Provence Wines

August 2, 2024 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Judging a Book by its Cover

Speaking with the young and very knowledgeable woman in the wine department of a boutique grocery here in Tucson, I inquired about Rolle wines, as Rolle (a.k.a. Vermentino) has become very popular. She had one Vermentino from Corsica (which I will discuss in a future post) and a rosé that included Rolle. She warned me, “The wine is really good but don’t let the bottle design turn you off.” Okay, I thought, while I do love a good label, I don’t think I have ever been turned away from a wine because of its label... [...]

July 5, 2024 6

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Rose | Rosé, The Sequel

Here I am again pairing rosé with rose flavors, even though there is no correlation. Today’s preparation could not be more different from my Chicken Ispahan back in February. While the rose flavor in that dish was front and center, it is incredibly subtle in today’s recipe and I highly recommend that you give it a go. It is Cailles aux Roses... [...]

February 2, 2024 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Rose | Rosé

It isn’t often that I have the opportunity to share a very special wine of this ilk. And when that does happen, it needs an incredibly special dish to pair with it. The bottle was a magnum of Château Léoube Singulier and it is, indeed, a singular wine. Susan and I decided this would be a good Valentine’s post, so I created a new dish: Chicken Ispahan, based on a famous Pierre Hermé pastry of the same name. Flavors — perfect for your Valentine — include rose, raspberry, and lychee. You can get the recipe on Cocoa & Lavender... [...]

November 4, 2023 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Club Med

One thing I love about wines from Provence is that they tend to pair very well with many Mediterranean foods. Like Spanish cuisine, for example. For today’s post, I paired a 2021 Bieler Père & Fils Bandol with an Arroz con Pollo, a cousin to Valencia’s paella. The recipe is one I watched Jacques Pépin cook on television more than 30 years ago… [...]

September 1, 2023 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Take Two

In the film world, you often need at least two takes to get a scene right. It is similar with food and wine pairing. This is my second go at pairing my Fish Tacos with rosé.

Take One. The wine I chose for the pairing just didn’t work for my palate. There was no synergy between the wine and food, and the wine almost tasted sour.

Take Two. This wine worked much better and was quite good; the blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Cinsault played nicely off the spices in the tacos. I would love to try them with a Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre blend, too. The Fish Tacos are outstanding (he avers immodestly), and I hope you will try them; the recipe is on... [...]

March 31, 2023 1

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
A Hybrid Pairing

When I looked on the Château Barbebelle website for pairing ideas for the 2022 release of their Cuvée Madeleine Rosé, I was torn between their suggestions for fatty fish — tuna, salmon, swordfish — and the fresh, lightness of ceviche. It brought to mind a sort of hybrid recipe of the two that I have been making... [...]

February 4, 2023 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Springing into Spring!

As we turn our thoughts to spring, there are foods and wines that come to mind immediately. On the food side of things, my mind turns to spring vegetables: asparagus, peas, fava beans. For wine, I find it time to leave the wintry red wines for a while and focus on the crisp, bright, floral whites. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy a red with a... [...]

January 9, 2023 6

Sylvie Bigar, author of Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family, and the Stew That Saved My Soul, Talks to Provence WineZine

“What is cassoulet?” You would be forgiven if you don’t know or if you thought it was simply a popular regional stew conceived in the South of France. Visions of a complex concoction may come to mind: beans, ham hocks, pork rinds, garlic... [...]

January 6, 2023 1

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
When, What to My Wondering Eyes Should Appear…

But Susan and Towny (sans the tiny reindeer)! They did, however, bring a few bottles of wine to enjoy!

Their short, last-minute, late-December visit to Arizona coincided perfectly with a couple of holiday... [...]

Photo of Clos Beylesse and pairing with scallops recipe

September 3, 2022 3

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Rhapsody en Bleu

Five months ago, I wrote about a rosé bottled in green glass, and how that was — and still is — unusual for a rosé. Today’s wine, to take this one step further, is bottled in blue glass. The colored glass provides an ultraviolet filter to preserve the wine’s quality as long as possible. I’m glad for this blue glass, as the wine is quite... [...]

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