Portes Ouvertes – 10e Ronde du Couchois

Every year on the first weekend in August the cellar doors are open in and around Couches in Southern Burgundy.  This is a delightful organised event that has been repeated every year since 2001, the Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois appellation having been granted the year before.

Having tasted at some of the 24 “Portes Ouvertes” last year, we were keen to be back in Couches to repeat the experience this year and whilst the weather was not quite so kind, the wines and the warm welcome from the vignerons more than justified our return visit.

As far back as 1957 the vignerons of the Couchois aimed high and hoped to have their terroir recognised, situated as it is at the very south of the Côte de Beaune, and their efforts finally bore fruit on 6^th September 2000 with the creation of an origin-specific appellation: Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois.  The wines are solely red and from the Pinot Noir grape with the vines stretching over some 240 hectares in the communes of Couches, Dracy-les-Couches, Saint-Maurice-les-Couches, Saint-Sernin-du-Plain and Saint-Jean-de-Trézy.

Vines in the Côtes du Couchois area

On our amble round just a third of the cellars that were open (kids in tow or we might have done more), we were welcomed warmly without exception and enjoyed tasting not only the Côtes du Couchois appellation wines but also white and red Bourgognes, Crémant de Bourgognes, Hautes Côtes de Beaunes and Maranges.  It was clear that the Côtes du Couchois wines, which typically see six months in oak, evolve over five to eight years and we bought some 2004/05/06s to take home to the UK.  The 2007/08/09s will stay here in Burgundy to age.

Domaines that we particularly liked were Domaine  de la Tour Bajole – extraordinary magnums of old Côtes du Couchois on sale here – and Domaine Roland Royet in Saint-Maurice-les-Couches. The wonderful Domaine Demontmerot Père & Fils in Dracy-les-Couches won it for us though with an amazing atmosphere for tasting and good 2005 Côtes du Couchois and Crémant de Bourgogne.

One of many convivial tasting sessions

If you are looking for a non-pressured, laid-back tasting experience with good, reasonably-priced wines and lots of atmosphere I can’t recommend the “Ronde du Couchois” more highly.  As they say round here: Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois – une reconnaissance meritée!

Chaource from Chaource

Artisanal cheese from the Fromagerie de Mussy

Chaource, a double cream cow’s milk cheese from North-East France was on the menu here today and its melt-in-the-mouth creaminess was irresistible.  The texture is smooth and dense and the subtle flavour, with a hint of mushroom, lingers on the palate such that considerable restraint is required to avoid going back to the cheeseboard for more.

Chaource  was granted AOC status in 1970 and can only be made in certain parts of the Aube and Yonne departments near Tonnerre and Troyes.  On Thursday, we passed through the sleepy little town of Chaource itself and picked up one of these beautiful, snowy-white, soft-rinded cheeses, made by the Fromagerie de Mussy.  Today, we unwrapped it and devoured half of it for lunch with a baguette and a very soft and supple, uncomplicated red Bourgogne.  Other suggested wine matches are Chablis, Sancerre and Champagne, but I can’t wait to try the remaining half of our Chaource with a rosé Crémant de Bourgogne.

Champagne Road Trip

Gilles pours a nebuchadnezzar of Dumangin 2002

Last Saturday night found me sipping vintage champagne from the biggest bottle I have ever seen at a celebration dinner in the cellars of J Dumangin Fils on the Montagne de Reims.  A Nebuchadnezzar holds the equivalent of twenty normal 75cl bottles and is not the easiest vessle to pour from.  Indeed, a special metal contraption on wheels was used so that the bottle could be lifted sufficiently to fill the glasses of the gathered throng.

Dumangin vintage Champagnes back to 1982 lined up for tasting

I had been invited by Gilles Dumangin and his wife Anne-Luce to join in their birthday celebrations and the ten year anniversary of their taking over the running of the family business.  That afternoon, we had been treated to a tasting of Dumangin vintages going back to 1982 all of which had been disgorged some three weeks beforehand with a dosage of 4.4g of sugar to enable an easy comparison.  I was struck by the strong, honeyed and sometimes sherry-like taste of some of the older Champagnes and my favourites were the 2002, which we were to drink again later as our ‘nebuchadnezzar’ aperitif and the big, bold and yeasty 1990.

I had travelled to Champagne with three good friends from Yapp Brothers, Dumangin’s UK stockist – Meirion Williams, Bianca Ford and Jonathan Hoad and great travel companions they were.  We stayed in a B&B on another Champagne domaine, Trichet-Didier in nearby Les Trois Puits which suited our requirements down to the ground with lovely rooms, superb breakfasts and half a bottle of Champagne offered to parties of two.

A stunning lobster and salmon main course was served with a magnum of Dumangin 2000.

Back at Dumangin that evening, a dinner of Champenois specialities was presented by renowned local Chef Thierry Landragin who heads the Restaurant de l’Abbaye in Hautvilliers.  A magnum of Dumangin Grand Réserve accompanied our starter, a ‘buffet aromatisé aux spécialités Champenoises’ and the 2000 vintage was perfect with the delicious lobster and salmon main course.  Salad and cheese dishes followed and we ended the meal with a plate of Champenois desserts having enjoyed Gilles’ rosé Champagne and Ratafia de Champagne (a regional vin de liqueur) along the way.

Gilles is a fifth generation Champagne producer and succeeded from his father, Jacky, in 2001. The Dumangin family’s tireless efforts to produce the best possible Champagne from their own grapes has been recognised by the prestigious French wine guide, Guide Hachette 2008, which awarded the Dumangin Grand Réserve a Coup de Cœur.  In the UK, you can buy the Dumangin Champagnes at Yapp Brothers of Mere and I heartily recommend them to you.

With my Champagne Road Trip companions - all smiles as another magnum of Champagne is brought out!

Fiumicino Fish

One of the many dishes we tried at Amelindra

Last weekend’s whirlwind visit to see family in Rome found us indulging in some stunning food and wine in the city, on the coast and overlooking  a crater lake. Perhaps the most memorable of the gastronomic experiences was the largest fish lunch I think I have ever consumed, by the sea at Fiumicino, known best as the location of Rome’s main airport.

Amelindra is a monumentally popular fish restaurant and, after negotiating our way through the queues of people waiting patiently for a table (we had pre-booked), we walked through into the vast dining hall past tanks of lobsters and trays of fresh oysters amid a hubbub of Italian chatter so loud that I felt we would have trouble making ourselves heard.  Sundays in May are popular days for  confirmation ceremonies in Italy and there were clearly several large and excited parties who had come to celebrate such an event.

My cousin and her partner had visited Amelindra before and their suggestion was to go with the set menu which would present us with a variety of seafood dishes that the restaurant does best and no more than ten minutes after we’d ordered, we were off.  First up was a squid, salmon and celery salad served with rocket and a dressing of olive oil and lemon.   My husband started tucking into the bread to accompany the salad and was quickly warned against it, this turning out later to be sensible advice.  The salad was huge and, quite frankly, enough for a light lunch but suddenly there were two large platefuls of “cozze” (mussels) on the table, done simply with garlic, herbs and white wine and the temptation to mop the plate up with more bread was irresistible.

Included in the set menu deal was half a bottle each of local Lazio white wine which was uncomplicated yet refreshing and a versatile option, sitting quite happily with every course on the menu.  There was no indication on the bottle as to the grape varieties but I suspect it was a Malvasia / Trebbiano blend.

Risotto con Gamberi was brought to us next, a triumph and probably my favourite of all the courses.  Much as I adore risotto, I struggle to achieve the lovely creamy texture that this version had and I am, as we speak, about to dig out my mini-library of Italian cookery books to try and put this right.  Back in Fiumicino, risotto was followed by gnocchi with clams, tomatoes, a hint of chilli and handfuls of fresh herbs. Again, the dish was full of flavour but I was starting to slow down by this stage and in the back of my mind I knew there was still a platter of Fritto Misto di Mare to come.  Where would I find room for that?  Two laden platters of Fritto Misto duly arrived and amongst the very varied offerings we found superbly cooked squid, prawns of all description, fried sole and delicate seabass.  I gradually worked my way through a bit of everything and savoured those wonderful flavours of the sea.

And the fish keeps on coming......

And so ended the fish courses.  We were then presented with a champagne flute full of frothy, lemon “sorbet” and a straw.  It’s consistency was more like a thick, bubbly milkshake and a spoon might have been a better implement, but no matter because this was the ideal complement to our piscatorial discoveries: simple, light and fresh.  Finally, after two mouthfuls of very strong espresso, we were off into the sunshine to walk off lunch, gaze at the ocean and reflect on the excellent value of the meal we had just enjoyed – 32 euros per person including wine and coffee.

A trip to town for a really secret event

Last Sunday found me travelling to London for #ARSE4, the fourth of Andrew’s Really Secret Events, Andrew being Andrew Barrow aka @wine_scribbler who writes wonderful stuff about food and drink at www.spittoon.biz.  Rather intriguingly, the venue and theme of the event was to be withheld until I met Andrew and several other equally curious bloggers outside Farringdon tube station at midday.

A short walk round the block took us to Vinoteca, just opposite Smithfield Market, where a tasting and lunch had been arranged with several winemakers from ‘Australia’s First Families of Wine’, a collective of family-owned wine producers from across Australia.  Their aim is to portray the real character and personality of Australian wine, whether it be a single vineyard bottling or a regional blend, and to show that Australia doesn’t just put out the commercial styles that we see all over UK supermarket shelves.  You can find out more about the values of Australia’s First Families of Wine together with details of who they are on their website.

Bruce Tyrrell and Ross Brown propping up the bar at Vinoteca

Our pre-lunch tasting session was akin to speed-dating as we moved round quickly from producer to producer, hearing about their vineyards, winemaking practices and wines.  Themes that resonated throughout the tasting were:

• the wine is all about the fruit – get it right in the vineyard and let the grapes speak for themselves;
• taste the place – wines of the same grape variety will pick up the essence of the soil and the climate and will therefore be representative of the place they originate from;
• only use oak if necessary – a move away from the once fashionable trend of oaky, fruity, big Australian wines;
• sustainability – the impact on the environment, of growing vines and harvesting them, should be minimised.

It was an honour to meet these passionate winemakers who were hoping to open our eyes to what is out there on offer from their country and open my eyes they did. There is nothing quite like tasting a wine with the person who produced it.  Even allowing for that,  I was impressed with the elegance, flavour and minerality on display and would happily buy any of these wines for drinking at home.

Onto lunch: First up was salt baked celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke, red onion and aoili with which I chose De Bortoli’s Estate Chardonnay 2008 which worked well alongside the complex flavours of this starter.  Leanne De Bortoli told us that one of her favourite pairings for this Chardonnay is John Dory and it would also be delightful as an aperitif.

Meltingly tender braised lamb followed with minted peas and spring vegetables. It seemed appropriate to try Yalumba’s The Scribbler Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2008 with its herby, savoury flavours and this turned out to be a wise move.

A wine not included in the tasting itself was brought out to match our pudding of Williams pear and almond tart with vanilla ice cream: Campbells’ Muscat Topaque, with its lush, silky, caramel and toffee flavours, was a delight and I reckon this was a match that had been tried before!

In the week when Matthew Jukes announced his “100 Best Australian Wines 2011” and commented that they “reflect what is truly exciting, engaging, passionate and essential about Aussie wine”, I am pleased to see some of the Australian First Families of Wine on his list.  If I had to choose my favourites from the tasting, I would go for the McWilliam’s Semillon, De Bortoli’s Chardonnay and the d’Arenberg Roussanne, not forgetting the lovely Muscat Topaque from Campbell’s (available at www.corkingwines.com).  Brief notes from the tasting are set out below.

Thank you to Andrew Barrow, Australia’s First Families of Wine and Vinoteca for a most enjoyable afternoon.

De Bortoli vineyards in the Yarra Valley, taken on a visit in 2008

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2005 (Hunter Valley, NSW)
Voted IWSC Best Semillon 2010 and Best Single Vineyard Wine 2010. Six years old but still fresh with lemon and lime on the palate.  Low alcohol: 11.5%. Try it with fish chowder.  £17.95 www.bbr.com

Tyrrell’s Winemaker Selection Vat 1 Hunter Semillon 2003 (Hunter Valley, NSW)
Good acidity which is a mark of Hunter Valley Semillon.  Lovely citrus flavours. Hints of honey and toast coming through. Low alcohol: 10.5%. Enjoy with baked white fish or smoked fish. £25 www.majestic.co.uk

Howard Park Riesling 2009 (Great Southern, Western Australia)
From a cooler year and displaying taut lime flavours. For drinking in the sunshine with elegant, spiced fish dishes.  Will evolve over 8-10 years. £12.95 www.slurp.co.uk

Tahblik Viognier 2009 (Central Victoria)
A lovely freshness for a New World Viognier. Lots of apricot and white fruit.  No oak.  Roast pork, please. £11.65 www.slurp.co.uk

Brown Brothers Banksdale Chardonnay 2008 (North Eastern Victoria)
From a single vineyard, 800 metres above sea level. Powerful white fruit flavours and minerals. Integrated oak. Baked fish would be good or courgette flowers stuffed with mild goat’s cheese. £8.54 www.waitrosewine.com

De Bortoli Estate Chardonnay 2008 (Yarra Valley, Victoria)
More stunning minerality on show with this elegant example of Chardonnay.  Really long finish.  Fermented in oak casks for texture. Recommended with John Dory or spinach & ricotta ravioli.  £13.33 (when you buy six bottles) www.chapelplacewines.co.uk

d’Arenberg Money Spider Roussanne 2009 (McLaren Vale, South Australia)
Oodles of flavour in this unoaked, powerful yet silky wine – citrus, a touch of honey, stone fruit and an endless finish. This is fun and would be great with a big platter of Thai canapés. £13.71 (when you buy six bottles) www.everywine.co.uk

Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Riesling 2008 (Clare Valley, South Australia)
From a single vineyard at 480 metres above sea level. Vibrant and zingy grapefruit flavours. Clean with fantastic length. I’d go for chilli & lime squid with this. Good now but will develop over the next decade.  £11.60 www.slurp.co.uk

Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2005 (Eden Valley, South Australia)
From a vineyard of 93-year-old vines and at 400 metres above sea level, this 100% Shiraz is pretty special. Bold and lingering with full-on dark fruit.  Drink now or hold onto it for another 10 years. Big, meaty dishes required. £47.59 www.drinksdirect.co.uk (minimum purchase six bottles).

Yalumba The Scribbler Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2008 (Barossa Valley, South Australia)
A lovely elegance with blue fruit from the Cabernet (65%) and power from the Shiraz (35%). Recommended with a rack of lamb.  £12.10 www.slurp.co.uk

Wakefield Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Clare Valley, Southern Australia)
From Taylors Wines and named after the river that starts on the estate and flows on to the town of Wakefield.  Blackcurrant fruit and a lingering finish with mint and liquorice flavours. Perhaps a Greek lamb stew brimming over with herbs? £9.99 (or currently £7.99 if you buy two bottles) www.majestic.co.uk

Campbells Bobbie Burns Durif 2006 (Rutherglen, Victoria)
Durif is a popular grape in the Rutherglen area and is now being grown in other parts of Australia.  This wine is typically intense with plum fruits on the palate.  A correspondingly big dish is called for and I’d go for a venison casserole or roast. £10.26 ex-VAT www.newlondonwine.co.uk

The delicious chickpea pancakes that are ‘Socca’

We were transported back to Nice again last weekend when I made Socca, the tasty chickpea pancakes on sale in the narrow streets of Vieux Nice and popular along the Mediterranean coast to Tuscany where it is known as ‘Cecinata’ or ‘made of chickpeas’.  On the Ligurian coast around Genoa, the locals call it ‘Farinata’.  Variations of the recipe, taken by Ligurian migrants over the centuries, can be found as far away as Argentina and Uruguay. In Gibraltar, where a significant proportion of the population has Genoese origins, ‘Calentita’ (the baked version) and ‘Panissa’(fried) are described as national dishes.

Traditionally, in Nice, the batter of chickpea flour, olive oil and water is baked in the oven on a cast iron skillet but I prefer to use a frying pan brushed with oil.  Try it with a glass of chilled, provençal rosé, pastis or a cold beer.  A simple recipe for Socca, based on one I tweeked from the book ‘Provençal Cookery School’ by Gui Gedda and Marie-Pierre Moine,  is below.

For more on our travels to Nice and a recipe for Pissaladière, have a look at this post that I wrote last year.

Recipe for Socca

250ml water
3 tbsps olive oil + a little for oiling the pan
125g chickpea flour (gram flour)
1 tsp ground cumin
Fine sea salt & ground black pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to drizzle over the finished socca

Pour the water and olive oil into a large bowl.

Mix the chickpea flour with the ground cumin. Add a little fine salt and some ground black pepper to suit your tastes.

Gradually sift the flour mixture into the water and oil, a little at a time, whisking constantly.

Once you have a smooth batter, leave it to stand for an hour at room temperature.

To cook, oil a medium-sized frying pan and pour in a ladle-full of the mixture at a time, swirling it around to cover the pan. Cook on a high heat for a couple of minutes until browned and then turn over and repeat on the other side.

Alternatively, bake the socca batter in the oven at 230C/Gas Mark 8, on an oiled baking tray. The batter should be about 5mm deep in the tray.  Bake for 15-20minutes.

Serve the Socca in slices with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a grinding of black pepper.

Two Spanish Reds

After an enjoyable mooch round the Shaftesbury ‘Feastival’ on Saturday afternoon, I was looking forward to trying a piece of beef fillet I’d purchased from Higher Stavordale Farm (www.kimbersfarmshop), winners of the 2011 ‘Best Meat Producer in Somerset’ award at the Taste of Somerset Awards. Here was an occasion to open a correspondingly special bottle of wine.  Having recently been sent a couple of Spanish red wines to review by the PR agency for Grupo Codorniu, a 2005 Priorat seemed appropriate and I decanted it a couple of hours before dinner.

Priorat is a tiny region in Catalunya producing some of the most exciting but expensive wines in Spain packed full with minerals from the unusual, local llicorella soil.  The Priorat Scala Dei Cartoixa 2005 is from Garnacha Tinta, Cariñena (Carignan), Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon and it’s full-bodied stuff with amazing deep, dark fruit aromas which follow through onto the palate where the mineral elements can be picked up together with a hint of vanilla and plenty of herbiness.  I have to admit that it overpowered my beef somewhat – a dense, slow-cooked meaty casserole would have done it better justice in hindsight. This, for me, is a special occasion wine and for £28.50 a bottle at Tesco Online, with a minimum purchase of six bottles, you’d need to find quite a few such occasions.  Having said that, the wine will be drinking well over the next five years so there is plenty of time.  Hercules Wine Warehouse also has stocks currently.  If you enjoy this kind of wine and are looking to spend a little less, try the young and promising appellation of Montsant, whose vines encircle D.O. Priorat, and offer wines of a similar style.

I also tasted the Grupo Codorniu Rioja Viña Pomal Reserva 2005 and the food match this time was spot on: grilled pork shoulder steaks that had been left overnight in a marinade of Moroccan spices, garlic, lemon and olive oil.  The wine, with its deep red fruit flavours and lingering finish sat so well alongside the meat that I could have eaten (and drunk) the whole lot again. So, apparently, could the assembled company.  The vintage in question, 2005, was hailed as exceptional in Rioja and this wine proves the point.  Whatsmore, it is reasonably priced – £12.99 at Majestic.