3rd Annual France Wine Festival: Je Suis Gourmand.

This past Wednesday, 8th October 2008, was the first of 8 dinners of Jérome Philippon's 3rd annual France Wine Festivals: 2 in Je Suis Gourmand, 2 in Sala, 2 in Ciçou and 2 in La Régalade. I can't attend all of them, but made sure to attend the opening night at Je Suis Gourmand, and booked myself and several friends at Ciçou as well.

We were a table of 17 persons for the evening, some of whom met each other just that night, but kindred spirits, united in the pursuit and appreciation of good food, wine and wine pairing.

The Menu and Wines were:

Domaine Drappier Champagne NV "Carte d'Or Brut"

Trio of Duck Foie Gras Terrine, Pan-Fried Duck Foie Gras Wrapped in Bacon and Smoked Duck Magret with Micro Arugula and Truffle Cream

2005 Les Tours des Verdots Bergerac Sec

Pot-au-Feu of Fresh Chantrelles and Bone Marrow

2005 Château Falfas (Côtes de Bourg)

Slow Roasted Venison Rack with Red Wine Glacé and Confit of Shallots,

Potato and Celeriac Galette

2001 Domaine Chèze Saint Joseph "Cuvée des Anges"

Hot Crottin de Chavignol in Pastry with Balsamic Glaze

2002 Domaine Redde Pouilly-Fumé "Cuvée Majorum"

Fresh Mango and Mangosteen Mille-Feuilles with Fresh Rhubarb Ice Cream

Domaine Drappier Champagne NV Rosé Brut "Val des Demoiselles"

Coffee or Tea with Frandises

We started off with well-chilled glasses of crisp, fresh Domaine Drappier Champagne NV "Carte d'Or Brut" for our apéritifs. I first tried this champagne in June of 2007 at a dinner in Château Léoville Poyferré and found it too tight, linear and citrusy then. Last Wednesday, however, it was clean, fresh, exuberant, generously frothy with nice heft, a pronounced creamy mid-palate (predominantly pinot noir with just a little chardonnay and pinot meunier thrown in) that picks up slight brioche notes towards the back. Very nice, I liked it so much as an apéritif that I bought some for the pre-birthday dinner that my brother and I hosted for our dad last night. Reasonably priced champagne at P3275 per bottle.

With the excellent, decadent trio of foie gras terrine, pan-fried foie gras wrapped in bacon and smoked magret with micro-arugula and truffle cream:

2005 Les Tours des Verdots Bergerac Sec - This, to me, tasted like a slightly off-dry blanc from Sauternes (yes, aside from the botrytised sweet whites it is famous for, Sauternes also produces good dry whites - in select vintages Yquem itself produces an excellent dry blanc called "Y", pronounced "ygrec" - which is what the French call the letter "y"). I'd guess this is similarly made up of semillon and sauvignon blanc.

Nicely minerally, mainly dry and a bit crisp, there was just the merest hint of sweetness at the top. White fruit, mild, ripe grapefruit tinged with a nuance of orange rind. Firm, tense/nervy attack, turning slightly softer, nicely rounded and slightly tropical in the middle, hint of a waxy feel mid-mouth (from the semillon?). Finish was decent - medium I'd call it.

A pleasant, approachable, food-friendly wine which could also serve well as an apéritif. It went nicely enough with the trio of foie and smoked magret, a particularly good match with the terrine in my opinion. In all, it cut and refreshed nicely enough, keeping the palate from being overwhelmed by the foie's richness. Very affordably priced at P715 per bottle.

2005 Château Falfas (Côtes de Bourg) - Until I tried the Falfas, I was only vaguely familiar with the Côtes de Bourg and its wines. I knew it was a merlot-dominated area on the right bank of the Gironde River in Bordeaux, geographically located almost across the Margaux appellation, south of Blaye and west by northwest of St-Emilion and Pomerol (also merlot dominated).

Apparently, Château Falfas is one of the most well-respected, if not the most well-respected (depending on who you are reading), producer of the appellation, the wines of which are generally known for high standards at great value for money. This particular wine, from the much touted 2005 vintage, was an impressive introduction to Côtes de Bourg and Falfas.

Rich, robust and ripe, a bit "international" with low acidity, dominant dark cherry/kirsh and raspberry over dark plum, cedar, spice, hints of ripe fig and chocolate. Nicely warm feel with soft, velvety tannins. Good harmony. At under P1500 per bottle (Jérome told me the exact price, but I forgot it), it is great value for money for those who want to have a good Bordeaux to drink anytime without having to pay for more famous names or labels.

2001 Domaine Chèze Saint Joseph "Cuvée des Anges" - Regular readers of my wine blog may recall that I paired this wine also with roasted venison rack at the MGC Rhône Night Friday before last. I though it well worth its price of P2960 per bottle for a mature, red Rhône from a good vintage. My tasting notes, consistent for last Wednesday's bottles and pairing, are below quoted for convenience:

This one was nicely gamey, meaty, truffled (magnétisme animal!), peppery,
earthy with lots of dried herbs (thyme and oregano in there) and, yes, garrigue.
Not as full or ripe in fruit as the Gigondas (a vintage thing surely), this was
more refined texturally but more rustic in flavor. Not as long, but easily
better focused, structured and defined.A bit stern and rustic, this was an
"eating wine" - it needed food to fully display its pleasures - and that it did
with the meltingly tender medium-rare venison rack. A hand-in-hand match of
earthy, animal goodness. The others were notably vocal with their praises for
this wine and the pairing - not in the least from Richard - high praise from him
who loves his Aussie shiraz.

Everyone appeared to enjoy the reds and pairings, as the noise level increased noticably and multiple toasts began. Johnson mentioned that his wife, Candy, particularly enjoyed the venison. We had a similar dish last night with my family and my dad, brother, wife, brother-in-law and second son greatly enjoyed it as well. My wife and second son found the red wine glacé de viand particularly noteworthy.

2002 Domaine Redde Pouilly-Fumé "Cuvée Majorum" - I know I've mentioned this wine quite a few times and have always sung high praises to it. I've compared it to other favored locally available whites from the Loire (e.g., Sancerre) and it has, to this day, come out on top (admittedly, however, this wine is materially more expensive than the locally available ones I've compared it to). The picture on the right was taken at home last May, as I forgot to take a picture of the wine and food on site.

Michel Redde is widely recognized as one of the best makers in Pouilly-Fumé (100% sauvignon blanc), 2002 is a good Loire vintage and the Cuvée Majorum is Redde's top bottling (to my knowledge). It clearly ages better than most pouilly-fumés (actually, I think it's really meant to age a few years longer than its less pedigreed kin before drinking). With goat cheese, the traditional pairing of the region, it is sublime, but also goes beautifully with simply sauced seafood dishes and Chinese cuisine. A bit pricey at P3460 per bottle, but, one has to pay more for this level of Pouilly-Fumé.

I must stress, however, the importance of serving all wine at the proper temperature. This is not just me being obsessive or "maarte", the temperature has a huge effect on wines' performance. That is why I bring my own wine already properly chilled to restaurants 99.9% of the time. I actually keep them in a cooler of ice water in my car en route to restaurants and call ahead to have a bucket of ice water ready for when I arrive. I also take care to pour only half a glass at any given point so that the wine doesn't have the time to warm up in the glass.

This night, I brought no white and the Majorum, unfortunately, was not served chilled enough for my and some others' tastes. Rene, Margarita and Willy, aside from myself, noticed this. Such a pity, it is a wonderful wine and certainly deserves to be accorded proper care in serving. The hot crottin de chauvignol in pastry (crottin de chavignol is generally considered the best goat cheese of France, it has its own appellation d'origine controlée located between the Loire and Berry) was excellent, though. Johnson U, Mike W, Rene F and I particularly enjoyed this dish.

For dessert, the fresh mango and mangosteen mille-feuilles (i.e., "a thousand sheets/leaves" - referring to the dessert's multiple layers) with fresh rhubarb ice cream (the rhubarb flown in by Marc and made by him into ice cream for this event) paired with Drappier Champagne NV Rosé Brut "Val des Demoiselles". This complex, sweet-tart, refreshing dessert was excellent, drawing raves from Boozze, myself and Johnson. The champagne in itself (100% pinot noir) was also very good: bright, yeasty, fresh strawberry dominated over red fruit and mere touches of raspberry, good creaminess to its fine mousse. Good weight to this. P3570 per bottle.

Unfortunately, the marriage between the dessert and bubbly was not a happy one. The champagne's strawberry-dominated flavors seemed to fight with the mangosteen's tartness. Each alone was fine indeed, but together, they were not. Undaunted, I simply finished my dessert, rinsed my mouth with water, then enjoyed the bubbly after.

We all had a lot of fun eating, drinking, toasting, laughing, discussing the wines and pairings; most enjoyable indeed. I can't wait for the next dinner....