Wine Tasting at Chateau d'Alogny

Last night we had a wine tasting at Alogny. A family of ten, and me, and had a blast!

We started with a Cremant de Loire, which is a local sparkling wine, made in the méthode champenoise, so very high quality but not well known. Chenin blanc grape, so a little off-dry, but a great starter. (sorry, no pic). I grilled some figs from the garden, dabbled on some Bleu d'Auvergne, and drizzled on a balsamic reduction. Not a great photo, but they were delicious, even for those (Phoebe) who don't like blue cheese.

On to an old-vine Quincy, which is a region just east of Sancerre. I love the lemony notes in Quincy but this was more full-bodied and funky. Less crisp than I'd expected and because of the heft, it really needed food, so we had a selection of aged goat cheeses.

Here's the cheese board I made. Cheeses are, starting from bottom right going clockwise, goat cheese pyramide, Ossau Iraty, Morbier, Comte, and Saint Nectaire.

This is an amazing wine from Cour-Cheverny where they only use Romorantin grapes. I visited the winery last week and met the winemaker. Somewhat like a Sauvignon Blanc, old vines so big flavor and long taste on the palate, but still crisp and bright. Everyone loved this one.

Then a chardonnay from Domaine Gonon: Pouilly-Fuissé, again not as bright and crisp (I couldn't pass up all the old vine choices, as you never see them back home in the US) as I expected but big and full-bodied, a little funky (that's a good thing!!), great with the cheese.

One of my favorite French wines is Viognier, which for while was out of favor and down to only a small amount being produced in France. It was a hit in California so now thankfully, it's production is way up in France. This wine was not from Condrieu, but excellent. Andrea Immer once said that it's like chewing on Juicy Fruit gum and walking into a cloud of chalk dust after clapping chalkboard erasers together. She was talking about an American version but I love this explanation of chalky soild aroma and fruity flavor.

We ate roasted cashews with this to explain and bring out the nuttiness. Helped everybody understand how a wine, especially a white, could be nutty. Very different from a California viognier, but really wonderful.

Now the Reds. Everybody at the party was a Red fan, so thanks for your patience!

I had found a wonderful St. Joseph, "l'Arzelle" 2001, from Domaine des Vins de Vienne, a collective out of the city Vienne, not the region, which is where I am living. It was fruity and spicy and juicy. Delicious with a peppery saucisson.

Next I had toasted some walnuts, and tossed in butter with rosemary (from the garden) and salt and pepper. Sadly, I forgot to pass them around because we were enjoying the cured meats. But we finally got to them and ate every one.

The wine was rich, with notes of coffee, tobacco and chocolate, and just everything a Bordeaux should be. Chateau Tour des Termes, Saint Estèphe:

We finished with my personal favorite, Chateau de la Grille, from Baudry-Dutour, where I visited on my trip to Chinon. So much fruit and depth, but not tannic at all. I love Chinon, and I think this was a universal favorite.  Even the bottle is cool. Thanks so much to the Bird family for inviting me up to do this!