Vonnas, France: Dining at Georges Blanc Michelin-starred restaurant

I have to be honest; I'd rather have pie in a pub, or duck curry in a neighbourhood Thai, than nibble my way through a fine-dining menu. I don't expect to enjoy myself in a famous gastronomic restaurant. I anticipate headache-inducing choices, svelte society women picking at salad, and culinary snobs discussing the differences between morille and girolle mushrooms.

So it is with trepidation that I drive to Vonnas for a dinner date with Georges Blanc. He's the emperor of epicures and king of the kitchen. Three generations of Blanc family women ran a restaurant in Vonnas from 1872, and all were lauded. Then Georges took over and, in 1981, the restaurant was awarded three Michelin stars. In an incredible culinary feat, it has kept them ever since. That same year, Blanc also won chef of the year from Gault et Millau; in 1985 it scored his food 19.5 out of 20, the highest mark then ever awarded. The chef is now a Commander of the Legion of Honour, France's highest decoration.

You might expect the restaurants of such a man to be lodged in five-star Paris hotels, but all his establishments are regional. His flagship Restaurant Georges Blanc sits deep in the countryside between Lyon and Dijon in his hometown. Vonnas has a population of just over 2000 and I'm glad I have the help of a GPS in finding it. Still, it is far from a dung-splattered village. Blanc owns most of the buildings around the square and has turned Vonnas into a culinary theme park: luxe hotel, spa, boutiques selling branded homeware and a deli tempting with Georges Blanc sausages and sauces.

I check into the hotel and don my jacket for dinner, nerves a-jangle. It is always deeply unsettling to find waiters better-dressed than diners. Should I wear a tie? I decide to go without and am relieved to find the dress code informal. The dining room is stately – tapestries hang on the walls, and chairs are spindle-legged – but the atmosphere is relaxed.

The menu makes my head swim. What is an embrouillade or an aiguillette? I order the seven-course degustation menu Images de Vonnas, come what may, and turn my attention to the wine list. The cellar holds 130,000 bottles of wine from some 3000 appellations, none of which give an Australian any clue to grape variety.

But the sommelier Delphin is a delight. He speaks English and has no pretensions. Would I like a Puligny-Montrachet 'Corvee des Vignes' Jean-Marc Vincent 2008? Of course I would. It's a chardonnay from nearby Beaune, apparently, and gets me through my oysters with caviar, smoked soup with scallops, and lobster with mushroom ravioli (morille mushrooms, for those who need to know).

Later, Delphin pours a Chambolle-Musigny 'Les Charmes' Amiot Servelle 1998. It's a pinot noir, also from Burgundy, but I don't know why I write it down. The chances of finding the same bottle in another restaurant are slim, such is the number of appellations in France.