AS the unofficial capital of France’s Burgundy region, Beaune is a town that thrives on wine – and now even its cows are going to taste like grapes.

This weekend will see luminaries of the wine-making world descend on the ancient eastern town for its huge annual Hospices de Beaune charity auction. 

The 157-year-old sale, run by Christie’s, sees millions of dollars exchange hands and is considered a barometer for global demand for Burgundy, considered one of France’s most prestigious wine areas.

But this year, local officials are hoping foreign buyers have time to try Beaune’s new offering: beef reared on the by-products of the wine-making process. 

The cows are fed in their last months with the mulchy residue left after the world-famous local vintages are fermented and distilled, as well as on crushed blackcurrants. 

Local farmers hope the quality of the meat could earn them a reputation similar to that of Japan’s illustrious kobe beef, renowned for its flavour and tenderness. 

“The wine from the Hospices auction is a fruity wine,” said Beaune chef Laurent Parra as he flipped a slice on a grill at a tasting.

“That’s what we’re looking for in the meat – that it’s tasty, with blackcurrant and grape flavours. You can just about smell this hint of a flavour.” 

A dozen local chefs who came to try the well-marbled meat – most of them the owners of Michelin stars – were already dreaming about what they could do with it.

A beef stew braised ever-so-gently and served with old-style vegetables; tartare with blackcurrant oil and shallots cooked in white wine; roast cote de boeuf with caramelised mushrooms…  

Parra said the meat was “very tender” but is hoping for a fattier, even more flavourful version. “It’s the fat which gives the meat its flavour,” he said. 

So far only two cows have been reared on the method – but weighing in at 700kg to 800kg each, their meat will go a considerable way.

Dominique Guyon, who bred them, says they were reared “peacefully, naturally”.

Fed first by their mothers, they were then switched onto grass and hay before being fed a cereal mix, 20% of which is made up of the grape and blackcurrant mulch.

“The ultimate goal is to produce something that tastes like the land, like a fine wine,” says Guyon’s son Antoine, who runs the farm with his father at Rouvres-sous-Meilly. – AFP, November 17, 2017.