This is part of 'my journal', so if you are not into French food (particularly offal) and wine read no further. If you are, and if you are ever near the Rhone Valley, you might seek out some of the following - you will not be disappointed!!
In 2007 a longstanding (male) friend and I travelled down the Rhone Valley sampling the local food and wines. Then it was the occasion of his 50th year. We learned a lot, and it turned me on to collecting (and drinking!) Rhone wines, which have been made since Roman times.
This occasion was my 60th year. We two (think of it as a cross between "Sideways" and "Humpback Mountain" LOL) travelled from "Lyons" at the top end of the Rhone Valley to "Chateauneuf Du Papes" in the south. Although only about 100 miles apart the micro-climate changes remarkably from relatively cool and damp in the north to hot and almost arid in the south, and the character of the wines alter accordingly. I took one pipe (a trusty Peterson's Centennial) and my late dad's pouch filled with Irish Slices.
The first night we encamped in Lyons and ate at "Les Carnivores". There we were treated to beef bone marrow, scraped from baked femurs (femora), and spread on toast. This was followed by 'foie gras' "en bloc" with a few leaves (ignored) of lettuce. Most will know that foie gras is the swollen liver of geese 'force-fed' with maize down a funnel, placed in their gullets for the purpose. Ignorant people consider this barbaric, but I can assure you that the geese in question line up and jostle for their daily feed!! LOL. IMHO this dish is one of the most exquisite in the known world. We finished with the second-best steak I have ever eaten (the best being in Chicago), served "a point" with pommes frites!!
Les vins: to wash out our mouths we started with a "pot" (a 38cl flask served only in Lyons) of the "Macon" house white, followed with bottles of the rustic "Cotes du Rhone" blanc and rouge respectively. We finished with black coffee and Armagnac served on a table outside, where I smoked my pipe.
We considered that we had started well!!
The next morning we enjoyed a gentle drive down the N7 to Condrieu, a small village directly on the bank of the majestic Rhone river. Having checked into the beautiful hotel "le Beau Rivage" we enjoyed a light lunch and a bottle of Condrieu while steeling ourselves for the evening. Fortified by an afernoon nap we embarked on an "Odyssey Gastronomique". In the bar we shared a bottle of Guigal's Condrieu followed by sequential bottles of white and red "Hermitage" from the same domaine. To eat there were "Quenelles" of pike followed by loin of local hare. On the terrace overlooking the river we were offered Armagnac from many decades past. Out of respect and loyalty for my 'other half' I chose the 1970 - her birth date lol. I savoured it with my pipe !! LOL
The following day involved a two-hour drive to Chateauneuf in the south, only to find that the restaurant of the hotel we had booked on-line was shut on a Monday - "Quelle Horreur!!". So the proprietor kindly got us a table in a little restaurant in the village itself. There we had a pleasantly rustic meal of foie gras folllowed by rib of veal and accompanied by white and red Cote du Rhone wines. On our return the hotel proprietor kindly served us Armagnac 'on the house'.
Our final day in the south was intended to be the "piece de la resistance", and so it turned out. It was a short drive to 'le Beaugravieres' in Mondragon. In 2007 we had eaten lunch there and were blown away by the food and the wine list. This time we had vowed to have lunch AND dinner and to stay the night (the restaurant has four bedrooms). With a rod of iron the establishment is ruled by 'Madame Julienne' - the last time we had visited it was run by her late husband who happened to be the world authority on black truffles!! LOL The wine list was like a telephone directory and had wines from the finest Rhone vintages going back to the 1920s and priced accordingly - the finest collection of Rhone wines in existence!! LOL
So, for lunch I had only the "omelette aux truffes" and we shared a bottle of the other-worldly Guigal "Hermitage Ex-Voto Blanc" of the 1996 vintage. Again a smoke and an afternoon snooze. The restaurant did not open for dinner till 19.30 so we sat on a table outside where Madame kindly brought us a bottle of the local basic "Viognier" (the main constituent of the finest Condrieu). For dinner we both started with seared foie gras on a bed of caramelised apple (the best starter dish I have ever had in France) followed by a rotisseried duck between us. The wines were a bottle of Chave's "Hermitage Blanc" 1995 followed by the magnificent red "Clos des Papes" 2001 (IMHO the finest CNDP ever).
We staggered up the rickety stairs to share a double bed!! LOL (there were no twin rooms in the establishment!!). But it had been worth it.
When I got back home last night I felt every day of my age!! lol But I was bearing chocolates from "Valrhona" the world-famous chocolatier in Tain Hermitage in the Rhone Valley. So I was welcome!! LOL
In 2007 a longstanding (male) friend and I travelled down the Rhone Valley sampling the local food and wines. Then it was the occasion of his 50th year. We learned a lot, and it turned me on to collecting (and drinking!) Rhone wines, which have been made since Roman times.
This occasion was my 60th year. We two (think of it as a cross between "Sideways" and "Humpback Mountain" LOL) travelled from "Lyons" at the top end of the Rhone Valley to "Chateauneuf Du Papes" in the south. Although only about 100 miles apart the micro-climate changes remarkably from relatively cool and damp in the north to hot and almost arid in the south, and the character of the wines alter accordingly. I took one pipe (a trusty Peterson's Centennial) and my late dad's pouch filled with Irish Slices.
The first night we encamped in Lyons and ate at "Les Carnivores". There we were treated to beef bone marrow, scraped from baked femurs (femora), and spread on toast. This was followed by 'foie gras' "en bloc" with a few leaves (ignored) of lettuce. Most will know that foie gras is the swollen liver of geese 'force-fed' with maize down a funnel, placed in their gullets for the purpose. Ignorant people consider this barbaric, but I can assure you that the geese in question line up and jostle for their daily feed!! LOL. IMHO this dish is one of the most exquisite in the known world. We finished with the second-best steak I have ever eaten (the best being in Chicago), served "a point" with pommes frites!!
Les vins: to wash out our mouths we started with a "pot" (a 38cl flask served only in Lyons) of the "Macon" house white, followed with bottles of the rustic "Cotes du Rhone" blanc and rouge respectively. We finished with black coffee and Armagnac served on a table outside, where I smoked my pipe.
We considered that we had started well!!
The next morning we enjoyed a gentle drive down the N7 to Condrieu, a small village directly on the bank of the majestic Rhone river. Having checked into the beautiful hotel "le Beau Rivage" we enjoyed a light lunch and a bottle of Condrieu while steeling ourselves for the evening. Fortified by an afernoon nap we embarked on an "Odyssey Gastronomique". In the bar we shared a bottle of Guigal's Condrieu followed by sequential bottles of white and red "Hermitage" from the same domaine. To eat there were "Quenelles" of pike followed by loin of local hare. On the terrace overlooking the river we were offered Armagnac from many decades past. Out of respect and loyalty for my 'other half' I chose the 1970 - her birth date lol. I savoured it with my pipe !! LOL
The following day involved a two-hour drive to Chateauneuf in the south, only to find that the restaurant of the hotel we had booked on-line was shut on a Monday - "Quelle Horreur!!". So the proprietor kindly got us a table in a little restaurant in the village itself. There we had a pleasantly rustic meal of foie gras folllowed by rib of veal and accompanied by white and red Cote du Rhone wines. On our return the hotel proprietor kindly served us Armagnac 'on the house'.
Our final day in the south was intended to be the "piece de la resistance", and so it turned out. It was a short drive to 'le Beaugravieres' in Mondragon. In 2007 we had eaten lunch there and were blown away by the food and the wine list. This time we had vowed to have lunch AND dinner and to stay the night (the restaurant has four bedrooms). With a rod of iron the establishment is ruled by 'Madame Julienne' - the last time we had visited it was run by her late husband who happened to be the world authority on black truffles!! LOL The wine list was like a telephone directory and had wines from the finest Rhone vintages going back to the 1920s and priced accordingly - the finest collection of Rhone wines in existence!! LOL
So, for lunch I had only the "omelette aux truffes" and we shared a bottle of the other-worldly Guigal "Hermitage Ex-Voto Blanc" of the 1996 vintage. Again a smoke and an afternoon snooze. The restaurant did not open for dinner till 19.30 so we sat on a table outside where Madame kindly brought us a bottle of the local basic "Viognier" (the main constituent of the finest Condrieu). For dinner we both started with seared foie gras on a bed of caramelised apple (the best starter dish I have ever had in France) followed by a rotisseried duck between us. The wines were a bottle of Chave's "Hermitage Blanc" 1995 followed by the magnificent red "Clos des Papes" 2001 (IMHO the finest CNDP ever).
We staggered up the rickety stairs to share a double bed!! LOL (there were no twin rooms in the establishment!!). But it had been worth it.
When I got back home last night I felt every day of my age!! lol But I was bearing chocolates from "Valrhona" the world-famous chocolatier in Tain Hermitage in the Rhone Valley. So I was welcome!! LOL
