Massangis and Noyers, Yonne, Burgundy, France 8/16/2010

Our last two nights in Burgundy we stayed in the village of Massangis at a wonderful B&B called Carpe Deim.  I won't spend time here raving about Patrick, the proprietor.   If you are interested, I suggest you just click on Carpe Diem and read all about it on Trip Advisor.


Massangis is a fairly isolated, small rural village.  It's in a farming area, not a wine region, although it's not far from Chablis.  But just up the road about 5 kilometers from Massangis is a village called Noyers.  Here is Noyers on Google Maps (you can pan down from Noyers to find Massangis):




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Noyers is a walled city that looks like it still has one foot in medieval times.  I was amazed that many of the structures were still standing.  Some looked like they would fall over if they weren't sandwiched between two other structures supporting them from each side.


It's a charming place to visit, with merchants catering to a somewhat tourist crowd.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The entrance to the walled city of Noyers.  

You can't find these planters at Home Depot.

I think the tarps catch the rain drops leaking through the old wooden timbers.

I'm guessing that whoever lives here is trying to grow flowers on that little piece of ground and someone else keeps spraying Roundup there to kill the weeds.  Just a guess.

Some examples of the venders' wares from the shops of Noyers.

An example of a structure that appears to be supported by the two structures on each side.  This one houses a merchant that sells pottery.

This is what the wall around the city of Noyers looks like from the outside.


If you want to get away from Paris and explore the Chablis region, I highly recommend Carpe Diem.  Make sure you request a seat at the dinner table, which is by reservation only.  Patrick, the host, is a fantastic cook, and he pairs his meals with exceptional local wines.  Make sure to save a few hours to explore Noyers, just down the road from Massangis.

Chateau de Fountainebleu - August 16, 2010

Unfortunately, I was unable to post for a few days while we were out in the countryside, so I accumulated a backlog of posts.  What's more unfortunate is that it's now been about two months and I have forgotten most of what I would want to say about the pictures.  So this post and the remaining posts from France are out of sequence chronologically and will contain mostly photos, with little description.


Since we had the rental car, and it was an easy drive back into Paris on our last day in the Burgundy region, we decided to stop by Fountainebleu.  


For information on Fountainebleu, the place where Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated, click on this link to the Wiki page.


It is certainly comparable to Versaille and the great castles of St. Petersburg, that we have seen.  Not only is it magnificent architecturally, but it houses a substantial collection of art and royal memoribilia.

I have a couple of shots of the outside,  some of the interior rooms that I thought were exceptional, and some of Napoleon's personal possessions, including his armor.  

If you are ever in Paris with time for a day trip, Fountainebleu is only a couple of hours southeast of the city.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the surrounding forest, a royal hunting ground, which is equal in reputation to the chateau itself.

Eglise Saint Germain des Pres

The church at Saint Germain des Pres has been there a long time.  I don't know how long, but I am sure it is several centuries.  We have passed by it many times.  Today, being our last day in Paris, we decided to stop in and see what it looked like inside.  Zoom in on the Google Maps satellite view below to see what it looks like from above.


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I didn't have my Nikon with me, so I took a few photos with my iPhone, just to capture the majesty of this old cathedral.  Hope you can get an idea of what it is like from these.

Just because we're leaving France tomorrow to come home, it doesn't mean the blog is going to end.  We still have several more topics to cover, so stay tuned.

Puligny-Montrachet

On our third night out we moved from Champagne country to Burgundy, which the French know as Bourgogne.  We stayed for two nights in a charming bed and breakfast called Domaine les Agnes, which means home of the angels.  


In France, bed and breakfasts are called Chambre d'Hotes, which literally translates to bedroom in our home, which is what they are.  We stayed in three Chambre d'Hotes, and in all cases, the owners lived there and did most of the work.  This is in contrast to what we have seen in America, where often times the owners don't live there, and employees run the place, often leaving no one there to respond to needs outside of their business hours.


Puligny-Montrachet, where Domaine les Agnes is located, is nestled in among some of the finest Chardonnay vineyards in the world.  All of the agricultural plots you see around the village of Puligny-Montrachet in this satellite view are vineyards.  Each vineyard can be made out by the slight color variation in the satellite photo.  The green arrow points to the road between the towns of Puligny-Montrachet and Massagne-Montrachet.



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We would literally walk right out the door every morning and into the vineyards for our exercise.  Each morning we walked from the Chambre d'Hotes to Chassagne-Montrachet and back for exercise.  Each morning, passing through Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards on that road marked by the green arrow.


In France the wine classification system has been around for a long time.  Vineyards, not winemakers, are rated for quality.  It has to do with the terroir, or the characteristics of the soil.  Grand Cru is the highest, Premier (1st) Cru is next, then a wine can simply take the name of the village, like Massagne-Montrachet if it is made only from grapes in that village, or just Bourgogne (Burgundy) if made from grapes in the region, but not restricted to a single village.  


We were told that they stopped rating vineyards about 100 years ago, and there are very few Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards.  Since there are very few, it means very small production of wine and consequently high prices.  Obviously, they are very valuable plots of land.   You can see the "Grand Cru" designation on this gate that marks the corner of one of the vineyards we would pass by every morning on our walk.

The vineyards up the sides of the hills, where the grapes have to "work harder" tend to produce the better grapes and get the higher ratings, at least in this region.  It also has a lot to do with the mineral content of the soil.  All of these factors, along with the micro-climate, contribute to the terroir.


Each region has maps that show each vineyard, the variety of grape and its rating.  In Bourgogne, they grow Pinot Noir for red wine and Chardonnay for white.  That's it.  It makes it a little difficult for someone not familiar with the French system.  If you like Pinot Noir, then you have to know that Bourgogne's reds are Pinot Noirs and Bordeaux's aren't, for instance.  We came to Bourgogne specifically because we wanted to sample their Pinot Noirs.


Usually, each village has a town tasting (degustation) room.  We went to the one in Massagne-Montrachet.  This is what it looks like inside.

They call a wine cellar a "cave', pronounced with a short "a".   These cellars have been around for centuries, just like the villages and vineyards.  You can see from the window how thick the walls are.  This tasting room has wines from several winemakers in the village and nearby villages.

On these bottles of Pinot Noir, you can see the name of the village, Chassagne-Montrachet, and then the designation, "1st Cru".  Premier is "first" in French, so sometimes you will see Premier Cru and sometimes 1st Cru.  This particular village has no Grand Cru red vineyards, but there are plenty nearby.

What this area is known for is their vin blanc (white wine), which as I said, is made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape.  You can see on these bottles the designation "Grand Cru" under "Montrachet".


Well, that's the wine lesson for today.  I'm sure I made some mistakes, but that should be a decent first lesson on French wines.  Just remember, unlike in the States, it's all about exactly where the wines came from, down to the individual vineyard, and not about who made the wine.  

Above you can see the signs pointing out the center of the village and then the long list of wineries, all located in this one small village of Chassagne-Montrachet.


We tasted wines from adjoining vineyards, with different terroirs, made by the same winemakers, using identical processes, and they tasted remarkably different.  So maybe several centuries of making wine has taught the French something about how to rate a wine.


Your exercise for today is to go to your local wine store or online and see if you can find a Grand Cru,  Premier Cru, or any vin blanc from Chassagne-Montrachet.  If you buy one and drink it, let me know what you think about the French Chardonnay.

French Impressionist Photography - How To

I am sorry I can't recall the name of the photographer off the top of my head, but I have seen more than one example of street photography done in NY using this technique.  I was always intrigued by it, and thought I would try it.  While on our travels through the French countryside I had the opportunity.


The goal is to create a French Impressionist painting look in a photograph, as it was done pre-Photoshop.  


The method is to shoot through a window with raindrops, focusing on the window and not the scene in the background.


It was raining quite a bit while we were driving through the French countryside.  I thought this one scene was worth capturing, so I shot it straight (using the windshield wipers to clean the water off the windshield) and with water accumulated on the windshield.  Here are the before and after shots.

It's really fun to take the small rural roads that go through every village.  Coming from America, where everything is relatively new, it is amazing to drive through these towns and see people living in whole villages where virtually every structure is centuries old.  I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as we did.  There is more to come.

Eating at Home

One of the reasons we decided to spend a month in France, is that Roxana starts her culinary education next month at the French Culinary Institute in New York.  So we consider our culinary adventures in France, just part of her prerequisite education.  That's also the reason I keep showing all these pictures of French food.


Roxana assembled a fine sampling of sausage, a terrine, cheese, foie gras pate', fruit and bread for our dinner tonight.  Of course we paired it with a rose' champagne we picked up while in Epernay.

Ever since we arrived,  we have been walking by one sidewalk cafe that has a crepe station that serves up hot crepes to passers by.  We finally succumbed to the temptation.  Roxana got just Nutella on hers and I went for the full Monty and got Nutella and banana. 

 I am mystified at how the French stay so skinny.

Manoir de Montflambert

You drive up from Epernay, which is what I would say is the center of the universe for Champagne, through some of the best (Grand Cru) Champagne vineyards in the world.  It's about two miles up the hill to get to the tiny village of Mutigny, where Manoir de Montflambert is located.  Once there, you drive through these gates.

The view of the Champagne vineyards below from the chateau looks like this.

Once inside, you will find several rooms upstairs, in this large chateau inhabited by the owners, who run the B&B.

Our room was lovely, part of a three bedroom suite, only occupied by us on this night.  This is what it looked like out our window, which overlooked a pond, with the vineyards beyond.

The pond itself, looked like something out of a Monet painting.

We awoke to a wonderful breakfast the next morning, and then enjoyed these sights as we left the Champagne region and headed for Bourgogne (Burgundy).

You can see the little village of Mutigny on the hill at the top of the picture.

Yes, they even plant flowers in planters on the bridges so you get a view like this as you pass over the rivers.


Well, on to Bourgogne, which we know in America as Burgundy.

The Road to Mutigny

We decided to stop in Epernay on our way to Mutigny.   Mutigny, where our B&B was located, is in the hills above Epernay, nestled in among the acres and acres of champagne vineyards.  You can see it on Google Maps here, at the top, with Epernay at the bottom.  You can see from the satellite photo all the vineyards in the area.


We took our time, driving along country roads, going through several small villages along the way.  But what surprised me most was how many sunflower fields we saw.  Judging by what we saw, they grow a lot more sunflowers in France than they do in the U.S., for some reason.  I guess they use a lot of sunflower oil.

But there are definitely more acres of grapes than sunflowers.

This area around Epernay is the home of some of the best champagne vineyards.  You may notice some of the names on the monuments delineating the vineyard boundaries.

August is a little too early to harvest, but the grapes are on the vines.

All Chapagne is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and to a lesser extent Pinot Meunier.   These are one of the latter, because you can start to see them turning, and Chardonnay grapes are a white grape.


We got to Epernay just after 2 p.m., just in time to learn that in France, all restaurants close from about 2  to 5 p.m.  After walking around Epernay a little while, looking for a restaurant to serve us, we found a little place that was more bar than restaurant, where we had a good meal.


Then we headed a couple of miles up through the vineyards to our B&B, Manoir de Montflambert, another Chateau, although smaller than the last. 

Chateau Monthairons

I have gotten behind on my posts.  We left Paris for 7 days and 6 nights to visit the countryside of France.  We stayed at four different bed and breakfast inns, and Internet connectivity was hit and miss.  So, I have a lot of catching up to do.


Our first night on the road, after visiting the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, we stayed at Chateau Monthairon.  You can click here to see a satellite view and find it on Google Maps.

It's a beautiful castle located on a large estate with a creek running through it.  They have done a nice job of  restoring and maintaining the chateau, both inside and out.  


We didn't learn much of the history of the Chateau, except that it served as a hospital for many years.

The Chateau Monthairon is not actually a bed and breakfast.  To qualify as a bed and breakfast in France, you are limited to only five bedrooms.  The Chateau is actually a hotel.  They have a very good chef on staff, and we enjoyed a four course dinner our only night there.  You can see the garden where they grow their own herbs and vegetables for the kitchen in the photo below.

Our first night was capped with a candlelight dinner in the Chateau.

The meal was quite a feast, as you can see below.  The appetizer course consisted of foie gras pate' prepared two ways.

The main course was duck breast.

And finally, dessert, after a cheese course.

We went to bed full and learned how to sleep in total quiet, after having become accustomed to the sounds of Paris at night.


In the morning we went walking and running around the estate for exercise before enjoying breakfast at the Chateau.  Then we were off on our journey into Champagne, where we will spend our first night in a real bed and breakfast.

Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial

My great grandfather, William Clow, who died before I turned two, was unlucky enough to have lost one of his sons in World War II and a brother in World War I, both in France.  William's brother, Calvin, is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in the Meuse region of France.  There are over 14,000 American soldiers buried there, who were lost in the last offensive against Germany, that ended the war.  Calvin died exactly seven days before the Germans surrendered.


As far as I know, until now, no one from my family has ever been able to visit his grave.  I was the first.  It took 92 years.  These are the pictures I took of his marker and the other fallen soldiers who rest there beside him.

The cemetery is surrounded by farmland and small villages.  It is a beautiful drive, once you leave the main toll road coming out of Paris, and venture out onto the country roads.

We are going to spend the next six days outside of Paris.  Yesterday we explored the Meuse area of Lorraine.  Today we explore the Champagne region, and then the next four days we will be the Burgundy region.   In the next post, I'll tell you about the chateau we stayed in, our first night outside of Paris.