Wine Tasting in the Côtes du Rhône

One of the advantages of living in Europe and having a French husband who's origins are right next to the Côtes du Rhône wine region is that we get amazing wine (and food).

Côtes du Rhône is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlee (AOC).  That's fancy French speak for this stuff is really from where it says its from. The region is quite expansive as it is fed largely from the Rhône river.  The region is not entireley connected and consists of a northern region that starts from Vienne where one can find Côte- Rotie and continues down to the Côtes du Rhône area of Valence.
Just North of Côtes du Rhône is the Crozes-Hermitage region. It's here that the small village of Tain l'Hermitage is located -- about 10 minutes north of Valence.  Don't be fooled by this small village.  This place is packed with amazing Wineries representing the Crozes-Hermitage region including M. Chapoutier and Cave de Tain.

M. Chapoutier was an interesting visit as the bottles are all covered in braille.  The idea of this came when a friend of Mr. Chapoutier who is blind commented that it would be nice if wine labels were written in braille so that he could identify them.  The other story that is told is that one of the vineyards that belongs to Chapoutier had a blind member of the family who invented a short had version of Braille that is used on the bottles. Did I mention that Chapoutier is represented quite heavily on Maison Pic's wine list?

Wines in this region are grown and steep cliffs surrounding the river which is obviously harder to harvest.  The main grape varietal here is Syrah and Grenache noir.

The other awesome thing about Tain Hermitage is that it is the headquarters for Valrhona chocolate with a little boutique where there is all you can eat taste testing and now houses the Valrhona chocolate museum.  Valrhona is THE chocolate.. think of it as the Bugatti of the chocolate world.

Look behind the chairs! it's the vineyards

Heading south of Valence takes you to the Coteaux Du Tricastin region in Drome where we were staying.  There are plenty of small local wineries here to visit along the countryside.  While we were there, we visited two- one more "upscale" called Les Granges Neuves des Esplades. Wines from this region are usually Grenache Noir, Syrah and Mourvedre

The other- our personal favorite is a small, very local producer that is run by Fred.  Noelle from La Croix du Gres  (see here for blog posting on La Croix du Gres) phoned up Fred who doesn't usually give tours and set up a meeting.  There, Fred took us on a tour of the vineyards and into the winery.  Let me explain something about Val De Berre.  Who works on the vineyard- Fred, a friend and a friend's wife.  Yes three people care after the grapes, test the grapes, harvest the grapes and make the wine. This place is awesome!  Fred has been making wine his whole life.  His father was a wine maker and he spent most of his career working in vineyards in Châteauneuf-du-Pape before ending up at Vale de Berre.  

Val de berre's flour mill

The owner happened to have a big piece of land with a bunch of vines on it but it was never the owner's main enterprise.  Stuff like the flour mill which were already established and decided it would be a good idea to maybe make some wine. 

So that's where Fred came in.  Within two years of running his almost one man show at Val de Berre, Fred won a Gold Medal at the concours general agricole de Paris 2013 for his Chardonnay and a Silver medal for his "Sensation", a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah.   Our personal favorite though is the Merlot that he produces.
Val de Berre isn't fancy - there isn't a tasting room but we had a fabulous time standing in the parking lot in front of his storage room where he sells his boxes of wines to the locals.  It was wan amazing experience.  Did I mention how affordable the bottles were?  

Fred doesn't do all that fancy lab testing that we see in most of the wineries in California.  He does everything the old fashion way-  with his taste buds.  

I'd like to think that this is what real food is suppose to be.  This is what makes France so special when it comes to great food and wine.  It's people like Fred who are passionate about what they do and just gosh darn good at it. 

Our "tasting room"-the parking lot

Addresses: 
Val de Berre
+33 4 75 98 5134
Le Moulin
26230 Chantermerle les Grignan, France

Les Granges Neuves des Esplanades
+33 4 75 98 5109
Domaine de Grangeneuve
26230 Roussas, France

M. Chapoutier
+33 4 75 08 28 65
18 Avenue Docteur Paul Durand
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Cave de Tain
+33 4 75 08 20 87
22 Route de Larnage
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Valhrona
 +33 4 75 07 90 62
14 venue Du President Roosevelt
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

The Nestle Outlet Factory..

*Warning* I am not responsible for any weight that you may gain after reading this posting. thank you.




At the beginning of the school year, I did the Cailler- Nestle chocolate factory walk. A mere 3 miles from my dorm-- it was a gorgeous jaunt through the forest and into the little town of Broc. I learned my lesson the hard way-- consuming so much chocolate that my stomach.. very angry at me and my head very dizzy from the sugar high taught me to restrain myself the next couple of times that I went.

I also heard a rumor of a "Nestle Factory Store". I researched and researched-- with no address, just a short 4 year old posting on trip advisor about this so called factory store. My friend and I drove aimlessly around Broc trying to find this "unsigned, nondescript white building next to the train station" with no luck.

Then the other day, it dawned on me (I think I was in the shower where my MOST productive thinking comes about). Nestle-- has websites-- Nestle has lots and lots of websites and a million products that I wanted to make a point that Nestle and Kraft are taking over the food world using the same branding techniques and growth strategies).
So, are you ready? I found the Nestle outlet store.. In fact, in Switzerland, there are 15 of them. The one in Broc is-- not next to the regular Broc Station-- it is next to the Broc- Nestle station. As you drive towards the Cailler factory, if you just pass the factory-- the next building after on the left hand side is.. THE OUTLET STORE!

Most everything is cheaper, but not everything. They have certain items that go on sale.. much like my new favorite chocolate bar: Dark Chocolate with Coco Nibs (mmmm)



The best time to go is after a holiday.. when all the holiday chocolates go on sale- if you are just looking for chocolate and do not care if they come in funny shapes of past holidays...

alright. I will be nice... here is the address and website link to other nestle outlet stores. Again I am not responsible for any weight that you may gain from this posting...

NESTLE SUISSE S.A.
Fabrique de Broc / Nestlé Shop
derrière la gare fabrique
1636 Broc

Hours:
Mon-Thursday 10.00 - 17.30
Friday 10.00 - 17.00

Is There Anything Better Then Chocolate and Hazelnut?

Anyone who knows me knows that J'adore les pâtisseries. Just around the corner from Gie's place is an adorable bakery called Freytag. On our way to pick up lunch, we stopped into to indulge ourselves on some Schoko Gipfel- literal translation being " Chocolate Bread".
Gie's promise for an amazingly delicious pâtisserie did not fail.
The chopped nuts on the top added a layer of texture to the crisp flakiness of the bread combined with the creamy chocolate hazelnut filling- pas trop sucre was undoubtedly délicieux.

I had to remind myself to CHEW the thing and enjoy it. Before we knew it, we had both devoured our little sin for the morning- Schoko Gipfel.. It's no Stan's Donut but pretty darn good!

Café Freytag
Seefeldstrasse 144
8008 Zurich
Tel: 41-44-383-6267
Horaires: Lundi- Mardi 6:#0- 18:30
Samedi: 6:30- 16:00
Dimanche: Fermé

Gorging myself with Cailler Chocolates

One of the advantages of living in Bulle is that there are so many dairy based gastronomic delights nearby. My friend Xy and I decided to take a stroll through the Bouleyres Forest to get to Broc, home of Nestle's La Maison de Cailler. One of the most pleasant surprises was peeking into someone's farm to find Gruyeres Castle and parachuters!

Louis Cailler first brought back chocolate from Italy with the purpose of wanting to make it accessible for the everyday person. in 1898, the Cailler chocolate factory opened in Broc- chosen for its dairy rich location.

Cailler is one of the only chocolatiers in Switzerland that uses real milk as opposed to powdered milk which gives its smooth (and calorie rich) taste and texture.

The factory, now commercialized for tourism is highly interactive with videos, displays, raw product tastings and chocolate scents. It was very informative and great if you have children (or still a kid at heart like I am).

The best part of the tour is.. the chocolate tasting. Here is your warning: DO NOT EAT EVERY PIECE OF CHOCOLATE THEY PUT IN FRONT OF YOU. There- I said it. Somehow I lost all self control in the presence of all that chocolate (At least I admit it!).
They start you off nice and slow with their basic chocolates that can be found in every grocery store... then move into some other more basic- every day chocolates..
Then they move you into their medium end chocolates.
Lastly, they move you into their petite fours and fancier chocolates. I couldn't help myself to all the dark chocolate.. it really was delicious.. but by the last time the last piece went down.. reality of what I just did to myself set in.. and the tummy ache ensued.

If ever in the Fribourg region, La Maison Cailler is a must. Not only do you get to see super cool vintage chocolate molds, vintage factory photos, original machinery and much much more, you also get free chocolate! Just don't be like me and forget your self restraint at home...

La Maison Cailler

Rue Jules Belelt 7

1636 Broc

Tel: 41 (0)269215151

Hours:9:30am - 4Pm January through October 31st