Rhône Wines

December 10, 2015 1

Domaine Les Valdons’ Petit Marché de Noël Authentique

If you will be anywhere near Cucuron on December 19th, visit Domaine Les Valdons for their Petit Marché de Noël Authentique. Proprietors Maryline and Louis-Michel Bremond invite all to enjoy a collection of local produce including foie gras, custom-order [...]

December 5, 2015 7

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Muscat Love

It's been twelve months of Provençal wine and food pairings now, and I imagine you have seen some patterns. I love pairing special meals with special wines, and sharing the experiences with special people. Which makes me chuckle when I think of how the French use the descriptor "special" in not so nice a way. «Ouai, ça c'est très SPECIAL...» But, I digress... [...]

November 1, 2015 27

Musings of a Wine Maven
BARREL TASTING CONTINUES IN FRANCE NOTWITHSTANDING THE ENTENTE CORDIALE

It’s funny how one can misconstrue history, imagining the raison d’être of certain events to be one thing, and then being surprised to learn that reality is quite different. Such was the case when I moved to France in 1988. At that time, I was vaguely aware of some sort of official agreement between the French and the English termed the Entente Cordiale. At the time I did not realize it was originally a alliance pertaining to political and military relations, rather assuming the document was drafted and accepted (in 1904) to signal a new era of conviviality between two nations that shared a 1,000 year history of dislike, bordering [...]

October 10, 2015 4

COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE

It’s all about skin contact. Well, almost.

Minimal skin contact is the simplest explanation for the beautiful pale colors of the world’s most popular rosés. Of course I am referring to rosés from Provence, where pink wine has been made for over 2600 years, giving winemakers there ample time to perfect their rosé [...]

September 27, 2015 12

A CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE IN HONOR OF POPE FRANCIS

Since the arrival of Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. and his stirring address to Congress—rousing all but the most lackluster members of this elite audience—I have been riveted by his words to each of the disparate groups he would go on to meet. No matter what one’s political or religious beliefs may be, there seemed to be something for [...]

April 12, 2015 3

A BARREL TASTING AT THE TARDIEU – LAURENT CELLARS

Tardieu–Laurent is one of the premiere négociants in the Rhône Valley, and their cellars happen to be located in our favorite village Lourmarin. I began to hear about them soon after we discovered Lourmarin in the late-1990s, a few years after Michel Tardieu and Dominique Laurent [...]

March 7, 2015 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
The Blonde Bombshell

Until Susan sent me this bottle, I had never even heard of a white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. She was very excited for me to try it and, in fact, asked me to move my intended March pairing to April. I asked her about the wine and one description that kept returning was "full-bodied." And full-bodied it is. The color that poured from the exquisite bottle was much richer than I expected from a French white. It is the color of honey, one of the two prominent flavors in this powerhouse of a wine. The other - actually, the dominant flavor - is pear. I hesitate to say this because I don't want you to think this wine [...]

February 7, 2015 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Surprise Me!

When you have a 2006 Côtes du Rhône in the wine rack, you don't just serve it with anything, especially if it is a Rasteau. This is a wine for certainty, not a wine you pull when you're serving a frozen dinner. (Okay, I know anyone who reads this blog is most likely not making a TV dinner, but you get my point.) If I were to think of things to serve with a Rasteau, salmon would not leap to mind. Yet, I do know that, if your guests are solely red wine drinkers, a Côtes du Rhône is a good choice for salmon. So, for today's pairing I actually surprised myself, and in a good way. I decided to put my [...]

February 5, 2015 0

Snow Falls in Provence’s Southern Rhône Valley

Henri Bungener, proprietor of Le Clos de Caveau in the Vacqueyras appellation of the Rhône Valley wine region, reported that 6 inches of snow fell on his vineyard overnight on Tuesday. [...]

August 11, 2014 0

Grape news from Le Clos de Caveau

Up in Vaqueyras, Henri Bungener, proprietor of Le Clos de Caveau, reported that the vineyard is back on track for the usual mid-September harvest. The warm spring, a harbinger of a slightly earlier harvest, was offset by a cool July. [...]

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