Dear readers, the story of the journey in Burgundy continues… between the myth of the famous wine region and the reality of a wonderful land. If you got lost, you can find the first article here.
Taking inspiration from this beautiful "alarm clock" of impact, the next day we set off again. But it's Sunday and no one lifts a finger on Sundays around here, nor on Mondays or Tuesdays. Everything is closed, everything is strange, you feel like you're living in parentheses. You stroll through the towns of Burgundy at 11 on a Monday morning and it feels like you're in an undefined era stuck in history around 5 in the morning on a spring Sunday: except for the light, it’s impressive.
But back to us: the next morning, Sunday, every place closed, we decide to dedicate it to scenic visits: everything is so wonderful here!
And so, a walk and a splendid picnic at Roche de Solutré!
Everything seems so strange: such a beautiful and iconic place on a Sunday around noon, there were about 10 people.
But where is everyone?
This question we will have throughout the vacation. Is it possible that in such magical places there is NOBODY? Maybe they have all been kidnapped by the Fauns, who knows. It’s May, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and it’s lunchtime, in one of the prettiest places in Mâconnais, in the heart of one of the most iconic regions of France, Burgundy. There is no one.
If we were in Italy, there would be a fight to find a spot to take a photo, vineyards everywhere, beautiful, left free, you can walk into them, you can sleep there if you want.
Incredible (a word that I will certainly overuse!).
When, the next day, you finally enter Côte-d'Or, you realize that everything changes. But all your ideas that you had formed, beliefs with which you had started, also change. Physical and metaphysical principles.
What do we all imagine about Côte-d'Or, the heart of Burgundy? A MYTHICAL land, kissed by the Gods. An immeasurable wealth. Iconic wineries, envied by all. Producers whose bottles individually cost as much as a Fiat. Pieces of land whose value reaches that of San Marino's GDP. You imagine so many things before arriving, but you would never imagine what you find in front of you: the simplest of normalities. I had somewhat sensed this before leaving, I must be honest.
When you call to schedule visits and everyone tells you:
"I don't know if I can host you"
Because in May there are jobs to be done in the vineyard and we are busy” and you don’t understand, because you can imagine all the most important agricultural companies in Italy, but also the medium and even small ones, organized with beautiful tasting rooms, dedicated staff, and laid tables.
In Burgundy no. In Côte-d'Or even less, here life is simple, here life is peasant.
This is why during the day you don’t find anyone around in the villages, even those with the most redundant names: Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet, Vosne-Romanée … they all seem uninhabited. Because there, EVERYONE lives for the land, because there, EVERYONE works the land.
And when they host you for a tasting, it often takes place between the processing of one vineyard and another, in muddy boots, at a winery table, with pub glasses, without even any bread to clean your mouth.
And they uncork wonderful bottles, holding them between their legs and pulling out the cork, as if it were at a village festival.
Because there they have fallen into immense fortune, but they have remained who they were, wonderful farmers who do only what they do best: produce wonderful wines.
Needless to say, in Beaune we also cleansed our souls a bit by visiting the Hospice de Beaune: a place outside of time, for its simple beauty.
But then we also cleaned our stomachs at an incredible tasting at the Athenaeum, right across from the Hospice.
Of course, because here the sacred and the profane go hand in hand. It is up to each person to decide for themselves which is the sacred and which is the profane.
We enter the Athenaeum with high expectations, as it was pointed out to us as the Mecca of Wine Shops in Burgundy. And so, in fact,
The Mecca of Wine Shops in the world
There is everything, from books to glasses, up to every kind of equipment, and obviously them: the wines.
We approach almost fearful, perplexed. I see in the distance, near the checkout, a small room with a barrel in the center and a few bottles resting on top.
I turn to my friend and say, "But do you think they’ll let us taste something?" "No way, are you kidding?"
I try anyway, after all, what did I have to lose? "Excuse me (the salesperson was speaking Italian!), but by any chance... can we taste something?"
"Of course!! We're here for that!! Come on!"
A mixed look of amazement and excitement
Let's go to the "room of pleasure".
What I had glimpsed from afar: seventeen (17!!) bottles on the barrel. I timidly asked, “Could we taste two or three?” The almost surprised response was, “No, of course you taste them all!!”
“Oh my, how much do we have to pay?” “Nothing, it’s my job!”
No, I mean, it’s hard to explain what my friend and I thought at that moment. In Italy, when you go to taste three mediocre wines, they charge you the equivalent of a dinner at a starred restaurant, it’s almost the same. Here, in the Mecca of Mecca, they OFFER you seventeen wines! Unbelievable.
And what wines!! An hour and a half dedicated to us, without haste, calmly and patiently, explaining each one.
In fact: at the end, still not satisfied, we asked them if it was possible to taste one more. What bold faces! But after all those wines, we had completely lost our inhibitions. Without batting an eyelid, they popped the eighteenth bottle. Incredible.
Then again, we did leave some money for the wine afterward, huh! But it was by no means taken for granted.
From there, a crescendo.
If I were asked today, "What has Burgundy left you?" I would reply that what remains to me are these neat, simple hills, the groves that serve as hats for the Grand Cru vineyards, the horses plowing the vineyards, the simplicity of the places and the people, the dry stone walls, the tranquility, and the light.
What does Pinot Noir taste like?
Try asking the people who do it here: it knows nothing and everything, it knows what you are looking for, it knows simplicity and complexity, it knows small red fruits and elegance, but it also knows power and austerity.
And as Miles teaches us in “Sideways”: “and also, let’s go... oh, its aromas are the most alluring and brilliant, exciting and subtle and ancient of our planet.”
Are you curious to know what will happen in the final part of my journey? Follow me, and you will find out in the third and last article.
