Do you like chocolate? If so, you may be curious to know that it pairs very well with wine — especially wine from Burgundy. Here I am, on the kind of gray overcast day that makes the charming city of Beaune even more mysterious, about to attend a chocolate and wine pairing session at Maison Bouchard Aine et Fils. I am here in Beaune, in the Burgundy region of France, to attend the celebrations leading up to the famous Hospices de Beaune wine auction.
Jean Lupatelli, winemaker of Bouchard Aine et Fils, and Jean Ourvois, chocolate master, set myself and other journalists loose in the winery’s ancient caves with a box of chocolates hanging from a ribbon around each of our necks. At various stations in the cave, servers drew wine from ancient casks, poured them into our glasses, and gave us hints on the best pairing combinations for the different chocolates. It was a rather creative exercise and an excellent chance to see the ancient caves of this highly regarded winery, with dust-covered bottles dating from 1745.
By four p.m., I was walking very slowly and carefully over the ancient cobblestone streets in my Manolo Blahnik high heels, towards the Hotel Dieu — scene of Sunday’s auction. En route, the Burgundians were out and about, enjoying the beginning of a village fair to celebrate the auction. One of the first festivities was a competition between young men who I presumed to be sommeliers, to see who could uncork a case of wine the fastest.
Inside the Hotel Dieu is a room filled with replications of what the original hospice looked like. From what I could understand from the placards, a seasoned nurse and a neophyte would be paired together to care for the ill.
The four p.m. tasting was to be led by Roland Masse, oenologist from Hospices de Beaune, but I must have missed him. Instead I fell in with other journalists, who each sat at a round table and tasted through the wines to be offered at the auction on Sunday. It was a fantastic opportunity to taste the various terroirs of Burgundy.
Article comments