The Mâconnais Welcomes Clive Coates!
As a home owner in the Mâconnais, I was delighted to learn that eminent wine critic Clive Coates has bought a home in the region.
The New Yorker reports in the current issue:
"After more than four decades of driving around the winemaking regions of the world in rented cars, stopping in at little farmhouses and grand châteaus, and often tasting wine “from eight in the morning to eight at night,” Coates is winding down. He now plans to focus almost exclusively on French wines. He has just moved from London to a village in the hills of the Mâconnais called, fittingly, Saint-Bonnet-de-Vielle-Vigne, where he has bought a small house with a view of river and forest. “I don’t see myself leaving this place except stiff and flat in a box,” Coates said, pulling the cork on the Riesling and pouring a glass.
Frankly, I've never heard of this village, although I have heard of St-Bonnet-de-Joux, which is not really in the Mâconnais but more in the Clunisois (near the ancient city of Cluny). I suppose, if you wanted to be generous you might say that St-Bonnet-de-Joux is in the Mâconnais, but it would be a stretch. This is a nice small village with a very pretty Romanesque church. Of course, every village in the area has a nice Romanesque church except the one where I live. Although we do not have a nice Romanesque church we are smack dab in the Mâconnais. Not a pretender.
Because, having consulted the Michelin Map, Mr. Coates' Saint-Bonnet-de-Vieille-Vigne is not even in the Clunisois, let alone the Mâconnais. The village is in the Charollais, a very pretty area famous for its white cows and pastures. Mr. Coates' village is equidistant to Paray-le-Monial (a beautiful town that is home to right-wing Catholic fundamentalists) and the city of Charolles. If you draw a straight line between St-Bonnet-de-Vieille-Vigne in the North to Paray-le-Monial and then to Charollais you would see the Bermuda Triangle of Southern Burgundy.
I can only wish Mr. Coates better luck that those who preceeded him into this area.
Maybe there is an anecdotal, vestigial old vine in the village, but there have not been vineyards in this part of the Charollais region since before the phylloxera.
I'm surprised that the New Yorker, which is so famous for its fact-checking, would make such an obvious error. I am even further surprised that a Master of Wine is helping create a misleading impression of where he has moved. Furthermore, they also incorrectly spelled Vieille!
Regardless, I would be happy to entertain Mr. Coates at my home in the Mâconnais to drink some wine from my cellar of aged Muscadet. I think I can safely say that I have the largest collection of Muscadet not only in the Mâconnais, but also in the Clunisois and the Charollais.
I checked the driving directions form Mr. Coates new home to our farmhouse and although it is only 58 km, it is at least a 75 minute drive. Unfortunately, you have to go through a lot of curvy, hillside roads to get to and out of Cluny and then into the viticultural Mâconnais.
but you could generously rec a pizza place in the cluny, yeah?
I thought there is a fairly recent 4-line highway connecting Mâcon to Cluny.
The Louis/Dressner family always has their pizza at:
LA PETITE AUBERGE - Place du Commerce
Tél : 03 85 59 02 96 - Fax : 03 85 59 30 58
Henri Goyard sent us here years ago. They have a wood burning oven and the pizza is just enormous. They also make their own pizza dough, rather than buying pre-formed. The only problem here is that the inside of the restaurant can get awfully hot during the summer and the outside tables are often attacked by hordes of flying mosquitos who come over from the famous Cluny Haras. The Haras is a beautiful horse stable specializing in enormous work horses.
They serve many combinations of pizzas and I heartily recommend the Trois Fromages or any combination with their delicious chorizo. Diners who do not go for pizza won't go wrong with their delicious frozen Andouilettes. And don't forget to leave some room for their oh-so-rich Café Liégeois!
There is now a sort of highway connecting Mâcon the city with Cluny. It is one lane in several stretches, but on the whole it is far faster than the side roads.
the only cluny i know is the guy in the song. "hang down your head tom cluny, hang down your head and cry. hang down your head tom cluny, poor boy your gonna die".
Sheriff:
It was Dooley, not Cluny.
geez, now we have to change the headstone.
"Furthermore, they also incorrectly spelled Vieille!"
Care to spell the first name of M. Allemand of Cornas?
Hey! I'm not the New Yorker. This is a one person blog without a famous fact-checking, proofreading department!
Otherwise, I'm guilty as charged.
are we going to have a trial sir?
Yes.
For poor spelling and poor penmanship.
well i guess i'd better start making some arrests.
sir i've decided on an amnesty program. all correspondents can admit to their indescretions and avoid arrest.
this is a wonderful opportunity. for years i've led you all on that i was a two humper. truth be told, alas i'm only a one. i'm so glad to get this off my back!
i love it when i dress in drag.
keep a close eye on your kids
i prefer merlot.
i did it.
actually i did not invent the internet.
Hey'd you know that the great church at Tournus in the Mâconnais, St-Philibert, was founded by monks who fled the Muscadet region (lac de Grandlieu) to escape Norse raiders? Might find some old Muscadet there, too.
http://www.drizzle.com/~fools/artwork/stphilbt.html