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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A 20 Year Old Yquem for the holidays

During the holidays, my husband made his traditional foie gras and our friend Marcus brought a 1991 Château d'Yquem to accompany it. The foie gras was delicious as usual but I have to say that the 20 year old Yquem was particularly remarkable.


My husband's foie gras

Sauternes is the classic pairing with foie gras as the luxurious sweetness of wine is able to stand up to the rich fatness of the foie gras. These wines come from the Sauternais region located 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Bordeaux along the Garonne river and its tributary, the Ciron. The Ciron river has cooler waters than the Garonne and in autumn, when the spring-fed stream of the Ciron River meets the warmer Garonne, mists develop and stay in the vineyards from evening to late morning. This moisture promotes the development of the Botrytis cinerea fungus on the grapes. However, by mid day, the sun helps dissipate the mist and the infection can develop into noble rot rather than the malevolent grey rot. Noble rot removes water from the grapes and causes the grape to concentrate sugars and flavors while maintaining high levels of acidity. It also affects the grape's flavor compounds and that's what differentiates botrytied wines from wines that are sweet because of fortification, drying, or being harvested late.

In the Sauternais, harvests are very labor-intensive and costs of production are high. During harvest, skilled workers hand-pick only berries that have been properly infected with the fungus and multiple passes throughout the vineyard are required over a couple of weeks.

Château d'Yquem is the most famous of all the Sauternes. The Yquem property once belonged to Eleanor of Aquitaine as part of her duchy. It was also Thomas Jefferson's favorite white wine: during a visit to the Château, he ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage. Château d'Yquem is the only white Bordeaux rated Premier Cru Supérieur (Superior First Growth) by the Bordeaux Classification of 1855.

1991 was a difficult vintage in the Sauternais. It was characterized by a devastating spring frost followed by a hot summer. Then storms in August prompted botrytis to attack the vines and picking began early in late September. Harvest workers had to avoid picking the grey rot infected berries.

When we poured the 1991 Château d'Yquem, it showed a beautiful deep amber color. The nose had subtle aromas of honey and dried apricots. On the palate, the wine was not overly sweet, unctuous with some acidity, and a touch maderized, which somewhat added an unusual layer of complexity. The best was taking a sip of it just after a piece of foie on toast sprinkled with coarse sea salt.

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Two Sauternes for my husband's Foie Gras

Every year, my husband likes to make a Foie Gras for our December 31st dinner and it's interesting to notice that as years went by, his recipe has evolved to the bare minimum. There is no Armagnac marinade and water bath anymore: first, the foie is deveined, seasoned with salt and pepper, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap with the ends tied like a sausage, poached 5 minutes in boiling water, and refrigerated for at least a couple of days. He serves the foie gras at room temperature on toasted bread, lightly sprinkled with coarse sea salt.


The poached foie gras tightly wrapped with plastic wrap


Slicing the foie gras

To accompany the foie gras, our friend Christophe and I had brought two different bottles of Sauternes that we enthusiastically compared side by side.

Christophe's was the 2005 Château Doisy-Védrines from an estate vineyard dominated by the Sémillon grape (approximately 85% Sémillon, the rest planted with Sauvignon Blanc). Like in the other Sauternes Châteaux, the harvest is labor-intensive, picking the fruit in several waves called tries to select the berries most affected by the Botrytis fungus. The wine is aged for eighteen months in oak barrels, 70% of which being new. The 2005 vintage was excellent in Sauternes with lots of heat and sunshine to ripen the grapes and foggy nights and mornings to promote the development of botrytis.

The wine had a bright color with rich aromas of dried apricot and pineapple. The palate had a lighter body with a lively acidity and a smooth and elegant finish.

Mine was the 2001 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey, an estate with 17 hectares under vine planted with Sémillon (90%) and Sauvignon Blanc (10%). The terroir is excellent for the appellation, characterized by north-east facing slopes and gravely and sandy soils on a clayey subsoil. The harvest is done manually in 4-7 successive tries to hand-pick the best botrytis-infected grapes. The 2001 vintage was highly rated in Sauternes, thanks to exceptional weather conditions and a speedy spread of botrytis on grapes that had the time to fully ripen.

The wine was opulent, with apricots, acacia flower, and honey aromas. On the palate, it was thicker and sweeter with a lingering finish of caramelized fruits.

So which one was the best with the foie gras: the livelier 2005 Doisy-Védrines or the more opulent 2001 Clos Haut-Peyraguey? I am sorry, I couldn't decide, they were both so good!


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