We are not crowded and want to close.” Nevertheless, he gave us a friendly greeting when we arrived. We opted for the menu, which consisted of a properly prepared faux filet with a delicious sauce, a fantastic mousse au chocolat for me that had three different textures, and a great creme brulee laced with Jura Savagnin (which tastes a bit like a dry sherry) for Lucie. Bernard selects the wine after he hears the diners’ preferences. He gladly gave me an extra glass when I asked. We enjoyed some discussions about wines, and at the end of the meal Bernard invited us to come the next day at 11 to taste some wines in the store (which is really a cave). I said that I was in meetings until 3, so he suggested 5 and we agreed. Here is what Lucie wrote to one of our non BWE wine friends about our visit to Bernard’s the next afternoon:
“He has a wine store on street level and behind that is his own private cellar complete with curved limestone bricked ceilings and walls, all different kinds of wine storage (boxes stacked, racks, cut-out areas in the walls) all dust covered and smelling wonderful with a long table down the center aisle. He used to do wine dinners down there but he is our age and said he's too old to do that now running up and down two stories with food, etc. First he pulled out a white local wine from the Jura and then as we talked and he realized we love wine he would pull out one bottle after another saying things like "when I drank this two years ago it was completely closed but we'll see now. And then he would point to cases stacked of different vintages or different wine makers and seemed to know exactly where everything was without checking a list. An he did have cases!!! We sat there for three hours while various friends of his would drop in and have a glass and he would introduce us as "his Texans, Janet and William", and then kiss my hand. We have an invitation to dinner at his house the next time we're in Besancon and an offer of a house if we ever stay a longer time. We had to leave to walk to the conference dinner at 8pm. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast as we've been eating so many good dinners you have to cut back somewhere but by the time we finally ate dinner, after all the wine in the last 4 hours, I was about ready to pass out from hunger.”
While we were tasting, Bernard was contacted by someone who wanted a to dine that night at Vin et L’Assiette. He put the call on hold and asked if we could stay for dinner as his guests. We declined because we had to go to the conference dinner [aside: We asked Bernard about the venue for the conference dinner; he said it was “clean”, which I interpreted as meaning “it will not make you sick”, but a French friend said that it meant that the food was proper but unexciting], which disappointed our new friend. He then grudgingly accepted the phoned in reservation.
As is often the case when wine people get together, the wine took a back seat to the camaraderie. Although I liked the wines I did not imprint them. The last wine Bernard served was a Bordeaux. I think it was a Lalande de Pomerol named Chateau Bel-Air-Marquis-something-or-other, maybe from 2005. What was unusual about this wine is that it is, according to Bernard, vinted in concrete. I vaguely recalled that Chateau Soutard is done that way, and I think Bernard confirmed this (his English is far superior to my French, but 3+ bottles of wine added considerable noise to the communication lines). Perhaps Alex will help out if he has had the stamina to get this far in the post. While fine for drinking now, both Bernard and I felt that the LdP is 5+ years from full maturity. The other wines were also interesting, but in different ways. The first was a Jura Chardonnay-Savagnin blend that tastes more food friendly than pure Savagnin. The second was a Cabernet-Merlot-Syrah-Grenache blend from the south of France. The Syrah was dominate, which Bernard said was a big change from six months ago. Bernard said that the wine should not be held for more than a couple of years while I guessed that in five years the mixture would come into balance. I think the wine has the structure to age. The third wine was a tasty ’08 Cote Rotie from a producer I did not know.