Happy Beaujolais Nouveau Day!

Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the Gamay grape – it’s light and soft with aromas of strawberries and cherries.

The bright fruit, bubble gum flavors are enhanced by the process of carbonic maceration (whole berry fermentation).

By law, Beaujolais Nouveau must be released the third Thursday in November of the harvest year.

Beaujolais is a region in Burgundy known for it’s granite and schist soils which enhances the character of the wine – it’s (almost) all about terrior.

The vast majority of Beaujolais Nouveau wine is not age-worthy and is intended to be enjoyed directly upon purchase.

If you haven’t tasted Beaujolais Nouveau, give it a try – it’s light, inexpensive and available for a limited time – once the current vintage runs out, you will not see this wine again until next November.

Destroyed Vines

I saw this article on decanter.com and wanted to share. What a tragedy!

Just to make it clear – I am copying and pasting this article directly from www.decanter.com…..

Thousands of Medoc vines vandalised

Wednesday 21 March 2012
by Jane Anson in Bordeaux

About 2,000 young vines have been vandalised causing tens of thousands of euros damage at a Medoc estate.

One of Chateau Labat’s vines cut off at the stem

The plot of Merlot vines at Chateau Labat, a 7-hectare cru bourgeois estate in AOC Haut-Medoc, was attacked on Friday night, possibly by a gang, the owners suspect.

The vines, in the commune of Saint-Laurent-du-Medoc near Pauillac, were not located next to a main road, and accessible only through a main gate to the estate, indicating that the vandals may have specifically targetted the site.

The plants were cut between 8cm and 12cm from the base, with almost all of the shoots and buds cut off. Around one third may be able to produce fruit again, but the rest have been destroyed, meaning a huge loss in terms of lost plants, and manpower.

‘It is the symbolic value that is most shocking,’ owner François Nony, whose family have owned Labat since 1920, and who also owns the 38-hectare Chateau Caronne Ste Gemme, told Decanter.com.

‘We have been racking our brains as to who could possibly have done this. Clearly they were very determined. For one person alone, cutting this many vines would have taken around six hours of work, so I have to assume there may have been more than one criminal.’

The plot of 5,500 vines had been planted in 2011, and was due to be used in the wine next year, for the 2013 harvest. Between 1,900 and 2,000 vines – around 20 rows – were damaged.

A police enquiry has been opened in Pauillac, but there are no obvious lines of enquiry.

Nony is vice-president of the Alliance Cru Bourgeois, working to promote the wines of the Medoc. ‘As part of the promotions team, I deal with the good news, not the bad news, and can’t see why that would attract anger. We do have occasional staff issues at the estate, as does everyone, but again I can’t see that they have been so severe as to cause this anger towards my family.’

Although extremely rare, this is not the first time that vines have been criminally damaged in Bordeaux. In March 2006, the Cathiard family, owners of Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte, found 800 of their vines had been destroyed at their Chateau Cantelys estate in Pessac Leognan.

Early Harvest For Champagne

It seems global warming is rearing it’s ugly head. Let me share this article straight from www.decanter.com. And by “straight from” I mean literally copied and pasted for your reading convenience. I don’t want to get in trouble for claiming I wrote any of the below.

The 2011 Champagne harvest will be one of the earliest on record, with picking allowed to start as early as 19 August.

The region’s trade body, the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) has permitted the earliest ripening areas to pick from 19 August including the villages of Cumieres, Sacy and Damery in the Marne Valley, and Buxeuil, Neuville-sur-Seine, and Polisot in the Aube.

Thibaut le Mailloux, communications director at the CIVC, told decanter.com ‘2011 is going to be an extremely early harvest in the region of Champagne, missing the absolute record of 2003 by one day only.

‘The 2011 harvest is indeed starting on August 19 in several crus of the French departments of L’Aube and La Marne, for Pinot Noir and Meunier – and as soon as on the 20 for Chardonnay. 90%¨of the vineyards will basically have started to harvest by August 25.’

The only other harvest that commenced this early occurred 189 years ago, in 1822.

All but two crus are allowed to harvest their grapes before September with the two late starters – Baye and Germaine in the Marne – required to wait until 1 September to harvest their crop.

The early ripening Pinot Meunier is the first variety to be picked, followed by Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Who Knew…A Shoe!

Now here is an interesting way to open a bottle of wine (complements of YouTube – who else)!

I was just curious enough to try this myself. After studying the video I gave it a try but my bottle just wouldn’t open. I thought maybe for some peculiar reason it was because I was trying to open a white wine. So I went back to my wine stash and this time grabbed not only a red, but a French red thinking maybe the French bottle their wine specifically so it can be opened with a shoe. Maybe they often have reason to use their shoe instead of a simply adequate wine opener. After this attempt, I was left in the same place I was after attempting to open the white wine…only now I have two bottles of wine who have lost their foil and are waiting to be uncorked. If you succeed, please tell me your secret.

A Little Slice Of Burgundy

The excitement continues to bubble in the Overstreet’s wine adventures. In May, we took a trip to the Burgundy region of France where we purchased a small plot of a vineyard in a village by the name of Villars Fontaine (not far from the famous Romanee Conti vineyards).

The Chateau de Villars Fontaine, the winery of the same name, and the adjacent vineyards are owned by Monsieur Bernard Hudelot who planted them in the 1970’s and is now selling the land in shares. Our “plot” of land is 214 square meters or about two times as big as the house where we’re currently living. As I write this, approximately 2/3 of the total available shares are sold. Besides the fun of “owning” a small plot of a vineyard and “investing” in a small part of the winery operations in one of the world’s great wine regions, we can also purchase high quality vintages at affordable prices. I probably don’t need to tell you that having a few hundred bottles of fine, Burgundian wine in our personal wine stash is a very lovely situation.

Villars Fontaine produces Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the varietals this region is famous for, using traditional methods to create superior wines intended to be aged for long periods. Monsieur Hudelot also recently resurrected Gamay in an attempt to change it’s stereotype from a mediocre wine to one that can also be a great, long-aging wine. To me, Monsieur Hudelot does amazing work with his wines that sets them apart – first, he ages them for a very long time (whites 18 months, reds 30 months) and second, because of the barrels he uses, the wines come out not overly oaky but complex, smooth and balanced. This is due, in part, because Monsieur Hudelot contracts a single barrel maker who, over a three year period, slowly and naturally air dries the French oak staves used in the barrel production. This process eliminates the rough tannic properties of the oak. The long aging process in contact with the naturally dried wood enhances the structure and helps to produce the brilliant result so elegantly emanated in the wine. The whites can easily sit in the cellar and improve for 10+ years and the reds for 30+ years.

In May, we brought home the 2005 vintage. The Chardonnay is already delightful but can, amazingly to us, age some more (if we can keep it around long enough). The Pinot Noir is showing great potential as it gives us a hint of what is to come. We found ourselves back in France in June, so we visited the winery again and purchased about 100 bottles of the 2002 vintage of both varietals. The whites are stunning – smooth, subtly complex, perfectly balanced! The reds – still not at their intended drinking age, appear to be slowly working their way to excellence.

So, we have officially started a cellar and look forward to tasting the progress of the wines we purchase as they show their complexity and style in a new way each time we treat ourselves to a glass. It is sort of like they are starting out in a comfortable, cotton dress and working their way up to the perfect, little, black dress.

If you’re interested in owning a little slice of Burgundy for yourself, the “ownership” involves the purchase of a plot of a vineyard and advanced purchase of about 100 bottles of each current year’s vintage, to be picked up two to four years later when properly aged, bottled, and released. Please feel free to contact me for more information.

Written with assistance from Stevie Bobes, Chateau de Villars Fontaine

Buying Gourmet

This weekend, I was making a vinaigrette for a salad and as I was doing so, it dawned on me……”Hey, the ingredients I’m using are authentic – the “real deal” – from the places that made them known.

My ingredient list consisted of Dijon mustard that I actually just purchased a week ago in Dijon. Olive oil that I picked up from a small Tuscan town by the name of Scarlino. Lemon juice that was extracted from the lemons I picked on the tree behind my little Italian villa and herbs grown in the backyard.

As I pondered how awesome this predicament I found myself so gloriously in was, I thought about my blog and how this would be a perfect way to share with you a great website I found – igourmet.com. It’s a wonderful site to buy gourmet food from around the world (i.e. Dijon mustard from Dijon, olive oil from Italy, etc). I found igourmet about 5 years ago. I was living in Kansas and absolutely “Jonesing” for a tasty cheese I had at a bed & breakfast in Kinsale, Ireland several years ago. My biggest obstacle was that I knew the cheese was from only one area of Ireland and nowhere else. I started searching the internet and reigned victorious when my search led me to igourmet.com. I purchased the cheese and was estactic when it arrived and tasted as good as I remembered.

Another time, I spotted a way cool salt cellar in a pricey mail order magazine. I really wanted it, but just couldn’t justify the cost – a whopping $89 for the cellar with some fancy, grey salt. By chance, I was shopping through the internet pages of igourmet looking for something else when I stumbled on the exact same salt cellar I was envying from that other place. The great news, this one didn’t come with the fancy salt, but it was only $10! I’ve been enjoying my $10 salt cellar ever since. 🙂

So, as you can see, this is a great site full of the ordinary and extra-ordinary! I highly encourage you to scour the internet pages of igourmet.com. If you’d like, you can click on the banner on the right side of my blog and receive a 5% discount. By the way, most of the items I mention on my blog are available on igourmet.com so keep this in mind if you’re “Jonesing” for something gourmet. Have fun!

In case you’re interested, here’s the recipe for the vinaigrette:

Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
Juice of 1 lemon
1 TB basil
1 TB parsley
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
Whisk together lemon juice, herbs, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Gradually add the olive oil until combined.

Chevre in France

I have recently returned from a trip to the South of France. Another way to say it would be, I have recently returned from a week splurging on delicacies like foie gras, lamb, duck, tapenade, crepes, pain au chocolat, crème brulee…..I could go on and on but will just say “etc.” I’m in need of a fat detox program now but the experience was well worth every ounce of fat gained!

As most people know, France is known for their many decadent foods, but the one that stood out to me this trip is the goat cheese, Chevre. Chevre in French literally means “goat.” I’ve had plenty of goat cheeses, but none like these. They were the freshest I’ve ever tasted – soft, delicate and possessing the distinct talent of being tangy and subtle simultaneously. A few were topped with “savory” – an herb mixture that tastes like thyme with a pinch of rosemary and a teeny bit of sage. Frequently, it was served with fresh baguette, something the French have perfected more than anyone else. Many times during the week, my lunch obsession was mesculin beautifully presented with a lightly herb-breaded disk of warm Chevre looking up at me from the center of the salad and oozing out seductively when cut open.

Chevre comes in many shapes – logs, disks, cones and even pyramids. It is often topped with herbs, ash, pepper or leaves. Some of the most famous Chevre comes from along the banks of the Loire River. Traditionally, the cheese is handmade on farms with small goat herds where the land is lush and the climate moderate.

There are soft, young forms or hard, aged forms of Chevre. The soft, young variety reminds me of a texture somewhere between cream cheese and Feta. It is mild and creamy making it ideal for melting on fancy gourmet pizzas. It is also good in sandwiches, breaded for an upscale salad or appetizer, or simply served on a cheese platter with crackers or baguette. The hard, aged variety is dry and firm. It is slightly sharp and acidic. Some say it tastes similar to Gouda. Whatever the case, it is a lovely addition to sandwiches, pastas and cheese platters.

If all this talk of Chevre is making your mouth water, I encourage you to explore the world of artisan cheese and hunt down a log, disk, cone or pyramid. And let me encourage you to wash it down with a white wine from the Loire region, a Sancerre perhaps. By the way, many U.S. goat dairies produce some pretty darn good versions that can stand up quite well to the French…..just don’t tell them that I said that.

Another link for buying Chevre