Posts Tagged ‘wine store’

This article treats one of the world’s most successful marketing campaigns – the French red wine that arrives just in time for Thanksgiving, Beaujolais Nouveau. At one minute past midnight on the third Thursday in November, this wine is released for sale. Talk about market share, in the next 24 hours over one million cases will be sold. During the coming year, consumers all over the world will buy more than 65 million bottles. There will be about 4 million bottles exported to the United States, and 7 million to Japan and to Germany. On the downside millions of bottles of last year’s production was destroyed prior to the release of the 2007 crop.

New wines are usually colored bright red or violet. They tend to be fruity, tasting of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, banana, and freshly squeezed grapes, depending on the grape variety used, the production method, and the area in which the grapes are grown. Detractors talk about bubble gum, lollipops, nail polish, and jello. Many feel that new wine tastes of grape juice with alcohol. One thing is certain; if you don’t like a given new wine, don’t store it away to try it again in two years. It won’t improve with time.

Let me present a few tidbits of information before reviewing one of the 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau wines. This wine comes from Beaujolais region of southeastern France and is made from the Gamay grape, which was kicked out of the world-famous, neighboring Burgundy region in 1395. By law, all the grapes in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand. Champagne is the only other region of France that forbids mechanical harvesting. While Beaujolais Nouveau was first regulated in 1938, it dates back to ancient times when a somewhat similar wine was produced for slaves. History does not record their reaction. Let’s take a look at mine.

Before reviewing the Beaujolais Nouveau wine and imported cheeses that we purchased at a local wine store and a local imported food store, here a few suggestions of what to eat with such wine:

Start with Salade Frise aux Lardons (Curly Lettuce and Bacon Salad).

For your second course savor Pot au Feu (Short Ribs with Bone Marrow).

And as dessert indulge yourself with Poires poches au Miel (Pears poached in Honey).

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau 2007 12% about $13.50

I bought this bottle a few days after the release of the 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau (November 15, 2007) along with a more expensive French offering and an Italian Vino Novello, (new wine) a quite similar Italian rendition. In what I am hoping is not a change in policy my supplier did not include any marketing materials. Here are some comments from another supplier: Crisp and enjoyable – bright cherry and berry flavors, with enough tannins to stand up to richer foods. And now for my reactions.

My first pairing of this wine involved prepackaged eggplant parmigiana to which I added a lot of grated Parmesan cheese. The first thing that hit me was the taste of bubble gum, more or less dominating everything else. The wine was pleasant but not much else. I can’t help but think about 1970s parties where people were younger and the wine was almost inconsequential.

The next meal consisted of slow cooked beef stew with potatoes. Now the wine had some black cherry and apple flavors but the bubble gum was still present, although not dominant. This Beaujolais Nouveau was moderately acidic and of medium length.

Then I tried this wine with breaded fried chicken breast slices, potato patties, and Turkish salad. The wine seemed a bit rounder than before. My paucity of comments is due, at least in part, to the wine’s paucity of presence. Like it almost wasn’t there.

The first cheese was a German Emmenthaler (Swiss-type) that is starting to age. The wine was fairly thin, but some fruit managed to poke itself out and guess what, there was no bubble gum at all. Perhaps the change came about from the wine aging for a few days in the bottle. One could do a semi-scientific experiment to test this hypothesis with another bottle of this wine. Not a chance. Then I continued with a French goat cheese that has become older than necessary. The cheese rendered the wine almost tasteless. The wine was overwhelmed. I was underwhelmed.

Final verdict. Can you guess? Once again I was had. For this price one should be able to get something halfway decent. And yet as long as both yours truly and the Beaujolais Nouveau phenomenon are around I’ll be tasting such wines.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

If you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Languedoc-Roussillon region of south central France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that youll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a local red Pinot Noir.

Among the eleven wine-growing regions of France Languedoc-Roussillon ranks number four in total vineyard acreage. This area, which includes the Midi was traditionally known for generating immense amounts of rather dubious table wine called vin ordinaire. Recently, in part because of Australian winemakers, the region has started to produce a lot of fine wine. A few weeks ago a salesman offering free samples greeted me at my nearby wine store. While I hadnt planned to review yet another Languedoc-Roussillon wine so soon after the two others, I was particularly intrigued by this wines classification and its grape variety.

The wine bottle proudly displayed a sticker proclaiming its Gold ranking in a national contest for Vin de Pays (Country Wines) in 2006. You may recall from the initial article in this series (I Love French Wine and Food Launching a Series) that Vin de Pays is a relatively recent French classification for wines of promise that for one reason or another dont meet the stricter requirements of the presumably better classifications. Even though almost one third of French wine is classified as Vin de Pays we dont get too many of them here. I smelled a potential bargain.

The grape variety was Pinot Noir. I know of a relatively recent exhaustive list of Languedoc-Roussillon grape varieties comprising over thirty entries, some famous, others obscure. Pinot Noir was absent, surely not by oversight. Pinot Noir tends to be a cool-weather grape found in places such as Champagne and Burgundy in France, and Oregon in the United States. In our various article series we reviewed Pinot Noirs from non-traditional areas including Germany, Italy, and France (Alsace). Well see below how a Languedoc-Roussillon Pinot Noir stacks up.

Narbonne is a city of about fifty thousand that had been a major city in old Roman times. Sadly little of its Roman past remains. Youll have to be satisfied with modern sites such as the Fourteenth Century Cathdrale St-Just-et-St-Pasteur (St-Justs and St-Pasteurs Cathedral), the tallest cathedral in all of southern France. Nearby is the Palais des Archevques (Archbishops Palace) that houses art and archeology museums. If youre feeling ambitious climb the almost two hundred steps in the dungeon for a prisoners eye view of the surroundings. The sculpture museum in the former church Notre Dame de la Mourgui displays Roman and Gallic treasures of all sorts. The twenty two kilometer (fifteen mile) Robine Canal, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, flows into the much longer Canal du Midi (Midi Canal), similarly classified. Charles Trenet, a famous French singer and songwriter was born in Narbonne. Leon Blum, a three time French Prime Minister was born in Paris but elected to Parliament from Narbonne.

Before reviewing the Languedoc-Roussillon wine and imported cheeses that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region.
Start with Gambas (Prawns).
For your second course savor Loup en Papillote (Sea Bass cooked in Foil).
And as dessert indulge yourself with Pches la Minervoise (White Peaches with Muscat Wine and Raisins).

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Partiarche Pinot Noir Vin de Pays 2004 12% about $9

Lets start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Pale ruby color; light cherry and spice aromas, sweet fresh cherry flavour, soft finish. Serving suggestion: Serve with cold roast beef.

My first meal consisted of cold beef spare ribs with cracked peppercorns, potato salad, and cucumber and onion salad. My first reaction was this is a real Pinot Noir at a great price. Its light acid did a great job of cutting the congealed fat. It was shorter and less complex than other Pinot Noirs that cost a lot, lot more.

The next meal was cold barbequed chicken with cucumber and onion salad, and potato salad. There was a lot of extract and quite a good length. I tasted tobacco and dark fruits.

The final meal involved grilled hamburgers with spicy Thai sauce, a cole slaw advertised as a health cole slaw whatever that means, and once again potato salad. In this case spicy meant really spicy. The sauce was too assertive; I had to remove most of it. While I like spices I want the wine to be there. Once that problem was solved the wine was fine. I tasted black cherries rather than the sweet cherries that I had been promised. I was not disappointed. I also tasted the underbrush and that didnt disappoint me either.

My first cheese pairing was with a local Asiago cheese that I prefer to the native Italian versions that I have tried. Perhaps in Italy The Pinot Noir was powerful with dark fruit. Then I went to a goats milk cheese, a Palet de Chevre from the Poitou Charentes region of central-western France. I might have guessed that the cheese was a Camembert rather than a goats milk cheese. Be that as it may, the wine became too acidic and lost its flavor. Then I paired the Pinot Noir with a nutty tasting Swiss Gruyere. At first the same phenomenon occurred, but later became less pronounced. I thought that perhaps the wine was starting to decline, but I finished the bottle on its own and the fruit came back in force.

Final verdict. We have a winner. We have a bargain. The two are related. At twice the price I wouldnt bother. But at the present price Ill be coming back. And Ill be looking for another Vin de Pays to try soon.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rates