We have seen that on his way back from Elba, Napoleon spent the night at Saulieu, in the heart of Burgundy at a local inn called La Borne Imperiale. That inn still exists today as a famed restaurant in the equally famous gastronomic town of Saulieu. [1]

How Jean and I relate to La Borne Imperiale may be of interest. From 1964 to 1969 [2] we were living in Annecy, a charming and beautiful city in HauteSavoie on the slopes of the French Alps. The city is close to Switzerland, about 20 miles from Geneva. My husband's family was (and is still) leaving in Esbly, in the Marne valley, near Paris, only a few miles from Eurodisney. About 4 to 5 times a year we would visit them with the children. There are some 500 kilometers (300 miles) between Annecy to Esbly. At the time, the modern autoroute (freeway) was still under construction, so we had to take the busy but more scenic National 7, which inches along the Morvan and Burgundy and of course, through the Burgundian wine country.

The routine was to leave Annecy in the morning to arrive in Esbly sometime in the afternoon. Of course there were diversions along the way, like taking a shortbreak to visit one of the numerous local winemakers and collect one or two cases of Meursault-Charmes, Chambertin, Pommard or other fine Burgundies.[3]

I remember quite clearly my first visit to the wine cellar of a small wine maker in Burgundy, in the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. The wine maker gladly took us to his cellar which invariably included several huge wine casks holding the maturing wines. And the ceremony began. We were given a balloon glass without a stem, such that we had to hold it in two hands, and sacrifice ourselves!

Then, the wine maker, climbing on a smaller ladder to reach the top of the cask and armed with a yard long baster, opened the top of the cask and took out a sample. Of course he started with the simple white Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire, followed by a Chassagne-Montrachet and then a first growth, etc. We were going from cask to cask, starting with the youngest wine, his baster poured a sample in each glass for us to taste. He explained with pride from which vineyard the grapes came from, the difference between the several years available and so on.

Such a wonder is a white ChassagneMontrachet, even young. Then we had to go through the same ceremony for his first growth Chassagne-Montrachet (Les Caillerets), then the reds, simple red and the red first growth. Last year's wine, next year's wine, etc.

At first, I did not understand why the wine maker was spitting out onto the sand floor (or in a bucket) the wine after he tasted it. What a waste, I thought! But coming out from the cellar, the reason suddenly became obvious and hit me like a ton of bricks! I was feeling very, very light and had a strange tendency to giggle at the least opportunity. I think, on that day, that my husband bought two or three cases, but I am not sure. I slept like an angel from Chassagne-Montrachet to Saulieu (about one hour) and had to suffer the teasing of my husband, the children and the family in Esbly. Horror! I almost missed the lunch at Saulieu but, they were kind enough to wake me up. Needless to say that on my subsequent visits I joined the wine makers in the spitting ceremony.

Strangely, on most of our trips, we always arrived at Saulieu around lunch time. Being French has some imperatives, but what's wrong with having a good lunch in a gastronomic restaurant [4] anyway? You don't have to be French for that!

I remember quite well our first lunch at La Borne Imperiale which became our favorite menu in Saulieu. We started with a dozen of delicious and enormous Escargots de Bourgogne (perhaps you may think the snails appeared enormous after my first visit to the wine cellars but they remained so during our other visits) prepared to perfection,[5] followed by Jambon aux morilles [6] in a fabulous cream sauce with morels.

Then, of course, came the traditional plateau de fromage (platter with several cheeses) among which was an outstanding Epoisse.[7] We always concluded with one of the many equally delicious desserts. Of course a bottle of Burgundy-Chambertin (I believe)- was de rigeur (i.e., a must). Was this the menu that Napoleon had at Saulieu on his way back to Elba? Why not, I like to think so anyway.

[1] Saulieu is a small town in Burgundy, reputed for it's gastronomic (i.e., gourmet) restaurants. Napoleon also rested at Saulieu on 10 January 1801 and 7 April 1805.
[2] We came back to the USA in the spring of 1969.
[3] Surprisingly, we always had room for one or two cases of wine!
[4] Country restaurants are quite affordable and well worth every franc.
[5] 5 The escargots of Burgundy are known through the whole world as being the most succulent. The escargots a la Bourguignone are prepared with snailbutter, which is a mixture of unsalted butter, parsley, garlic and shallots and then baked in their own shell. Don't say yuck until you try them! If you like garlic bread (and can get over your aversion) you would like escargots. (Our daughter-in-law, Rebecca-"the Brit"-passed the snail test with flying colors and calls for more every time she visits her "Froggies".) We have not seen one of our friends dislike snails after they try them in our home and believe me that was not to please us.
[6] Jambon aux morilles is a specialty of Saulieu, especially of the famous Chef Andre who has a Michelin three star restaurant in that town.
[7] Epoisse is a soft, unique, cheese that originated around this small town in Burgundy, and is presently made in all parts of Burgundy. In the US, it can be found in better cheese stores. The cheese is made from milk curled with a special rennet, flavored with black pepper, clove and fennel, salt and brandy. It is eaten either fresh or ripened.