Sunday, July 18, 2021

Wine & Food of Le Tour 2021, Stage 21: Chatou to Paris

Where are we? Heading to the finish in Paris.
Chatou:Le Tour embraced art: Arriving by the Chatou bridge, you only have to look at the Seine and its banks to feel the change of scenery. The whole environment is bathed in blue-green hues: the water of the river, the trees, the bushes along it and the sky. You notice immediately that you are in the land of the Impressionists. One of the main reasons for the enthusiasm of artists and strollers for the banks of the Seine was the construction, in 1837, of the first passenger railway linking Paris Saint-Lazare station to Le Pecq. Painters, poets and with them the whole Parisian bohemian scene flocked there. Some sought inspiration in the landscape, others simply sought entertainment or fresh air. Renoir, Manet, Monet and Caillebotte came to soak up the ever-changing atmosphere of nature and the brilliance of its colours and to enjoy the guinguettes along the banks between Chatou and Croissy. 
The painters brought along the poets and writers, notably Guy de Maupassant, a canoeist in his spare time. They lunched and boozed at the famous Fournaise restaurant. This inn stands in the heart of the Impressionists' island, as well as the Maison Levanneur, located a few blocks away. On Sunday afternoons, bourgeois, artists, poets and young onlookers enjoyed good food, chatting, boating and partying. The best-known testimony to those happy moments is Auguste Renoir's famous painting Luncheon of the Boating Party. Around 1902, a new generation of painters, also inspired by the place, proposed a new artistic approach. It seems that this place has a magical power over artists! André Derain, born in Chatou, and Maurice de Vlaminck, originally from Le Vésinet, thus gave birth to Fauvism. Despite the vicissitudes of time and the urbanistic fashions of the 1970s and 80s, the town has managed to preserve a unique atmosphere. A town of gardens, it hides real heritage wonders that will surprise visitors.


Paris: Time for Le Tour to send us to one final art museum: Every visit to Paris should include a stop by the Louvre to discover the countless treasures in the French capital’s largest museum. It displays works of art from the Western world from the Middle-Ages to 1848 but also from the ancient Eastern, Egyptian, Greek or Roman civilisations as well as graphic arts and items from the Muslim World. From room to room, the former royal palace reveals more masterpieces: Mona Lisa, The Raft of the Medusa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace.
In all, some 35,000 works of art. In eight centuries, the Louvre followed several architectural movements from the 12th century medieval fortress to the 1989 glass pyramid by Pei. The latest addition was the wing designed by architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti and housing the Arts of Islam, an undulating glasshouse covering the Visconti courtyard and flooding with light the 2,800 sq. metres of the new department. Visting the museum is especially pleasant during night sessions. With fewer people the, the Louvre display a different atmosphere and striking panoramic views over the Pyramid, the Cour Carrée and the Seine.

Le Tour specialties:
Chatou: No specialties listed
Paris:My favorite, every year:  French gastronomy, over 13,500 brasseries and restaurants


Christian Prudhomme says: Chatou is the happy “chosen one” for this fourth consecutive start of the final stage in the department of the Yvelines that will carry on doing so until 2023. The Yvelines has become a land of cycling, it has indeed welcomed the start of Paris-Nice for ten years now and will be hosting the discipline (road, track, mountain bike and BMX) for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The stage: Is this the most stressful final stage in a long time? Well, I suppose that depends upon whether or not one is a Cav fan. For tyhe record, I'd love him to take the win and the record, but am also not looking forward to the announcers talking of little else. But first, the processional. Off they went.
One hundred and forty one riders were on their way to Paris. 
Nice scenery. On the road, they had covered 30.8 uneventful kilometers in the first hour. 
I have said this before, but I first became interested in professional cycling because I was randomly in Paris for the final day and was fascinated by the festive atmosphere. We watched from the Louvre, so i always enjoy this part.
Or in video form.  
And then, the ceremony would end and we would have a bike race. In the lead, Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo), Casper Pedersen (DSM) and Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal). Pedersen would drop quickly.
At the sprint point, Cavendish grabbed the remaining points from the field to help protect the green jersey.
A new leading trio: Alaphilippe, Gilbert and Schelling. The attacks would, as expected keep coming, with small groups forming and being caught.
And there would be no joy in mudville today, as Wout Van Aert with the win! I will console myself with the reminder that pre-Tour it would have been hard to imagine the record even as a possibility. It has been a pleasure. 


The wine: Champagne Augustin Cuvee Le Feu CCCI 2013
From an importer: Champagne Augustin is Emmanuelle and Marc Augustin. Between them they represent nine generations of winemakers. Now, with 2 sons of their own, they run Marc's family estate located in Avenay-Val-d’Or in the slope above famed Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. They grow both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, though the majority of their cuvees are dominated by Pinot Noir. Since 2012 they have been farming organically with a full force switch to biodynamics in 2013. Every aspect of their winery follows biodynamic and holistic practices. The winery was built while adhering to biodynamic principles, the vines, cultivated by Emmanuelle, are grown with cover crops utilizing biodynamic preparations. The vines are not pruned in Spring but braided so as not to hurt the living plant. Harvest is of course by hand and happens following the lunar cycle on a Flower day, deemed the best day for harvest. Marc, responsible in the cellar, crafting the wines, a term he prefers, has created a philosophy called coeurviculture which means following the heart and being attentive to nature. Marc and Emmanuelle's belief that the vine and the resulting wine they craft is a living organism truly permeates every aspect of their domaine. Following these principles of harmony, their extraordinary Champagnes, named after the elements: Terre (Earth), Air, Feu (Fire) are balanced and nuanced, their complexity making them truly gastronomical as well as celebratory.

The food: Le Tour taught me something: The Paris mushroom
Known in France as the Paris mushroom, its real name is agaricus bisporus, and it is known in English as common mushroom, white mushroom and a dozen other names. It was first cultivated under Louis XIV in Versailles and then under Napoleon in the catacombs of Paris. Hence its name. But it was only at the end of the 19th century that its cultivation developed, not in Paris, but in Touraine and the Saumur region. As the bispore agaric is the easiest mushroom to grow in a mushroom house, it quickly conquered the whole planet and is nowadays produced mainly in China and the United States.
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