Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [225]
By happy coincidence, the Little Bookroom published another volume in its Terroir series as I was completing this book. Food Wine: Burgundy by David Downie and Alison Harris (see this page) is an absolutely essential companion to this region—don’t even think about going to La Bourgogne without it. The book covers all the towns and villages of the region and includes superb recommendations—for places to eat, wineries to visit, charming places to stay, interesting shops and food artisans—as well as brief notes on a number of museums and historic sites and a very good overview of Burgundy wines. Downie also provides a list of market days in Burgundy, a food and wine glossary, and a few pages of practical information. Here’s one nugget worth repeating: “Nine in ten businesses are closed Sunday afternoons and a half day or full day once a week, usually Monday, sometimes Wednesday”; wineries are also often closed in July and/or August. As for restaurants, Downie focuses on those places whose chefs still work from scratch, “using fresh, locally sourced, high-quality ingredients, serving traditional or updated regional fare and cuisine bourgeoise that captures the spirit—if not always the letter—of terroir.” The word terroir, referring literally to the land, describes the proud sense of place expressed in locally grown and produced food, found in abundance in this region.
I have had the great pleasure of meeting Downie on several occasions, along with his kind and talented wife, the photographer Alison Harris. Most recently, I met them both for lunch at one of my Parisian favorites, Ma Bourgogne, on the Place des Vosges, just steps from their apartment.
Q: What are some general words of advice you would give to travelers going to Burgundy?
A: First of all, give yourself enough time—enough time to slow down and really enjoy discovering and exploring the small roads of Burgundy. At least ten days is great, which is enough time to get lost and find yourself again, and our book will take you to many different places, and certainly many off the beaten track. One of the things we enjoy doing most in Burgundy is hiking. There are a great number of marked trails, and when you hike, you see much more than from a car window: you’re actually in it—in the landscape, we mean.
Q: When did you first start exploring Burgundy?
A: We started going to Burgundy about twenty years ago thanks to some good friends we knew in Paris—they’re English and American—who were at that time going back and forth to Italy, and they found that this was becoming too time-consuming. They then bought a little place in southern Burgundy—from which their forays to Italy took less time—and when we visited them we discovered this uncluttered, wonderful, beautiful place in France … and we’ve continued to go back over the years. Though we’re referring specifically to southern Burgundy, make no mistake: all of Burgundy is great. There are parts of the region that are very well known, of course—everyone roars up and down the wine route, everybody wants to go to Beaune. These are wonderful, and you should see them, but hardly anyone gets off that wine road and goes out into the hinterland of southern Burgundy. The wines of southern Burgundy, by the way, are not as well known, and for a long time everyone thought they were all lousy wines owned by a big cooperative. Actually there are many, many really good wines that are being made here, at prices that aren’t crazy. So we got