Tag Archives: Mâcon

DELICIOUS CHARDONNAY IN POUILLY-FUISSÉ

July 18, 2019Pouilly-Fuissé, wine, Wine Review, Wine TravelAppellation, Burgundian wines, cépage, Côte du Beaune, Chantré, Chardonnay, Eric Asimov, France, Fuissé, L'Atrium, Lyon, Mâcon, Mâconnais, NYTimes, Pouilly, Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Fumé, Pouilly-Loche, Pouilly-sur-Loire, Pouilly-Vinzelles, Saône River, Sauvignon Blanc, Solutré, Vergisson, wineJimLockard

Pouilly-Fuiss é (LINK) is a small subregion within the Mâconnais area of southern Burgundy. It is about 50 km north of Lyon, a few km west of the Sâone River. It consists of five villages which are from north to south, Vergisson, Solutré, Pouilly, Fuissé, and Chantré. The different towns and their surroundings have different combinations of clay and limestone soils which, along with slopes and exposure to sun account for the differences in the wines.

The only grape, or cépage is Chardonnay. There are no red wines produced here. When I lived in the Unites States, I had only a vague notion of Pouilly-Fuissé as a nice wine one often found on restaurant wine lists and among the mid-range priced Chardonnays at some wine shops. These sources rarely, if ever, give you any notion of the origins of these wines, or the fact that there are five distinct styles of Pouilly-Fuissé in existence. Eric Asimov covered this territory in the NYTimes in 2015 (LINK). I would say that the sense of what Pouilly-Fuissé is has clarified somewhat since he wrote that piece.

Pouilly Frisse Wine Map

The Pouilly-Fuissé wines are often confused with Pouilly-Fumé and Pouilly-sur-Loire, two Loire Valley white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc. Also, an adjoining appellation, Pouilly-Vinzelles and Pouilly-Loche (LINK) share a slope with the Chantré section of Pouilly-Fuissé. Those wines, also Chardonnay, are very similar to the Pouilly-Fuissé wines.

Pouilly-Fuissé wines are generally a step above the local Mâconnais Village Chardonnays, and a step or two below the Burgundian Chardonnays from the area around Côte du Beaune farther north. There are, of course, exceptions in both directions. Some of the Pouilly-Fuissé wines stand up to Burgundy’s best wines and are an incredible value. The challenge is finding a decent selection on the shelf or wine list in the US and Canada.

Dorianne and I did a tasting at L’Atrium in Solutré, a wine shop representing about a dozen wineries from each of the five towns of the Pouilly-Fuissé region. Wines here cost between 16 and 40 euros, with most around 20 euros.

Photo Jul 13, 10 31 33 AM

We tasted representative 2018 wines from each of the five towns and noted significant differences in the wines. We both liked the wine from Fuissé the best, it had a nice blend of fruit and mineral, with a very pleasant mouthfeel. The wine from Pouilly was our 2^nd choice. We purchased several wines from these two towns to take home. Pouilly-Fuissé wines are best aged from 3 to 6 years but are drinkable right away. The versions of the other three wines were a bit lacking in one or more qualities – but they were still very drinkable wines.

The area is among the most beautiful in France and worth a detour to spend some time here and taste and purchase the wines.

NOTE: I will be blogging more about the MUST-Fermenting Ideas Wine Summit (LINK) over the next few weeks. I was just in the Mâcon area and wanted to get this post in while it is fresh in my mind.

SO, YOU WANT TO MOVE TO FRANCE – PART 3

November 16, 2018France, Lyon, wineBeaujolais, blog, blogger, cable TV, caves du vin, Côte-du-Rhône, Champagne, Champagne-a-Go-Go, customs duty, electronics, expats, Fete des Lumieres, food, France, French Citizenship, furniture, Greece, Green Card, internet, Long Stay Visa, Lyon, Malta, Mâcon, Move to France, NewYearsEve, Nouveau Beaujolais, OFII, Portugal, Rhône River, Spain, Steinway piano, Travel, wineJimLockard

This is proving to be a well-spaced series of posts, the first in September 2017 (LINK), the second in April 2018 (LINK), and this, the third one in November 2018. Here is an update on the months since my last post.

We moved into our apartment in the 6ème Arrondissement of Lyon beginning in late June. Our shipment from the US arrived in early July, but we had some paining done and moved our shipment in early August. The good news was that there were no customs duty or taxes due since we were moving our primary residence (if it were a second home, the duty and taxes could be 50% of the value). The bad news was that an armoire was heavily damaged and about 6 boxes were missing – and not covered by our homeowner’s policy as we had been advised by our agent.

Our building is essentially a co-operative, with 9 owners, some descendants of the original builder and owner. Gas and electric hookups were generally easy, with some language issues, especially on the telephone. Our building fees and taxes are under 400 euros per quarter.

We needed to buy new appliances for the apartment, since in France, the owners take everything with them when they move (renters usually do, too); and none of our small electrics would work in France, so we needed to replace them as well. We also needed new furniture other than the three armoires, two book cases, one table, and the Steinway piano we had shipped. We had one lamp rewired for 220 current as well.

We happened to hit a sale period for most of our furniture and electronics – there are two or three general sales during the year, regulated by the government (to keep small business from severe undercutting by larger retailers). Shopping for furniture here is like in the US, you do your research and look online. We purchased most things in area retail stores and a few online. We ordered two convertible sofas in early August, just before the whole country goes on vacation, so they were not manufactured and delivered until September and October.

Cable TV and Internet services are like in the US only cheaper, as is cell phone service. Communications companies are required by law to keep prices low and provide customer service. We ended up with cell phones from one provider and cable TV and internet from another.

The new apartment has a cave, or basement, with a dirt floor. It is perfect for storing wine. Our building was built in 1847 and is a block from the Rhône River. There are 5 wine shops (also called caves) in our neighborhood, so the basement cave will be filling up in due order.

Our long stay visa renewal mentioned in Part 2 ran into a snag in June.

You renew your visas through a different agency than the one to which you initially apply through an embassy or consulate in your home nation. In Lyon, which is located in the Rhône-Alps Department (or state), that is at the Prefecture in Lyon. Appointments take about 3 months to obtain. When we went for our renewal, using a list of necessary paperwork from the OFII website (Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration), we were told the list on the website was incorrect and we were given another list and told to make a new appointment. That was on June 28^th. Our visas were to expire on July 12^th and the next appointment available was in October.

So, we contacted an immigration attorney (advocat), who told us that the OFII official had illegally returned all of our application items and that our visas would remain in effect until our October appointment. He sent them a letter to this effect, which we took with us when we left the country and had no trouble returning during this period.

Then, on October 18^th, we returned to the Prefecture and handed in all the correct paperwork (LINK) and were given our extension good through December 2019. Champagne followed.

As I noted in Part 1 of this series:

What we discovered is that it is very difficult to get a work visa for France unless you are hired by a French company or working for a foreign company and will have a temporary assignment in France. The law says that to qualify for a job, there must be no French citizen who can fill that job, and then, no EU citizen who can fill it. Unless you meet those criteria or are going to invest and start a business and hire ten French citizens, you can forget a work visa. There are no investment visas in France, such as the Golden Visa for real estate purchases in Portugal, Spain, Greece, or Malta.

We applied for a long-stay visitor visa (there are time constraints) (LINK) (LINK). Essentially, we had to show that we could afford to live in France for a year, had health insurance that covered us there, and were not wanted by the law. We submitted a stack of papers and had a short interview at the French Consulate in Los Angeles (you must apply in person at the embassy or consulate nearest to your US residence).

Now, we are legal for another year. After doing this for five years, we will be eligible to apply for permanent residence (like a Green Card) or French citizenship. The current wait for French citizenship applications to be processed is 2½ years, mostly due to an increase in applications from UK citizens due to Brexit.

Learning French is still a slow-go, in part because it’s a difficult language and in part because we have been back and forth to America so often. We are planning to be in France more during the coming year and to focus on learning the language better.

Vector Sign Speaking French

Meanwhile, the wine is still wonderful, abundant, and relatively cheap; the food is still glorious; and France is, well, France. I am again forgoing Beaujolais Nouveau this year, opting instead for some lush Côte-du-Rhônes and maybe a cru Beaujolais or two. Our first Lyon Christmas is approaching, including the famed Fete des Lumieres (LINK), plus a December trip to Paris. For our first New Years Eve, we will celebrate with friends in Mâcon with what they call Champagne-a-Go-Go, which apparently means large quantities of Champagne. We will be staying over.

As always, your comments are welcomed, as are any good tips for expats.

NOTE: I will be covering a very interesting wine conference in Portugal in June. The MUST Wine Summit: Fermenting Ideas (LINK). If you can’t go, you can see my posts about it coming in late June!

A VISIT TO A WINE COOPERATIVE AND A NÉGOCIANT IN BEAUJOLAIS

October 7, 2018Beaujolais, wine, Wine Education, Wine TravelAppellation, Beaujolais countryside, blog, Brouilly, Burgundian wines, Burgundy, Cahors, caves du vin, Chardonnay, Château Haute Lafitte-Rothchild, crément, fermentation, Fleurie, France, French Wine Cooperative, Gamay, Georges DeBoeuf, Le Cave de Fleurie, Lyon, Malbec, Mâcon, négociant, négociant-éleveur, Nouveau Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, premier cru, Romanèche-Thorins, Rosé Wine, Sparkling Wines, tasting room, Travel, vignerons, vineyard, wine, wine tasting, WinemakingJimLockard

A Lyonnaise friend took me for some wine tasting and purchasing to northern Beaujolais, first to Fleurie to visit the Co-op there and then to Romanèche-Thorins to visit the Georges DeBoeuf négociant wine cave. We drove north from Lyon on a beautiful sunny afternoon and through some beautiful Beaujolais countryside after getting of the A6 Motorway at Villefranche-sur-Saône.

A French Wine Cooperative (LINK) “produces and sells wine made from the grapes grown by its members. It mutualizes such tasks as winemaking, storage, selling, and, in some cases, the bottling process.” It is a community of vignerons coming together for mutual support. So, you won’t find single-vineyard production, it is more of a collective effort to produce wines under the name of the appellation where the cooperative is located.

A French wine négociant (LINK) is “a merchant who buy grapes, juice, or finished wine from growers, then bottle and sell them on the market wholesale.”

In general, you’ll encounter three types of wine négociants (LINK): those who buy pre-made wine and bottle it, those who make some improvements on the wine before bottling it, and those who take whole grapes or unfermented juice to make the wine virtually from scratch. This last type of négociant is called a “négociant-éleveur,” and they are the négociants with the most prestigious reputations.

We visited the Fleurie Cooperative in the town of Fleurie, which, as you might imagine is located in the Fleurie Appellation, which is one of 12 Appellations (AOC) in Beaujolais (LINK). The cooperative is called Le Cave de Fleurie (LINK) and has a large tasting room and cave (wine retail area) for its wines.

Like all Beaujolais wines, the Fleurie reds are made from Gamay (they also produce a tiny bit of Pino Noir), the whites from Chardonnay. The famous Noveau Beaujolais, a soda-pop like wine bottled just after fermentation will be released in early November. I would have avoided it even if it had been available. It can be a fun way to celebrate the recent harvest, but it isn’t good wine.

The cooperative offers about 20 wines for sale, including a rosé made from Gamay and three créments (sparkling wines).

I tasted several whites and reds before purchasing a few bottles to take home to Lyon. The wines are well-crafted, not premier crus, but very good, drinkable wines. Most cost under 10 euros per bottle. The cooperative offers a couple of “Burgundian” wines, as parts of the area are on the southern side of Burgundy.

Then we drove a few kilometers west to the village of Romanèche-Thorins to visit the Georges DeBoeuf négociant wine cave (LINK). This is a huge operation, and many of my American friends will be very familiar with Georges DeBoeuf wines.

As a négociant, DeBoeuf operates across all three types listed above. Labels will indicate what the relationship between the négociant and winemaker are for each bottle.

The cave is expansive, featuring the DeBoeuf wines as well as a selection of other premium world wines (even a couple from the US – I won’t name them, but they were not premium wines. One seldom finds really good US wines in France), and a large area of gift items, wine accessories, glasses, etc.

The tasting room is an old-time bar connected to a large area where food is served and there are entertainments (a calliope) for those who have just exited the adjacent wine museum and Hameau park (LINK) (which we did not visit this time). It was a quiet afternoon, so we got some personal attention. You can taste as many wines as you want, and the tasting is complimentary. I was interested in comparing wines made from the fermentation through bottling and wines only bottled by DeBoeuf. The Brouilly samples were representative of this. In this case, I found the wine processed by the vigneron superior to the DeBoeuf-made Brouilly (reds); DeBoeuf sells both for just about the same price.

I purchased a few bottles of the Brouilly I preferred, plus a few others to take home, including a very special Cahors Malbec from their premium wine room. I passed on the Château Haute Lafitte-Rothchild this trip. By the way, the premium wine room has an excellent selection from all over France and the world at very good prices.

If you are in the area, for a day trip or longer – southwest of Mâcon and northwest of Lyon, Beaujolais offers beautiful countryside, picturesque villages, good restaurants, and wine at very reasonable prices. At home, check your local wine shops for Beaujolais wines – see what they recommend. Despite the reputation of Nouveau Beaujolais, there are some very nice wines coming from the area at very reasonable prices.

As always, your comments are welcomed.

You can follow me on Twitter – @JimLockardWine

EVERYDAY WINES AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN LYON – BOTH ARE EXTRAORDINARY

March 26, 2018France, Lyon, wine, Wine Opinion@EricAsimov, Auvergene-Rhône-Alps Department, Beaujolais, blog, boucherie, bouchon, boulangerie, Box Wine, Burgundy, California, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, comptoir, Everyday Wines, fromagerie, gastronomique, Jura, Mâcon, Michelin Guide, Michelin Star, New York, NYTimes, Paris, Provence, Restaurants, Rhône River, Rhône Valley, rosé wines, Saône River, Travel, Twitter, wine, wine cave, wine retail, wine travelJimLockard

Since moving to Lyon, France this past summer (LINK to Post About Moving to France), much of our time has been spent attempting to learn French (definitely a work in progress), finding our way around town (easy as Lyon is a very walkable city with great public transportation), and traveling back and forth to the US (which will become increasingly less frequent).

Lyon - Saone — View toward Vieux (Old) Lyon across the Saône River.

I will do another post as a sequel to the one about moving to France soon. For now, let’s talk wine.

Rhône-Alpes_region_locator_map.svg — Auvergene-Rhône-Alps Department in Red

Lyon is located in the Rhône-Alps Department (there are 100 departments, or states in France), in the upper part of southeastern France. We are just north of the Rhône Valley at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône Rivers. A few kilometers to the north, Burgundy begins with the Mâcon region; to the west, Beaujolais is a few kilometers outside the city; to the east, the underappreciated Jura region is a short drive away. Wines from all these regions and more pour into Lyon, a city of about 500K with 2.2 million in the metropolitan area.

There are only two large supermarkets in the city limits, both at malls. Big box stores are restricted to outlying areas, meaning that mom & pop businesses thrive. Every neighborhood has multiple small boulangeries, boucheries, fromageries, green grocers, and wine caves. Small grocery stores have wine departments featuring representative wines from the surrounding regions, mostly from larger producers. The caves (wine shops) have more wines from smaller producers and a few higher-end bottles, but almost all the wines are reasonably priced and would qualify as “everyday wines.” (LINK to @EricAsimov column on Everyday Wines from the NYTimes). We are drinking these wines for the most part with our lunches and dinners at home – spending an average of 10 to 12€ per bottle (top shelf at these stores) – sometimes much less – and enjoying most of them very much. This is why I have not been blogging and Tweeting as much about the wines I am drinking – they are, for the most part, not stand-out wines, but they are good!

Wine - Lyon Everyday — Some of My Everyday Wines in Lyon

My admittedly limited personal research thus far has revealed an interesting fact: THE FRENCH DON’T LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON WINE.

I don’t know why this surprised me – but I just have not encountered the kind of wine conversations that I had with friends in California. It is more likely to encounter a boxed wine at a dinner party than a higher-end Burgundy or Châteauneuf du Pape. And, by the way, I have had some very drinkable boxed wines here. But I was a bit surprised that the Mecca of fine wine is largely populated with folks who prefer to spend under 10€ a bottle (and 3€ can get you a very nice rosè from Provence). Even when higher-end wines are served at dinner, the conversation is not about the wine. Perhaps a quick recognition of whoever provided it (usually the host), but that’s about it.

Dorianne and I eat at restaurants once or twice a week. Lyon is a gastronomique capital – many of the great Parisian (and New York) chefs train in the many cooking schools here. Lyon has more Michelin Star restaurants per capita than any other city, so food is a big thing here. And this extends downward from the Michelin restaurants all the way to the Bouchons (think bistro but serving Lyonnaise cuisine) and comptoirs. It is difficult to find a bad meal here, and some very nondescript looking places are working magic in their tiny kitchens. And as for wine, once you get out of the Michelin range, the wine lists tend to be fairly modest, featuring value-priced bottles and vins de la maison, usually from a tap or box. The wine list prices are usually at regular retail or just a bit above.

So, my everyday wine experience here in Lyon has been mostly with everyday wines from the wine regions surrounding the city. I will say that French wine producers seem to understand that the French don’t like to pay a lot for wine. The 13€ Burgundy Pinot Noir I get at the local wine cave tastes equivalent to a $30 or $40 bottle of Burgundy purchased in the US. We are enjoying very good wines for very reasonable prices – and feeling very grateful in the process!

Don’t believe me? Come visit and see!

As always, your comments are appreciated.

WINDING THROUGH FRANCE – BITS AND PIECES – AND AMAZING WINES

October 25, 2016France, wine, Wine ReviewBurgundy, Foodie, Gevery-Chambertin, Gourmet Food, Lyon, Mâcon, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Paris, Paul Bocuse, Pinot Noir, Restaurants, Travel, wineJimLockard

As I write this, I am aboard Celebrity’s Silhouette cruise ship heading toward Athens. We embarked at Rome’s Civitavecchia Port a couple of days ago. I blogged about the cruise ship wine experience (LINK) a while back while on the Silhouette’s sister ship, the Equinox. It’s pretty much the same experience as then.

So, let’s look at my recent all-too-brief trip through France. Ten days, split between Paris, Mâcon, and Lyon. The purpose of the trip was to look at a property near Mâcon, which we did; deciding to focus on Lyon instead. But more about that later.

We took the train from London to Paris via the Chunnel – a very nice experience. First class tickets were about 80 euros each. It was a smooth and comfortable ride.

2016-10-11-10-34-18 — A Paris Morning – Looking toward the Eiffel Tower through Place de la Concorde.

Our first night in Paris, we went to the legendary Willi’s Wine Bar (LINK), where we had a very good dinner and some very nice wine. We opted for a 2014 Domaine Mee Godard Morgan Grand Cras, which was very nice and on the less expensive side of the wine list. Our young waiter recommended it after I told him what I liked and my price range. Morgan means the Gamay varietal, which is the backbone of all of the Beaujolais reds. This wine won’t amaze you, but it delivered what I wanted to go along with my duck at Willi’s.

Our second evening was a dinner at a friend’s apartment in St. Germain-des-Prés. We took along two bottles of 2012 Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet Gevery-Chambertin Symophonie Pinot Noir, from a favorite Burgundian tthat accompanied the beautiful French roasted chicken and vegetables perfectly. This is a very nice mid-range Burgundian red.

I should mention that it is considered improper in some places in France to bring wine as a dinner guest – the sense being that no French household would be without so essential an item. However, we checked with our hosts first to get their okay. One of them, John Baxter (LINK), is the author of several excellent books about Paris, including his new one about St. Germain-des-Prés, the first in a series about Paris neighborhoods. His Book An Immoveable Feast, a Paris Christmas is a particular favorite of mine.

The next morning, it was off to Mâcon by TGV High Speed Rail. Another smooth and quick ride. While staying with friends in Mâcon, we ate in most days, so the wine story here is about a small wine shop that I found in Cluny, a monastery town northwest of Mâcon. We had a very nice lunch at L’Halte de l’Abbey Café with a nice house wine. Then, at the wine shop, we realized that the shop owner, Bruno Berthelin, had been at the café, and discovered that he had sold them the house wine. Small towns. Au Plaisir Dit Vin stocks over 350 fine wines, champagne and accessories. Twenty years as a passionate Wine Merchant, a profession that he prefers to describe as acting as a sense awakener, Bruno like to share the delights of wine with customers.

We purchased six bottles that he recommended, all local Mâconnaise and Beaujolais wines, that proved excellent over the next couple of dinners and lunches.

Then it was onto Lyon, the second largest city in France, which feels much smaller than Paris. We fell in love with Lyon. It is very much like Paris in the downtown and old city, but without the iconic tourist sites that make the city so crowded. And, Lyon is the culinary capital of France, the place where most Parisian chefs are trained. In three nights, we had excellent meals for lunch and dinner. I will highlight one.

Our highlight was a dinner at ‘l’Institut’ Paul Bocuse Restaurant-école at Bellecour Lyon-Centre (LINK), where students of the Paul Bocuse Culinary Institute run a restaurant as part of their training. It is a relatively reasonably priced way to experience a Bocuse restaurant – and it was excellent. Here are some photos.

Surprisingly, the wine list is very reasonably priced – with only a few bottles topping 80 euros. Most are in the 40 to 55 euro range. There is a tasting menu of 8 courses including wine or you can order ala carte. We chose the latter. The service was very good (a little nervousness here and there), and the food was beautifully prepared. We felt that we got a real bargain at about 220 euros with gratuity (and we had an 80 euro wine).

Ah, that wine. They were out of our first choice, another Gevery-Chambertin Pinot Noir. A 2013 Jean Fery & Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Damodes Pinot Noir, was substituted (at a lower price to match the Gevery) it was the essence of Burgundy. Great from nose to finish, it was an impressively well-crafted wine. Simply beautiful. It made the evening even more perfect.

We plan to return to Lyon early in 2017 to explore the possibilities of living there. First, the rest of this cruise, a week in Rome, and three months in Miami. Stay tuned!

Jim Lockard On Wine

Wine Appreciation and Wine Lifestyle Blog