Friday, February 23, 2007

French Taste, Feb. 22nd 2007

This week at the Thursday Night Flight Night, John and I tried something different. We focused strictly on French wine for our selections. John's real passion is French wine and over the past couple months he has given me a nice spectrum of knowlege on French wine and wine making processes. The wine we presented was all from European Wine Imports. The company is owned by a French man Franck Kakou whose old world connections allow him to import some very interesting wines (I've supplied the catalog on the link). For this taste Chef Tim King put out a mixed cheese platter and shrimp hush puppies.

We started this taste with a sparkler from the Loire, Guy Allion Cremant 2003 (retail $18). Cremant is a term used to describe quality spakling wine made outside of the Champagne appellation. Cremant is produced in the Alsace, Die, Burgundy, Loire, Limoux, and Bordeaux appellations. Because each appellation has different grape varietals and terrior Cremant takes on many different characteristics depending on where it comes from. In the Loire Chenin Blanc is the main grape used in Cremant. Guy Allion uses a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc to create a stable sense of finesse in his wine. Pale hay in color, this Cremant has heavy nutty and creamy tones in the nose with a hint of tropical fruit like banana. Creamy upfront with nice full fruit in the mid palate leading to a long crisp finish. Try pairing this wine with jumbo sea scallops and shrimp topped with a Gruyere sherry cream sauce and served with a potato pancake, sautéed spinach and sundried tomatoes.

Next we tried a wine from Burgundy, Domaine Hervé AZO 2005 Chablis (retail $18). Chablis is made from 100% Chardonnay grape. In the late 1970's, Hervé Azo took some time off from his job in the Parisian advertising business to pick grapes in Chablis during the vendanges. He never returned. In his vineyards he only grows Chardonnay near the village of Milly. The wines here are aged exclusively in stainless steel vats to retain the classic mineral qualities that the chardonnay grape attains in Chablis. This Chablis is light gold in color with a light creamy nose and floral tones. A fruit-forward full bodied wine lightly oaked with a sharp, crisp, slightly lemony finish. There is a nice amount of mineral and acidity in the unfiltered wine, which was evident in crystals on the cork. These crystals are actually tartrates deposited by wine's naturally high level of tartaric acid. As a note, we drank this wine extremely early. I wanted to represent a Chablis in the taste but couldn't find anything old enough that fit into my budget. Most people at the taste turned their noses at this wine and I feel as though it was my fault. Chablis traditionally won't even be released out of the vineyard without being three years bottle aged. This wine could sit down for another ten years before it is fully blossomed. Try pairing this wine with sliced, spiced pork tenderloin with a sweet mashed potato, caramelized onions, and an apple-raisin chutney.

Going back to the Alsace, our third wine was Domaine Georges Brunet Vouvray 2005 Demi-Sec (around $14). In essence Vouvray is Chenin Blanc and Chenin Blanc is Vouvray with George Brunet producing both a still and sparkling version of the appellation. Vouvray owes it sweetness to noble rot or botrytis which is a tricky white grape fungus that wine makers embrace to achieve fine sweet wines. For the most part, the high end Vouvray's are high in acidity and ultimately need to be bottle aged for anywhere up to thirty years before they are ready to drink. George Brunet however takes a more commercial approach with less bottle aging required for the wine. This wine is pale gold in color with light vanilla and floral tones in the nose. Light upfront and slightly off dry in the mid palate leading to a creamy finish with a hint of acidic citrus tang making this wine a nice, balanced, easy-drinker. As John mentioned in his notes, this wine is a great replacement for the cookie-cutter Chardonnays from California. Try matching this wine with a jumbo crab cake served with field greens, tomatoes, fried blue corn tortillas and finished with a Cajun corn aioli. Check out George Brunet's website at: www.vouvray-brunet.com

Moving on to red we started with Chateau Les Quatre Filles Cotes-du-Rhone Villages Cairanne 2005 (retail $15). This blend of Grenache and Syrah (the two main red grapes of this region) are from a vineyard near the village of Cairanne in the Southern Rhone. This small old (est. 1715) family-run winery which translates to Castle of the Four Girls prides itself in taking an organic approach to their vineyard management. The winery does not weed the vineyard or use pesticides, and only uses organic maures to promote growth in their vines. This wine is deep red, almost plum, in color with blackberry and cranberry tones leading to a light hint of strawberry and oak in the nose. Strong fruit-forward deep plum in the mid palate leading to a crisp long dry tannic tobacco finish. Try this wine with sautéed wild mushrooms, leeks, and spinach served over pasta and topped with a gorgonzola cream sauce. For those of you who speak French, or if you'd just like to check out photos of the winery check out:www.chateau-4filles.com/

We finished the taste off with Chateau Gonin 2004 Bordeaux (retail $14). If there is one French region every wine drinker has heard of it is Bordeaux. Bordeaux houses the much coveted wines of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Latour to name a few. This 50% Cabernet Sauvignon 50% Merlot blend is one among many of the baby brothers to Chateau Laville. Chateau Gonin is ruby in color having a huge leather, smoke, light cherry, and a hint of petrol on the nose. A deep, balanced and gentle fruity start lead to a long, rounded finish. This is a classic representation of the Bordeaux style. Sit this wine down for ten years and marvel as it opens, becoming increasingly soft. Try this wine with a dry rubbed filet mignon served with goat cheese mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

I know that reading French labels and understanding their wine is overwhelming, but I hope this taste broke any misconceptions people have about French wine, and I hope this blog helped you understand French wine a bit more. I would be happy to respond to any questions or comments you post about French wine or wine in general. Thanks again for reading and until next time remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.

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