Provencal Pairings: Wine with Food

May 5, 2018 6

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
The Luck of the Draw

I’m a typical Virgo. I am very particular about things - from the color of my socks, to the route I drive to and from work. I would say that I am deliberate, especially when it comes to food and wine. I don’t do potlucks; I don’t believe there should be any “luck” in a meal, or with its accompanying... [...]

April 7, 2018 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
And the Oscar Goes to…Fleur de l’Amaurigue

When you prepare for a wine pairing, and you go into it knowing that the wine has already won a Gold at the Concours Général Paris or, as it is known colloquially, the Oscars of wine, your expectations are naturally high.

I am always happy when my expectations are... [...]

March 3, 2018 8

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Wine and Spice and Everything Nice

When Susan and Alex were here in December, we went on a bit of a (wine) shopping spree. Shocking, right? One of the wines we bought was a 2015 Le Caillou from Le Clos du Caillou in the Côtes du Rhône appellation. The proprietor of the wine store raved [...]

February 3, 2018 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Angels at My Table

When in the company of angels, you had better plan a decent meal. Right?

Whispering Angel and Rock Angel are the first two of four wines from Château d’Esclans. The next two up the ladder are Les Clans and Garrus. While I have yet to taste either of these latter [...]

January 6, 2018 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Together Again

It has been literally years since Susan and I shared a meal and a bottle of wine... or some number of bottles of wine, if we are going to be honest. But, in the beginning of December, she and her daughter Alex popped into Tucson for a long weekend of flavorful feasting, viniferous verification, and familiar [...]

December 2, 2017 8

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Cool Wine, Daddy-O… I’m Hip!

I found the following on the British blog Golly's Wine Drops: "Léon Perdigal Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc ’15 has a full on hipster collection of grapes in it... So cool you’ve never heard of half of them. It doesn’t hold any truck with oak either so the grapes get to do all the talking." It makes me wonder, what would really make a wine "hipster?" [...]

November 4, 2017 6

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
A Goddess in Our Midst

Toward the end of my pairing notes last month, I suggested I might have remembered Rolle being someone softer, fuller, and rounder than its Italian counterpart, Vermentino. It seems that I was right. Disclaimer: I only tasted two of hundreds of wines out there that are made with 100% Rolle or Vermentino. Just two. However, they are both highly rated and come from well-respected vintners. As I tested the Antinori Vermentino twice, I thought it only fair to do the same with the Rolle. For one [...]

October 7, 2017 10

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
You Say Rolle, and I Say Vermentino…

There is no need to call the whole thing off, because we are both right; Rolle and Vermentino grapes are one and the same. The Italians make Vermentino, while those of you in Provence sip Rolle. I truly wish I had a bottle of each side-by-side to test, because I feel they are quite different. Basically, all that folderol about terroir really isn't folderol at all. (Now THAT should be a Cole Porter lyric, even though my nod to “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” is an Ira and George [...]

September 2, 2017 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Eat Dessert First?

I saw a display of Belleruche rosé at my local upscale grocery store. It was new to me and from a region I trust, thus it caught my attention. I was surprised to see it priced at $8.99, so I picked up a couple of bottles out of sheer curiosity. Only later did I find it at the Big Box wine store for significantly more. And, while it was unfamiliar to me, Susan brought to my attention the full page ad for Belleruche in The Wine Spectator last month; evidently, it is not unknown to [...]

August 5, 2017 7

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
AZ Puts the Pizzazz in Rosé

There I was, minding my own business, sipping a Provence rosé at Revel in Tucson with friends celebrating their engagement. I chose the rosé, of course, and mentioned to server that I was a big rosé fan. By coincidence, the rep from Rune Wines was in that day and, unbeknownst to me, they were tasting Rune’s 2015 rosé. The server brought me a glass “just because.” Apparently, while I was minding my own business, he was paying attention. I was really astonished at the nose, and how unctuous it was on my palate, and how well it paired with our [...]

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