Bonne Saint Vincent tournante à tous !
Saint Vincent festivities takes place every year and celebrates Saint Vincent, the patron saint of winemakers. Typically celebrated on January 22 (or the last weekend of January), it is an important date for the wine industry and has been celebrated all around France since the Middle Ages. It is a time for winemakers to reflect on the past year while beginning to prepare for the next year. According to legend, celebrating Saint Vincent’s Day brings good luck to the upcoming grape crop and harvest!
A deacon from Saragossa, Spain, Saint Vincent has several legends explaining why he is the patron saint of winemakers. One legend involves the Saint and his donkey. While chatting with workers in a vineyard, Saint Vincent’s donkey nibbled on the vines. During that year’s harvest, the workers noticed that the vines “pruned” by the donkey produced a better crop than the unpruned vines. Thus, it is said that Saint Vincent and his donkey “unearthed” the art of pruning grape vines.
Indeed, January 22 This day also happens to fall in the middle of a grapevine’s growing cycle. This dormant period lays between pruning and when the vines begin to bud break and flower.
The Saint Vincent Tournante of Burgundy is especially famous. Since the 1930s, 85 or so Burgundian mutual aid societies have worked together to celebrate this special day. The events are hosted in a different village every year. It begins with a large processional parade of the patron saints of each society, followed by a ceremony dedicated to Saint Vincent. A huge festive celebration takes place, and entire villages are decorated according to a theme (this year’s was the elements: earth, water, fire, air). I was enthralled with the decor so I took a loooooot of photos. These are only a small sample!
Because of Covid restrictions last year and early this year, the 2021/2022 celebrations took place this past weekend, on March 19-20. My boyfriend has been talking about this event since our first date so you can imagine how elated I was to finally celebrate with him this year!
This year’s festivities were hosted between three villages: Corpeau, Puligny-Montrachet and Blagny. I had the chance to visit the first two — and WOW! the event was AMAZING. I can see why it has so much buzz around it.
The day started by getting our kits. They included a booklet with the program, information about the villages and tradition, maps, and drink tickets (more info below). And a Lehmann Absolu 38 glass that can be used for both red and white wines. Etched on the glass is this year’s logo: a cabotte, which is a little stone hut that is emblamatic of the Burgundy wine-growing landscape. Everything fit into a handy pouch that we could wear around our necks to keep our hands free — for food!
The drink tickets allowed us to taste 6 out of 8 different cuvées available from the villages: a choice between a set list of 5 wines and a “mystery” cuvée. None of them featured a particular wine maker: they celebrated all winemakers in the area and were only available at the festival. The villages are in the Côte-d’Or, a region that predominantly makes white wines. We tasted all of them in Puligny-Montrachet.
We had the chance to try (in order):
- Puligny-Montrachet 2017
- Puligny-Montrachet 2018
- Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2018 Rouge
- Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières 2018 (one of the mystery cuvées)
- Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru 2018
- Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2018 Blanc (this one was also served with our meals)
The two other mystery wines were Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru 2017 and Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Terroirs de Blagny 2018.
My personal favourites were the 1st and 5th wines: Puligny-Montrachet 2017 (pictured above) and Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru 2018 (below). I thought that both were particularly decadent chardonnays. The first was very creamy with lots of bright yellow fruit and pleasant minerality. I could have had another glass of this and I can see it going well with lobster or salmon. The other one was slightly less creamy, still fruity with minerality, but slightly floral. It was really lovely.
This festival extends beyond wine. It also celebrates local gastronomic delicacies.
You might be familiar with escargots, the infamous large edible French land snails (photo below for scale to show you how big they can get!). The ones from Bourgogne are particularly prized and are actually one of my favourite foods — so I absolutely had to try them while in the region!
For those unfamiliar, they are typically prepared with butter, parsley, and garlic and served hot. You eat them with a toothpick and bread (to soak up the extra butter). At the Tournante, each dozen came with a glass of Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2018 Blanc. I was in heaven!
I was able to try another local delicacy: Œufs en meurette. These are poached eggs served with meurette sauce: local wine, bacon, mushrooms, onions, shallots, and browned butter. This was also served with bread and the same wine as above. It is a tasty, hearty dish that is creamy, umami, acidic, and salty all at once. It isn’t the most instagramable dish, but it is certainly delicious and a must-try.
Both this and the escargots were kindly supplied by L’Auberge du Vieux Vigneron et Le Montrachet.
But the food didn’t stop there!
What else pairs well with a crisp glass of white wine? Shellfish, of course! We enjoyed a platter of the king of bivalves: fresh oysters with lemon from Jacques Bavard.
It was actually my first time trying oysters without mignonette (sauce of minced shallots, cracked pepper and vinegar). I enjoyed them.
At this point, we were starting to get a little full, so we moved onto dessert. We spotted the hugest vat of waffle batter ever and knew that we had to get some. I had mine with jam (black currant + strawberry), while my boyfriend went the classic route with icing sugar. So yummy!
It was tragic that we were stuffed because there were so many fantastic food options. Pôchouse Verdunoise, friture d’ablette de Saône, and saucisses were some other local offerings. But there was also raclette sandwiches, fish n chips, burgers, fries, and more. I also spotted the hugest tartiflette ever: potatoes, reblochon cheese, lardons, and onions. I could have bathed in the giant pot!
After filling our bellies with wine and food, we wandered over to Corpeau. It was near the end of the day, but we were able to explore the town and to visit food stalls. We brought back cheese and an assortment of saucissons (herbes, chevreuil, comté, and âne — yes, donkey!).
This wonderful day ended with a sunset stroll back to the car through the vineyards. It was truly magical and romantic!
Overall, Saint Vincent Tournante was even better than I had imagined. It wasn’t just about amazing wine. It was also a celebration of the terroir, the culture, the food, art, and music. There was something for everyone there; even non-drinkers can appreciate this festival. I think it more than lived up to the hype and I am looking forward to attending again next year! Cheers!
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