ALSACE & HOLLYWOOD

Last week I was invited to a star-studded event. Hollywood actors and all.

The setting was cosy (none of these I’m too sexy for my shirt  gathering), the guests were crème de la crème only (glad I met Pascal Weeks & shared my plate of Cheese with Glou) and the wine list was – if not eclectic in variety – surprising in taste: 12 Alsace Riesling grand crus. Nothing less.

I can already hear you mumble how bo-ring it must have been. Same region, same grapes, duh. Well, I beg to differ.

We started off with bubbles. Not champagne but Cremant Riesling  – Frey Sohler 2005 – creamy yet tense, fresh yet honeyed. It was like having Reese Witherspoon around.

Later on – 5 glasses later precisely – we tasted a very masculine Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauvillé 2009 by Bott Frères. Well-built yet subtle in taste, a sexy-zesty nose & a take-me home mouth, Glou said this wine was Michael Fassbender. The pedigree was definitely similar.

Alain Delon joined us for the next amuse-bouche with a Grand Cru Rangen 2007 by Martin Schaetzel: it was hot & ripe. Generous & leathery with a distinctive salty touch in the mouth .

One of the last wines was my Ryan Gosling: stern & straight yet flowery & delicious: a Grand Cru Osterberg 2009 by Luis SIPP.

Finally, yes, finally, George Clooney came in. A man with a cause. Sweet & warm to make us smile. It was another Grand Cru: Zinnkoepfle Riesling, late harvest, 2005, Seppi Landmann.

All in all, it was a brilliant evening and I’m very grateful Les Vins d’Alsace invited me to discover a few gems of their great region!

This is Muscadet

No, I am not a shoe addict. I am merely pointing at a lovely pair of bridal shoes called MUSCADET, that’s all. With a special love & wink to my just-married and about-to-tie-the-knot wine friends: Pauline, Ophélie & Maëlis!

ps: They’re Rupert Sanderson, if you ask

 

What’s in a glass?

Sometimes, there’s Prague

Sometimes, there’s light

Sometimes, there’s truth

Sometimes, even women

Or cats

But regardless of what you want to fill your glass with, make sure it’s a big one!

Happy Monday!

Scorcese & Hitchcock for wines of Barcelona

It dates back from 2007 but this short movie is a gem. Martin Scorcese presents Freixenet ’s sparkling wine through the eyes of Hitchcock. ‘THE KEY TO RESERVA’ is vintage, magical & musical. A must-watch!

Will you surrender to Elvis wines?

I came across the oddest wine collection ever: a tribute to rock’n'roll & wine, to Elvis & Bacchus, a feast for your ears (click on the links!) and palate (if you ever put your hands on these fabulous bottles)… Let me introduce Graceland Cellars whose wineries “have worked hard to put the same care into our wines that Elvis put into his music.” If that ever is possible.

So, with the Blue Suede Chardonnay or the Jailhouse Rock Red Merlot, Elvis fans and wine fans are expected to feel Burning Love for this range and be All Shook Up with its eccentricity eclecticism!

Blue Hawaii Riesling “ When you have a ‘Burning Love’ for spicy food this Riesling will be just perfect.”

Jailhouse Rock Merlot: ” ‘Surrender’ to this soft, fruity Merlot.”

Stuck On You Shiraz: “ You’ll be ‘Takin’ Care of Business’ with this rich, flavourful Shiraz.”

The King Cabernet Sauvignon: “ This Cab is King’ with it’s medium bodied flavour.”

The Blue Suede Chardonnay: “ You “Can’t Help Falling In Love” with this wonderful Chardonnay”.

And for this season’s festivity don’t forget your Blue Christmas Cabernet Sauvignon!

THE KING WILL NEVER DIE. Rock’n'roll baby!

If any of you have ever tasted these wines, please let us know!

Growing wine in Ethiopia

Yesterday I read in the newspaper than French largest wine producer CASTEL is actually growing wine in Ethiopia. Ethiopia?!

True story: there and for the past 3 years they have grown 125 hectares of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Chardonnay varietals and celebrated their first harvest last year. Apparently they aim at competing with South African wines, which are considered the best on the continent…

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions” a wise man once said….

Read more on 2merkato

meanwhile…

Rugby & wine pairing

This Sunday I woke up with the sun, hangover, after a rather boozy wedding reception. ‘But why?‘ would one ask ‘ Why would you choose to get up early in such circumstances?!’ Well, let me here inform my sport-ignorant readers that yesterday was the rugby world cup finale and it opposed my two favourite teams: the dangerous All Blacks from New-Zealand and the reckless but uneven French XV. And this, my friend, was well worth the pain.

So the game was thrilling: our French players were fierce and courageous against all odds and the favourite adversary team.  They tackled, they ran and tried, they cried, they sweated and bleed… Unfortunately and despite their brilliant performance they lost the game [7-8] and I was left, disappointed, with lunch to prepare and a question of the utmost importance: WHAT AM I TO DRINK? Which bottle to open after such an exciting rugby performance?

Then I remembered that evening when I was lucky to meet rugby man-turned-winemaker Gérard Bertrand. All along the delicious diner and wine tasting at Benoît,  I had mentally strung together his life-anecdotes to rugby specificities: fencing the defense with international market breaking, team playing with cooperative opportunities, life injuries with those that rhythm a rugby game, the will to win with the urge to create quality wines etc…

That evening,  I had tasted his wines and they had a terroir‘s backbone (a Dusautoir yesterday) and the vivacity that surprises (a Nonu running across the field in the finale).

Therefore, yesterday, I opened a bottle Gérard Betrand had kindly offered and it was a converted try! His white 2010 Cigalus was a fresh and round vintage, beautiful with scallops. The blend of organic grown grapes of Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon blanc from the South of France created an original, almost quizzical wine, surprising enough to take our mind off the defeat and on life’s simple pleasures: grapefruit and honey nose, round vanilla almost caramel and passion fruit notes…  if it didn’t save the French, it definitely saved our lunch!

Read more about the finale here.

The wine who loved women

”Women’s legs are like compass points, circling the globe and providing its balance and harmony“.

The man who loved women, François Truffault.

Yesterday, we were given a gallant rendez-vous by Jacques for Les Vendredis du Vin : The wine who loved women. Where do romance and wine meet?

For me, a wine who loves women is a wine who understood a sharp but singular outfit is key to a first successful eye catching encounter. A wine who loves women is a wine who knows how to announce its arrival with a delicate yet velvety perfume. A wine who loves women is a wine who will gently compliment a woman’s good taste, fervently caressing her with a flowery/fruity touch. It’s a wine who’ll kiss her tongue with sparks of minerality, embark her on a journey through the senses and still be able to hold an interesting and smooth conversation afterwards.  It’s a wine who intoxicates the woman whose heart he’s won, lingers in her mind for days but never becomes a headache once the affair is over.

Romantic Situations & Wine Pairings… Ze Epilogue

If you’re discovering this wine series… please read Ze Teaser first!

#EPILOGUE

September 10^th, midnight.

Dear Diary,

I just ate a platter of cheese and drank a bottle of pouilly fumé with P…

Life is good again!

Oh ouiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Again, many thanks to:  Caroline Henry, Audrey Domenach, Iris Rutz Rudel, Anne Victoire Monrozier, Paloma Ezcurra, Pauline Versace, Eva Robineau.