Château de Varennes

I can’t believe my luck but I got to visit the Beaujolais, a wine region just outside Lyon, last weekend. For our first month in Lyon Emily, from Sydney, had Quentin as a roommate until her two permanent roommates finished their “stage” each –this is much like an apprenticeship, or very serious work experience. Quentin’s family owns a vineyard with a chateau which produces a Beaujolais-Villages which is an Appellation d’Origine Controlée, and he very kindly offered to take Emily and her Australian friends up for a weekend. And so, as though it was a very run-of-the-mill thing to do, Emily, Kathy, Alice, Milly, Billy, Edouard (Milli and Alice’s roommate), Ronan (Edouard’s friend), and I spent Saturday and Sunday at the Chateau de Varennes with Quentin, his girlfriend Axelle and 6 of his friends, including Yann and Charles (Emily’s current housemates), Grégoire, Maxime, Maximilien, Quentin (another one). It was BRILLIANT!!!!

On Saturday afternoon we all met up and piled into 3 (very small) cars and an hour later we were at Chateau de Varennes. The Frenchmen unloaded the cars and relaxed on deck chairs in the courtyard while Quentin gave us a tour. He showed us through some of the bedrooms and salons. One room boasted a painted canvas ceiling over a traditional French billiard table – which has no pockets – and a library. Quentin pulled out a book of accounts kept by the Charveriat family with dates going as far back as the 1800s. It was Quentin’s uncle, Frank, who revealed to us that the Chaveriat family had bought the Chateau after its previous owner had been sent to the guillotine, as with most nobles in the French Revolution. We also got to meet Grandmère, who is the official owner of the estate (she’s been to Australia, and even to Canberra).

Next we got run-down of the wine making process which was still underway since harvest had only just finished. We saw the primary fermentation where the grapes are left in giant vats to produce alcohol. We were allowed to stick our heads in to take a whiff, as long as we didn’t breath in too much since the alcohol level is so high that if you were to fall in you would instantly go into a coma and die. Then it was on to the pressoir where the smooshing of grapes occurs, and finally the degustation room with wine ageing in barrels and plenty of bottles for later.

Before we got started on the wine tasting we picked up the French lot and prepared our cheese and salami and chips and all trotted down to the degustation room. We sampled 2 whites – fruitée and fût de chene – and 3 reds –vielle vigne, tradition, and fut de chene. Then he whole party retired to our part of the chateau, a large dining/disco room with adjoining kitchen. The boys had already set up the tables for dinner so most of us got straight to the dancing while a small delegation prepared dinner. At about 11pm the Tartiflette was served, this dish contains: potatoes, crème fraiche, bacon (not for everyone), all topped with full rounds of reblochon cheese and baked in the oven… mmmm. There was a small oversight when the salad got left in the fridge, but with our Tartiflette polished off no-one was interested in lettuce. More dancing ensued. Maxime taught me how to rock and roll, which all the French friends I’ve encountered will do to any type of music, and he and Billy did a smashing rendition of Muse’s Knights of Cydonia. Any time we ran out of wine Quentin would just pop to the cellar and grab more. People began to head to bed one at a time, and what was left of the party retired to the loft we were all sleeping . At about 3 or 4 in the morning a few of us decided it would be funny to wake up the scouts. There was a group of scouts camping on the property for the weekend because their 15-year-old leader was somehow related to Quentin. Not only that but a few of the boys had been scouts back in their day. But they were saavy scouts and it was not so funny when they came around at 8 o’clock on Sunday morning to wake us up!

The girls were the first out of bed and we went to laze on the grassy garden between the chateau and vineyard and tucked into the chocolate chip brioche for breakfast. Slowly the others joined, and Quentin arrived after having cleaned out the vats, so at 11 am he was already a bit tipsy. Once everyone had woken up it was time to get the BBQ going for lunch. Needless to say it was a pretty pathetic BBQ with only metal skewers for implements. Yann, Charles and I took charge of the rice salad, and there was enough to feed an army. Grégoire had been to the village in the morning to pick up some stuff for Grandmère and had also picked up baguettes for everyone. We ate lunch on the lawns and sampled some more wine, and even some ‘paradis’ which is what comes from the initial pressing of the grapes. The boys played rugby in the afternoon with the scouts, and I helped Grandmère and some more family pick apples and pears from the trees dotted around the garden. Then all too quickly it was time to leave. We all cleaned up our rooms and then the kitchen and loaded the cars with wine and said goodbye to Quentin’s family.

The weekend was a great success and I now have photos and anecdotes to add to my oral presentation on the Beaujolais I’m giving next week in my class ‘Culture francaise’. Otherwise both Milli and Billy have amazing photos so I’ll post those up as soon as they’re ready. More on what’s happening in Lyon is coming soon.