some of the wine we were to taste
On Monday we went to a wine tasting at Marin & Pella's home. We were set to taste 18 different french wines. We arrived at 7:00 pm and immediately started our tasting. We began with the whites, 7 of them
1. Domaine Octavie, Savignon de Touraine (Loire) 2008
2. Voignier, Domaine de Lascours (languedoc) 2008
3. Château Marie du Fou, Blanc, Fiefs Vendéens-Mareiul (Loire) 2008
4. Mâcon-Solutré Domaine Pascal & mireille Renaud (Burgundy) 2008
5. Pinot Blanc, Cuvée Traditionnelle, Robert Faller et Fils (Alsace) 2007
6. Gewürztraminer, Cuvée Traditionnelle,Robert Faller et Fils (Alsace) 2007
7. Rasteau, La Galopine, Domaine des Escaravailles (Rhône) 2008
Yummy. Liked #2 - hint of green apple, a bit tarte and crisp. #4 was good and #5 was very good, but could have been a bit colder. #6 was very dry, not so sweet and very nice.
All of these we done on an empty stomach. argh! There were 12 of us, from France, England, Belgium, New Zealand and America (us). 4 of the people (including the host) we knew from the English Library in Villefranch, everyone else we didn't know but got to know very quickly. Everyone was lovely.
our new friends
Bruce and Guy talking about the wine
Guy Boursot who owns a wine shop just south of Calais, France brought all the wines to taste and Laurent Cagnat who is a wine dealer who lives near Villefrance coordinated the evening, his wife cooked the meal, which was wonderful.
We all wished we had a bit of something when we started, to soak up a bit of the wine. But the first tasting was amazing. Before starting the red Laurent's wife brought out some bread and fois gras (made by her grand mére). Amazing.
After the white can the red (yes!).... Here is what we tasted.
8. Brouilly Domaine de Chêne (Beaujolais) 2007
9. Bourgogne Joseph Faively (Burgundy) 2006
10.Château Massmier la Mignarde, Tradition (Minervois) 2006
11. Château de Lascours, Nobilis, Pic Saint-Loup (Coteaux du Langeudoc) 2007
12. Rasteau, Les Sabilères Domaine des Escaravailles (Rhône) 2007
13. Syrah, Domaine Bassac, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, 2007 (Organic)
14. Château Baret, Pessac-Léognan (Claret) 2000
yummy is all I can say. I like whites but really don't drink them much, we love the reds so this was really nice. The only problem we found (and others too) is that by the time we reached the reds we were a bit "buzzed" and talking more with others and didn't take as many notes as when we were drinking the whites. But here is what I wrote. #8 - just an everyday wine, sort of like a vin de table. #9 - very very nice, #10 - very strong tanin, good taste, good after too, #11 excellent, #12 good, #13 really nice, #14 amazing (of course this was 17.40 euros a bottle).
All the others were an average of 7 euros a bottle, not bad.
Then it was time for dinner. Here was the menu.
the dinner menu
sitting down for the meal
across is david and leslie
How fast time goes when you are having a great time. We sat next to Claire and her husband Pierre. Pierre works for the marie (mayor) of Villefranche and Claire is the english teacher at the private school in Villefranche. On my right was Nick a great man to know as he's a mason and carpenter. Lived in the Aveyron for 15 years. Wonderful people and funny too. I didn't look at my watch until we were leaving and it was 1:00 am! oh my. We got home at 1:30.
We had a great time, ordered some of the wine we liked and met some wonderful people. It was an amazing evening.
6 comments:
Sounds like a great time! Keep that bread and cheese coming before drinking. A glass of water in between helps too... to keep you from dehydrating. Sounds like you handled it all just fine.
How fun. We used to do that in graduate school- have a bunch of people over, everyone had to bring a bottle of wine and some cheese.
Sounds yummy!
Cindy - the french don't really believe in water in between tasting and/or food. argh! we had to beg.
Megan - we do it with friends too, but this was really nice because Guy owns a wine store and Laurent is a wine dealer and they knew so much about all the different kinds of wines and it was great to talk to them.
It appears as though a wonderful time was had by all! It's really nice that you were able to gather together with a congenial group of people to spend the evening tasting wine, eating good food, and having interesting conversation. I would love to have been a fly on the wall!
Hi Alisa,
Wow ! I'm sure that you are going to remember that day !
I have never done this before, it xounded like a nice way to learn about different wines & meet people.
This is going to sound weird but...
did you "spit" out each sip tasted ?? When the pros do tasting, they have they taste( without gulping it down) and spit it out in a bucket before going on to the next...
I'm not a specialist, but at home we tend to prefer white wines. Often vins de Touraine( our family traditon) or those from Alsace.
Take care & see you soon ;)
Post a Comment