What's Going On in the World of French Wines

Even if the weather doesn’t want to cooperate where you live, there is no denying that there is a whiff of spring in the air. Living here in North Carolina, spring has a tendency to come on the early side – in fact there have been years where I’ve spotted flowers poking through as early as late January! There’s something about the start of spring that always fills me with excitement and energy, and a good dose of anticipation.
There’s also just something about warm weather that makes me want to entertain. I’m sure it has a bit to do with the fact that as we get further into spring and summer the fresh vegetables and fruits at the local farmers markets just beg to be shared. But there’s also something easy about parties that involve the grill and letting kids play outside. Recently, we had a brief window of warm weather and so we used the opportunity to get together with some friends. The menu plan was simple – burgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, pasta salad, fruit and ice cream. Nothing really fancy, but with 10 little kids running around, the object was to be as family-friendly as possible!
Of course, wine is always a big part of parties in our house, no matter the occasion. It might sound a bit resentful of me to say that my friends expect to be served something interesting at my house, but in truth, I’m glad that they do. I think it is all too easy to get into a wine rut (it has happened to me before) and I’m happy to help prevent that from happening. So for this particular gathering, I chose to serve the Lafite Réserve Spéciale Bordeaux Blanc and the Mas de Guiot Vin de Pays du Gard. The first is a white Bordeaux made from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon and the second is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Both wines went over well, but much to my surprise, it was the white wine that was the big success. In the past, I have found that my guests were more likely to drink red wines over whites, so this was a bit of a departure and I one that I chalked up to two things – the warmer weather seemed to make people favor white wine and also the wine was extremely drinkable, both with or without food.
I’ve consistently found that people who like Sauvignon Blanc don’t seem to know that it is one of the grapes used in white Bordeaux. While it is true that there are many Bordeaux Blancs that are on the more expensive side, there are also a large number of very affordable and food-friendly examples; wines such as the Lafite Réserve Spéciale, Chateau Coucheroy or Chateau Bonnet spring to mind. The combination of the zesty flavors of the Sauvignon Blanc grape with the more mellow orange marmalade notes of the Sémillon grape makes for a versatile wine that is delicious with or without food. And because white Bordeaux is usually a bit fuller in body compared to other white wines, it stood up to the hamburgers and hot dogs just fine.
So if the weather has started to warm up where you live, think about the possibility of getting a group of friends together to celebrate the fact that spring is right around the corner. And if you are looking for a versatile, food-friendly white, I recommend you take a look through the White Bordeaux section of your favorite wine store. You might just find something to put a little spring in your step.

I love this time of year. The farmer’s markets around here are hopping with activity and fresh produce. Every Saturday morning, Peter and I head over to one of the local markets to buy our groceries. While the CSA/farm share program we belong to covers a lot of our veggie needs, there are still a lot of things to buy. This week’s market bounty included several pints of organic blueberries, a quart of organic strawberries (which are on their way out), a dozen eggs, 1 container of Yukon gold potatoes, 6 ears of corn and 6 tomatoes.

As this was one of our few weekends at home, I was hard pressed to ignore the call of the kitchen. I had picked up some chicken breasts at the grocery store a few days back, so it seemed a good idea to build the meal around those. One of my grandfather’s mottos regarding food was “plain, but tasty” and sometimes, when you are dealing with very fresh produce, I find that going the simple route is not only easiest, but best.

First, I marinated the chicken in a little olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and a bunch of different herbs from the my garden including lime basil, purple basil, tarragon, and thyme. Next up, the potatoes. When I lived up in NY, I bought potatoes often at the farmer’s market in Union Square, but this is actually the first time I have tried them from the Durham market, so I was pretty excited to use them. I decided to roast the potatoes in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper and a mixture of parsley, tarragon and thyme – I figured using some of the same herbs from the chicken would help to unify some of the flavors of the meal. Since I still had some peas from last week’s CSA, I figured that we should go ahead and have those tonight, too. So Bill shelled the peas, and I tossed them in some boiling water for just a few minutes. We decided to also cook 2 ears of corn and since Bill was grilling the chicken, we figured we would grill the corn as well.

Once dinner was just about ready, I went into the wine fridge to see what I could find. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was in the mood for and what would go best with dinner. After pulling out a few options and considering whether or not to have a white, a red or a rosé with the meal, I finally chanced upon the Barons de Rothschild Réserve Spéciale Bordeaux Blanc from the 2006 vintage. Bordeaux Blancs, which are typically a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, are very food-friendly in my opinion, and sadly, not a frequently considered option.

It was indeed a good match. The BdR Bordeaux Blanc is very balanced with moderate acidity and pleasant citrus fruit aromas and flavors. It complimented the herbed chicken and was a very good match for the buttery, creamy potatoes. The freshness of the peas gave them a tangy, almost herbal flavor, and the roundness from the Semillon coupled with the grapefruit notes from the Sauvignon Blanc made for a pleasing combination in the mouth.

Given the abundance of berries, I opted to make a blueberry and strawberry cobbler for dessert. And while one wouldn’t usually think to pair a Bordeaux Blanc with a fruit dessert, because of the lemon juice and the lemon zest in the recipe, the wine that was left in our glasses after dinner was still very enjoyable through dessert.