Sur le Pont du Saint Laurent, Macon

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Brett, the Wine Maestro

In June I will be leading a tour of the Loire for a group of keen wine lovers from Essex. As all the preliminary planning had been done I was keen to take a look at the places we would be visiting.

Wink and I left Chinaillon on a very snowy Sunday afternoon to go to Macon where we would break our journey before continuing to Sancerre the following day.

We arrived just in time to see the sunset from the Ile St Laurent where we would dine later after checking into our hotel, carefully selected by Wink on the outskirts of town in order to avoid the Monday rush hour.

Of course, we could have stopped on the way in the pretty village of Vonnas where the celebrated chef Georges Blanc has a collection of hotels and restaurants, as well as his three Michelin stars. Indeed this village has become so important that when the A40 was constructed M. Blanc paid 2.3 million euros for an exit to Vonnas!

However we chose to eat at another of George Blanc’s establishments, Le Saint Laurent in Macon, which is recommended in Wine Travel Guides.

A brasserie in style and food: cheerful, bustling, reasonably priced, relaxing and informal. On this Sunday evening the restaurant was quite busy and a great place to unwind.

I chose three courses from the Fraîcheur d’Hiver menu (€28 – for €4 more you can have four courses). Eschewing the Pied de Porc (possibly because there might have been some, er, chewing?) I started with a creamy haricot bean soup enlivened by an Emulsion de Foie Gras, followed by a slice of pink Escalope de Foie de Veau, served simply on spinach, graced with a hint of nutmeg.

No, I didn’t feel livery after these two offal dishes…

Wink plumped for a fish main course, sandre aka pike-perch, a freshwater fish, and we shared a local soft cheese, Saint Marcellin.

We also shared a bottle of a local red, Mâcon Bussières, Domaine des Terreaux, Isabelle et Michel Pornay 2009.

Made with 100% Gamay and served at a correct cool temperature, it was a good, light fruity wine which went well with all the dishes we had chosen and the soft cheese.

Suitably refreshed and relaxed we returned to our hotel ready for the forthcoming busy week in the Loire.

Having enjoyed the sunset earlier, our evening was completed by this lovely view of the lights of the St Laurent bridge, and Macon on the opposite bank of the river Saône.

For more details and useful touring and travel information for Mâconnais and northern Beaujolais visit Wine Travel Guides.

The roundabout restaurant in the Alps

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Brett, the Wine Maestro

As you arrive at the roundabout in St-Jean de Sixt on the last leg of your journey to the Aravis ski resorts of La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand in Haute Savoie, you can’t help but notice an untypical cabin-like building immediately on your right.

Over the few years I’ve been coming to Chalet Balaena in Chinaillon this charming little place has been home to various enterprises but now seems happily settled by an energetic young couple who run a little restaurant called Le Cabanon.

Aurélie cheerfully manages this 24 seater restaurant whilst her partner, Damien, looks after the small kitchen behind the bar with occasional forays into the restaurant. When we were there he was proudly holding an unusual vegetable, a parsley root, supplied by his innovative greengrocer in Annecy.

As well as offering a small à la carte there are a couple of menus, both three courses, for €24 and €29. A neat optional extra is to pay another €6 for an amuse bouche, sorbet, cheese and mignardises (petits fours in old money).

At lunchtime, as well as just the plat du jour for €9, they offer a very good value set menu for €12.90: first course, main, dessert, coffee and 25cl of wine. When we were there in January we tucked into diots (a local sausage) and salad, confit duck leg followed by a chocolate cake, very reminiscient of a chocolate brownie. Our half litre of red wine was a decent Côtes du Rhône which went well with the meaty first two courses.

For €14.90 the menu includes the optional extras mentioned above.

This delightful little restaurant is well worth a visit if you’re in the area. In summer there is a sunny terrace at the rear of the property, and they offer a takeaway service. Indeed, they don’t open on New Year’s Eve but supply many celebratory meals to local chalets. They told me that they had ‘served’ more meals than if they had been open!

Damien and Aurélie

Restaurant Le Cabanon
74450 St Jean de Sixt
04 50 10 82 45
contact@restaurant-lecabanon.com
www.restaurant-lecabanon.com

An idyllic Savoie evening

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Brett, the Wine Maestro

My family are staying with us at Chalet Balaena in Chinaillon, where the skiing is excellent. They are taking full advantage of the facilities by spending at least eight hours each day on the pistes!

Wink and I had planned a Savoie evening meal with diot (pork sausage, smoked and unsmoked) and poumonier (another sausage filled with pork lung, other leftover bits and spinach – really delicious!), and crozets, a local pasta prepared with Beaufort cheese.

During the afternoon Becky and I went to the local supermarket to borrow a fondue set for another regional evening later in the week (there’s nothing better than authenticity when you stay in a mountain resort in the Haute Savoie…). Whilst we were waiting for the cheese (three varieties of course) to be grated we were delighted to meet Philippe Tiollier, a Savoie vigneron whom Wink and I have visited many times and was running an ‘in store’ wine tasting.

Philippe, with his brother François, own Domaine de l’Idylle, an 18 hectare estate in the Combe de Savoie, and for the last two decades have worked very hard to build up their reputation as very good Savoie wine producers. We enjoyed a chat about the current vintage, 2010, which had been saved by a warm, sunny autumn whilst sampling a small glass of their white Domaine de l’Idylle Cruet 2009.

Early evening we went to visit friends who are staying in a brand new chalet just down the road from us. We were offered a glass of, yes, the Domaine de l’Idylle Cruet! Made with the local variety, Jacquère, this wine has a delicate floral bouquet, is deliciously dry with bright acidity with lemony notes on the palate, and is also not high in alcohol at 11.5%. Just the wine for the occasion!

On our return home I prepared dinner and by chance, Wink had brought up earlier from the cellar another Tiollier wine; this time a mature red Arbin Mondeuse, Domaine de l’Idylle La Saxicole 2003. Fuller bodied than usual, because of the warm summer, but with attractive red fruits on the nose and on the palate as well as hints of spice, it went well the local Savoie dish.

If you’re thinking of visiting the Savoie wine region do have a look at Wine Travel Guides, full of useful information to help you plan your trip. Closer to home in London or nearby, Wink is offering a fantastic evening of fine Savoie wines for a private group of up to 15 people in your own home or other venue. You can bid to win the evening, and all the funds will be donated to Wine Relief 2011.

Last year, when my family were visiting, we enjoyed a similar meal – and the piercing of the saucisse…

Sausage surprise

Sweetie from the other side of the mountains

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Brett, the Wine Maestro

Eighteen months ago, on the way back from a couple of vinous weeks in Italy, we visited the mountainous wine region of Aosta.

Its vineyards nestle (though ‘cling’ would be more appropriate) to the southern slopes of Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) and produce a fascinating range of unique and unusual wines.

We visited a few growers as well as the local co-op, La Crotta di Vegneron, where we bought a half bottle of Chambave Moscato Passito 2007 Vallée d’Aoste with the intention of enjoying it on a special occasion.

And such a time was New Year’s Eve.

With a good friend from the village we had enjoyed a simple meal, finishing with Cannelé cakes from Bordeaux (which remind me of lardy cake, though a tad more refined), lime sorbet topped with a delicious cassis from the Loire.

This dessert medley wasn’t as sweet as it sounds so was a perfect match for the alpine wine, Chambave Moscato.

Made from partially dried Muscat grapes (the grapes are dried on racks which helps concentrate the sugars), the wine is plump and gorgeous. Grapey on the nose it is gently sweet (not sickly) with notes of orange peel and roast hazelnuts on the palate. Although 14.5% alcohol it is not overpowering, complementing all the different expressions of the assembled pud.

We didn’t finish the wine on NY Eve and re-tasted it the day after – it was as good as ever!

London Fields Farmers’ Market

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Brett, the Wine Maestro

Martin Amis published his novel London Fields in 1989. Although it was set in the future, in 1999, he didn’t mention the Farmers’ Market as his mind was on baser instincts…

On a sunny Sunday morning last November we wanted to find a local farmers’ market so Wink did some research and quickly discovered the excellent website: London Farmers’ Markets. A quick search of markets in the vicinity of Limehouse introduced us to the London Fields Farmers’ Market whither we went with shopping baskets – and camera!

With just a few stalls pitched in the playground of the local primary school we are able to amble around admiring the produce and the lovely people proudly telling and selling!

Fish, fresh from the south coast.

…

Bread, with a flourish.

Up from Somerset Alham Wood Organics with his range of buffalo milk cheeses named after the leader of the pack, Junas.

‘Twas the season for squash – John proudly displaying his initial…

The ultimate homemade, organic pasta and pesto by Primo and Ultimo.

Artisan cakes and quiches from the Isle of Wight.

Poultry from the verdant pastures of Northamptonshire.

Apples and pears – quinces too.

More cheese from Somerset – Greens with their cheddar.

We enjoyed a couple of visits to this farmers’ market, buying a variety of food which was fresh, delicious and tasty. Perhaps the protagonists in Martin Amis’ novel would have been happier if they had been able to shop at the London Fields Farmers’ Market.