Dylan - Défilé - Degustation

Hello to all after a mostly marvelous weekend!  Can't believe it is Monday already, feels like I'm a living example of the phrase "time flies when you're having fun."  

Friday night I went to Madigan's Irish Pub, a duplicate of Jameson's in Waterloo (minus the balcony and free popcorn), to hear some live music and have a good time.  Two french guys were singing irish folk songs, as well as songs by Neil Young and Bob Dylan.  The one played a guitar and harmonica, the other a little drum and cymbal.  They were surprisingly talented- the one did a great impression of Dylan, so funny!  It started pretty early- 8pm- but my friends Christine and Laura eventually showed up, too.  By 10:30 the music was over but the place was absolutely packed, with people even waiting outside in the rain for a chance to get in.  It has a great atmosphere but the barstaff is rude, I guess that is a compromise.  By 11:30 I was dog tired and glad to have the excuse of needing to catch the last bus home.  

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed at 8am, just in time to go with my host dad, grandpa, and the twins to their school's "Carnivale" parade.  The girls were dressed up like little old ladies, the theme of the parade being "olden times" or something like that.  I thought it would be fun to see all the kids in their costumes and watch them parade around the school a bit, and it was, at first.  

It turned out, however, to be much more than a once-around-the-block kiddie parade.  This défilé (parade) was a BIG DEAL.  The entire elementary school, plus a kindergarten/preschool, and of course all of the parents joined together to parade around the neighboorhoods for TWO HOURS.  And it was COLD.  You could see your breath and by the end my hands and feet hurt, even with gloves and thick socks.    With an hour to go most of the kids were either whining, bickering, or being carried by their parents.   What were they thinking??  

Saturday for lunch we had rabbit with cooked apricots and plums, and it was the only meal so far that I have not been able to politely finish.  The rabbit was incredibly dry and tasted mildly of BBQ, and the fruits were the worst. texture. ever.  At this point in the day I have to say I was more than a little grumpy.  I slept most of the afternoon until dinner, when things improved as we had a full classic French meal with an appetizer and apératif of wine, a main course of cheese, ham, and potatoes, and crème caramel for dessert.  After the girls went to bed my host parents and I had an incredibly long discussion about dressing styles, sex, drugs, and alcohol in France and the US- absolutely fascinating- it almost made up for an otherwise letdown of a day.

Then came Sunday sunday Sunday!  No, I'm not talking about the Superbowl.  It was the Percée du Vin Jaune (festival of the Piercing of the Yellow Wine).  Christine, Laura, and I boarded the special "yellow" train in Besançon to arrive an hour later in the city of Lons-le-Saunier, where we were promptly whisked away in a bus to the nearby villages of Ste Agnes and Vincelles, the hosts of the festival this year.  

And what a festival it was!  Upon arrival we received a full size wine glass with a string apparatus attached so that you could hang it around your neck, ten degustation (tasting) tickets, and a map of the two villages with all of the caveaux (wine cellars) marked.  The sun was incredibly bright and cold as we made our way to the location of the opening ceremony, a field on the end of the far village.  A huge crowd was already gathering, and it only continued to swell as the time for the ceremony neared.  The field was complete muck- all of the rain and a bit of snow had turned it into a gloppy mess.  There was a tiny stage with a very animated band playing tunes while we waited, patiently sinking into the mud.  Soon the field was full and even the road to the field was packed with crowds.  

Everyone made room when the parade of Ambassadors of the Yellow Wine finally snaked its way down to the stage.  O what pomp and circumstance, the likes of which I have never seen!!  Speech after self-important speech, exalting the "nectar of our land", the singular taste, scent, and color of our beloved vin jaune.  All of the ambassadors were in full processional-style golden colored robes, with silly hats and decorative sceptors.  In the center of the stage they carefully placed the ceremonial tonneau (barrel) of vin jaune from 2001, heralded as even more special and worthy of praise as it is the first batch of the new millenium- finally ready for tasting after 6 1/2 long years in the barrel.   

After all of the speeches and a lot of cheering, the much anticipated moment finally arrived.  Un... deux... trois- pop!  The barrel was tapped and the vin jaune poured forth, sparkling in the sun.  Bottles were passed around and everyone raised their glass in a toast to the Percée 2008! Properly initiated, the crowd ventured en masse back to the roads to wander from cellar to cellar to taste the fruit of the land.  

And what a fruit it is!  As I had heard a lot about the unusual and strong taste of vin jaune, I didn't really expect to enjoy it.  How wrong I was!  Although it does in fact have a dinstictive taste, that taste is wonderful!  It opens smoothly with a slight pucker when you swallow, and then it is as if a walnut is blooming in your mouth.  You don't taste it all at once, it just sort of opens up and unfolds.  It was, in short, amazing.  From that first taste, we had all afternoon to try 9 other wines: 3 more vin jaunes, 1 macvin, and 5 vin blanc, rouge, or crémant.  I alternated back and forth between yellow and white, as red is not my fav.  The only one I didn't like was the macvin, an apératif that is so sweet it is almost unbearable.  

Of course we weren't just going to drink all day and not eat anything!  There were a variety of food stands and restaurants with free samples and plenty of other tasty choices.  The most popular item was a little carton of Comté cheese cubes, with toothpicks for convenient on-the-go snacking along with the wines.  We also had sandwichs with the local sausage, as well as a fabulous gauffre with nutella.  Let's just say we didn't go hungry, or thirsty for that matter!  

After a long day of walking and tasting, we made our way back to the bus stop and managed to catch our special train just in time.  The festivities continued in the train cars, where revelers popped open their new purchases and passed around the bottles.  No thanks, I'd had enough wine for a long time!  That's not to say I was drunk, or even tipsy, as the tastings were incredibly small, but after 10 flavors of wine in one afternoon (more than the sum total I had previously tried in my lifetime), I was just plain tired of tasting!  

Looking forward to a great week and hoping to post again soon...