"Every
Bit is Edible"
Vous êtes en Bourgogne, ("You
are in Burgundy") announces the sign on the
A6 Autoroute linking Paris to the South of France,
as if to say that you are entering a realm of earthly
delights. Indeed, you are; for Burgundy is the heartland
of rural France, a deeply civilized region where
a spiritual, monastic tradition goes hand in hand
with a robust joie de vivre, and where wine is the
lifeblood of the land.
Burgundy bristles with history. Celts, Gauls, and
Romans occupied the area before the advent of the
Burgundi in 443 AD, who settled along the banks
of the River Saône and gave their name to
the region. Embattled throughout the Middle Ages,
Burgundy became an independent dukedom in 1015 under
Robert Capet, a member of the French royal family.
Capetians held the duchy until their line died out
in the late fourteenth century. Burgundy then reverted
to the Valois branch of the royal family, known
for their opulence and love of art. The reign of
the Valois Grand Dukes—Philip the Bold, John
the Fearless, Philip the Good, and Charles the Bold—straddled
a century, producing a golden age during which their
capital, Dijon, was transformed into a flourishing,
cosmopolitan center of art and culture. Upon the
death of Charles the Bold in 1476, the vast territories
attached to the cities of Mâcon, Auxerre,
and Charolles were annexed by the Crown. The era
of power and independence was ended: henceforth,
Burgundy belonged to France.
Today Burgundy takes pride in its provincial character.
Most Burgundians would agree that the region has
acquired that mystical and almost untranslatable
status of France profonde. Though some
industry thrives, compared to the rest of the country
Burgundy has a higher proportion of farmers, winegrowers,
craftspeople, traders, and small family businesses.
In its Valois heyday, Burgundy extended south to
Provence and included most of Belgium, as well as
parts of Holland and Switerland. Considerably smaller,
modern Burgundy is made up of four départements:
Yonne, Nièvre, Côte-d'Or, and Saône-et-Loire.
Dijon, with its fabulous artistic legacy from the
days of the Grand Dukes, is the official capital
of Burgundy. Yet its influence cannot be said to
extend up to the Yonne or Nièvre, which look
Parisward for inspiration, while Saône-et-Loire
lives under the thrall of Lyon. In truth, Burgundy
straddles North and South in a huge swath of largely
rural landscapes, a mellow patchwork of vineyards,
pastures, rivers, and woods.
All
Roads Lead to Cluny
The French writer Colette, herself Burgundy-born,
once said of her homeland that “Burgundy is
like a pig: some parts are more memorable than others,
but every bit is edible.” She was right. Burgundy
is enchanting, austere, sensual, and spiritual by
turns. The wooded hills and lakes of the romantic
Morvan Forest exude mysticism and Celtic lore, while
the gentle slopes of the Côte-d'Or are an
intoxicating plunge into some of the world's most
illustrious vineyards. Though history tells us that
all roads lead to Rome, in the Middle Ages they
led to Cluny, the site of a Benedictine abbey—long
the largest church in Christendom—founded
in 910 on the banks of the River Grosne. Between
the tenth and fourteenth centuries, the monastic
movement fostered an ecclesiastical building boom
that endowed Burgundy with some of the crown jewels
of Romanesque architecture. The cathedral of Saint-Lazare
in Autun, the basilica of Sainte-Madeleine in Vézelay,
and the abbey of Saint-Philibert in Tournus are
consummate masterpieces; the Brionnais and Mâconnais
districts in southern Burgundy offer humbler but
equally moving examples of Romanesque country churches.
The towns of Sens, Auxerre, Avallon, Saulieu, Beaune,
and Dijon long served as staging posts on the main
southbound road from Paris to Geneva, Lyon, and
Marseille. Today, the TGV—France's state-of-the-art
bullet train—streaks through the countryside
a great deal faster than the stage coaches of yore,
bringing visitors to a part of France which has
always given top priority to matters culinary. Burgundy's
reputation for fine eating is said to date back
to Gallo-Roman times. Certainly the Grand Dukes
were renowned for their table: Philip the Good is
credited with introducing the first menu at a banquet
in 1457. So unabashed were the appetites of the
Bishop Princes of Sens that they had indentations
carved in their dining tables to accommodate their
considerable girths!
Fine wine and food go naturally together. Thanks
to well-tended soil and a cooperative climate, Burgundian
produce is renowned for its excellence. Plump snails,
Charollais beef Bresse chicken (the only poultry
in France to have its own appellation contrôlée),
fish from river and lake, wild mushrooms and game,
cherries, blackcurrants, and a variety of cheeses
(pungent Époisses, legendary Cîteaux,
tangy chèvres) make the region a gastronomic
galaxy for gourmets and gourmands, a veritable pilgrimage
route of fine tables with a prodigious number of
multi-toque tables. And while Burgundy's chefs have
developed and refined their own personal cooking
styles, many remain staunchly loyal to local ingredients
and traditions.
“Good wine,” said Henry James, “is
an inward emotion.” Sipping a glass of crisp,
green-tinged Chablis in the quaint town that gave
its name to this famous cru, you might well agree.
Just a few miles away, in the ancient town of Tonnerre,
visit the imposing Château de Tanlay. At Joigny,
not far from Sens with its great Gothic cathedral,
chef Jean-Michel Lorain draws discriminating diners
at La Côte Saint-Jacques. Further south, Marc
Meneau works his magic under the shadow of Sainte-Madeleine
in Saint-Père-sous-Vézelay, while
Le Relais Bernard Loiseau (the late Bernard Loiseau’s
restaurant) in Saulieu affords an ideal stopover
en route to the Morvan Regional Park. A tour of
the ducal palace and superb museums of Dijon (the
mustard—and gingerbread—capital of France)
could be a prelude to a remarkable repast chez Jean-Paul
Thibert. A halt at Autun to admire the cathedral
could be followed by a lingering lunch at the excellent
Lameloise in Chagny. Not far distant is Beaune,
the wine-trading center of Burgundy and one of France's
prettiest towns; do stop to admire the Hôtel-Dieu,
a masterpiece of Burgundian-Flemish architecture
(inside is Roger Van der Weyden's awe-inspiring
"Last Judgment").
As
you meander the vineyards of the Côte-d'Or
and Côte de Beaune (Gevrey-Chambertin, Clos
Vougeot, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault,
Montrachet, etc.), and perhaps purchase cheese from
the monks at the ancient abbey of Cîteaux,
keep in mind a local dictum: “Bordeaux is
for the sick, our wines are for the healthy."
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