Wine

Piet went on his traditional wine trip with his friends from Utrecht. They form the hard core of the informal wine and dine society 'Het Derde Glas', and each spring they select an area to visit. This time the north Rhone region, between Valence and Vienne in southern France, was the main target.
Early Wednesday morning the party gathered in Utrecht and drove in a minibus quickly towards Beaune, in east-central France. Here a first stop was made at Albert Morot, a Burgundy (or Bourgogne) winemaker. This turned out to be part of a cunning plan, as Paul had ordered some boxes of wine earlier, and these needed to be collected. Anyway, this occasion was used to descend into Albert's fungi-covered cellar, to taste wine directly from his barrels. The common theme of the trip started here: 'épuisé', or sold out; there were only a few wine varieties for sale. The trip continued south to Vienne, a small town 50 km past Lyon, located on the Rhone river. The day was completed with an excellent dinner, with blue cheese ice cream as culinary lowlight.

Sybren and Albert Morot discussing Bourgogne wines

The next morning started with a pleasant sunrise walk along the river, followed by a short drive south past the Cote Rotie and Condrieu wine areas. Both are very steep hillsides on the west bank of the Rhone, where exclusive (and expensive) red (Rotie) and white (Condrieu) wines are produced. First stop was Pichon, where they had a combined bottle and barrel tasting, guided by their young winemaker. The trip continued past the beautiful village of Malleval to the Gaillard winery. This turned out to be quite a commercial set-up, with again limited availability. This was also the point where Jochem dropped out, likely due to his breakfast consumption of a partially boiled, snotty egg. Lunch was in Saint Vallier, where the restaurant tried twice to offload wine from their 'to be disposed off' cellar, but without any luck. Conspiracy or ignorance, that remains the question! Also the grilled fatty bone marrow was a once in a lifetime (and never to be repeated) culinary experience.
Jochem was dropped off at the hotel in Valence (to resurface reborn the next morning), followed by a stop at the Serette winery in Cornas, the next appellation to be visited. The enthusiastic owner, who had only one wine variety to taste, hosted them. After a lengthy negotiation in rapid French he sold 6 of his remaining 18 bottles; a record low for 'Het Derde Glas'. The next visit was at Domaine du Tunnel in St. Peray, a white wine appellation, of which exactly zero bottles were purchased. Luckily they also had red Cornas and St Joseph wines for sale. The dinner of the trip was enjoyed at Michelin-star restaurant La Cachette in Valence, which had scarily correct waiters, and served some amazing and very tasty food tricks.

Sunrise in Vienne, Rhone river

Beautiful scenes along the Rhone

Early morning in Vienne

Tasting at Pichon

Chateau de Crussol in St Peray

Friday started at Cave du Tain, in the Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage appelations. This is a cooperative, selling a wide range of wines from the whole region. They provide a very efficient tasting experience in a luxury shopping setting. This was followed by a long drive north to the centre of the Bourgogne wine region, where two stops were made at Theulot-Juillot and Petitot. Here the white wines were definitely nicer (and more affordable) than further south, and also the Pinot Noir reds were much less hard work. The day ended in Chablis with a short, efficient visit to Brocard for some more whites, and another good dinner at Zinc.

Tasting in Cave du Tain

Saturday morning the weather had changed from warm and sunny to cold, wet and windy. After another long drive to the north-western edge of the Champagne region they arrived at Dehours, who was also visited in 2016. Like every year at least one of the wineries is closed, and doesn't answer their phone; this time it was Dehours' turn. Luckily there was a back-up plan, and 5 minutes away Nowack winery was open. As this was the one and only Champagne house in the program a large quantity of bottles was purchased. Not all bottles were labelled yet, and mister Nowack asked them to return after lunch. Predictably the house was closed and deserted an hour later, and eventually the daughter and wife surfaced, surprised that nobody knew that the owner had to leave. The bus was filled near capacity, and in Utrecht the boxes were offloaded for sorting. Piet took a train home to return the following week to collect his wine cellar refill (and to start drinking them).

The Grand Cru hill in Chablis in the early morning drizzle