The Importance of Food & Wine (Bourgogne)
To examine the importance of food and wine is to look to the creation of cuisine as we know it. If we look to the root causes of the reasons for settling in the areas where humanity developed any sort of sedentary and agricultural lifestyle throughout the known world we see the development of some sort of alcohol system. With that in mind, we need to examine the nature of wine cultivation in Bourgogne. The earliest evidence of wine being exposed to the area of the Saône Graben is Phoenician traders. The conquest of Gaul by Romans happened within the Côte-d’Or département during the Battle of Alesia leading to this region becoming a center for their control.
Let’s talk about the food and wine of Bourgogne.
Think of the Côte-d’Or as this giant bread basket of delicious things, but when we discuss the culture of how food and wine has shaped the vins de Bourgogne is by speaking to it’s size as an appellation. We are lying within several département in this appellation (Yonne, Côte-d'Or, & Saône-et-Loire), but we are fortunate to only need to discuss the two keystone grapes of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay within the structure of this region. In terms of cuisine we have a vast array of foodstuffs. This leads us to a classic dish of French cooking.
Bœuf Bourguignon
The Charolais cows call the Saône-et-Loire home. This region is wide and expansive and perfect for some this prized beef. We then combine this beef with wine of the region and we have a beautiful dish that expresses the love of Bourgogne completely in its tradition.
3-pound chuck roast
4 slices of bacon.
1 stick of butter
1 bottle Bourgogne Pinot Noir
6 carrots
1 whole onion
1 head garlic
Herb Bundle
4 sprigs of Thyme
3 sprigs of rosemary
washed carrot greens.
2 bay leaf
When meat is browned, pop it in the oven at 225 and hang out around the house until it starts to smell really good. Then come back up here. We have to talk about Bourgogne wine.
We’ve got some time.
Awesome, you’re back. Let’s talk about the Valois dukes and the history of Bourgogne. This happens to coincide with a long period of peace and prosperity that was utilized by the Cistercian monks at the Abbey of Cluny and the Benedictines based at the Abbey of Cîteaux to create the superstructure of wine that we now know when we speak about the Bourgogne region.
These monks focused on the soil of the region, delineating the soil structure and subdividing it into the variety of appellations that we know today. This is all Bourgogne though. Bourgogne as a wine region is devoted to everything that comes with the wine-growing history of the region.
Dukes of Bourgogne
The Valois house of Bourgogne comes from Philip, the fourth son of the John the Second of France. Philip was the ultimate nepo-baby coming out of the bubonic plague’s obliteration of France in 1348. In 1363, Philip becomes the Duke of Bourgogne. 32 years later and our friend becomes part of wine history. Philip at this point served in wars in Flanders and acted as Regent to the King of France. He comes back to Bourgogne and decides that its time to veto Gamay. The abundant crop of this prodigious grape was quick to overcome the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that were planted in the dense en foule structures that predominated in pre-phylloxera winegrowing.
Philip the Bold, he decided that it was time to bring back Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, something that had only lacked in the fields due to the changes to urbanization which occurred as a natural reaction to the long-term impacts of the plague. Urban environments had been decimated by the plague, and the lack of presence in the cities led to a quick rebuilding of society on the artisan classes. When Philip died, his son John took over for him. Though John the Fearless didn’t live long. His fearlessness led him to assassination in the presence of the Dauphin.
Philip the Good was the grandson on Philip the Bold and built Bourgogne into the pinnacle of it’s success as a Duchy. Is he 100% responsible for Joan of Arc being burned at the stake by the English, oh most assuredly. Though in terms of Bourgogne, we saw his nearly 50 years of control create superpower of wealth in this nearly-contiguous state. His son Charles the Rash (or Bold) didn’t have much to act upon following the death of his father, so he was the one who decided that the state was not good as nearly-contiguous. By invading territories like Alsace, he destroyed life and the Duchy as it existed. The destruction of Charles at the Battle of Nancy, ended Bourgogne as an independent state. The rump state of the Duchy west of the Saône went to France, while Charles daughter Mary was married to the future Holy Roman Emperor and Franche Comté de Bourgogne get’s a whole different approach to history. Charles also represented the last impediment to the Hundred Years War, so his death actually brought a lot to Bourgogne’s success as part of the French Kingdom. The Duchy of Bourgogne was later revived when the Bourbon’s regained Franche Comté.
Focus back on the Wine…
Revolution in France saw the end of the monarchy, alongside the ending of church ownership of land. There had been a growing population of independent winegrowers operating within Bourgogne, but many of the elite vineyards remained under church control. During the Revolution we also saw a massive anti-clerical backlash which was very present in Bourgogne with the destruction of the Abbey of Cluny.
Bourgogne’s next major change in wine occurred with the Code Napoléon. This equal division of holdings among the children of farmers had a massive impact upon the wine-growers of the Bourgogne region. Vineyards that spanned hundreds of hectares across the region now needed to be equally subdivided. Many families could no longer produce wine from these sparser holdings, and therein we see the rise of négociants.
Négociants were able to create unified conceptualizations of what a Bourgogne wine was. There were the subdivisions of the region, but in essence there was a distinct Bourgogne flavor. There is so much more than this singular Bourgogne wine. The Bourgogne Appellation was created in July of 1935. Since then, however, there has become a greater dedication as to the areas of Bourgogne winemaking that don’t fall into other appellations. Called DGC, these will be referenced in Drinks with Alex Lopez as an older term of Cru.
Bourgogne Chitry
Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise
Bourgogne Côte d’Or
Bourgogne Côte Saint-Jacques
Bourgogne Côtes d'Auxerre
Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois
Bourgogne Coulanges-La-Vineuse
Bourgogne Épineuil
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
Bourgogne La Chapelle Notre-Dame
Bourgogne Montrecul
Bourgogne Tonnerre
There is so much to explore!
How’s that bœuf bourguignon looking?
