Cotes du Rhone + Valrhona “Manjari” 64% Dark Chocolate

“Chateau Marjolet” Cotes du Rhone 2009 (Fruity Red)
Valrhona “Manjari” 64% Dark Chocolate

Cotes du Rhone is generally considered to be in the “fruity” spectrum of wine styles so we paired up the Chateau Marjolet 2009 (a great vintage by the way!) with the Manjari 64%. Something about the fruity, fresh and tangy character of the Manjari worked really well with this wine. My favourite combo, this was definitely one of our more successful matches!

Bastille Day

…Bastille Day…the 14th of July..

I for one (and one for all..) did my best to get into the spirit of Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité, and to toast the idea of general revolution I enjoyed a lovely bottle of French white wine.

“Les Fumées Blanches” Sauvignon Blanc 2009 RRP 11.95

“Les Fumées Blanches” takes its name from the light morning mists, which drift like white smoke over the foothill vineyards. In these relatively cool microclimates, Sauvignon Blanc develops the smoky, slightly pungent aromas, which are part of the unique personality of this grape.

Or if you fancy practicing your French..

“Les Fumées Blanches” tire son nom des brumes matinales qui s’étendent sur les vignobles en coteaux. Le Sauvignon Blanc développe dans ces microclimats relativement frais le fumé légerement vif, qui fait la personalité unique de ce cépage.

The wine is simply labelled “Vin de France” a new designation which has come along to help the French Wine Industry compete with New World Wines. The general idea is to loosen up the Appellation Controlée laws in the south of France, to allow more freedoms to winemakers in making fruit-forward, easy-going, commercial wines. For example they can put the grape name on the label of these wines to help the consumer identify the wine style. This particular wine won a gold medal in the "Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2010"

Strangely enough when I put my nose in this wine my first thought was “New Zealand” as the nose is really quite pungent and “Marlborough” in style. On the palate we’re straight back in France with a smoky, mineral, crisp and subtle flavour profile.Its a very tasty wine, which would be lovely with Goats Cheese and a good foil for slightly spicy Thai or Chinese chicken dishes. Excellent as an “Aperitif” wine also!

Santé!!

Dry Tokaji + 66% Valrhona Dark Chocolate

“Chateau Dereszla” Tokaji 2009 (Dry White)
Valrhona “Caraibe” 66% Dark Chocolate

White wine can be a tricky match for chocolate so for fun we went for this Hungarian wine, a Dry version of the world-renowned “Tokaji” Its quite aromatic, luscious and mellow in style and has bags of flavour from the three component grape varieties in the blend.

Valrhona “Caraibe” 66% chocolate is described as “balanced and velvety” or “équilibré et voluptueux” en Français. I reckon if you gorged on enough of this combo you might very well achieve a state of voluptuous equilibrium!

Seriously though, this Tokaji wine is gorgeous and the 66% Valrhona chocolate slides down very easily in its company.

A great start to our tasting!

“Wine & Chocolate Part 2” …

“Wine & Chocolate Part 2” …

For our June WineClub Tasting, we were back exploring one of our favourite combinations “Wine & Chocolate”

Our special guest was Miss Aurelie Baylac (Brand Ambassador for Valrhona Grand Cru Chocolate)

Valrhona chocolate is made with tender love and care in the Northern Rhone Valley, in the town of Tain L’Hermitage. This is beside where the famous hill of Hermitage is found, where they produce some absolutely sensational wines (Hermitage / Cote Rotie)

Its an outstanding quality chocolate favoured by top pastry chefs (and chocoholics..) the world over. Valrhona has a famous cookery school where you can learn the art and alchemy of making great chocolate and chocolate desserts!
I thought “Wine School” was great..well what about “Chocolate School”, sounds very tempting!

Our quest was to see how various types of chocolate (From 33% Milk up to 70% Dark) matched with different types of wine.

This was our tasty line-up..

“Chateau Dereszla” Tokaji 2009 (Dry White)
Valrhona “Caraibe” 66% Dark Chocolate

“Chateau Marjolet” Cotes du Rhone 2009 (Fruity Red)
Valrhona “Manjari” 64% Dark Chocolate

“Hoya de Los Lobos” Ribera del Duero Crianza 2005(Oak-Aged Red )
Valrhona “Guanaja” 70% Dark Chocolate

“Domaine de Fontavin” Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2005 (Sweet White)
Valrhona “Tanariva” 33% Milk Chocolate

More details to follow..

Red Wine of the Year

Red Wine of the Year

Schutz Barossa “Red Nectar” Shiraz 2006
Way out in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, Tammy Schutz has been working her family vineyards and quietly producing a tiny quantity of sensational red wine. Full bodied, with velvet, rich and smooth black fruit, chocolate and spice, this is a wonderful wine to partner steak or beef dishes.

A wine that wears its name well..Red Nectar indeed!

On promotion for a limited time only.

White Wine of the Year

The White Wine of the Year (as voted by our customers..)

Masi “Masianco” 2010
A fantastic blend of Pinot Grigio and Verduzzo grapes,
from sunny vineyards close to Venice.
The Verduzzo grapes are given a short appassimento (drying period) to concentrate flavours before pressing and the resulting wine is absolutely luscious and chock-full of fantastic flavours and aromas.

On promotion price for a limited time only!

Catherine Fulvio Visit

Catherine Fulvio Book Signing & Wine Tasting

Thanks to everyone who attended our tasting night with Celebrity Chef Catherine Fulvio. It was one of the best nights we’ve had for a while.

We were absolutely delighted to welcome Catherine as our guest and she was in fabulous form, giving out plenty of cooking tips and tricks and insights into her excellent book “Catherine’s Italian Kitchen”

The Italian-style nibbles went down very well (Thanks a million to Hajni and Mary for all the hard work and preparation!)

On the wine front I selected a dusky range of Italians and the wines we tasted were:

Whites
San Giorgio Prosecco RRP 11.95
Pasqua Pinot Grigio 2010 RRP 10.95

Reds
Borgo Cipressi Chianti 2009 RRP 12.95
Nespolino Sangiovese / Merlot 2009 RRP 11.95
Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2008 RRP 15.95

The San Giorgio Prosecco went down very well, it’s a lovely easy drop and a good wine to kick off any party or celebration. This one is quite fruity, not too dry at all and there’s a decent bit of fizz going on. It’s screwcapped too, which is handy if you you need to crack open a few bottles in a hurry! It will be great “warm-weather drinking” in the months to come!

The Pasqua Pinot Grigio was very typical in style, light, crisp and fresh with lots of pear fruit character and a “dangerous gluggability”

The Borgo Cipressi Chianti 2009 (Cypress Village..named after the beautiful cypress trees so typical of Tuscany) was the first red in our line-up and is a good example of benchmark DOCG Chianti. Tasty cherry fruit and spice with a nice bite of acidity, this is a wine designed in wine heaven for Italian cuisine. Works great with pasta dishes in tomato sauce.

The next red Nespolino 2009 is from the Emilia Romagna region (near Bologna) and is a super example of modern Italian winemaking.
It’s a blend of Sangiovese (the Chianti grape) and Merlot, a bit of a turbo-Chianti and delivers great colour, a lovely plummy nose and bags and bags of flavour. A great new wine which we’re delighted to recommend.

As one or two tasters pointed out we’d saved the best until the end with the Masciarelli 2008.This is a damn fine Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ,from one of the best local producers and the wine punches well above its weight pricewise. A wine to try with meaty food.

You can check out all the details about Catherine at www.catherinefulvio.com and find out about her cookery school in Wicklow at www.ballyknocken.com