Friday, September 18, 2020

Wine and Food of Le Tour 2020 Stage 19

From the race director: Two days before the end of the race, the title and podium contenders might have the freedom to start focusing on the challenge that awaits the following day. It’ll therefore be up to the sprinters having survived the Alps to seize this opportunity to shine. The finish is really made for strong men.
Specialties Bourg-En-Bresse: AOP Bresse poultry, AOP Bresse cream and butter, Giraudet quenelles, Bleu de Bresse cheese, AOC Comté, Gaudrioles (biscuits), wines of Bugey AOC.
Specialties Champagnole:  delicatessen with Fumé du Jura. Cheese: in the heart of the Comté region, Champagnole (goat cheese). Jura galette (sweet or sour pancake). Champagnolais (pastry). Honey (epicea, flowers).

The stage: A solo breakaway! Sure, why not? With 100 kilometers to go Cavagna had 2:35 over the Bora led bunch behind.
Not the way you want to go out of the race: Apparently he had an anaphylactic reaction and was taken to the hospital but was reportedly doing well. Yikes.
On the road, 79 kilometers to go and the gap was 1:36.
Le Tour is always there to fill us in: One month ago, breakaway rider Rémi Cavagna won the French championship for time trial but he was also disappointed to miss out on the Tour de France selection. He eventually got the call to replace Zdenek Stybar who was forced out with a knee-tendon injury. Five days prior to stage 1 of the Tour in Nice, he took the silver medal at the European championship for time trial in Plouay, 17'' down on Stefan Küng. It was a 25.6km course. The coming world championship in Imola offers his favourite distance: 31.7km.  
With the intermediate sprint coming up at 50 kilometers to go, he was still solo with three chasers slightly ahead of the peloton.
After that point, the sprinters put their heads down and kept going, chasing Cavagna, who had gotten compay: Rolland, Rowe and Cosnefroy.
The sprinters would be reeled in, but more attacks would launch.
But they would come all together, with around 36 kilometers to go, seemingly setting things up for the sprint ahead.
Instead though, more attacks.
A large group was together with 25 kilometers to go. Luke Rowe (Ineos), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sam Bennett and Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Greg van Avermaet and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Jack Bauer and Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), Nikias Arndt and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb).

From that group. Andersen would get a gap. What a great win for him. Two stages on this Tour!



The wine: Domaine Pierre Richard Poulsard 2018 from Copake Wine Works
From an importer: The estate has its roots beginning in 1919 when Xavier Richard purchased the adjacent properties from his neighbors, but it wasn't until his son Jean Richard took over did they begin concentrating on wine. In fact, by 1947 the domaine cultivated a local reputation in the area for its wines and by 1976, Pierre Richard continued the family tradition extending the property to Mantry where a former hill of vines has been reclaimed. Situated in the heart of the Jura, between Seille River and Lons le Saunier, the soils are perfect for white wine making and the vineyard plots have names that reflect on their past uses: "Les Charmes", "La Croix du Gyps" ... etc. But the domaine is small, encompassing only 9 hectares between the communes of Le Vernois, Voiteur and Mantry. After studying viticulture and oenology at Beaune, taking jobs in vineyards of St. Emilion and Cotes de Provence, Vincent returned to take over the family domaine in 2009 and follows in a long tradition of organic practices in the making of his wines. 
Food:  Comte cheese
From a regional site: For more than ten centuries, villagers of Jura Massif, Eastern France have lovingly crafted a unique and delicious cheese: Comté. This stunning region of mountains stretches between Jura and Doubs in the Franche-Comté region, and Ain in the Rhones-Alpes region, and is home to over 3,000 family farms dedicated to producing the highest quality of raw milk that is required to create Comté cheese.
Comté cows are authorised exclusively from the Montbéliarde and French Simmental breeds. With each cow given a whole hectare of pasture land in the summer months, they are free to feed on a delicious natural grass diet.
Due to its distinctive nature, cultural value and economic importance for the region, Comté was deservedly granted Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status in 1958.

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