Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Wine and Food of the Tour de France 2023 Stage 11: Clermont Ferrand to Moulins

Where are we? In the  Puy-de-Dôme

Clermont Ferrand: The local tourist site tells me to watch the buzzing city centre from the terrace of a café at Place de Jaude or Place de la Victoire. Our museums have lovely surprises in store and the city’s cultural calendar is filled with diverse artistic performances . For a change of scenery, take a walk through the spa resort of Royat, brimming with the allures of the Belle époque.
There are many museums to visit including the Bargoin Museum: archaeological treasures from excavations in and around the city with a department of textiles from outside Europe. Henri-Lecoq Museum: monumental herbarium collection, 50,000 samples of rocks, fossils and minerals and La Pascaline: a calculating machine invented by Blaise Pascal. Roger Quilliot Art Museum: statues of the Virgin Mary from the Romanesque and Gothic periods, objets d'art, 17th and 18th century portraits and paintings, a large gallery of 19th century works, a collection of figurative paintings from 1920-1960 and more. Waterway Museum: Pont-du-Château. Resistance and Deportation Museum: Chamalières.

Regional Specialties: fruit jellies, Le Lautrec chocolates, aligot, truffade auvergnate, potée auvergnate, tripoux, potato pâté, lard and lentils, apple pumps. Cheese: Saint Nectaire, Fourme d'Ambert, Bleu d'Auvergne, Cantal. Volvic water. Vineyards: Côtes d'Auvergne.

Moulins: The tourist site tells me that About 2h30 from Paris, Moulins is a bourgeois town where the imprint of the aristocracy and the first Bourbons is still felt. Its architecture is based on moderation, harmony, happy and peaceful discretion. It was a royal city. It has remained a place steeped in art and history.
Le Tour has this interesting note: Moulins was the only metropolitan prefecture not to have hosted the Tour de France during its 120-year history. This anomaly has now been rectified, even if the capital of the Allier region had other cycling references. It hosted the Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice in the same year, 1957. Four other towns in the Allier had already had the honour of hosting the Grande Boucle: Cérilly, Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, Vichy and Montluçon, the town of the 1956 Tour winner Roger Walkowiak, but also the town where Julian Alpahilippe made his first steps. Born in Moulins, Jean-Pierre Bourgeot took part in four Tours de France between 1993 and 1996.

Regional Specialties: pompe aux grattons. Meat from the Charolais. Wines from Saint-Pourçain. 



Christian Prudhomme says: This will be an historic day because, as a result of the finish being in Moulins, the Tour will have visited all of the prefectures in mainland France. Although the roads of the Allier ensure there will be a steady and quite deceptive draw on riders’ reserves thanks to recurrent “leg-breaking” climbs, the 1,300-metre straight in the heart of Moulins should be ideal for the sprinters

The stage: A sprint stage? Probably and the last one for a week.nThe likely doomed break of the day had Oss, Louvel, and Amador.
Here is some interesting trivia:
As they rode on, Louvel was dropped from the front. Eventually Amador would sit up and Oss would continue. 44 kilometers to go and he had about 30 seconds.
Under 30 kilometers to go and heavy rain. 20 kilometers to go and the gap was down to 12. And then came the catch.
Ahead:  
At the end, a clean sprint and Philipsen, again!



The wine: Domaine Berioles Saint-Pourcain Le Blanc D'Ici Et D'Ailleurs
A blend of Chardonnay and Tressallier. 
Slow Food tells me a but about Tressalier: The Tressalier is an ancient varietal. The tip of the young branch is cottony, and the young leaves are green with bronze highlights. The branch has internodes with red streaks. Adult leaves are whole or quinquelobate, with a slightly open petiolar sinus, straight average teeth, the blade is involute, bubbled. The bunches and grapes are small. The bunch is conical and winged. The grapes are rounded.

Maturity is late. This varietal is hardy and fertile. It can be pruned short, even though custom dictates that it should be pruned long.
Its wines are light, with a good, low degree of acidity. It is often used to make sparkling wines, but it can also make good still wines.

Its presence under the name Sacy is recorded in the Yonne at the Abbaye de Reigny in the 13th century. It was largely grown in this department until the 18th century, as well as in France-Comté. Its history is also tied to the Saint-Pourçain appellation in the Allier (the Tressallier name could mean it comes from the other side of the river). The Saint-Pourçain wines were very famous in the Middle Ages, when they were served at the courts of the Capetian kings and the Popes in Avignon. In modern times, its consumption and vineyards have been expanded thanks to the river route, which allows it to reach Paris.
With the development of other routes of communication, this commercial advantage was lost, and in the 18th century it had to give way to Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. Phylloxera completed the job and the vineyard was significantly reduced. Today, the Saint-Pourçain appellation has 640 hectares, of which only 100 are devoted to the Tressallier; it is an ingredient in the making of white wines (between 20 and 40%, a range set by the appellation). Currently, it is Chardonnay that dominates the production of white wines, with a minimum presence of 50% established by the appellation.

The last historic varietal from this area, once highly reputed, the Tressallier survives in the current Saint-Pourçain appellation, and more anecdotally in the Burgundy. The historic base in Allier allowed it to develop special and typical features that could be an asset to revitalise a very marginal appellation in French production. Conversely, it runs the risk of wine-growers preferring ease and thus relying on the international fame of Chardonnay and Sauvignon. Currently, there are both impulses in the appellation, but the logic of varietal wines (mostly international) could very well cut the last link to a glorious history.


The food: Aligot
The tourist website provided an easy recipe:
Serves 6 :Ingredients
* 1 kg of floury potatoes
* 100 g of butter
* 250 g of creme fraiche
* 400 g of tome fraîche de Laguiole
* clove of garlic
* Salt pepper
Cook
Prepare a classic mash potatoes, add to this purée the butter and the creme fraiche. Season with salt, pepper and a hint of garlic.
Heat up the mash and add the cheese cut in small strips, then stir slowly with a wooden spoon. (This takes a little while and is very good arm exercise!)
When the mixture becomes stringy the Aligot is ready!
Serve with sausages or a pork or beef roast.
Enjoy!
Tip: take the cheese out of the fridge early enough, the stirring will be much easier.
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