Wine Sediments

We all know Burgundy whites for their use of chardonnay grapes and, to a lesser extent, aligoté. But one Burgundy white is made up of 100% sauvignon blanc, and until its promotion to AOC status in January 2003, its VDQS name actually included the name of the varietal, a rarety in French appellations.
Sauvignon de Saint-Bris, a vin délimité de […]

Poor Sauvignon Blanc, often second fiddle to Chardonnay in the popularity hierarchy of noble white grapes, or reduced to being the object of snickers and grins as yet another person makes use of the “cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush” descriptor.
Far more than a country cousin or feline excretion, however, its zest for life and […]

 
  
My husband and I had hauled around this magnum bottle of 1988 Gaillac red wine for 15 years. It was a going-away gift when we left the Tarn department, where Gaillac is located, and it had taken rides in moving trucks from Albi to Tours in 1992, then from Tours to Rodez in 1995.
I would […]

Not all plans come to fruition. Just as not all bottles loveingly squirrelled away, fawned over, and stroked (OK, that’ll be just me then!) meet expectations.I have had this single bottle of Côte Rôtie in my ‘cellar’ for years. It never seemed the right moment to open it. Like many I guess the longer a […]

Fashion photo-goddess Donna Trope serves up a Valentine’s vision, with the help of Nicolas Feuillatte cuvée de prestige Palmes d’Or Rosé. A Champagne with cachet, meant for a different crowd, folks not afraid to stray from the Serengeti of style for the masses. The winery claims “a subtle animal hint makes this wine powerful and […]

I will probably be home sipping some sparkling Vouvray on Wednesday,  but if I had my choice of any Valentine’s Day dinner in the world, I would certainly whisk my husband off to Le Musée du Vin in Paris.
This year, the museum is offering a special Valentine’s Day dinner. The unforgettable evening will include a candlelight […]

Here in France, the land of elaborate holiday meals, I used to put myself out making complicated dishes for my family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Over the past few years, however, we have adopted “boudin blanc”, a plump white sausauge filled with ground chicken, veal or pork mixed with egg, milk and soft bread crumbs. It is […]

 While the French government hasn’t gone so far as to set up wine-tasting sessions in classrooms, a recent report released by the governing UMP party suggests that “wine classes” starting as early as primary school could help boost France’s sagging wine industry.
The document ”calls for young people to be taught the history and qualities of various types of French wine,” explains […]

I only found Viognier recently.  I was fixing grilled lobster for my wife’s birthday, and I don’t really drink a lot of white wines, so I asked a local wine shop what to drink with the grilled lobster.  They suggested a decently priced Viognier.
I have to say that this may be the white wine I’ve […]

It’s hard to believe, but in the France of the early 60s, viognier grew on a tiny space of 30 hectares; just for Condrieu  (8 hectares!), Château-grillet and Côte-rôtie. In the 1980s, the variety started to be used in Côtes-du-Rhône wines, and its production now covers well over 2500 hectares in France.
It is the unique grape […]