Burgundy
Jean-Claude Rateau Cuisine and Wine Then the fun begins! We’ll combine structured tastings of the complexities of Burgundy wine with a hands-on exploration of the sort of food that best complements it.For those who love to spend time in the kitchen, there will be numerous opportunities to talk shop with Ellie . You can get involved in planning the week’s menu, and then go in quest of the best ingredients at several markets throughout the region. There will be visits to restaurant kitchens, with demonstrations by local chefs. We’ll have the chance to visit with master bakers, pastry chefs and chocolate artisans. We know cheese makers and producers of free-range poultry, escargots and foie gras. There will be in-house, hands-on cooking sessions and demonstrations with Ellie as preparation for the days’ meals. Here you will see first hand not only the techniques of classic Burgundian cuisine--from handling frogs’ legs and preparing snails, to slow-simmering a luscious red wine meurette sauce--you’ll also see how Ellie’s modern interpretations conjure freshness and finesse. In the wine program, we’ll start with the basics: grape varieties, winemaking styles, vintages, ‘appellation controllee’ rules and the ‘big-producer, small-producer’ question. From there, we’ll explore each of the main Burgundy production regions (Cotes de Nuits, Cotes de Beaune, Cotes Chalonnaise, the Maconnais and Chablis), looking at what makes them the same, and what makes them different. Our methods will be as varied as the tastings we will propose. A certain amount of discipline is needed if we are to acquire the skills needed for the most interesting part of the week, so there will be several structured in-house tastings at crucial points. Naturally, there will also be tastings with the winemakers themselves where we will concentrate on their particular region and their particular style. We’ll also do a bit of ‘spying’ on some of the more ‘touristy’ producers to get a broader sense of the quality spectrum. There will be ‘informal’ tastings at home before dinner where we will look at a variety of interesting questions (one good example, ‘why such complex variations in the ‘village’ wines of Gevrey-Chambertin?’). And, of course, we’ll propose ‘table tastings’ at each meal-- just for fun. Taste a sample menu (sadly, at this stage it has to be a 'virtual taste') Click here to return to our homepage and beyond. |
