JC is back in France! Day 6 & 7
Saturday AM we’re off with our friends to visit at Domaine Rolet. Cedric Ducote, in charge of this historical domaine, gave us first a tour of their 14th century cellar located under the town of Arbois – A magical place where barrels and barrels of Vin Jaune are ageing for no less than six years. The tasting (of many many wines!) took place in the back of their retail shop (most top wineries will have a wine shop in the centre of Arbois where one can taste wine and purchase). Since the sale of Domaine Rolet in 2018 to Chateau de Chamirey (producer in Mercurey & Nuits St Georges) plus a couple of investors, and the arrival of Cedric there has been a lot of effort to wake up ‘la belle aux bois dormants”! The results are showing! We were lucky to taste some very old vintages and a lot of them in magnums!
It was well past 12.30pm when we finished and had to hurry off to meet my Mum at the train station in Lons le Saunier. Mum is going to spend a couple of days with us in this wonderful region (we simply won’t have time to stop in my home town). We spent a lazy afternoon showing her around the towns of Arbois and Poligny before heading to the restaurant ‘La Finette’ in Arbois which serves classical Jura cuisine – tasty and good.
Sunday, we travelled up into the mountains to the alpine town of Les Rousses (1500m alt) where I completed as a young man my compulsory year in the military, back in 1982. We went to visit the old fort where I spent one year behind the bar of the officers mess. Some great and not so great souvenirs! It was a long weekend and the town full of visitors making the most of the wonderful hiking tracks available. We had lunch at ‘Le Refuge’ – a delicious light (not!) meal of regional specialities - morbiflette, chicken in a creamy/cheesy sauce etc….
A quiet evening at the hotel in Poligny spending some quality time with mum and preparing for the busy week ahead!
1.Dinner with Mum at La Finette in Arbois 2.Morbiflette - soon on our winter menu at l’Atelier du Fromage
3.Delicious selection in Les Rousses 4.My old army fort - 23eme regiment in Les Rousses. I was there in 1982