Entrée Paris 3: Père Lachaise Cemetery and Domaine de Rotisson, “Les Dalines”, Pinot Noir, Burgundy 2010: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #42

Day 76 of our EU Austerity Drinking Tour. We have to slow down. Versailles had exhausted us (last week’s post). To avoid (most of the) tourist hordes, we hike to Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Oddly cheery weather for a cemetery.

Once in this grid of the famous and dead, we unleash our inner Art Historians, and hunt for our heroes of the humanities.

Drama

A warm sun makes cutting between trees and tombs strangely pleasant. Pissarro, Stein, Nadar, Montand, Lalande, Ernst, Lauencin, Géricault, Ingres, Balzac, David, Bizet, Caillebotte, Corot, Delacroix:

they all cram shoulder to shoulder with a quiet persistence. All their fury and passion now silent stone.

So we share a picnic with them.

The great Chopin: excepting his heart, which rests in Warsaw.

Oscar Wilde’s restored tomb floats behind plexiglass. We forgo making out with it.

Needs chapstick.

We half-heartedly look for Jim Morrison but, with the sun dropping, guards ringing bells, we funnel out.

Hard to believe a city surrounds us.

Back home, we finally meet our host. She seems kind but aloof: her mind addled by a life of world travel. Maybe our touring all of Europe might make us as jaded. We will see.

But tonight, the apartment fills with pumpkin soup enlivened by stolen herbs from Marie Antoinette‘s gardens. I open Domaine De Rotisson “Les Dalines” 2010 pinot noir from Burgundy.

Fall is in the air.

The color looks an apt pale ruby. Fresh red cherry and a mild vanilla cream smell like they’re still in the works. Acidity shines, tannins flick lightly, alcohol and body weigh moderately. Balanced.

However, loaded flavors pound out a ripe tart red cherry with nice chalky corners, all rounded by a smoky sherry cask. The length is medium plus. Rotisson’s Dalines is very good (4 of 5) especially for an under $20 Burgundy. Give it another year or two.

Sitting with the glass oddly recalled Edith Piaf‘s grave:

Charming.

It is not a monument. It looks just like the slab next to it: simple and serviceable. Yet both are undeniably French, classic, and loved.

This is why we embarked on our 13 country, 7 month EU Austerity Drinking Tour. Père Lachaise cemetery cost nothing to visit but brought hours of enjoyment. And only in a corner, Parisian grocery store could we find such a gem of a wine.

Check in next Monday and tour all the wines and foods of France at a Food Fair in Paris.