Wine and I are good friends. More than imbibing the liquid, I enjoy the research. I love to take an exotic sounding label and look into what grapes, what region, what soil, what weather, and what external factors lead to the liquid gold. I can (and do, grin!) spend hours online, or at my local stores to lookup, read up, and chat with the store owners. During one of these frequent trips, the idea of holding a Wine Tasting with a group of folks took birth.
I pitched it to my boss's boss at work and she was all for it. We fixed a date and sent out a general invite to few colleagues, who we thought, were interested. We asked them to forward to others who might be interested too. We were going to hold it at work after hours with platters of cheese and fruits. I went to work on the selection (rather Bermans Liquor Store, Lexington did all the work, and from the suggestions they made, I researched them as far as I could). Unfortunately, our COO's mother passed away the day before, and it just wasn't right to hold a wine tasting on following day.
Apart from the above wine tasting open to as I call it 'general public' or 'faces', what I wanted to organize was a potluck with a small select close friends to taste 4-5 different wines. I put all my energy into the wine tasting and cheese pairing for this group. It took a while to settle on the wines. After some research, I settled for an All and Only French Wines! Duh! If I was going to hold my first wine tasting then may it be blessed with selections from the country that does it right! More over, kept it all in the years 2004-2005 that has been declared outstanding years
1. Domaine Cauhapé Jurançon Sec Chant des Vignes 2005
Color: Pale straw color
Properties: Very crisp and vibrant, Ripe Grapefruit, fresh flowers
Grape/Varietal: 100% Gros Manseng
Region: South/West France, just north of the Pyrenees (Spanish border)
Cheese pairing: Basque Shepherds Cheese (Sheep), AOC Ossau-iraty
{EDIT} My personal favorite! Shh! I have two more bottles squirrelled away.
2. Sylvain Bailly Quincy Les Grands Coeurs 2005
Color: Straw
Properties: Dry with typical notes of blackcurrant leaf
Grape/Varietal: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Loire Valley
Cheese pairing: Soft goat cheese (Chevre), Gouda (Cow), Madrigal (Nutty Creamy Swiss)
3. Bourgogne Rouge (Vin de Bourgogne) Domaine Coste-Caumartin 2005
Color: Red
Properties: Dry light bodied red
Grape/Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: Burgundy
Cheese pairing: Munster
4. Chateau Le Conseiller Jean Philippe Janoueix, 2005
Color: Deep Garnet
Properties: Loads of red aromatic fruit and explosive palate. Ripe currants, blackberries, and Vanilla all abound with a lengthy finish.
Grape/Varietal: Pinot Noir
Region: Bordeaux (Bordeaux Superieur)
Cheese pairing: Boursin or Roquefort (recommended)I had Gouda which worked just as well.
{EDIT} My second favorite! Shh! I have one more bottle squirrelled away.
Along with the wines and cheese we had plenty of grapes, homemade bread and rosemary breadsticks, antipasto platter, scallops with bacon, spinach+artichoke dips, grilled chicken sausage, spicy meatballs, pasta & orzo salads, fresh vegetables with dip and homemade apple pie.
All about the Apple Pie!
I am quite proud of that apple pie. I broke tradition and refused to stuff apple mix in between two sheets of pie crusts. Instead, I went with a single bottom layer of pie crust, and topped with a crumbly mix of flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was almost a cobbler in a pie crust! Using brown sugar made it all the more yummier than just plain old sugar. I used Granny Smiths and Pink Lady apples, both on the crisp side and almost equally balanced between tart and sweet. I chose the crisper apples, because I prefer my apple pie not to disintegrate into mush. It was baked just right with a little mushy, a little bubbly, the rest a bit soft and well integrated with spices and brown sugar. Yumm!
Lastly, I opened the one of my collection wines. We opened the: 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape "Cuvee Etienne Gonnet" Font de Michelle.
Color: Rich Garnet.
Properties: It is rich and smoky, with coffee, truffle and tar notes up front, but also plenty of plum, black currant and fig fruit. Long, rich finish lets the fruit and truffle notes play out nicely.
Grape/Varietal: 70% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre
Pairs with....nothing. Drink it on its own!
{EDIT} Lovely, lovely, lovely...... I wish I had more budget to get another bottle of the same.
It was fantastic evening, with good friends, good food and great wines.