I found during my days tasting in Burgundy last week that my working days were relatively short. My first tasting was always at 9am – none of the 8am madness that prevails during the super-concentrated Bordeaux primeurs tasting season – and the last appointments of the day were mainly proposed at 4pm, with one, at Bonneau de Martray, daringly late one at 5pm. And of course there is the holy lunch hour or two. I did manage one appointment at noon and another at 1.30pm but by and large you have to have lunch because there is nothing else to do and, in winter at least, you are in desperate need of warmth.
Because I was there in December quite a number of restaurants, hotels and even cafes were closed (the Gentilhommière in Nuits, the Montrachet in Puligny and the usefully simple little Sommellerie in Gevrey for example) so the choice was not wide but I was impressed by the value offered by the simple places I stumbled into in the wine villages.
In Meursault, the restaurant at the Hotel Central just behind the church offered, at lunchtime only, a two-course meal for just 13 euros. My poulet à l’estragon did taste as a leg of chicken should and the piping hot sauce was duly streaked with fresh tarragon leaves. Soft mashed potato accompanied every single main course I was served this week but this one also came with a little leek pancake. And I was allowed to choose from a plate of local cheeses in extremely good nick for my second course. A London restaurateur would weep at such profligacy.
Just outside Fred Mugnier’s gate in Chambolle Musigny, La Maison Vigneronne is slightly smarter and has a three-course menu for 16.50 euros. The poached egg on a generous bed of fresh vegetables with an Aligoté sauce and a rasher of crisp bacon was a welcome variation on the Burgundian standby oeufs à la meurette. The guinea fowl main course tasted of nothing but the sweet balsamic reduction and wild mushrooms served with it showed some imagination. And the crème brulée set me up nicely for an afternoon’s tasting.
Chez Guy in Gevrey Chambertin has another look altogether and takes cognisance in its design of the 21st century with polished wooden floor and its nod to hip hoteldom. This of course has to be paid for and here two courses cost 26 euros (eek!). There was an ambitiously dressed salad with my first course of (unusual in these parts) filo pastry wrapped around a rather underseasoned jarret de veau. The duck main course was very competently cooked and I enjoyed the rather urban buzz with no shortage of obviously wine people wining and dining each other – a barrel broker here, a negociant there. (The conversation at the next table at La Maison Vigneronne was a fascinating scoot around the latest news of vinous Burgundians. Who says men don’t gossip?)
As for accommodation, I deliberately chose warm, efficient, non-touristic places that were strategically placed for my visits and can report that the restaurant L’Alambic underneath the Hostellerie St Vincent just south of Nuits has the lowest corkage charge I have ever encountered: 5.50 euros. This is no great shakes as a restaurant but it has some stunning prices on its very wide-ranging wine list and currently a patissier, who may also have been responsible for their foie gras, who is far more talented than whoever is in charge of the main courses. If you’re after more sophisticated food in Nuits, head for La Cabotte.
Please note however, that none of the places quoted above are for special blow-out meals; they are useful for a hectic working schedule and/or for modest lunches in between visits to wine producers.
Back in London, I was brought up short by comparative pricing. For the cost of a taxi from Waterloo to Hampstead I could have enjoyed three lunches in Meursault.
Hotel Central, Meursault 03 80 21 20 75
La Maison Vigneronne, Chambolle Musigny 03 80 62 80 37
Chez Guy, Gevrey Chambertin 03 80 58 51 51
L’Alambic, Nuits St Georges 03 80 61 35 00
La Cabotte, Nuits St Georges 03 80 61 20 77
Dec 21: Two more recommendations from sound sources:
Dec 21: Two more recommendations from sound sources:
L'Auberge de l'Amiot (sp?), Chorey-les-Beaune – great wine list but unpredictable opening hours.
Le Charlemagne, Pernand-Vergelesses 03 80 26 43 58 – increasingly garlanded restaurant (one Michelin star?), with a great view. Chef has a Japanese wife and some Japanese training.