Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food A Prize in Paraza
by David Scott Allen
Winery: Château de Paraza
Cuvée: Cuvée Spéciale
Appellation: Minervois, Grand Vin du Languedoc
Type: Rosé
Vintage: 2024
Grape Varieties: Grenache, Syrah
Alcohol: 13%
Average Retail Price: U.S. $13.00
If you are going west on the Canal du Midi heading to Castelnaudary for some cassoulet (isn’t everybody?), make sure you stop along the way for a sip of wine at Château de Paraza. They off a variety of reds, whites, and rosés, and (from what I read online) the reviews are quite good. I would second those reviews for their 2024 Cuvée Spéciale rosé.
This month, in a nod to cassoulet and the wines of the region, I am pairing Paraza’s rosé with a recipe for Shrimp with White Beans and Chermoula Vinaigrette. This is my delicious take on a recipe from the book Mediterranean Fresh by Joyce Goldstein. It’s very simple and quite elegant for your entraining needs, and it pairs beautifully with most any rosé, but especially this one. Paraza’s Cuvée Spéciale is a very pale salmon pink with a light nose of citrus and red currants.
On the palate I tasted notes of strawberry, mango, and Cavaillon melon. There were herbal. notes of juniper, rosemary, and thyme on the finish brought on when tasting the wine with the shrimp and beans.
This is a great food wine, but it stands nicely on its own if you need something to sip on the canal boat as you near your destination.
This is an excellent wine and vintage, especially for the price. The château itself is beautiful and worth a visit before or after your tasting.
I’d like to be on a barge on the Canal du Midi, cooking shrimp and beans while sipping a Château de Paraza rosé! It sounds like an excellent paring!
That would be an amazing life combination, wouldn’t it, Mad Dog?
The Château de Paraza rosé sounds perfect for the shrimp and white beans. It also sounds like a bargain! It’s definitely still rosé weather here.
I fear we will be having rosé weather for quite a while longer here in Tucson, as well, Barb. It is really a good bargain and a very nice sipper.