Handsome...?!!! Rubbish, I say!

Posted on 2006/05/28 10:23:22 (May 2006).

Last night a couple of friends came for dinner. Pierric and Michèle. They are fairly good-natured and it was, on the whole, pretty enjoyable. We had a bottle of Morgon, which is one of the ten 'crus' from the Beaujolais appellation, and a bottle of Coteau du Layon, a sweet white wine from the Loire valley.

I cannot find a proper translation for the word cru. Most of you have surely heard of the Beaujolais nouveau which, I must reckon, is not always up to its reputation.
In fact, the Beaujolais area is divided in two fairly distinct parts, the north and the south. In the south we grow vine essentially to produce the Beaujolais nouveau, nouveau (new) meaning that, following a particular process of vinification, it is commercialized three months only after harvest. The Beaujolais nouveau is light and meant to be consummed immediatly.
Now, in the north, which is much more hilly, you have the ten 'crus', i.e. ten wine areas bearing each one a different name (Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Brouilly, Saint-Amour, etc...). The grape variety remains the same, exclusively Gamay, but the nature of the soil, the declivity, the exposure to sunlight and a special microclimate favour the making a quality wine.

Many people tend to snob those crus owing to the fact that they're made from Gamay which is wrongly considered a second rate grape variety. As a consequence, those wines remain affordable. That's, I believe, one first asset. The second asset is that it requires only four to five years rest in your cellar to reach excellence. For those who lack patience like me, this is an oppotunity. Five years is bearable, compared with many other 'quality' wines.

The only annoying thing in the evening happened when Michèle and Christelle connected to Maison-de-stuff in order to look at Loxe's pictures. "Handsome" they exclaimed unanimously! Handsome?!!! Lox?!!! What utter rubbish!

Yes, I definitely like the look of the courgette gratin...

...and thanks, I think I have learnt a little something about wine too, which I find incredibly bewildering, to my occasional embarassment. Whisky is such a manageable subject - there are only about 100 or so distilleries, and while there is still a fair amount of potential for variety from each distillery, it remains a vastly more restricted domain, so even someone like me can have a reasonable grasp of it.

Wine though? I really haven't a clue. I occasionally fancy a glass or two, so on average a couple of times a month I'll go and buy a bottle. There are so many chateaux etc (and that's just France) and the names are never that memorable, so I'm always basically choosing entirely at random. Whichever has the nicest looking label.

I sometimes wish I had just enough knowledge to be able to choose with something other than the lucky dip approach I've used up to now.

Posted by John at 2006/05/28 11:16:54.

I'd just like to say that I think your friends were very lucky!! That looks like splendid food! And the wine... I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to the subject and tend to find a bottle I really like, then loose the label or can't remember the name again!!

For sure I dislike white wine. But a nice deep red will do me fine, though not too sweet. I also like to think red is "good for me" as all Doctors are so keen to tell us chaps!! :))

Posted by Nigel at 2006/05/28 11:31:21.

Pretty much the only wine I've bought more than once, is this one they used to have in the little wine shop in the village I used to live in when I was living in England.

It was a "Corbières". I was never totally sure what that word was in terms of describing a type of wine. Having had a look on the web it turns out that isn't a grape (apparently the grape used is Carignan?) and it isn't an area (it is made in Languedoc-Roussillon?). So, errr, it's just a style or something?

Oh and the particular brand (if that's the right word) was Château Serres Saint-Lucie. And it also said something on the label about "Portes de Moulin"

So as I said, I know nothing about wine, but I always just liked this. It was very, sort of, fragrant. I've never really seen it anywhere else, I guess it's a bit minor. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only person who actually likes the stuff. Being usually a whisky drinker, I probably have rather strange tastes when it comes to wine.

Anyway, this is part of what I find a bit frustrating about wine - I would like to have a similar tasting wine again, but wouldn't have a clue how to go about finding it. If it was whisky, I'd obviously look for something from the same distillery. I suppose I could look for other Corbières, but when I've tried that in the past it has been a little disappointing. I guess there is still a far amount of variety even withing this type.

Posted by John at 2006/05/28 11:36:03.

I am now engaged in a no doubt fruitless search (almost a pun there) to see if I can find any information about the wine on the web, and to see if I might be able to buy it anywhere in Tokyo. So far, not much luck!

Posted by John at 2006/05/28 11:55:58.

Ciao Sher! :)

I didn't know much about french wines before, I have specialized in Italian productions mostly, so it would be interesting if you could talk us through one of these wines in the future... I don't particularly like the "novello" (noveau) wines, they are too light, I am in for a kick when I drink good wine and I want to be able to get at least a couple of aftertastes to go with the food..

As for the "incident" well :) :):) what more can I say! :D:D::D:D:D:D (many thanks to Christelle and Michele by the way!)

Posted by Lox at 2006/05/28 18:56:33.

Lox, you're most welcome.
And if I can give you a piece of advice for the future, never believe what my dear husband says!!!

Posted by Mrs Sheri at 2006/05/28 19:58:35.

Lox, you are the smartest guy I've ever met...!

Posted by Sheri at 2006/05/29 06:43:51.

John. Once again, like the Beaujolais, wines coming from the Languedoc vinyard are depreciated. Decades ago southern winegrowers didn't matter about quality. Their sole concern was quantity: produce a lot. In the making of wine, quantity and quality rarely match. If you want to produce a good wine, you need to reduce (drastically) the number of grapes on each vine.
Now, with the emergence of foreign wines, those wingrowers from the Languedoc came to realise that they have to change policy. And they do. But, unfortunatly, they keep their bad press.
Another argument in disfavour of southern wines is the hot climate. The slower is the maturation of the grape, the better is the wine deriving from it. In terms of latitude, Burgundy is the ideal spot. Bordeaux, on the other hand, benefits from the nearby Atlantic ocean.
As for the appellation Corbières, it regroups a series of high hills where the climate is more propicious for a slow maturation than in the valleys, hence their many good wines. Good and comparatively cheap.

Posted by Sheri at 2006/05/29 07:51:04.

As for the Château Serres Saint-Lucie:

http://www.wineint.com/story.asp?storycode=1270

Perhaps you have already visited this site?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/05/29 07:57:26.

Sheri: I thought that the sunnier the better, although now that I think of that the equation is not always like that... What are your thoughts about the recent "barrique" popularity all over Europe? I think it's not a great thing, some wines are better with no ageing at all...

Mrs.Sheri: Many thanks, and do not worry I know that he likes me REALLY! :)

Posted by Lox at 2006/05/29 13:11:18.

The sunnier the better, yes. The hotter the better, no. A wine is well-balanced when acidity and sugar reach kind of an equilibrium. In hot weather, the balance is upset as the vine (i. e. the plant) produces more sugar.

Posted by Sheri at 2006/05/29 14:23:21.

As for the barrique popularity, it is a response to Anglo-Saxon taste for tannins.
Now, it is true that a wine rich in tannins keeps longer. Tannins are known to be antioxidants.

Posted by Sheri at 2006/05/29 14:29:20.

x5cosov0nj1headk

Posted by Fidel Mercado at 2008/11/13 04:13:00.

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