Chardonnay and escargots on a vintage Burgundian pilgrimage

Confidentials 9 October 2016

IT’S like waiting for the curtain to go up, spending time in the vineyards on the cusp of the the vendange (annual harvest). Despite the spring hail and frost, which wiped out a tranche of the grapes, and the vagaries of sunshine since, the show must go on.

Vezelay – one of the glories of the Burgundian Romanesque

What better place to be in the front row than Burgundy at this most nailbiting yet exhilarating of seasons? Vigneron Jean-Marc Vincent, who is showing me around his scattered holdings in Santenay and Auxey Duresses in the southernmost corner of the Cote d’Or (Golden Slope), is crumbling the soil of the ‘terroir’ in his fingers, encouraging me to do the same. Then we are sampling a Chardonnay grape apiece and, voila, he knows: he must bring forward the picking. Ripeness is suddenly upon us.

He breaks the news to his wife and workmate Ann-Marie back at the family home/winery before we descend to the cellar to taste the wine still in cask from last year’s harvest. Perfectionist Jean-Marc has spent 20 years clawing back the vineyards lost by his grandfather and the wines, even in this juvenile state, are seriously impressive (in the UK you can buy both reds and whites from the Wine Society).

Jean-Marc Vincent in the vineyards of Auxey-Duresses

The Vincents, like so many small scale winemakers, welcome callers even though, without a website, they still find takers for all their wines; more commercial exploitation you’ll find in the tasting rooms of Beaune, capital of the wine region.

Cycling along the Voie des Vignes

This handsome town makes a good base to visit legendary villages such as Volnay, Pommard and Puligny Montrachet. Hire a bike from Beaune Velo Tour and drop in on them all along the bucolic cycle way, the Voie des Vignes.

Chablis Grand Cru vineyards visited by vintage 2CV

Being more than unsteady on two wheels I had much preferred in the north of the Burgundy, a customised Au Coeur du Vin Citroen 2CV ‘safari”, where oenologist/guide Eric Sazablowski and his wife introduced us to every aspect of Chablis viticulture, supplemented by regular hilltop tastings. Flintiness, yes, minerality – all good research, of course.

It was good back in the town itself in Au Fil Zinc, a sleek new ‘bistronomic’ restaurant to match these exquisite wines to food – a ritual essential to our Burgundian road trip that had begun in Vezelay.

Sunset bathes the front of Vezelay's abbey church

Really there is only one reason to visit this ramparted hilltop town, its honeyed stonework reminiscent of the Cotswolds... but what a reason. Its breathtaking 9th century abbey church is one of the glories of the Burgundian Romanesque, inspiration for Benedictine foundations across Europe.

In the Middle Ages the pilgrims came to worship bones alleged to be St Mary Magdalene’s, St Bernard preached the Second Crusade here, Richard the Lionheart mustered to go off on the Third. Then over the centuries the relics proving false, religious wars and the French Revolution all took their toll on the Madeleine of Vezelay until it was finally saved from collapse by Viollet le Duc in 1840.

Sublime austerity – from the shade into the light at Madeleine Vezalay

Today a UNESCO world heritage site, it hoovers in visitors. Out of season and inspecting it early in the morning I fell under its spell once again. Most astonishing is the transformation from the allegory-rich, heavily carved black and white stone of the Romanesque nave to the delicate soaring arches of the pure Early Gothic choir. Literally, it is the emergence from shade into light.

On your way back down the hill along the Rue Saint-Etienne drop in on the house that once belonged to Nobel Prize-winning writer Romain Rolland, who died here in 1944. Today it houses the exquisite Musee Zervos, home to the 20th century art collection of Christian Zervos (1889–1970), critic and friend of Picasso, whose work features alongside paintings, sculptures and mobiles from Calder, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Léger and Mirò. So lovely to see them in such a domestic setting overlooking Vezelay’s rooftops and rolling hills.

View from the Musee Zervos; below, our hotel Sy Les Glycines

From here the road down to Beaune is a tale of delectable whites made from Chardonnay and the steelier Aligoté, base wine for Kir, and, of course, Pinot Noir, making red wines famous the world over.

And the regional food specialities that accompanied them. Stand-outs at La Beursaudiere in Nitry were the Andouilette, a sausage made with seasoned intestines, and the cheese platter, set on a mini milking stool (above), featuring local Epoisses (we passed through the village) and Ami du Chambertin; equally delecable at La Table de Pauline at the enterprising Beaune-Villages winery of Domaine Charles were Escargots (snails) in garlic butter and Boeuf Bourguignon.

Escargots and Boeuf Bourguignon

It took me until the Brasserie Monge in the square of that name in Beaune to tackle Jambon Persillé – potted ham hock flecked with parsley jelly (below) , followed by national classic, Ris de Veau, pan-fried veal sweetbreads.

If you are of a foodie persuasion you can’t go wrong in compact Beaune. Keen on mustard? Take a tour around the Moutarderie Fallot, arch-traditional producer yet with a state of the art visitor centre and shop.

Gift for a wine buff?. Opposite the Hotel-Dieu check out Athenaeum. It started life as a specialist wine book shop and you’ll still find an unrivalled selection in different languags, including comic books and maps, but it has branched out into wonderful accessories, glasses, decanters, corkscrews – and great wines, too, from the best growers. Burgundy wine-buying can be a minefield

Michelin must? Le Benaton, an unassuming looking place on the Rue du Faubourg Bretonniere, opens out at the back into an attractive al fresco dining space with complex, artfully presented food befitting its Michelin star.

Market lover? We had a fabulous time mooching around the Saturday food marché underneath the towering walls of the 15h century Hôtel-Dieu.

Outside it is fortress-like; inside the cobbled courtyard is a ravishing riot of decoration – zig-zags of multi-coloured tiles on steep-pitched dormers and turrets. Chancellor of Burgundy Nicolas Rolin founded it in 1443 as a hospital for the poor and its vast halls housed patients amazingly until 1971. The beds, kitchens and the pharmacy are still there, populated by stiff mannequin tableaux.

Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden

The Hôtel’s real treasure come at the end of the self-guided tour – the splendid 15th century altarpiece, The Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden, set in a darkened chamber just before the Museum of the Hospices de Beaune. This is the alternative name for the Hôtel-Dieu and associated with the world’s most famous charity auction. The

Hospices’ 60 hectares of estate across the region provide the wine, mostly Grand and Premier Cru, sold off every November to raise funds for its modern hospital and towards conservation of the Hôtel-Dieu.

After three enthusiastic days of wine tasting and troughing in bounteous Burgundy I also felt in need of a little gentle conservation.

Fact file

Neil Sowerby flew from Manchester to Paris Charles de Gaulle with Air France, then from the city took the TGV down to Burgundy.

In Vezelay he stayed at boutique bolthole Sy Les Glycines, 33 rue St Pierre, 89450 and dined at its sister hotel, Sy La Terrasse up the hill in the Place de la Basque.

En route to Beaune he stayed at the traditional auberge, La Beursaudiere (above), 9 Chemin de Ronde, 89310 Nitry. and finally at the Hotel le Panorama, 74 Route de Pommard, 21200 Beaune. . The first is a faux-rustic retreat with excellent food, the second a more motel-like establishment set among the vines but very convenient for central Beaune.

For wine tourism I strongly recommend Eric Sazablowski’s Au Coeur du Vin specialising in customised 2CV trips around the Chablis and Yonne vineyards. From 70€ for a half day tour.

Burgundy wines aren’t cheap, it goes without saying; best value is to be found in up and coming areas or those once famous that are surging back. In tiny Tharoiseau across the valley from the great pilgrimage site check out the vibrant Vezelay appellation wines of Matthieu and Sophie Woillez at Domaine de la Croix Montjoie.

For full Burgundy tourism information visit www.burgundy-tourism.com; for guides to Beaune www.beaune-tourism.com and Vezelay www.vezelaytourisme.com.