Maison Joseph Drouhin, Beaune

Look!! this car is even tinier than my Mini Cooper Miss Poot Poot Poot. Don't think my fat ass can fit into the really little leather seats. It even came with an open roof top!! Cool~~~~~

Autumn showers in France are really weird, it comes and then it goes....and then back again. On and off than the piston engine. So our dearie hotel concierge was so worried when we usually headed out without any protection and quickly gave us umbrellas before we head out.

and in less than 3 minutes, the sun was out again....so weird right?

We were waiting for our appointment with Maison Joseph Drouhin situated at the same square with Basilique Notre-Dame. This church was one of the very last great romaneques architecture in Burgundy. Its construction was started in the mid 12th century, took ages to complete....apparently it was only completed the next century, hence additional architectures and looks were added in which were not 12th century. If u know wat I mean? We were quite confused to see some gothic columns and spires.

The maison doesn't look big huh? Don't be fooled by its exterior. Underneath this building with kilometres of wine cellars stretching throughout this lil town and the church were so many hidden gems and history.

We were introduced to Joseph Drouhin by Dr. Epicurean a few years ago, so it's kinda of recent. JS and Monkey have been appreciating wines but bcoz of biasness and preference, we tend to stick to a certain "group" of wines and winemakers. Sometimes you really do need a certain someone, especially with strong opinions and a lil bit of "selling" skills to change our palate and to further enhance our wine collections.

The wineshop was pretty medieval with original walls and bricks. Some wonderful lightings, displays and merchandising, it has turned this old place into a rather modern and yet with deep heritage wine house.

JS was storming from racks to racks....I WANT THIS!!! I WANT THAT!!!! SHALL WE GET THESE TOO? 

Monkey -_-"
worse than me inside a Faure le Plage boutique.

and so I waited for him to choose his candies. JS knows his wines so well, with deeply rooted knowledge from parcels to parcels, appellation, makers, characteristics, weather conditions for that particular vintage, terroir and viniculture.

as for Monkey, my first priority was to check out the huge map of Drouhin's parcel of lands/vineyards. Stretching from Cote de Nuit, Cote de Beaune, Cote Chalonaise to Chablis and finally in the United States as well.

Founded in 1880, wines from the Drouhin family has been prized by the Kings and Dukes of Burgundy. Today this family business is run by the great grandchildren, I've calculated based on their family tree - 5th generation. 

and our wine journey with Joseph Drouhin begins as we stepped into the dark cellar underground the lil town of Beaune. Our nose was penetrated with the beautiful smell of french oak. With respect to the aging process, we kept our voices down, as in the to honor each barrels as we past rows after rows of casks.

oh hello hello there Marc de Bourgogne. Though u guys were made with leftover grapes, I still enjoy a glasses of two and sometimes use them to boil chicken essence/soup. Opppssss I shouldn't say that, winemakers will come after me!!! But seriously just a piece of drumstick with nothing else, and a bowl of marc de bourgogne, throw in some red dates or goji berries, double boiled it for 45 minutes and u have the most heart/stomach warming pure chicken essence. Sorry I have stopped taking Brand's Chicken Essence when I found out its list of ingredients.

Basically Marc de Bourgogne is almost like brandy, high in alcohol content, soft and dry.

What is Monkey starring so intently at?

Really really aged bottles from the 1920s. Private collection of the maison. They need to be kept this way to protect them. The thick dust/mold *Do u even call it dust/mold anymore at this stage??* are like cushion and pillows, enveloping the bottles comfortably.

Madame was explaining and her passion for winemaking, the trade and the maison shows in her eyes. It sparkled in such a suave like when you pour a good bottle of red wines into the glass.......smooth and charming :))))

The intern of the maison was busy taking notes. I should be taking notes too, but that would be too academic!!! So as usual, being a notti Monkey I did grabbed the intern's notepad to scribble things to his horror bcoz he couldn't spell a certain word.

Intern: "Sa s'ecrit comment??"
Monkey: "U-M-A-......"
Intern scribbled but.....U got it wrong!!!!

arghhh I got to do the alphabet pronunciation the French way
Monkey: "Ueh-Am-Ah-..."
He scribbled again, still incorrect!!!

Lemme do it!!! and grabbed his writing instrument and wrote U-M-A-M-I
yes I wanna tell madame that particular wine has got Umami-ness innit, the 5th taste that our tongues can detect.

Intern was upset coz my handwritting wasn't beautiful like his. Hihihihihihihihihihihihi I ruined his perfectly legered notepad.

you will notice the high concaved ceilings, columns and walls just like a church. Bcoz we were underneath the church!!!! Some parts of the cellar were dated back to the Merovingian Dynasty. Wow that's really long time ago.

the intern who dislike me bcoz I scribbled on his notepad, Monkey and Madame discussing some really important issues on feminism and Women Today.

Here we were looking and examining the original press dated from 1570 was still alive!!!!! there's a beautiful story behind it and I was pretty touched with the efforts by winemakers. So much of history here.
 

Happiest time = tasting time :)))))))))
while Intern was still bz scribbling and taking notes....

the limestone rock with a lot of seashells fossils. It's amazing how these affect the grapes and the terroir. Hence some grapes has got this limey notes and taste.

Just some of the bottles that JS wanted to bring home, and so he did. He was like a happy boy clutching and hugging his bottles. While Monkey's mind was fully aroused from the new information obtained form Madame on that afternoon.

I alwiz yearned for new experiences and new knowledge each and everyday. I hope you will feel the same way too about life. Knowledge is power and is something so precious that nobody could take away from you.

They say curiosity kills the cat. But if I don't learn and be curious it really kills and crushes me.....

Happy sourcing for new things in life today :))))))