Happy goats and good cheese.

   

Today, we woke up early to take our first field trip! We began by heading to Chevrerie Bourdon, a local goat farm. First, we followed Madame to the goats. She explained that the goats were allowed to free graze rather than given hay. Happy goats make happy cheeses! She continued to teach us how the goats were milked once at 4 AM and then again at 3 PM. I don’t know how she manages when I can barely get up at 7 AM. We had an informal goat cheese tasting paired with cassis water. Madame’s cheeses are phenomenal. The freshness is so evident and the taste leaves you wanting more. I’m so sad she will no longer continue business because hers is just so amazing. The tasting was held in a mini museum filled with old farming equipment, but it was a bit difficult to figure out what was what since there was no order or labels.

   

After the Bourdon farm, we headed to Davayé, the famous college in Burgundy. Sonia and her husband both studied wine here! We began the tour by heading to the farm where the goats were kept. Compared to the Bourdon farm, the goats were fed freshly cut grass rather than allowed to freely graze and were milked at more reasonable hours: 7 AM and 4 PM. We were shown the additional supplements, I would call them, given composed of alfalfa. We continued the tour to the wine portion where we received a lesson on organic wine from two students. We went below to the cool cellars where the wine was kept. After, we headed upstairs for a wine tasting. The wines were served with goat cheese and had a very strong mineral taste due to the limestone soil. It was interesting to identify the difference between the wines produced here as opposed to the ones we had tried in Alice’s shop. I felt that Madame Bourdon’s cheeses were much more flavorful than the ones from the Davayé, which really is a testament to how she raises and feeds her goats.

  

  

After all the cheese, it was time to eat! We had a picnic lunch in a small area between two vineyards and overlooking some mountains. It really was such a beautiful scenic spot! Following lunch, we headed to Perraud winery where Sonia greeted us to give us a tour of her and her husband’s winery. She started by taking us to the vineyard and showing us how the vines could only carry a certain number of grapes and telling us about the soil. To identify clay soils, you could rub your fingers together with a bit of soil between and see how it would start to clump and take on a clay texture. We continued to the cellar where Sonia showed us the giant stoppers placed in the wine barrels that were used to test the developing wines and also to listen to it. We learned how she and a neighboring winery were comparing the natural yeast flora in their wineries as well to see which flavors were produced. We stopped by bottling before heading to a small kitchen for wine tasting. Sonia not only challenged us to identify flavors but also to know which flavors we liked. I really enjoyed the oaky flavors of the barrel aged red wines as well as the fruity white wines. I am not a huge fan of acidity in wine, but we will see how my wine palate develops! We headed back to Cluny stomachs content and later met for a crepe dinner.