purelyfrance

Rue Victor Millot in Beaune is easy to miss.

It is tucked away, between place Carnot, (where the children’s carousel is located) on the south side, and the Hotel-Dieu.

You wont find any wine tastings in the street, but for lovers of Italy it is a street worth searching out as it now houses three shops with an Italian theme.

Of course one would be selling Italian foodstuffs.

As soon as you pass the doorstep of Emilian Goods the aromas are unmistakenly Italian. A range of fresh pastas, home made sauces, and olive oils are all displayed to titillate your palate. The Italian wines, or perhaps the tirimasu may also catch your eye.

 At # 11 rue Victor Millot is Farfalla, a delight for the ladies or even men seeking un cadeau for their loved one. All the stock sold by Farfalla originates in Italy consisting of shoes, handbags, belts, jewellery and other accessories.

Farfalla’s owner, Nelly, is warm and gregarious, who really knows her styles and fashion. Whatever you may buy from Nelly you can rest assured it will be very à la mode!

The other cool thing about Farfalla are its prices, remarkably moderate so therefore offering excellent value for money.

And across the street at # 8, you will find Farfalla’s ’sister’ shop, D.O.C.  Opened very recently, D.O.C. features Italian made mens shirts, shoes and other male accessories.

Again, prices are surprisingly reasonable.

So for a taste of Italy -without even having to leave France -try your luck in rue Victor Millot, Beaune!

 A Bientot, Bruce.

Yesterday, our courtyard proved  a suitable back drop for wedding photos.

Jean-Philippe the groom is a local Chaudenaysian and the bride Subhashini, is from Mauritius.

They held their French civil law wedding here at la Mairie in Chaudenay, and will have a church wedding in Mauritius in two weeks time.

I was amused that the groom, bride and photographer arrived for the photos prior to the wedding ceremony.

Presumably the French don’t follow the superstition of the groom and bride not sighting each other on the day until they reach the altar!

Comme habitude, post the marriage ceremony, we were subjected to the traditional parade of cars blasting away on their horns!

A Bientot, Bruce.

When my friend David Hammond of Burgundy Discovery asked me if I could help out with one of his wine tours I accepted with alacrity. Which is quite fast in Burgundy.

David’s wife Lynne was indisposed, so they were short of a driver for a day. No problem, and I didn’t even have to wear a chauffeur’s uniform.

Hang on a minute.  If I’m driving, what about tasting? Oh shoot. I guess there’s always spitting.

We had an eclectic mix of people to expose to some of Burgundy’s finest vineyards. Five Chinese ladies from Hong Kong and San Francisco; a young American chap studying philosophy at Princeton Uni; and another American couple from Reno, Nevada.

We plunged straight into the crème de la crème of pinot noir country taking in the vines of Vosne-Romanée where I learnt two interesting facts.

There are 33 Grand cru vineyards in Burgundy, and 23 of them lie within 10 kms of Vosne Romanée; how about that for star status.

And David explained how some vignerons were resorting to horses to hoe weeds and turn the soil between the vines. I thought David may have been using some touristic license but within 20 metres of our RangeRover we could see two horses plodding their way through two different vineyards. Voila!

Moving on to the Vosne-Romanée situated Domaine Michel Noellat & fils the first tasting was on offer, plus the first test of my discipline. I passed on the regional aligoté; stayed away from the Chambolle Musigny chardonnay; even waved away the Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots premier cru. How tough am I.

Then we were offered a rare taste of  a grand cru, their Echezeaux pinot noir. It would have been rude of me to refuse  a grand cru - wouldn’t it?

Next stop was at Pernand-Vergelesses, Domaine Baptiste Gay. Baptiste, a sole owner/operator greeted us ready for work in his orange shorts and red t-shirt. Or the colours may have been the other way round.

His passion for his wines were evident as he sedately waltzed us through his range of chardonnays. His village Les Belles-Filles was delighful, full of floral flavours, and very good value for money at 12 euros.

The subject of Rugby arose, Baptiste (you have to love that name!) was just as passionate about French Rugby, particularly their record against the All Blacks in World Cups. I think he really enjoyed reminding me of that.

But he was graceful enough to offer us a taste of his Corton-Charlemagne grand cru chardonnay. What could I say?

We bade farewell to Baptiste and headed for lunch at the Auberge Saint Martin in the small village of Bouilland.

An excllent lunch it was too, Marieluce delivering excellent service and her husband Didier producing the goods in the kitchen.  A starter was the traditional Burgundy specialty, jambon persillé, followed by a choice of coq au vin or trout.

The trout, boneless, was particularly tasty. Cheeses, and a rich sumptous chocolate cake followed, all washed down by a Baptisite chardonnay. Of course I just sipped. 

Last call of the day was at Domaine Marcillet located in Fussey in the Haut Cotes de Beaune appellation. Here, Nadine talked us through their approach to wine making before inviting us to their well appointed cellar/tasting room.

Not only did we taste (sipping and spitting for moi) a range that included aligoté, a Savigny les Beaune chardonnay and a Chorey-les-beaune pinot, but Nadine also produced a tasting of cassis (black current juice) which is used in the Burgundy drink of Kir.

So with a number of different flavours lingering on our respective palates we headed back to Beaune somewhat more educated on some of the intricacies and skill involved in producing high quality Burgundy wines.

And that was my day as a Chauffeur.  As enjoyable as it was, I would prefer to be on the tasting side of the table!

To paraphrase Mae West - so many wines, so little time!

A Bientot, Bruce.

It has been fashionable over the past 12 months or so to launch a few verbal grenades at Banks and the banking system in general.

Impersonable service, high charges, lack of loan funds have all come under the spotlight, or often, under the blow torch.

Subscribing to the principle of ‘credit were credit is due’ (if you’ll forgive that terrible pun!) I am pleased to write about a Bank whose performance is, well….. highly creditable.

Banque Rhone Alpes in Beaune have been our personal and business bank since our arrival in Burgundy in 2002.

What we like about them is the fact that they are very customer service orientated, and we are able to get face-to-face with real people.

In 8 years we have had only two ‘counsellors’. I recall at one time in New Zealand we seemed to have a different advisor every three months.

Honorine De Mari and Angelique Gaudillere (pictured above) typify Rhone Alpes service. They are very knowledgable about all the bank’s products, and they also project warm and friendly personalities.

The advice we receive from Rhone Alpes has always been very soundly based and helpful to the extent where it places our interests first. Recently they proposed some changes to our financial arrangements which not only improved our cash flow but resulted in lower bank fees for us.

The branch in Beaune is well balanced in terms of staff/customer ratio, we rarely are keep waiting at the counter for service.

The stability of management and staff has also enabled us to develop a good rapport. We regularly have exchanges about topical matters such as the World Cup, holidays, weather, and of course whenever the All Blacks and Les Bleus are contesting Rugby tests.

The only small niggle is that they will only handle cash during the mornings. C’est la vie.

But in his world where automation, phone systems asking you to press 1,2,3, etc, and distantly located centralised call centres it is  a delight to be dealing with humans blessed with brains and pragmatism.

Definitely a Banque to Bank on!

A Bientot, Bruce.

Over the centuries there have always been female role models in France to suit every taste.

 Joan of Arc, Eva Curie, the Veuve Clicquot, Marie Antoinette, (albeit born in Vienna) Catherine Deneuve, Edith Piaf, Carla Bruni, Coco Chanel for example.

 To those names you can add Mme Isabelle Pigot.

Who is this Isabelle Pigot, (pronounced pee-go) do I hear you ask? 

She  has  an agile brain that constantly performs gymnastique mentale; an ear that hears all; an unflappable disposition and the patience of  a saint.

Isabelle is my French language tutor.

She has been teaching me for two hours, once a week, for 5 years. Due to my clumsy efforts, during this time I have probably aged her 25 years!

We recently discussed the challenges she faces teaching French as a second language. I thought her biggest challenge may have been to correct the bad habits we have picked up along the way.

For example I have a habit of commencing statements with the english ‘its’ instead of C’est. When using French for ‘next to’ I get the ‘a coté’ but always forget to add the ‘de’.

If Isabelle has corrected me once, she has corrected me 1000 times. How frustrating for her.

But from her prespective, Isabelle says the ongoing challenge is to encourage her students to think for themselves, to help them develop their proficiency through their everyday lives.

Yes, her role is to provide all the mechanics of the language, the grammar, vocab, pronunciation etc, but the results are enhanced if she can create the desire of her students to take responsibility to lift their own lingual skill level.

Isabelle is my third French tutor - I keep getting expelled! - All three share a passion and pride not only for their mother language, but also the culture and traditions of     France.                                                      

It is knowledge that they willingly impart to us students which assists us greatly to assimilate into the French way of life.

In my book, it is a fallacy that by living in France, you will soon pick up the language. Like any skill you have to work at it, and practice, practice, practice - right Isabelle?!

A Bientot, Bruce.

One of the features of French villages is the time, effort and enthusiasm  that goes into beautifying roadsides, public flower plots, roundabouts, street lamps and the like.

Goodness knows where the money comes from to support all the plants, the planting, their upkeep et al but that’s by and by.

It has always impressed us as to how respectful the French are towards public property.

You never see the flowers disturbed; the maintenance of cemeteries for example are impressive; and outside of the big cities you rarely see any graffiti in public areas.

Or so I thought.

We have two big octagon shaped flower pots outside our home.  Last week they were planted out with geraniums by our ami Gilbert.

Yesterday, Gilbert was at it again. Apparently a phantom geranium thief had struck during the night. He says it is very easy for them, they just drive up, pluck out the whole plant and voila, the theft is completed.

Gilbert says it happens each year, soon after he has first planted out. Someone obviously has a very nice and inexpensive geranium bed. Probably some dirty out-of-towner too!

And the theft takes place literally right under our noses, the pot is directly below our office. Perhaps next year we’ll set up a stake-out!

As for graffiti. I don’t think I have ever seen any in this area in the past 7 years.

But on Monday, taking advantage of the public holiday and beautiful sunny warm weather, I was out cycling through the vineyards and along the Canal du Centre.

When I rested to eat ma pomme, I noticed the concrete support of a small bridge crossing the Canal was covered in graffiti.

I know some people see it as art, but it saddened me to see it, and it seemed so pointless in a location that would be seen by so few.

Compared to many western sociaties the French do preserve strong elements of public responsibility and respect.

But as the social environment has changed for others, perhaps it is also changing for the French?