The Côte Saint-Jacques in Joigny, Burgundy's northernmost vineyard

Last time we were in France we visited my father-in-law in Joigny, a medieval town in northern Burgundy, just 150 km from Paris and 1 hour or so by train. The old town is particularly picturesque with its narrow cobbled streets and timber-framed 16th century houses. The best view of the city is at the top of the Côte Saint-Jacques, a steep south-facing hillside overlooking the river Yonne. This is where you find thirty hectares of vineyards, planted with Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The location, the northernmost wine district in Burgundy, is on the edge of sustainable viticulture but vines on the hill are protected from the north winds by the forest of Othe on the plateau and from spring frosts thanks to the micro-climate created by the river below.

Historical records indicate that vines were growing in Joigny as early as 1082. The production being so close to Paris, the wines of Joigny were well known and quite popular at the tables of the kings of France. The most famous was the vin gris, a light Rosé primarily made of Pinot Gris, which apparently was a favorite of King Louis XIV. In the 19th century until the phylloxera devastation, Joigny was an active winegrowing and shipping center

In 1990, chef Michel Lorain, owner of the 3 Michelin star hotel and restaurant La Côte Saint-Jacques decided to revive the vineyard on the hill of Saint-Jacques and restore the wines' former high reputation. Five hectares of Chardonnay were planted first, followed later by 2 hectares of Pinot Noir and half a hectare of a mix of Malbec, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon and Tressot in order to produce the famous Vin Gris de Joigny Côte Saint Jacques.

We visited Michel Lorain's winery, the Domaine du Clos Saint Jacques, where we met with Sales and Marketing Manager Pâquerette Jacquemin at the wine shop. She gave us a detailed and passionate pitch about the revival of the vineyard, the expansion to the Japanese market and the recent association with Manuel Janisson of Champagne Janisson. She then took us on a tour of the winemaking facilities located in a 16th century building, which used to be the home of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul when he was living in Joigny.

She generously gave us a sampler of the estate wines that we tasted later with our family. Overall, I found the wines dry, mineral, and crisp, and thought that the whites were more successful than the red.

The 2011 Bourgogne Chardonnay Domaine du Clos Saint Jacques had a light yellow color and a fresh nose of green apple and citrus. The palate had a grippy acidity that worked well with our sauerkraut.

The 2009 Bourgogne Chardonnay Domaine du Clos Saint Jacques Cuvée Les Capucins was slightly fuller than the regular cuvee, with a good amount of minerality and acidity that would team well with shellfish.

The 2008 Bourgogne Chardonnay Domaine du Clos Saint Jacques Cuvée Prestige had a deep golden color and a nose of ripe apple. On the palate, it was rounder and fuller and would pair well with anything creamy.

The 2008 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Domaine du Clos Saint Jacques Cuvée Prestige had a light garnet color and sour cherry nose, quite lean on the palate with under ripe flavors on the finish, not our favorite wine. The region has substantial vintage variations and 2008 was possibly not the best year for the reds in the area.

This was a fun tasting and a great introduction to this up-and-coming appellation. Thanks Pâquerette!

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My husband's Cailles en Sarcophage and a pretty good Burgundy

Since we saw the movie Babette's Feast, my husband has been dreaming of reproducing Babette's masterpiece: the Cailles en Sarcophage Sauce Perigourdine (Quails in a Coffin, Truffle and Foie Gras Sauce).

So suddendly the other day, he was ready. He found a recipe on the internet, ordered a foie gras, and bought some quails and frozen puff pastry dough. He didn't have any truffles but decided to use a combination of mushrooms and truffle oil instead.

He deboned the birds, chopped the vegetables for the duxelle, sliced the foie gras, stuffed and roasted the birds, baked the puff pastry, and finally placed each quail in its coffin. The result was amazing: it really looked like the quails in the movie! And it tasted very yummy too! The birds were tender and juicy with earthy flavors and the puff pastry was light and flaky and not soggy at all. We also agreed that having a small piece of seared foie gras to accompany the quail would have been even better.


The stuffed uncooked quails


The quails in their coffins

A 1846 Clos de Vougeot is the wine featured in Babette's Feast. I didn't have a Clos de Vougeot in the cellar but I found a 2002 Vosnes-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots Maison Champy. The Vosnes-Romanée appellation is located south of Vougeot in the Côte de Nuits. The vineyard of “Les Suchots” is considered one of the finest of the Vosnes-Romanée Premier Crus, approaching grand cru level in quality. It is located on a mid slope in the Northern part of the village of Vosne-Romanée, near the famous “Echezeaux Grand Cru”.

The wine had a deep red color and a smoky nose of cherry, violet and spices. On the palate, it was medium-bodied, quite complex, with mouth-coating savory flavors and great finesse on the finish. I don't know about the Clos de Vougeot 1846 that Babette served with her quails but our Vosnes-Romanée 2002 was not bad at all.

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Pouilly-Fuissé, fresh and mineral

A few weeks ago, Kobrand Corporation sent me a bottle of 2008 Pouilly-Fuissé Domaine J.A. Ferret.

The wine is 100% Chardonnay from a white wine appellation located in the Mâconnais in southern Burgundy. The region is best known for its wave-shaped hills above the Saône valley, rich in limestone mixed with clay, and particularly well-suited to the Chardonnay grape.

The 15 hectare Domaine J.A. Ferret lies at the heart of the appellation, in the village of Fuissé. Fonded in 1840, it was the first estate of the region to bottle its own wines. It also introduced the concepts of terroir delimitation and vinification of separate grape lots. Since 1993, it was owned and managed by Colette Ferret, the last in the family line. She died in 2007 and the estate was later sold to Maison Louis Jadot.

The 2008 Pouilly-Fuissé Domaine J.A. Ferret had a light golden color and a Chablis-like nose of crushed oyster shells and citrus. On the palate, it was medium-bodied, crisp, slightly creamy with a touch of oak, and a fresh, lemony finish.

It was a good accompaniment to the Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Spinach Gratin we had that evening, although I think it would have been even better with a fresh Dungeness Crab.


Our Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Spinach Gratin

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Finding treasures in a closet under the stairs

The late husband of our friend Simone was a wine lover. In particular, he liked collecting wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and California that he would generously share with good friends. But this was in the 70s and 80s when he was still in good health. Now, my friend Simone has a whole collection of dusty old bottles that are resting in a dark closet under the stairs. So when she asked me to make an inventory of the wines, I told her that unfortunately, many may have gone past their prime. Some had an alarming very low fill level with some dark mold around the cork. How to find out which wines were still drinkable? The best way was to taste them.

And that's what we did the other day: we selected twenty bottles that looked most promising, opened them —which was by far the hardest task— and tried them. We were all hoping that some of the wines would still be good and I have to say that each bottle was opened religiously. But sadly, half of the wines were simply not drinkable and some others were drying out with light bodies and fading aromas. But miraculously, we also found a handful of treasures.



Here they are:

• 1979 Beaune-Grèves Château de Meursault: the Beaune-Grèves appellation is a Premier Cru located on a hillside facing the town of Beaune. Its name probably comes from the French word graviers (small pepples) due to the presence of small gravels and sand mixed with clay in the soil. The wines from Beaune-Grèves are known for their elegance and finesse. The estate of Château de Meursault comprises 60 hectares of vines, all situated in the Côte de Beaune, around the towns of Aloxe Corton, Savigny-les-Beaune, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet. The wine had an amber-brick color and a fragrant, slightly smoky nose of dried cherry. The palate was fresh and well-balanced with a light finish of dried herbs, truly delicious!

• 1986 Château Font Villac: the wine is a Grand Cru from the Saint Emilion appellation and most likely a Merlot-Cabernet Franc blend. The year 1986 was a great vintage in Bordeaux. While the weather was hot and dry during the summer, mid-September rains tempered the drought-like conditions and helped vines reach full maturity. The wine had a deep brick-orange color and a sweet nose of blackberries. The palate was not overly complex but smooth, round, and pleasant.

• 1980 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a classified second-growth from Pauillac. The property uses a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot, which has an unusually high proportion of Merlot for a Pauillac. Therefore, the wine tends to be more fleshy and softer than wines from the other Pauillac properties. The 1980 vintage was cool and wet in Bordeaux. Growers were able to delay their harvest until the weather began to improve at the end of September but rains returned in the middle of October during the harvest. Many wines from this vintage were light and diluted, the best results being from producers that made a strict grape selection and picked exceptionally late. The wine had a light-to-medium red color and a seductive nose of berries and flowers. On the palate, it was smooth and savory with an elegant and spicy finish.

• 1971 Château Lafite-Rothschild: Château Lafite-Rothschild is maybe the most famous property in Bordeaux and one of the four classified first growth wines. Located in Pauillac, the Lafite vineyard is one of the largest in the Médoc planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The 1971 vintage is characterized by a small crop size and forward and flattering wines upon release, thanks to a cold, damp spring followed by a warm and sunny summer. The wine had a light orange color, a subtle nose, and a light-bodied, lean palate with notes of buttermilk and earthy flavors on the finish.

• 1981 Château Lafite-Rothschild: the 1981 vintage produced wines of medium-weight, well-balanced and graceful. July was a cool month but August and September were hot and dry. It could have been an outstanding year had it not been for the heavy rains that fell just before the harvest. The wine had a light red color and a subtle nose of dried herbs. On the palate, it had more body and fruit than the 1971 with smoky spices on the finish.

So did you guess my favorite wines? Hint: I had two.

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Pinot Noir Tasting

More than any other red varietals, Pinot Noir tends to hide behind its terroir and reflect the flavors of the soil. Therefore, it is a fascinating exercice to compare several Pinots from different parts of the world side by side, and that's exactly what we did at our last Wine Club tasting party right before Thanksgiving

We started with a zippy Pinot Noir Rosé from California to waken our taste buds, then moved to Burgundy, New Zealand, and finally traveled along the US Pacific Coast, from Oregon to Santa Barbara County. This was a particularly interesting exercise because tasters expressed many split opinions about the wines. So in the end, which wine emerged as the winner? Hard to say except that as the tasting was wrapping up, there was not a single drop of Burgundy left.




The wines we tasted:

• 2007 Etude Pinot Noir Rosé: Etude Winery specializes in two classic red varietals: Pinot Noir that grows in the cool Los Carneros appellation, and Cabernet Sauvignon from the warmer Napa Valley. The winemaking team believes that winemaking begins in the vineyard and that inspired grape growing diminishes the need for winemaking intervention. My notes: bright salmon color, fresh berry nose, juicy, with notes of honey. A good wine to accompany spicy dishes.

• 2005 Savigny-Lès-Beaune Premier Cru Aux Gravains Domaine Camus Bruchon: Savigny-Lès-Beaune, situated to the north of the town of Beaune, is the third largest producing appellation in Burgundy's Côte de Beaune. It produces almost exclusively red wines (90%) under the village and premier cru appellations. Lucien Camus of Domaine Camus-Bruchon is considered one of the finest red winemakers in the Côte de Beaune, crafting well balanced, deep and complex wines. My notes: at first, not very expressive on the nose, more earthy than fruity with some good acidity. Some tasters found the wine rather light but it opened up towards the end of the evening, developing a attractive, fragrant Pinot nose and a more complex body.

• 2006 Pyramid Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir Calvert Vineyard: Amisfield is a New Zealand producer of Pinot Noir, aromatic whites and sparkling wines. It is located in Central Otago, the most southerly wine producing region in the world where Pinot noir is the leading grape variety (approximatively 70% of plantings). The estate consists of 60 hectares of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. My notes: medium color, aromas of ripe berries, soft and sweet on the palate, and in my opinion, slightly heavier than the rest of the line-up.

• 2005 The Eyrie Vineyards Estate Grown Pinot Noir: Oregon Pinot noir pioneer David Lett founded The Eyrie Vineyards in 1966. In 1979, Lett participated to a competition in Paris and his wines placed third among all Pinots. In a 1980 rematch the Eyrie wines moved to second place. The competition instantly put Oregon on the map as a world class Pinot noir producing region. The winery is located in the Red Hills of Dundee, about 30 miles south-west of Portland, Oregon. The Estate Pinot Noir comes mostly from younger vineyards planted in the 1980's. It is aged in mostly neutral oak casks, unfined and filtered only if necessary. My notes: medium red color, attractive aromatic nose, medium bodied, earthy with juicy, fruity flavors on the palate, very attractive. For me, one of the best Pinots of the evening (but not all tasters were fond of it).

• 2006 Harrington Pinot Noir Wiley Vineyard: located in San Francisco, Harrington wines makes Pinot Noir wines from five different California appellations: Chalone, Sonoma Coast, Los Carneros, Wild Horse Valley, and Anderson Valley. Situated ten miles from the Pacific Ocean, the Wiley Vineyard is one of the westernmost vineyards in the Anderson Valley appellation. It is a chilly area surrounded by coastal redwoods and it is often the last Pinot Noir vineyard being harvested in the Anderson Valley. My notes: medium color, understated nose, sour cherry aromas, tart and spicy in the mouth, slightly unbalanced in terms of acidity. Many tasters didn't like it.

• 2004 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Pinot Noir Bailey's Branciforte Ridge: originally established in 1863 as the Jarvis Brothers Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard is one of the oldest continuously operated vineyards in California. The Branciforte Ridge vineyard is a relatively new vineyard established in 2000, just two miles away from the historic Jarvis Vineyard at the old winery location. My notes: deep color, sweet cherry and vanilla aromas, smooth on the palate, good length.

• 2006 Melville Estate Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills: The family-owned Melville Vineyards and Winery is located in the Santa Rita Hills, in the western Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County. The estate has 139 acres planted with 255,000 vines of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and two Rhone varietals, Syrah and Viognier. The Estate Pinot Noir is 100% Pinot Noir from the Melville Santa Rita Hills estate. 33% of the fruit was fermented as whole-clusters, the rest being de-stemmed. My notes: deep color, forward nose of ripe black cherry and berry, smooth and full-bodied on the palate, revealing tobacco and stewed prunes notes on the finish. This was the richest wine of the whole selection and the highest in alcohol (15.1%). It was also a good match for bitter-sweet chocolate. Here again, there was some disagreements about the wine, some tasters finding it too strong and alcoholic, and others loving it.

Our next wine club tasting event is scheduled later this month and will feature wines from the Rhône Valley so stay tuned!

Previous wine club tastings:
•  Second Guess The Wine tasting party
•  Wine and Cheese pairing
•  Champagne Tasting

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Après-ski: 1995 Vosne-Romanée Domaine Gros Frère et Soeur

Last weekend, we went skiing with our friends Virginie and Christophe. Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny and cold and the snow was pretty good. At the end of the day though, we were tired and hungry and ready for a hearty meal. We were also eager to taste the 1995 Vosne-Romanée Domaine Gros Frère et Soeur that Christophe had brought.

Domaine Gros Frère et Soeur is one of the three wine estates owned by the Gros family, wine growers in Vosne-Romanée since 1830. Bernard Gros, who runs the domaine, is one of the top growers in Burgundy. His approach to wine-making is traditional. The vines are 10-20 years old on average, yields are strictly limited to obtain the required density and concentration of fruit, and the wines are lightly fined, but not filtered.

1995 was a fine vintage for reds in Burgundy. They were expected to age beautifully with velvety tannins and a good balance. This wine was no exception. It showed a bright light cherry color and an expressive nose of sweet raspberry. The palate was all finesse with aromas of forest berry fruits, a smooth mouthfeel and a vibrant acidity. Now we feel so lucky to have such good friends!

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A memorable Thanksgiving dinner

We spent Thanksgiving in Tahoe with our dear friends Catherine and Pierre and their children. The weather was sunny and cold — no snow — which was perfect for early afternoon hikes and the rest of the day dedicated to various activities including cooking, knitting, reading, playing games, and eating of course. Actually, cooking was the main activity of this extended weekend and our friend Catherine being an awesome cook, I can tell you that everything that came out of the kitchen was incredibly delicious. She was the one in charge of course, the rest of us helping with basic tasks such as slicing, dicing, and mincing.


The turkey in its citrus flavored brine

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The roasted turkey


A sampling of turkey, cornbread stuffing, and side dishes

Our friend Pierre had brought the wine: a 1997 Beaune Premier Cru Les Teurons Domaine Germain that they had bought at the Château de Chorey while vacationing in Burgundy. The domaine includes a renovated castle with five chambres d'hôtes and one suite, as well as several Beaune Premier Cru vineyards mostly planted with old vines. Les Teurons is a 21.04 ha premier cru vineyard known to produce elegant wines which are round, rich and balanced. The wine had a clear light red color with a fragrant nose of floral and fruity aromas. On the palate, it was well-aged, balanced and harmonious, leaving a light smoky note on the finish.

After the turkey feast, we went for a walk, in order to make room for the dessert: a very yummy pear tart tatin that my daughter had made.


The pear tart tatin: seems crumbly but was actually very yummy

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