Nolay is in the southwest of the Burgundy region, just barely in Burgundy at all. Our place is in an even smaller hamlet called Change. Our little home for these few days is Le Pigeonniere, named that after the pigeon’s roost that was or is here. Pigeon’s roosts were very serious architecture for 13 - 18th century France. They served the shared functions of communicating with far-off places and providing pigeon meat to keep folks fed. I know I went on about it yesterday. Here's a couple more pics.
The architecture is very specific. There are many varieties of them; octagonal, round, square, some not much taller than a tall person standing on the floor inside can reach or with a small ladder inside, others spanning several hundred feet and with massive internal staircases, some separated from the house of the owner, some attached. Each has a unique and distinctive epi de faitage, an ornament in the center of the roof made of metal, ceramic, terra cotta showing the special place for the pigeons of that pigeonniere to stop flying. Boulin are the little cubbies built into the interior walls of the Pigeonnieres that welcome the pigeons to roost as you see above; some are made of wood panels, some dug out of the wall itself, others made from pottery. All pigeonnieres have a window facing south east in the direction of the rising sun, some south as well, all small enough so as to not let in the raptors. The major point of classification is the size; those with less than 400 boulin generally went under the radar of the local tax collector, and those with more than 400 for which the owners paid handsomely. The Abbaye de Fontenay has one of the most spectacular Columbier (a bigger pigeonniere, I guess).
We got up late and had breakfast in the pigeon roost. I got groceries and a baguette from the boulangerie in Nolay. We drove to Mersault and prowled around for a minute looking for a tasting room before wandering into Bruno de la Grange, I think, where we were hosted for a tasting of some of their production wines. Here's Darren with Sophie, the hostess. She's a little shy and just came in from working in the warehouse to host us.
We bought an inexpensive bottle, then drove off to the Chateau de Mersault.
The Chateau de Mersault was hosting a post- vente- du- vin luncheon, so there were a lot of suits and velvety clad partygoers there dripping out of one of the buildings as we drove past. I love this car.
I like this rooster.
Since everyone is so deprived of barrel cave photos.
The cantina is like the library of congress for wines.
The vente-du-vin is an annual wine auction put on by the Hospice de Beaune, a centuries-old hospital serving the community of folks with no money, orphans, children. Over the years, many landowners have dedicated parcels of their lands to the Hospice, who has hired winemakers to produce wines for them, which they sell at the vente du vin each year to raise funds to keep their hospital running. It’s a huge philanthropic event drawing people from all over France. We got here right in the aftermath of it. We did a self-guided cellar tour followed by a tasting with Simon, pictured below.
This is a favorite of both mine and Darren's.
The Chateau de Mersault contracts with various growers there in some of the more prestigious appelations in Burgundy to produce what proved to be really exceptional wines.
By the end of the tasting, I think I had more than a dozen. We stayed so late into the afternoon at the Chateau that all the restaurants and cafes were closed. Important to bear in mind; in the countryside of France, people only eat at specific times. Outside of that, we’re on our own. We managed to find a decent place to eat where Darren ordered snails and boeuf bourgignone and I had a pizza. We made it an early night.
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