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.

Mastropietro Wine Taste, Feb 15th

This week's Thursday Night Flight Night was a unique experience. John and I decided that as local wine represenatives we should promote local wineries and wine makers. The first in our series of Ohio Wine Makers is our good friend Dan Mastropietro. Dan, being a long time hobbiest, recently realized his dreams and created an new cutting edge wine making facility in Berlin Center, Ohio. While still young in his wine making Dan has proven to create some very elegant representations of California classics. Because Dan currently buys all his fruit (he expects his first yeild on his newly planted vines next year) all of his bottles are labeled without vintage. As he begins to create more wine from his own grapes that should change. But anyway, with good wine comes good food. Chef Tim King put out a roasted red pepper bruchetta and a cheese platter to accompany the wine for the evening.

We started the taste with the sweetest and most popular white the winery has to offer. Dolce Bianco (retailing at $12) is 100% Niagara grape with a 12% ABV & a pale yellow gold complexion. The nose has fresh pineapple, grapefruit, and carnation with a hint of mushroom in the finish. Dolce Bianco is off-dry upfront but not cloying, leading to a subtle acidic tang in the mid-palate and finishing balanced with a slight citrus tone of navel and cranberry. This was definitely a crowd pleaser on Thursday, and as one patron mentioned led to a sense of nostalgia of early wine of the North East States (his grandmother grew Niagara grapes). Try this wine with a grilled chicken breast topped with a pineapple chutney or a deep fried calamari tossed in a Thai vinaigrette and topped with roasted corn and tomato relish.

Next we moved to the Chardonnay (retailing at $14). At 14% ABV this golden hay colored wine had a creamy & floral essence with a slight nutty tone. Mellow and light fruit lead to a smooth effortless buttery finish. The overall simplicity to this wine was refreshing proving that this nicely balenced and quite easy drinking wine could hold up to many of the American Chardonnays in the same price point. Pair this wine with a warm goat cheese and artichoke salad with asparagus and fresh greens tossed with a lemon vinaigrette or an apricot glazed barbeque half chicken with rice.

The people's choice for the taste was the Chambourcin (retailing for $12) at 12% ABV. Chamboucin is a fungus resistant hybrid varietal that was popular in the seventies as a table wine in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. The late ripening quality of the grape makes it a great candidate for growth in the cooler Ohio climate. This light ruby wine has elements of cherry, black raspberry, and a hint of brussel spout on the nose. Light and fruity in style with a slightly tart semi-dry finish this wine proves to be an excellent representation of the Chambourcin grape. Try this wine with a ricotta and asiago stuffed hungarian pepper in a tomato and red pepper pommodoro sauce.

The fourth wine of the evening was Dan's Merlot (retail $16) with a 13% ABV. His cloudy pale red wine had a unique take on the Merlot grape. The nose led to nutty tones with ripe berry and a slight kick of petrol in the back end. This medium-bodied Merlot is fruity in the mid-palate with a long dry semi-oaked & slightly spicy finish. I could only assume that Dan Mastropeitro takes French approach at this varietal which may be the reasoning in the subtleness of this wine. This Merlot specifically would make a great addition to any blend. Try drinking this wine with orange glazed pork tenderloin served with roasted potato wedges & steamed garlic broccoli.

We ended the taste with my favorite wine (of course). Mastropietro's Zinfindel (retailing at $16) is a modest 12.5% ABV and deep ruby in color, although not opaque. The nose offers light cherry & raspberry with slightly creamy tones. A Fruit-forward Zinfindel with off-dry plum flavors in the mid-palate and a bitter-sweet chocolate oaked finish that leads to a short burst of black pepper in its' grand finale. This is a very elegant example of a light, balanced Zinfindel without overpowering fruit. This wine would go great with a pan seared duck breast finished with a Zinfindel port wine cranberry reduction.

Thanks again, for reading this blog and I hope it's helping you keep your wines organized. This Thursday we will be featuring an all French taste with the wines from European Imports. I hope to see you all there and remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.

Please check out the Mastropeitro website at: www.mastropietrowinery.com
or check out the Ohio Wine Producers Association at: www.ohiowines.org