Excursions from Dijon

Tomorrow, I will visit the lovely small city Beaune, at the other end of the Côte d’Or wine region. But today, I went to the town of Nuit-Saint-Georges. It was chilly and overcast and I was reminded again why I had lugged my jacket through the airports and Paris metro to the South of France. The town itself is a charming place with a little square with a recently built, but traditionally quirky, town hall at one end and a scattering of open-air cafés in the middle. There are, no doubt, townsfolk who work in the vineyards and estates but everything seemed geared to welcome and impress tourists like me.

I went to the cave that was part of my $15 euro package and the fellow at the counter did not know anything about it and the visit was free anyhow. I sampled some lovely white wine from their Pouligny-Montrachet production. This wine has a particular significance to me. More years ago than I want to compute, Dennis Diego and I formed a partnership – Diego-Jacobs Design Associates. To celebrate its formation, we had a celebratory dinner at Le Ruth’s – one of the best restaurants in New Orleans in those years - and ordered a bottle of that famous white wine – delectable then and certainly delicious this afternoon – though limited to a few tiny sips. A "degustation" is a sampling, after all.

Later on, I visited the Cassissium (one of the places my package included – here they did ordinarily charge a $6.50 euro admission). It was, presumably, a museum devoted to the production of Cassis – a liquor made from black currents. I was disappointed (I wonder why) to find out that the sweetness and the alcohol are added to a concentrated extract of the berries and not a product of the process of their own fermentation. Many years ago, I attempted to make Kahlua and the process was identical – alcohol, honey and vanilla extract were added to a concentrated (Toddy) extract of coffee. My results were horrible and even the best vanilla ice-cream couldn’t disguise the strange off taste. I suppose, if I was careful, took notes and adjusted the recipe but, for $14 a bottle, why bother. Of course, these tours and degustations are ploys to encourage visitors to fill their cars and cellars with cases of wine and liquors – even the supposed Cassis museum was really an extension of a producer.

The very pretty and efficient guide was charming (how do so many people talk and smile at the same time?). She took us through the Cassis plant, explained the process and eventually poured the tasty thick samples. There were a few children in the group – one little boy was a redhead with very close-cropped hair such that his own skin tone glowed through and his head seemed radiant. They were offered soda water with the flavored syrups of their choice. Then we were offered kir – cassis and white wine from a tap. I was the only English speaker in the group - mainly French and German. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen any North Americans since I left Paris.

I’m back in Dijon and will treat myself to a nice dinner and some good wine. Last night’s Boeuf Borguinon was quite good. I bet it wouldn’t be too difficult to prepare at home.