Articles / NewsWhat I'm drinking...
James Halliday, May 26, 2009@ La Ruchotte
Frédérick Ménager had already gained a great reputation as a conventional chef in a conventional restaurant environment, when in his late 20s he decided to turn his back on the financial rewards of serving 10 meals a week to a fastidious audience. He established La Ruchotte, restoring an old farmhouse near Bressey en Chaume, raising pigs, goats, lambs and chickens on a biodynamic farm (plus vegetables, eggs, milk, etc.). He now serves two meals a week, Saturday and Sunday lunch, with no menu. For €35 the maximum of 24 diners, seated at one of two communal tables, will have an entree and one of his four animals despatched after a happy but short life, followed by a little cheese and dessert. The wine list is rather longer, extending to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and (the late) Didier Dageneau of Pouilly Fume. We started with a bottle of Dageneau and a bottle of Clos de Tart 2001 (Morey St Denis) before a magnum of ’85 Domaine Dugjac Clos de la Roche direct from the Seysses family cellar (with corkage in kind) to accompany the two kids served to the 10 at our table. The ’85 vintage was greeted with much enthusiasm at the time, but developed more quickly than expected. A magnum stored in the cellar since the day it was bottled was ambrosia, perfumed with any number of scents, the palate sustained and lengthened by the acidity that sets the great burgundies above all other pinot noirs. Getting to La Ruchotte is half the fun: www.laruchotte.com helps a bit, but you need the eyes of an eagle to spot the little hand-painted sign in Bressey en Chaume pointing to the unnumbered road that leads to La Ruchotte. Ignore the postal address of Bligny sur Ouche, which (in the vernacular) is bloody miles away. Their email is laruchotte@wannado.fr and the phone is 03 8020 0479.
Frédérick Ménager had already gained a great reputation as a conventional chef in a conventional restaurant environment, when in his late 20s he decided to turn his back on the financial rewards of serving 10 meals a week to a fastidious audience. He established La Ruchotte, restoring an old farmhouse near Bressey en Chaume, raising pigs, goats, lambs and chickens on a biodynamic farm (plus vegetables, eggs, milk, etc.). He now serves two meals a week, Saturday and Sunday lunch, with no menu. For €35 the maximum of 24 diners, seated at one of two communal tables, will have an entree and one of his four animals despatched after a happy but short life, followed by a little cheese and dessert. The wine list is rather longer, extending to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and (the late) Didier Dageneau of Pouilly Fume. We started with a bottle of Dageneau and a bottle of Clos de Tart 2001 (Morey St Denis) before a magnum of ’85 Domaine Dugjac Clos de la Roche direct from the Seysses family cellar (with corkage in kind) to accompany the two kids served to the 10 at our table. The ’85 vintage was greeted with much enthusiasm at the time, but developed more quickly than expected. A magnum stored in the cellar since the day it was bottled was ambrosia, perfumed with any number of scents, the palate sustained and lengthened by the acidity that sets the great burgundies above all other pinot noirs. Getting to La Ruchotte is half the fun: www.laruchotte.com helps a bit, but you need the eyes of an eagle to spot the little hand-painted sign in Bressey en Chaume pointing to the unnumbered road that leads to La Ruchotte. Ignore the postal address of Bligny sur Ouche, which (in the vernacular) is bloody miles away. Their email is laruchotte@wannado.fr and the phone is 03 8020 0479.
