Paris and Lyon Part 4; Caymus Wine Dinner

Day 6  Our train to Lyon left from the Gare de Lyon in Paris. I had bought tickets on line for the trip. The tickets were a relative bargain at $48 each and that was for 1st class. We took a high speed train that took about 2 hours. We got off at the second train station in Lyon, Perrache. It was a 10 minute walk to our hotel, Le Royal, Lyon.The hotel was in the center of middle Town Center part of Lyon, which turned out to be an excellent location.

I had researched hotels in Lyon and Le Royal appeared to be really nice. The hotel website had rooms for 350 Euros and breakfast for 35 Euros per person. I found a deal on Expedia where we paid about $250 per night including breakfast. The only catch was this was a nonrefundable rate. My solution was that I waited until the week we left to make the reservation. I don't like to make nonrefundable reservations for our trips.http://www.lyonhotel-leroyal.com/default-en.html

The hotel is also home to the Institut Paul Bocuse, meaning the food is good. When we were there they were completing the remodeling of the restaurant which was closed. However they had a breakfast room and the breakfasts were superb. The hotel is an older hotel that has been redone inside. Our room had  high ceilings, large bathroom and was very comfortable.

The hotel is located on Place Bellocour, a large open square. The Lyon Metro is across the street and the main shopping area is a short walk away. Lyon is an interesting city with an old section and lots of restaurants and food shops.

 

View from our hotel room.

 

Breakfast at the hotel. Fresh passion fruit, my favorite.

 

The first night we ate at Le Potager Des Halles. lepotagerdeshalles.com It was recommended by the salesperson we met at a really cool wine shop where I bought 2 bottles of very interesting Champagnes. The food was supposedly typical for Lyon. Lyon has some of the best food in France. We had lamb and pork. The bread was great as it was in every restaurant we ate at. Bread has really come a long way in France. Again the wines available by the glass were excellent and reasonable. Dinner was about $110 and was good not great.

 

Lyon is a pretty city, at least the old parts and we had fun wandering around. There are 2 museums of note and we visited them. One is an art museum and the other is a fabric museum, since Lyon is famous for silk.Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon www.mba-lyon.fr Musee des Arts Decoratifs www.mtmad.fr

Lyon has 2 main rivers going through the city - the Rhone and Saone. There is an interesting church in the old city on a hill overlooking Lyon. We took a funicular up the hill to visit. We had trouble buying tickets to the Lyon metro and funicular. Our credit card would not work and there are no ticket booths with people in Lyon. We  were about to give up when 2 young men asked if they could help. It dawned on us that our credit cards do not have the smart chips and thus do not work in many places in Europe especially for some reason train stations. Anyway the young men bought us tickets and we paid them in  cash. We were very appreciative and thanked them profusely.

 

A panoramic view from the area near the church.

 

The second night we ate at a Michelin 1 star restaurant L'Effervescence, chef Christophe Hubert.

www.restaurant-effervescence.fr The restaurant was great. It was small and had about 14 tables. Apparently the chef is on the rise and the food was awesome. It was by far the best meal that we had in France and the price was reasonable. 2 courses 34 Euros; 3 courses 39 Euros. Again they had excellent wines by the glass. I had fish for the main course - baby salmon, baby clams and another white fish. My wife had pork. For dessert we had pear foam and ginger ice cream and a chocolate dessert.

 



The leaves in the pear dessert were coated with sugar and were crunchy and delicious.

 

The next day we were somewhat tired of Lyon so we managed to book a tour of the Beaujolais wine area. Best decision we have made in a while. The tour was great. Before the tour we went to the Bocuse food hall in Lyon. Wow. 56 food places under one roof.

Unreal. We bought some food for lunch and met the van for our wine tour. The tour had 2 other couples from Canada and Mexico. We had North America covered. We used Kanpai tours. The tour was wonderful.  http://www.kanpai-tourisme.com/Our tour guide was the owner of the company Olivier Delalande. Olivier was knowledgable, intelligent, patient and just a great guy. He took us to the cru Beaujolais areas and we went to wineries in Fleurie and Brouilly.

 

The first winery was Chateau de La Chaize. We toured where they made the wine and we spoke with the owners. We then had a tasting of their wines including a rose, which I had never seen. The wines were a revelation as I had not had Beaujolais's that were so good. Techniques are improving and we had vieilles vigne wines which are "old vines". They were great. We bought a 2011 vieilles vigne for 15 Euros.

 





We were there during the harvest time and it was fascinating. They were bringing in the grapes and pressing them. The vines still had some grapes which we tasted. Beaujolais is made from the Gamay grape and the grapes are good to eat.

 

We next went to Domaine De La Madone which makes Fleurie wines. The do not import to the United States. We tasted about 8 wine under 2 labels. The wines were funkier than I ever have tasted in a Beaujolais but some of the wines were very good. We bought a 2010 vieilles vignes Fleurie for around 13 Euros.

 

We returned to Lyon but had to encounter the worst traffic jam I have ever seen. Every road was not moving in every direction. It took about 4 hours to get back. Olivier was so patient.

 

For our last night in Lyon we ate at a Bocuse bistro Le Sud.www.nordsudbrasseries.com It was large and modern. The food was bistro food and was reasonably priced. I had duck breast and my wife had Moroccan chicken baked inside filo dough. Everything was good but not great although my wife really enjoyed her chicken.

 

We left Lyon the next day and headed for home. Four bottles of wine in our luggage and lots of great memories.

 

 

Caymus wine tasting dinner

 

I had the priviledge to attend a Caymus wine dinner with Chuck Wagner. I had fun and had the opportunity to speak with Chuck. He is the winemaker and owner of the winery and has been making wine since he was 19. Caymus is an iconic Napa wine and we tasted a number of wines. They have divided the wine into separate wineries run by family members. There is Belle Glos which makes Pinot Noirs. Mer de Soleil which makes Chardonnays; Conundrum which makes a red and white blend and Caymus which makes 2 Cabernet Sauvignons - the regular bottling and the special selection.

 

Chuck told me that Michel Rolland, wine consultant and Robert Parker have been big influences in Napa. They like big ripe wines. Chuck prefers red wines with low acid. We tasted:

Conundrum White 2012 $18 Nice blended wine that I liked better than previous vintages. Low acid and fruity.

Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay 2012 $20 Nice chardonnay with good acid and nice balance.

Belle Glos Dairyman Pinot Noir 2012 $40 Big grapey Pinot Noir. Young but not my taste.

Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 $65 Very young with tannin and fruit not yet integrated. Chuck explained that years ago no one would try such a young wine but that these days the wines are more approachable young.

Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 The star of the evening and a surprise pour. The wine was balanced, light but flavorful. Just a great wine. It has gotten excellent reviews from the critics as well. Everyone at our table really enjoyed it. The only downside is that it is very expensive.

Conundrum Red 2011 $18 A sweet wine that was not to my taste but it was served with dessert.

 

Any questions on France, let me know. I have been trying as many Beaujolais' as I can find. I will report on them at a later date.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. Love turkey.

 

Enjoy.

 





Paris and Lyon Part 3

Paris Day 5  We decided to explore Paris some more. A desk clerk at the hotel told us about some interesting areas of Paris. He described a food market and an elevated park like the Highline in NYC.
We went back on the Batobus boat as our ticket was good for another day. We got off at Notre Dame.



We went to magnificent cathedral as I hummed the famous fight song. The cathedral is breathtaking even with all of the people in front of it and inside it. It exudes history. They have erected stands in front of the cathedral.

 

 

 

 

We then tried to go to the Pompidou Center. We always seem to miss it. And of course it was closed on Tuesday, so we missed it again.

We then tried to find the elevated park and the food market that the hotel clerk had described. We walked past the Gare De Lyon and found the food market. Of course we arrived around 2pm and it was closed. It is open in the mornings and the afternoon.

 

Gare de Lyon

We stopped at this place for lunch. We had a pastry pizza which was very good. Remarkably this was the only pizza on the trip. I wanted French food on this trip and that is what we ate. We found the elevated park and it was quite nice. It was very quiet as it was a Tuesday afternoon.

We then decided to shop for some chocolate. Near our hotel were several great chocolate shops so we went back to the hotel. Patrick Roger http://www.patrickroger.com/site/en/index.htm is a shop recommended by Patricia Wells. BTW Patricia Wells has an app for our guide to Paris that I found very useful. It would show us places to eat that were near where we were walking.  His chocolates are very good but on  the cutting edge of where chocolate making is going. Flavors and intense and different.  The shop is sleek and modern. We bought 100 grams for around 11 Euros.

 

Down the street was Maison Du Chocolat,http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/en/#/home the current chocolate champ of France. We bought 100 grams for around 13 Euros. I must admit that their chocolates were awesome. They have a shop in the Short Hills Mall near my house but the chocolates in Paris were better and they had different flavors. Maybe it was being in France. Interesting tidbit -- we were only offered samples in both shops after we had bought chocolate.

 

We decided to go to Flaubert for dinner. Not sure if Madame Bovary would have approved but is the bistro for Michel Rostang who has his Michelin 2 star restaurant next door. http://www.michelrostang.com/  Flaubert is very small and rustic.

 

Flaubert.

 

We had duck breast which was expertly prepared. We also ordered wine by the glass. We had a red Burgundy from Irancy, an appellation that I had never heard of. The wine was quite good and reasonable by the glass. Service at the restaurant was quite good and the bill was about $110.

 

Next we were off to Lyon.

 

Mr Burns

 

We had the opportunity to see Mr Burns -- A Post Electric Play at the Playwrights Horizons in NYC. The play got a rave from Ben Brantley and it was a hoot. The premise is that there has been some event that wiped out electric and lots of people in the world. Survivors were trying to remember episodes form The Simpsons and then putting them on as live plays. Mr. Burns is a character in The Simpsons. The last act is a musical of an episode of The Simpsons.http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/mr-burns-post-electric-play/  We have had very good luck in seeing off Broadway plays lately. Be selective but check them out. The theaters are much smaller and the prices are more reasonable.

 

Wines

 

Had a chance to taste the Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 and the  Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 at the Wine Library yesterday. The Mondavi was excellent. It had flavor that really set it apart. It tasted light but is not a light wine. The only negative is that it costs around $100. The Chateau Montelena was forgettable even though it has received some good reviews. It also is around $100.

 

I received my shipment of the 2010 Domaine Drouhin Laurene Pinot Noir and their 2012 Chardonnay Arthur. We tried the Arthur and it is very good. Fruit, acid, not a lot of oak. It drink easily but is a serious wine. It is around $30 which is pricey.

 

 The holidays are coming and isn't it amazing that within 48 hours after Halloween, all traces of it disappear and Christmas is here. The wonders of marketing.

 



Enjoy.