Provence night.

So about a week and a half ago my girlfriend were in the mood to have a feast and our dear Chicago winter had been treating us to some particularly frigid weather conditions so we decided that feasting on some food from the sunny South of France might be just the ticket.
This is what we ended up making: a very simple potato dish that involves baking slices of potato and sticking some rosemary and garlic underneath very simple and savory; another easy dish that turned out to be a new favorite of mine- scallops baked with red bell pepper tomato, thyme, tomato, and garlic; and, just to deviate from the theme, some Pugliese stuffed yellow peppers.
To go with all this I picked out a 2006 Chateau Pradeaux Bandol Rose and, as a back up, a Cotes de Provence rouge from the negociant Jerome Quiot. I figured the rose would be perfect given the fact that all the dishes revolved around vegetables and that we didn't have any substantial meat presence. Instead of finding out if my estimation was on or not we found out that even Bandol rose does not keep well with the fruit totally gone just leaving the acid and alcohol at this point. I have to say, however, that Chateau Pradeaux is a very good producer, so I do not attribute this unfortunate experience to the ineptitude of the producer but simply to the fact that we were drinking the wine about 7 seven months after the intended consumption date.
The aforementioned red was almost equally disappointing with some nice fruit and spice aromas in the nose but the palate seemed like it was not quite yet done: fruit was light and there was virtually no structure provided by tannin or acid- definitely not what I expected...
Anyways, the highlight of the night was surely the scallop dish. I hadn't had scallops in months (maybe even a year!) so I sure was surprised when this simpled recipe yielded such a great dish. I really, really, wished that the rose had showed better because I couldn't imagine a dish better suited to Bandol Rose. The blending of sweet scallops and red bell pepper, with garlic, olive oil, and some nice tomato acid was so refreshing it really made me feel like I was hanging out in a place in Avignon or Arles wiping sweat from my brow.
That is all for now, if I am feeling generous I will post the recipe for the scallop dish, if not you will be treated to more of me talking about lame wine and food drudgery.
Mark!

...and we're BACK!

So this last week or so was a pretty tough one- everyone at work has been passing around sickness and just when I thought I had gotten rid of it- BAM! It cam right back, and given my habit of not sleeping enough, I think my system wasn't quite as ready as it should have been. Anyways, the point is that I have been sick for the past week and all wine I have smelled or tasted barely gave me any impressions so I have not been posting as usual, and for that I apologize. The good news is that in the past couple days that I have been well I have tasted a couple of things that are really worth talking about so I will have some words in a few. Also of note, I will be in Italy from the 1st until the 5th so I will try my best to taste as much wine as possible and I will bring my laptop so I can keep people filled in on anything spectacular.
Mark!

Everything in it's Right Place

Last night I had dinner with a friend at a Moroccan restaurant on Clark Street called Casbah. He had just returned from visiting his family in Bordeaux, part of whom owns a Chateau in Pessac-Leognan called Chateau d’Eyran. Chateau d’Eyran has fifteen hectares of sandy limestone soil in a village named St. Médard d'Eyrans. The vineyard is planted to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. The same family has owned Chateau d’Eyran since the 18th century and today is made by a man named Stéphane Savigneux. Grapes are hand harvested and aged in oak barrel for one year.
Unfortunately, d’Eyran is not available in Chicago, but my friend brought back a few bottles of 2000, one of which we took to the restaurant.
Upon opening the wine was showing more oak on the nose than I would have liked, but quickly evolved aromatically. About a third of the way through the bottle, fruit and mineral flavors had digested the wood, and by the last glass, the stoney, limestone components were roaring from mid-palate to finish. This was a well-proportioned Bordeaux, at 12.5% alcohol, with good tension between fruit, tannin and eventually, oak. The mid-palate was dense and broad, but avoided clumsy over-extraction, the finish laden with red fruits and Pessac gravel. The wine demonstrated what Bordeaux is at it's best, digestable but captivating and designed with harmony in mind.
For dinner, I ordered skewered lamb chunks over couscous. The meat was savory and tender and typical for me, everything was gone from my plate too quickly. As expected, the wine and lamb were great together, never speaking over the other, but sharing a pleasant, multicultural conversation. I was disappointed when my plate and glass were empty.

More interesting wine from Friuli

Just when it seems like you've tasted everything or you start to get bored with wine something always comes along and teaches you that you can never taste everything, and there will always be something new and different to grab your attention. We were tasting through some wines from Friuli, the region in the upper Northeast corner of Italy and I saw on the table a new wine from a producer whose wines have a bit of a cult following. Based in Valeriano in the Eastern side of Friuli, Emilio Bulfon produces wines from grapes that are native to Friuli- grapes which he saved from extinction, and which only he produces. While I know that I tasted through all of his wines last year with him at VinItaly, I was shocked when I saw the new label. The wines I was most familiar with are single varietal wines and it was surprising that this was a blend of some of them. All of the grapes are hand harvested and the final blend is 35% Piculit-Neri, 15% Forgiarin, 15% Cjanorie, and 35% Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso. I have been surprised in the past by his wines, but this really surprised me.
The nose was showing lots of fruit, though not at all candied or baked- very fresh. In the mouth persistent fruit was backed up by plenty of acid and the finish is clean, juicy, and minerally but showing some nice tannin for structure. The alcohol level was higher than most Friuli reds but I think I can deal with it because the wine is so balanced.
If I can think of one big problem it is that it is really hard to sell people things that taste nothing like anything they have ever had. Sure I could say this sort of reminds of really young Merlot from Bordeaux blended with a young Barbera D'asti or something like that but there are probably only a handful of people for whom my description would provide some sort of idea of what to expect. My point is: the more we explore and expose ourselves to more unique, varietals, the more reference points we gain, and that means we can all try new things without being afraid of not liking it. My advice is that if you ever see a wine made by Emilio Bulfon- you can tell which ones are his, all his labels look somewhat like the one above- you should pick it up. They are all wonderful expressions of grapes that might not ever try if you didn't make an effort. Go forth! Discover the World is full of treasure!
Mark!