Don't be sour.

For a long time I didn't like the sauvignon blanc wines. Too sour, with no other flavor development or fullness. I asked a wine seller about this - whether this was true of all sauvignon blancs, or there were other varieties, or whether my palate wasn't experienced enough to appreciate this wine. Well, the question of my palate is still undecided, but the wine seller did confirm that this was a light, fresh and acidic wine often enjoyed in the summer. So I gave up and went back to my chardonnay: rich, vanilla-y and definitively NOT sour.

One day I did by accident get a glass of sauvignon blanc that I was able to enjoy. It remained light but had so many quick, crisp flavors that I didn't have time to notice the acidity. Fruit, like apricot, melon and citrus, and apparently "minerality" and "grassiness" refreshed and gave a persistence that rounded out the flavor. After that I was sold on the sauvignon blanc. I tried several; was sometimes satisfied, sometimes wished I had bought something else. I remain hopeful for future trials.

This Domaine du Tariquet Sauvignon Blanc we got through our quarterly wine order (six wines chosen by the dealer) and was one of the yummy ones. Lots of fruit and minerality, spicy and fresh. A good wine to oysters or fish, or as an aperitif before the meal.

Enjoy!

Our first Vindredi

Oh, Friday, how I love thee.

Today I present a treasure of the French Alps: the tartiflette. It's a fantastic partner to a red wine (see below our choice) because it stars a stinky French cheese, reblochon. After buying my piece of reblochon in Stuttgart, I walked home with it on the stroller and kept wondering what stank so much. The cheese. Like the maroille of the north or a ripe camembert, a little poison for the nose but heaven to the palette.

To prepare your tartiflette, you need very little. The cheese, some potatoes, bits of smoked ham, onions. Peel, cube and boil the potatoes. Fry up the ham and onions in oil. Put it all in a casserole dish. Reblochon comes as a little wheel, like camembert. Cut this in half horizontally and lay each half, skin side up, on top of the ham-potato mixture, covering as much as possible. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and everything is hot.

We combined this with a yummy Spanish red. It's a mixture of tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon, which I find sometimes gives us a fuller and rounder flavor than a single grape vintage. It is dry but fruity* and strong enough for a rich meal like ours.

Don't hesitate to enjoy another glass of this wine after the meal ... maybe without cheese since we've had enough after this!

Have a great Friday. And if you discover another great vino over the weekend, tell me about it!!






*I don't want to sound pretentious, and so I haven't decided yet how to talk about wine. I'm trying to understand more about it, but I'm not yet able to talk about "tannins" and "notes" and "textures." We'll have to do that wine tasting together, so that if there has to be pretension, we'll all be in on the fun!

First course

I adore vino. I love food. Friday's not bad, either. This is my idea:

Every week, on Friday, I'll post a wine recommendation, possibly with a fabulous recipe to go with it. The food will depend on the motivation of my wonderful spouse who does most of the cooking. But I'll choose the vino!

If you have any wine or food suggestions, let me know! I will try [almost] anything - and then I'll write about it.

Something else I'd love to include here is a homemade wine tasting. Ahem. Not homemade wine, but a homemade tasting. If any of you readers are not too far away, let me know and we'll set it up.

So come back Fridays and we'll enjoy our Vindredi together!