Holidays Specials

IT'S ALMOST THE NEW YEAR!

Here's our last post of 2012 to let you know what we've been up to this week:



Holidays are the perfect time to enjoy special bottles...


We had the opportunity this week to taste two very special wines and a very rare cognac.


The first one is called Nita:


(45% Garnacha, 35% Cariñena, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah), 
It's a very dark red wine from Priorat, Spain, vintage 2009.
With a really intense nose, of ripe red berries, violets and flint, this wine also has beautiful notes of tobacco, chocolate and fresh cream.
Normally Priorat wines have a high alcohol level, but this one seems softer and lighter in alcohol.
It is fresh and easy to drink, with good acidity and juicy tannins. The finish is really long and delicate.




Priorat is one of the finest regions in Spain, similar to French Burgundy, making mostly red powerful wines. These are dark, purplish wines, very full-bodied and sometimes slightly astringent, but also with remarkable smoothness, balance and subtleties. 
The rocky hills of the region also give to the wines a great minerality, enabling the wine to be kept in cellar for 5 to 10 years.







The second wine is from the South East of France, called Hypogée, vintage 2002, AOC Maury. 

Normally this region is typical for sweet red wines. But this one has a garnet colour and intense liquorice and red fruits aromas. The palate is as sweet as a regular Maury, but the tannins are more present and deeper.
The finish is very long and refreshing, due to the liquorice sensation, making it a very remarquable wine.

The last special form 2012 is Tesseron Lot 29.

This is a very rare cognac from Grande Champagne, made from oldest stocks, in fact three generations of wines, from Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Folle Blanche.

This is the perfect mix between power and finesse.

I am not really good at cognacs tasting , but this one is very smooth, a exceptional balance between floral bouquet, mostly white flowers, and mocha notes.
I have tasted it with my grand father, uncles and younger brother. Though it was a very emotional moment to picture yourself drinking wines grown during at least 60 years. It was the occasion to talk about family memories, what we have all gone through during all this years, weddings, births and so on...

Its fruity, mocha and cocoa notes helped us being even more talkative...    ;)

Wherever you are celebrating your New Year, we hope it's a happy one with plenty of good quality wine!

Christmas come early

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

IFeelWine blog-team have been momentarily separated for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have more news for you!

 If any of you are feeling at a loss with what to do with your holiday time, here is a super recipe for some beautiful and slightly different Christmas Florentines. They are scrummy biscuits to have with tea or as ‘petits fours’ after Christmas dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

150g darking cooking chocolate

25g butter (plus a little melted for greasing)

75g caster sugar

10g plain flour

65ml double cream

50g blanched almond slivers

50g ground almonds

50g chopped candied peel

25g chopped glacé cherries

cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves for spicing

 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start by pre-heating the oven to 190ºC and prepare two baking trays with grease-proof paper and grease with a small amount of butter.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and add the sugar and flour. Once the mixture is smooth gradually add the cream, stirring continuously.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the chocolate – stir well and leave to cool.
4.  Lay the mixture out on the tray in heaped teaspoonfuls and flatten into shape.
5.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Take out when baked and leave to cool.
6. Melt the chocolate over a low heat and use it to coat the bottom cooled Florentines.

·      

          

      7. Leave on a cooling rack to set and then enjoy!

…And for the perfect pairing – Christmas has come early with some beautiful Château De Fargues, 2007 Sauterne.

THE SECRET BEHIND SAUTERNES:

Wines from ‘Sauterne’, an appellation in the south of Bordeaux, are made with rotten grapes (varieties: Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc & Muscadelle) that have been affected by ‘Botrytis cinerea’ or ‘noble rot’. As a result the grapes partially dry out, giving the fine wine result a sweet and more concentrated flavour.

 1^st level ‘Grand Cru Classé’ and 94-96 Parker Points

The perfect pairing with sweet treats. 

• In the glass the wine displays the classic glimmering marigold of a first class Sauterne.
• On the nose you can find honeysuckle and ripe stone fruits (peaches, apricots)
• The taste brings an exquisitely smooth texture and an added honey tone to the fruity notes, which really compliment the almonds in the Florentines.

Merry Christmas to all you all – Drink and Eat Well!

See you in the New Year!

Biodynamic is in the air

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS....and this week we decided to try something different in the spirit of upcoming festivities.


When        21st of December 2012

Where       a casual home tasting this time at Anne-Laure’s house in Bordeaux

What         Two biodynamic wines, a white from France and a red from Spain

      Since it was supposed to be the "end of the World", we decided to try something different, in case it would be our very last glass of wine! Anne-Laure did her internship in a wine shop called “Meilleurs Vins Bio”, near Paris. Since then she has been a massive fan of organic and biodynamic wines.

She picked up in her cellar 'easy' vintages and grape varieties so we could focus on the aromas due to the different culture of the vineyards.

Both opened an hour before we started the tasting, they were in perfect condition when  we all arrived (late as usual).

Viré-Clessé 2010 - Domaine de Roally - Gauthier Thévenet - Mâconnais - Bourgogne
Family estate, runned by the younger son, recently converted to biodynamic farming.
Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay
Aging: 12 months in French oak barrels
Appearance: golden and pretty shinny, with honey reflects
Nose: vanilla, white flowers (as honeysuckle) and white fruits (mostly pear)
Taste: mellow and sweet to start, but in the evolution it becomes fresher, juicy and crunchy like a fresh William pear, citrusy on the end and quite long.


Christmas dinner pairing: traditional 'Bresse' poultry in a creamy sauce and risotto, with truffles slices. The freshness of the fruits (citrus and pear) lighten up the creamy risotto, the truffle aromas enhance the vanilla flavour and the tenderness of the meat contrasts with the crunchiness of the wine.

Everyday pairing: Tarte Tatin, typical French apple pie, cooked upside down. The apples remain very soft - baked in toffee and butter, matching with the honeysuckle aromas. The pie crust is as crunchy as the wine and the seeded fruits (apple and pear) go well together. The citrusy feeling refreshes the lasting taste in the mouth.






Desierto 2008 - Azul y Garanza - Navarra – Spain
'Desert' as a wine name is not really appealing, but it refers to the soil and extreme conditions the vine has to go through in the part of Navarra.
Grape variety: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Aging: 15 months in French oak barrel
Appearance: deep garnet, with violet hints
Nose: ripe black fruits (blueberries or blackcurrants), very straightforward
Taste: Fresh but no wood at all, giving the impression of having a fresh blueberry on the tongue, with its silky texture and a soft delicate flavour, very light tannins, dominated by a nice fruit acidity, medium long as a finish, leaving a hot sensation in the throat but balanced in its own way.

Christmas dinner pairing: Italian beetroot carpaccio with fresh peppered goat cheese and roasted hazelnuts. The raw beetroot offers the same sweet sensation as the blackberries, but the pepper and hazelnuts will underline the very soft tannins to make them a little deeper.

Everyday pairing: fig and pistachio cake - the flavour of the figs brings a sweet contrast to the acidity of the black fruits. The pistachios enhance the freshness of the wine and add an impression of crunchiness.





SO.... Organic and biodynamic wines are supposed to taste really different from the others. The more sceptical often say these wines smell like stable and wet hay. After drinking these two, it was not my impression at all. We were quite surprised by their aromas, but would not be able to distinguish them from conventional grown wines. 

All in all a pleasant evening - be sure to taste some bio-wines yourselves if you are ever offered the chance!