What's Going On in the World of French Wines

I’m working on a post on Bordeaux for later this week, but I had a really interesting wine last night and so I wanted to share it with everyone on the blog. A few months ago, I was in a wine store in my area when I spotted an interesting looking bottle of wine. The first thing that caught my eye was the label – it was one of those labels that grabs your attention – not because it is showy or there’s a cute animal, but because it was, well, so very pretty. Intrigued, I picked it up and was even more interested to see that it was made with organically grown grapes and that, best of all, it was priced at $9.99. So, naturally, I had to buy it!
So what’s funny about this is that the Les Chemins de Bassac Isa Rouge has been sitting in my wine fridge in my kitchen untouched since that impulse purchase. Every time I’ve gone to pull out a wine for dinner, I’ve looked at it and then thought to myself, am I really in the mood for this wine? I’m not really sure what made me hesitate to open the Isa – I think I was so excited to find it that I was worried that drinking the wine would be a bit of a let-down…amazing how sometimes you can be your own worst enemy!
Well, last night I made spaghetti and meatballs and when I went to grab a wine to serve with dinner, lo and behold, I discovered that I was out of my stash of everyday Italian wines. Yes, I keep a selection of inexpensive Italian red wines on hand to serve with my red sauce – I find that my tomato sauce tends to go best with either a Valpolicella or a Chianti. But I digress…so, unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, there were no Italian reds to be had. So I went searching through the other shelves to see what I could find. And that’s when I spotted the Isa, which had been languishing on the top shelf of the wine fridge for way too long.
What the heck, I thought – why not open it? I’ll admit it, I didn’t have high expectations – not only because of the potential problem of pairing it with my red sauce, but also because I had stupidly convinced myself that something that pretty, that reasonably priced and made with organically grown grapes wasn’t going to be all that tasty – it seemed just too good to be true. Well, silly me. The Isa was lovely, with soft earthy black fruits, notes of spicy plums and hints of ripe cherries. The tannins were fairly soft and the acidity and alcohol were balanced, but somehow the wine went very nicely with the sauce. Perhaps it was the addition of the meatballs to the sauce, but the combination was really enjoyable, and the wine that was left in my glass was equally delicious with my dessert of chocolate chip cookies.

The Les Chemins de Bassac Isa Rouge is a Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, which is located in the Languedoc, in the South of France. The wine is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and the grapes are all farmed organically. If you would like more information about the wine, I recommend checking the estate’s website.
So what did I learn tonight? Well, first off, it was a great reminder that I need to take my own advice when I spot something interesting – I need to not hesitate to open the wine once I get it home! I foolishly made some assumptions about the wine (the label’s too pretty and the wine’s too reasonably priced for it to be really good) that were definitely without merit. And this was a great reminder that there are wines made with organically grown grapes that can be found for under $10. So for all those people who say you have to pay extra for grapes grown without synthetic chemicals, the Isa is a terrific example of the value wines that are available these days. Finally, it was definitely a treat to discover a delicious wine that stood up to my red sauce – and I bet it would be great with a whole bunch of other dishes too!

I have to admit it – overall, I’m not such a big fan of Valentine’s Day. And it isn’t just because of the whole “what if you don’t have someone to spend the most romantic day of the year with” issue. No, personally, I find it tough to get excited about the prospect of overspending on a so-so meal at a crowded restaurant with a dozen outrageously expensive roses and a box of boring chocolates. Call me cynical, but I think that there are a lot of better ways to show someone how much you love them.
What might those be? Well, I’m glad that you asked. Instead of going out for a meal this Valentine’s Day, I would propose that you create your own night of romance with a delicious, but simple meal and a bottle of wine that will set the stage for an evening that you will both enjoy. And the wonderful thing about this idea is that you can even adapt this meal for a group of friends, so that no one has to feel left out of the celebration.

There are so many different ways to plan a menu that will work for Valentine’s Day. There are any number of foods that are considered aphrodisiacs and a variety of ingredients that are supposed to also encourage a feeling of romance. One list of foods that I came across included: Chile Peppers, Peaches, Mint, Ginger, Honey, Chocolate, Mangoes, Saffron, Almonds, Rosemary, Vanilla, Figs.
So, here’s my idea for a menu for Valentine’s Day based on using some of the above ingredients. Feel free to adapt it to fit your needs and your own taste preferences. First course: A spinach salad with figs, goat cheese, toasted almonds and strawberries with a honey poppy seed dressing. Second course: Grilled beef tenderloin that has been coated in salt, pepper and chopped fresh rosemary served with small roasted potatoes that have been tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Dessert: Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce (with optional whipped cream and cherries).

And my wine suggestions? For the first course, I would suggest a Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé and for the main course, a full-bodied red wine such as a Syrah from the Northern Rhône or a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend from Bordeaux. There’s also the possibility of using a wine with a little bit of a romantic theme to it – you might think about looking for a Beaujolais from the Cru of Saint-Amour. And you can’t forget a dessert wine for a Valentine’s Day meal. I have two suggestions for dessert – either an off-dry Champagne (to which I would add a raspberry in the bottom of each glass – just to provide a hint of red) or a fortified sweet wine, such as a Banyuls, which is a great pairing for chocolate. (Throw in a chocolate brownie and you are guaranteed to hit a home run on dessert.)

Keep the focus on simple ingredients that work well together and won’t require a lot of work in the kitchen and you will be assured a special meal. Sometimes, less is actually more when it comes to making a meal memorable.

And if you have any other suggestions for a wonderful (but easy) Valentine’s Day meal, please post your thoughts below - I’d love to hear about them!

Recently, as a favor to a very good friend, I conducted a small wine tasting for a group of graduate students. One of the guys in the group had inherited a number of California wines, mainly red wines from Napa and Sonoma, and he wanted to share them with his friends but also have everyone learn a little bit about wine in the process of tasting.

After I looked over the list of wines that we would be tasting, I decided to include two French wines – the first, a Pinot Noir as that was one of the red grape varieties for which we didn’t have a California wine represented, and the other, a Northern Rhone Syrah to serve as a compare/contrast partner for a Ridge 2002 Syrah.

I’d had a bit of a busy week with some travel, our continued quest to unpack and just general business, so I didn’t get a chance to pick up the French wines for the tasting until that day. So, while I was out running some errands, I decided to make a stop at a new wine shop near my house called HV Bottle Shop. As many of you know, as much as I love book stores and shoe stores, there is little that can compare in my mind to the joy of shopping in a wine store – especially a new one I don’t know. So while I literally only had 20 minutes to scan the shelves and make my purchases, I did have enough time to know that I had found a store with some very interesting and exciting wines. For the tasting I selected the 2003 Domaine Bruno Clair Marsannay “Les Vaudenelles” (around $18) and the 2006 Paul Jaboulet Aine Crozes Hermitage “Les Jalets” (around $22). I also picked up a few other goodies that I can’t wait to blog about, but I am going to save those for another post.

The wines all showed well, but I was particularly impressed with the Bruno Clair Marsannay, a delicious Pinot that demonstrated that there are definitely bargains still to be found in Burgundy, and one of the wines provided by the host for the evening, the 2001 A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley, which was showing beautifully with evolved notes of leather, blackcurrants and cassis fruit. Our Syrah comparison (Paul Jaboulet Aine Crozes Hermitage “Les Jalets” and the 2002 Ridge Syrah Dry Creek Valley) was also very interesting with both wines showing what different climates and oak techniques can do to a grape. The Jaboulet was a bit tighter and leaner, with bright acidity and notes of black pepper, cinnamon and cherry fruit while the Ridge was fuller and softer, still with some notes of black pepper and cherries, but also with hints of coconut and dill from the use of American oak. Both were delicious and well-made, but very different and everyone was intrigued by the comparison.

I have to admit, talking to a group of wine drinkers is always a pleasure, and when the wines are so well-made and fascinating, it is all the more fun (and easy to do!). And of course, it is always interesting to taste wines from multiple regions and see not only how palates and tastes in wine can vary, but also how grape varieties can change depending on where they are grown.

If you are interested in having your own wine tasting, one of the themes that is always interesting and easy to do is an Old World versus New World comparison. You can choose a Pinot Noir (like the Maison Joseph Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir), a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine (like the La Croix Bonis St. Estephe) and a Syrah-based wine (like the Laurent Miquel Syrah Vin de Pays d’Oc) from France, for example, and then choose 3 New World wines (there are plenty of options – look for wines from Australia, Chile, Argentina or the US). Let me know how your tasting turns out!

The other day I had the pleasure of lunching with Ray Isle, who is the Deputy Wine Editor at Food & Wine magazine. I’m a fan of Ray’s work and his musings on his Food & Wine Magazine Blog, so it was a lot of fun to have a chance to sit and chat.

We had lunch at a great new restaurant in NY called Allegretti. The food was delicious and the staff exceedingly friendly. Ray and I both had the Autumn Salad with assorted greens, anjou pear, gamonedo cheese, candied walnuts and a white balsamic walnut vinaigrette and for a main course, I choose a roasted chicken while Ray went with the lamb shank. I had brought along a few wines from my list for us to taste with lunch and we also decided we would select one wine from the restaurant’s list. The list has a great selection of French wines and they range from the very affordable to the super-duper-supreme-special occasion wine.

Given our mix of lamb and chicken, we settled on the 2004 Domaine Gauby “Vieilles Vignes” Cotes de Roussillon Villages. Domaine Gauby is a biodynamic producer and I had recently read some very interesting things about them in Monty Waldin’s outstanding book, Biodynamic Wines. The wine was, in a word, delicious. A blend of Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Syrah, it showed notes of violets, black fruits and minerals. The wine was elegant and balanced with juicy acidity and it went beautifully with both my chicken dish as well as the cheeses we sampled for “dessert.” I was so impressed it was all I could do not to take the rest of the bottle home with me…

But the biggest thing that stood out about the Domaine Gauby was that it was served at the right temperature. I’ve talked a lot about this on the blog before – about how we tend to drink our whites too cold and our reds too warm. This red, which was probably served at somewhere around 60 degrees, was perfect. The coolness enhanced the minerality and the acidity of the wine and made it seem more refreshing than any of the other wines we had on the table. Two of the wines I had brought along were some of my favorites on the list, but when served next to the Gauby, they seemed a bit too hot and dull.

My hat is off to Allegretti not only for a lovely lunch, but also for serving its red wines at the right temperature. This was a very good reminder to me of just how important serving temperature really truly is. If you have a chance, at your next get-together, I encourage you to try sampling the same red wine served at two different temperatures. Try opening one bottle that has been out on your kitchen counter all day long and the other that you have chilled in the fridge for 20 – 25 minutes prior to opening. See if you taste a difference between the two wines and be sure and let me know which wine tastes better to you. I’ll be waiting to hear from you!

OK, this might seem a little bit off-topic, but bear with me. Did anyone happen to see the article in the NY Times Dining and Wine section July 9th on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe? I don’t know if I have ever read another article in a newspaper that was quite so motivating or drool-worthy! I don’t know about you, but I will DEFINITELY be baking chocolate chip cookies within the next few days…

But I digress…One of the points of the article that did actually get me to thinking about wine had to do with the idea of letting the batter “age.” Apparently letting the chocolate chip cookie batter sit for a period of time (somewhere between 24 and 36 hours) before cooking can give you a better and more flavorful cookie. And that is, of course, when the little wine geek inside of me said, “Ah ha! See, chocolate chip cookies and wine DO have a lot in common!”

Aging cookie dough is a lot like aging wine it turns out. If you are like me, you’ve probably never aged your cookie dough prior to baking it (in my house I am lucky if we have any dough left to bake – eating the dough is our favorite part) and, like me, you didn’t think you were missing anything. But after reading this article, you can bet that I will be experimenting with aging the dough before cooking it – especially if it makes a richer and more flavorful cookie.

Which brings us, naturally, to wine. How many of you out there drink older wines? Research indicates that most of us drink our wines within LESS than 24 hours of buying them. Now, there really isn’t anything wrong with that – in fact, most wine experts will tell you that much of what is available on the market these days is designed to be enjoyed while youthful. Winemakers realize that most folks aren’t aging their wines – heck most folks don’t have wine cellars – and so wines today are a bit different from those made fifty years ago. But, that being said, there is something to the idea of aging a wine to give it time to become (like the chocolate chip cookie) richer and more flavorful.

There are many things that happen to wines as they age – red wines get a bit paler in color and move from being in the ruby red family to a garnet/brick color; white wines typically get a bit darker, going from lemon yellow to more of a golden color. Aromas also change. In “wine speak,” we say that the primary fruity aromas of a wine give way to complex and developed secondary aromas. So, for instance, a Cabernet Sauvignon might have notes of blackcurrants and vanilla while young, and then show a nose of cedar, leather and tobacco when older.

While most people think that red wines are the only wines that you should age, there are also white wines that are age-worthy. Wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Pinot Noir are several examples of red grapes worth aging, while wines made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling are great examples of age-worthy whites. Grape tannins and oak tannins, which can be found in both red and white wines, generally benefit from some time in bottle. Letting a highly tannic wine age will allow the tannins to soften over time and make them less astringent and drying in the mouth. This will make the wine taste much more mellow and soft – you might notice wine tasters talk about aging allowing for the tannins to become integrated into the wine – this is part of what they are talking about.

To see for yourself what aging can do for a wine, I usually recommend that you purchase a half case to a case of a good quality red wine. One to try from my list would be the La Croix Bonis. If you don’t have a wine cellar or a wine cooler, I would find a dark, cool spot in the back of a closet or in a basement where you can keep your wine. Mark the date you bought the wine on each bottle and then using either six or twelve month increments, mark each bottle with a “to be opened” date. You can even send yourself an email calendar reminder. You can taste the first bottle as soon as you buy the wine, then try another in six months and another six months after that. Make sure you take a few notes as you taste so that you can look back and compare each wine. I will guarantee that you will notice the wine changing over time and that this little experiment will give you a different appreciation for the aging process. And now, if you will excuse me, I think I am going to go do some experimenting with that chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Recently we packed up and headed to Gulf Coast of Florida for a weekend getaway/family reunion. The trip was, for summer travel, surprisingly easy, and the beach was fun for everyone – even me with my long-standing bizarre shark phobia. While out touring the area one day, I happened upon a local market with quite an extensive selection of wines. As I have said before, I don’t think I have ever been able to leave a wine store empty handed, especially when I see something I haven’t tried before.

Discovering wine on vacation can sometime be a bit risky, but I’m always up for trying something new. In this case, it was a most interesting wine, the Les Deux Terroirs, from Alexandre Sirech. With its very attractive and modern label, it was a bit of a surprise to see that the wine was actually classified as a vin de table, or table wine, according to the French wine classification system. In the past we haven’t seen a whole lot of French table wines here in the US, but as wine producers have started to get more and more creative, many French winemakers have used the vin de table category to make some interesting and unusual wines. The Les Deux Terroirs is a blend of Merlot from the South-west of France (ie, near Bordeaux) and Syrah from the South-east (ie near the Rhone). The wine doesn’t have a vintage, but the bottle indicates it was bottled in 2006 and would be best enjoyed from 2007-2010.

Soft, round and fairly full-bodied, I was impressed by the Les Deux Terroirs and it was exciting to see yet another French producer thinking outside the box (or bottle). I would have liked to have tried this out with either some grilled steaks or even some hamburgers, but that was the night that we were having shrimp over pasta topped with Bill’s aunt’s home-made pesto (which we paired with a very nice Sauvignon Blanc). So, we settled for enjoying the wine before dinner with some bread topped with an olive tapenade and a selection of hard cheeses. According to what I discovered on the Internet when I looked this wine up, it is only available right now in New York, Florida and Illinois. So if you happen to live in any of those markets, definitely see if you can find the Les Deux Terroirs and let me know what you think!

My friend Jill called me up the other day in a bit of a panic. She is throwing a party for her husband’s work associates and she needed some help with wine selections for the party. Apparently several of the people who will be attending are wine enthusiasts and Jill really wants to make sure that she has a good selection of wines for them to choose from.

I understand this dilemma – I’m often fielding calls from family members and friends who are in need of some help with choosing wines for one event or another. I’ve even received calls from friends who are out to dinner and don’t know which wine to choose from the wine list. While some people might get annoyed by this, I don’t mind – I’m happy to help. But it all makes me wonder what could be done to make it easier for people to select wines without my help.

I’d love to say that there is a particular formula, or one right wine that you can serve for every party, but that just isn’t realistic. No one wants to drink the same wine all the time – after all, you aren’t serving the same meal for every party, are you? But I do think there are some tricks of the trade that you can follow that can help you when you are looking for wines to serve.

First off, one of the things I always tell people is to find a wine store that you like and make sure that there is an employee there whose palate you trust. Don’t be afraid to ask for his or her suggestions. Ideally, these people are tasting almost every wine they stock and so they are going to be a great resource for you. They will be able to guide you to some new and exciting wines and help you steer clear of others you might not enjoy.

When it comes to serving wines at parties, as I told Jill, I recommend that you have one white and one red and also something bubbly on hand. Champagne is the ultimate bubbly, but if you’re looking for a more affordable option, I usually recommend something like a Cremant from Alsace. For a white wine, I generally look for a wine with fairly high acidity with moderate fruit flavors and little to no oak – you don’t want a wine that is too oaky or too full-bodied as that will make it difficult to pair with a wide variety of foods. And when you are having a party, the number one thing you are looking for in a wine choice is “food friendly-ness.” So I generally go with either a dry Riesling, a Sauvignon Blanc or a Pinot Gris. These three grapes are almost always appealing to a large audience and they are easy to match to a variety of foods.

For the red wine, I look for a wine with (again) good acidity and tannins that are on the moderate/approachable side – I don’t want a red that is too astringent – I find that my guests don’t enjoy it as much. Therefore, I frequently turn to red wines from the Southern Rhone or the South of France where the wines are typically a blend of Grenache and Syrah. Those wines tend to be very affordable and easy to drink, both with food or on their own. Another good choice can be a good quality Bourgogne Rouge – a pinot noir from Burgundy. Pinot noir is another very versatile wine, pairing well with both fish, chicken and beef dishes.

Hopefully you (and my friend Jill) find some of those tips helpful. But next time you are having trouble finding the right wines for your next party, just drop me a line. I’ll be glad to be of assistance!

Lately, my husband and I have been trying to teach our 2 yr old son, Peter, about the joys of family dinners. As Peter is usually not so keen on my taking up most of the afternoon to make a full 3-course meal, family dinners have turned into an experiment for me to try and come up with a fast, kid-friendly, yet still adult-friendly meal. And, of course, it has to be something wine-friendly.

This year I decided that it would be a great idea to buy a share in a local farm. We became members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA for short) program run by a local farm called Timberwood Organics. Each Thursday, Peter and I make a trip over to a local co-op and pick up our box of goodies. So far this spring we’ve eaten a lot of salad greens, kale, bok choi, spinach, strawberries and broccoli. Some of the produce that is included is stuff that I am (I will admit) not really used to cooking. But trying to figure out what to do with all the different veggies and greens is a lot of fun.

The CSA has become an important part of our family dinner nights. I figure it is a great way to introduce Peter (and us too, I guess) to a variety of different foods and flavors. And as he knows the whole routine we have about going to get the box and see what we have each week, he’s been a bit more interested in the food preparation when we get back to our kitchen. Not that this translates into a whole lot of extra time for food preparation – the meals still have to be pretty quick!

As it is still spring, one of the most prominent greens in our CSA box has been kale – and a lot of it. Several different types, in fact! So, I decided to search around for a recipe for kale that would be quick and easy and perfect for family dinner night. After a bit of hunting, I located a sausage and kale pasta dish. Luckily for me, the local farmers market also has a terrific purveyor of sausage, so I happened to have a bunch in the freezer as I tend to keep it on hand because Peter loves it (something that still amazes me).

It was a perfect meal for family night – quick, easy, pretty healthy, tasty and very wine- friendly. The hearty flavor of the kale and the spiciness of the sausage made me decide to reach for the Marc Kreydenweiss Perrières – a wine from my list that I really adore. It is from Costières de Nîmes in the Southern Rhone and is a blend of Carignan (50%), Syrah (25%) and Grenache (25%). It is a wine with a bit of earth, spice and meaty-ness to it – a perfect match with the sausage.

Next week we are going to be getting a bunch of snow peas from the CSA, so I have already starting thinking about what to do with those. If you have any fun (kid-friendly and fast) ideas, be sure to post and let me know.