Explorations in Cheese and Wine..

Today after an absolutely exhaustive mission on getting internet on my computer, I rewarded myself with a bottle of wine...

I decided to be naughty and walk into Nicolas Winery...I mean...IT'S THE FOIRE AUX VINS TIME OF THE YEAR!!! If you can, stalk up, if not, come with me to the Salon des Vins in November for a very merry time =). Imagine...a convention center FULL of wine booths begging for you to come by and try some of their wine and by a box or TEN.

Since, J'etude, donc je suis BROKE,
I cannot afford a lovely 142 euro bottle of Dom Perignon. Therefore, I need to stick to something with less opportunity cost in my economics. The beauty of France is that even a 9 euro bottle of wine can be absolutely worth every centime. Thanks to a lovely job as a beverage waiter at the Bourbon House (of Pain), I do not choose my bottles anymore by the entertaining label they have..

Just to give you an example...
My first bottle in Paris 2006, was the Nicolas line of special recoltes which I chose by it's label that had a naked french man with grapes covering his privates while he's running...

On to the choices for today...

I walked in, and as the helpful gentleman started asking me what I would be interested in this afternoon, I salivated over the Muscadet sur Lie that I enjoyed over Thanksgiving dinner in New Orleans.

But. I snapped out and said to myself, I am in a store full of who knows how many wines that I have never tried and, GO FOR SOMETHING ELSE! Look away!

I mentioned that I am a fan of Muscadet, and he asked if I had ever tried a Bourgogne white wine, I answered, "Not one that has been memorable..."

He suggested, a Chardonnay 2009 Macon Chardonnay vinifie en futs by Jacques Charlet...Appellation Macon-Chardonnay Controlee (as in from the Chardonnay village in the Maconnais region) and with my Muscadet sur Lie, was a total of 12 euros (woot!). I did not pay much attention to his description apart from the floral notes and that it goes well with cheese, but it was a wine from an area I had not explored much of. Description of a wine is one of those I'd rather leave to myself. Taste is something very personal to one's senses, so the experience that one person describes the wine with, is not always useful to another.

After chilling them in the fridge while I ran several errands, I opened the bottle of wine along with, one of my favorite, Tomme Noire des Pyrennees. I had not thought about the actual combination, but I was certainly willing to explore as an appetizer.

I opened the Macon Chardonnay, and what a nice surprise. It had lovely legs falling down the side of the glass, defining body in the Chardonnay. I swirled it, dipped my nose into the glass, and it had only a tinge of a burn from the alcohol (now that I looked, its 12,5%, and Chardonnays can hold their liquor very well!).
What my senses received, was a certainly welcomed taste. It was on the verge of petillant, as in, you can fill a zing! like the beginning of a bubbly, and then a nice medium body that instead of becoming heavy and syrup-y, the petillant made it light. As I mentioned before, taste is personal, but it reminded me a bit of the Domaine St. Peyre Picpoul de Pinet in the light floral notes the gentleman mentioned, and lemon, or general agrumes, which the bottle mentioned when I read the label afterwards.

I bit a piece of the Tomme des Pyrennes, and the Macon Chardonnay made it creamier! The cheese itself, to give you a pointer, reminds me of the consistency of the Babybel round cheeses. It muted the flavor of the cheese though. But the effect of making it creamier was pleasing and the wine tasted sweeter with a nice finish of salty coming from the cheese. I have to admit, I am a sucker for the combination of salty and sweet. Ice cream in a pretzel cone, BRING IT ON!

Ok. I should eat dinner now since the 12,5% alcohol Chard is manifesting itself.

A bientot!