WEEKEND IN BURGUNDY, Evening in the Restaurant

So, as we mentioned earlier, we are sleeping in Puligny-Montrachet. The Chef Cousin and La Serveuse will sleep at a bed and breakfast owned by Ravault’s son and his daughter-in-law, whose parents are vintners also. They make wine south of Puligny, in the Côte Chalonnaise and make Mercurey, Rully, and Santenay. We and the Prince Consort have been referred to a neighboring bed and breakfast so off we head. Upon arriving we are pleasantly surprised to find that it is owned by a winemaking couple with whom we’ve recently become enamored – Guillemond-Clerc.

But we are late for dinner, so no dilly-dallying. Freshen up and off we go to dinner. Lo and behold, the Chef Cousin has booked us into one of the greats in this part of Burgundy – Le Montrachet. The restaurant is on the ground floor of a lovely looking inn. Speaking of this institution always makes the hearts of the Girlfriend and the Country Lady beat faster so we were pleased to have the opportunity to dine here.

We were shown to a large corner table in a dining room that must have been very grand maybe 10 years ago. It was not dirty, just comfortably used, and a bit drafty. In their defense, we must note that much of Burgundy closes for the late winter and it may be that at the end of a ten month season the room was simply ready to be freshened.

While we perused the menu, we opted for wine rather than cocktails and the CC asked for a recommendation of a white that was “refreshingly mineral-y but greasy,” a positive description in French and describing white wine that expresses the heavy limestone content of the soil but with a rounder, fuller and more lingering expression in the mouth than, say, a Chablis. Typically, the wines fitting this description are produced in the southern regions of Burgundy – Rully, Montagny, St. Aubin.

Indeed, we drank first a 2005 Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Domaine Langoureau. It was perfect to start after the long afternoon of degustation; the minerality refreshed the mouth but the complexity of the wine seemed to hang there and develop with time. A wine like this should not be drunk very cold and this one’s temperature allowed us to savor it.

Time to order – we took, with the CC, a menu, a set number of courses including starter, main course, cheese and dessert. The Prince Consort and La Serveuse ordered a starter and a main course each. The problem is that we are sitting here typing this while looking at the bill for the evening and it lists the dishes ordered a la carte but not those on the menu, and we cannot remember what we ate.

It sounds crazy, and we will admit to being “pre-Alzheimer’s,” but the real problem was, in a Michelin-starred restaurant, dinner was lackluster. Our first thought was that the chef-de-cuisine was not in the kitchen that evening, but perhaps the problem was, with Burgundy closing down for the winter vacation, he had already departed for points warmer.

We can remember that La Serveuse had a pumpkin soup with langoustine followed by roasted tenderloin of lamb. The Prince Consort had tourteau en millefeuille, or crab salad millefeuille, and roasted rabbit in a mustard sauce. With our first courses we drank a half-bottle of 2001 Saint-Romain Domaine Alain Gras, because we were headed to the village of Saint-Romain on Sunday and Alain Gras is considered one of the finest producers of Saint-Romain. It was very similar to the Saint-Aubin but with a more pronounced minerality that surrounded the fruitiness rather than balancing it. However, a five year old half-bottle will have aged significantly more than a full bottle of 2005 and that maturity will have greatly evolved the Saint-Romain.

With our main courses we drank a red 1998 Auxey-Duresses Hospices de Beaune. We felt it had passed its prime. One would normally think not, but this one was dull and uninteresting. The wine list was good and specific – centered on the Côte de Beaune – and although the sommelier had been dead on target with his first recommendation of the Saint-Aubin, he seemed to loose focus as the evening progressed. The praise he gave this Auxey lead us to believe he had not tasted it in some time.

The cheese cart was excellent. Full with the bounty of ripe Burgundian cheese, it tempted even the Prince Consort to partake. With the passage of time, the Auxey had opened slightly, but if it needed that breathing space then the sommelier should have suggested carafing it. Dessert next – elaborate confections of chocolate, spun sugar, handmade sorbet, and, on the CC’s, a ‘wheel’ of dried sliced apple. They were beautiful to behold but remained less than hoped.

At this point we ordered a half-bottle of white 1997 Chevalier Montrachet Chateau Puligny, partially because the CC said he had never tasted one and when in Montrachet do as the Montrac….., oh whatever. Chevalier Montrachet is a Grand Cru and the Chardonnay grapes used in its production all come from one individual parcelle as do those used in each of the other Grand Cru – Montrachet, Batard-Montrachet, and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet.

This wine was really sublime. Normally we would want a Grand Cru to be a bit more mature, but, again, in the half-bottle, it had aged well. The color was a deep golden; the nose was very complex, filled warm spices and reminisces of warm bread. In the mouth, there was the feeling of drinking the aroma, only the expression of the complexity of the aroma on the tongue and the beauty of wonderfully balanced wine.

Coffee, petits-fours et mignardises finished the meal. Again, nothing extraordinary but not bad. There was no smoking in the restaurant; that was new! We paid and headed back to our beds. Unfortunately, at our bed and breakfast, we had been locked out of the courtyard and had to bang on the gate until the mistress of the house ran out in her nightgown to open up for us. If you remember, as you surely will, loyal Audience, our notes from the Salon des Vignerons Independents in Paris, we described her as “looking like [a] throw-back[s] to the ‘80s including her carefully applied heavy blue eye shadow and bleach blonde hair.” so you can picture this image on a cold midnight.

Okay, get some sleep. Tomorrow starts early!