Friday, July 12, 2019

Wine and food of Le Tour 2019: Stage 7: Belfort > Chalon-sur-Saône

Where are we?
Belfort: Let's see a lion. From November 3, 1870 to February 13, 1871 Belfort, then an Alsatian sub-prefecture, was besieged by the Prussian army. While the generals of Napoleon III were swept away in the first weeks of the war, Denfert-Rochereau, a simple colonel, led the operations. Belfort did not abdicate and only surrendered by order of the French government. Thanks to its courageous resistance, Belfort remained French while parts of Alsace and Lorraine were annexed to Germany.
As early as December 1871, while enemy troops were still around, the Belfort City Council voted to build a monument as a tribute the victims of the siege. It was a modest project: a simple plaque or column erected in the cemetery of the Mobiles. The allocated budget was 2,000 francs. Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi was called to take over the project. The Colmar-born sculptor, deeply moved by the annexation of his region, was all the more motivated by the project that he served during the conflict as a squadron leader of the National Guards and then as Giuseppe Garibaldi's aide-de-camp. He already had a much more ambitious idea ... He imagined the statue of a lion, sitting against the limestone rock of the citadel; a colossal lion "harassed, cornered and still terrible in his fury". His project, accepted in 1873, was modified several times to make sure that the lion should "glorify the energy of the defence" rather than recall a victory or defeat. However, the construction far exceeded the initial budget. A national subscription was launched. It was a great success and work began in 1876. Its completion was delayed by material difficulties (extraction, size and laying of stone) and as succession of harsh winters. The Belfort population had to wait for 1880 to admire the lion. Entirely made of pink sandstone from the Vosges, it is 22 meters long and 11 meters high. It was listed as an historic monument in 1931.
A replica of the lion can be found at Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris. As for Bartholdi, who already enjoyed international fame at the time, he would soon conceive an even more memorable work, the Statue of Liberty.
Specialties: fried carp, cheese (Munster), blueberry pie, belflore (raspberry cake and hazelnuts), shoulder of the Balloon (lamb stuffed with blueberries), Facettes de Belfort (chocolates stamped with a monument or event).

Chalon-sur-Saône: The local tourist site tells me that: The birthplace of Nicéphore Niepce is more than just the cradle of photography. Its river port gave rise to large-scale regional trade. Festivals, markets, fairs and carnivals – just walk around the pedestrianized part of Chalon and you will soon see that the life of the town happens out on the streets!
At the meeting point of Roman roads and many inland waterways, Chalon-sur-Saône was a trading centre of European importance in the Middle Ages. In Chalon a number of art forms live together in harmony.The Nicéphore Niepce museum is devoted to the history of and equipment needed for “mechanical pictures”, from experiments by the inventor of photography right up to the very latest technology. Among the many cameras on display, don't miss the Daguerreotype and compare it to tiny spy cameras from the late 20th century! Dominique Vivant Denon, first director of the Louvre museum, gave his name to a museum with Italian, Dutch and French paintings from the 15th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Specialties: Grands Crus AOC Côte Chalonnaise. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes for the wines of Mercurey, Givry, Rully and Montigny. AOC Bouzeron. Varietal Aligoté. Burgundy specialties: ham with parsley, pochouse, snails, eggs in a sauce, gougères ...


The stage: Sprint stage alert and the longest stage of the race. This could be a slog. Although anything can certainly happen, this stage seems designed for the sprinters ans their team were keeping the break of the day, Stéphane Rossetto and Yoann Offredo, on a relatively short leash.
Awesome field art:


Honestly, it was a day to go to the gym and miss a bit of the stage. 


To give an accurate sense of how dull the stage has been, NBCSN featured a segment showing Peter Sagan solving a Rubik's cube.
Speaking of Sagan, he challenged for minor points in the spintermediate, coming in after Colbrelli for the field sprint. Immediately afterward, splits in the peloton. Some unexpected excitement! Off the back Quintana, Dan Martin, and others. The group ahead was busy trying to almost but not quite catch the break, allowing the group behind to catch back on.
In case you had wondered if it really was a team sport:


 
Ten kilometers to go and there were the sprint trains. And a photo finish!
Groenewegen!

Stage:


DYLAN GROENEWEGEN 84 TEAM JUMBO - VISMA 06h 02' 44'' - - -
2 CALEB EWAN 161 LOTTO SOUDAL 06h 02' 44'' - - -
3 PETER SAGAN 11 BORA - HANSGROHE 06h 02' 44'' - - -
4 SONNY COLBRELLI 43 BAHRAIN - MERIDA 06h 02' 44'' - - -
5 JASPER PHILIPSEN 128 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 06h 02' 44'' - - -
The wine:Chantal and Yvon Contat Grange Santenay Saint Jean de Narosse 2014 from CopakeWineWorks 

Founded in 1981 by Yvon Contat and Chantal Grangé in Dezize-les-Maranges, Domaine Contat-Grangé is a small family farm of 6 hectares.
The Maranges appellation, located south of Santenay, marks the end of the Côte de Beaune vineyard. If the soils are of similar origin to those of the Coast, the orientation of the vineyards is focused mainly in the South, South-East, which gives optimal exposure.


The food: Alain Ducasse's Gougères
from Food and Wine

Ingredients


  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
  • Large pinch of coarse salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 1/2 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (1 cup), plus more for sprinkling
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Freshly grated nutmeg


How to Make It

Step 1    
Preheat the oven to 400°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Add the flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms; stir over low heat until it dries out and pulls away from the pan, about 2 minutes.
Step 2    
Scrape the dough into a bowl; let cool for 1 minute. Beat the eggs into the dough, 1 at a time, beating thoroughly between each one. Add the cheese and a pinch each of pepper and nutmeg.
Step 3    
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip and pipe tablespoon-size mounds onto the baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 22 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Serve hot, or let cool and refrigerate or freeze. Reheat in a 350° oven until piping hot.
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