If these bottles look familiar to you, it may be because you have ordered one before at Le Pichet or Cafe Presse, where this white wine from the Tursan region in  southwest France is one of our favorites.  I have certainly drunk more than my fair share of this versatile, mouth filling wine recently.  Domaine les Pentes de Barène is a white that has dry acidity to pair well with seafood but also the body and richness to be a great match with a roasted chicken or even pork.

I recently had a chance to visit the Domaine les Pentes de Barène and was surprised to find out just how tiny it is.  At just over 1.5 hectares (about 3.7 acres), les Pentes de Barène is officially the smallest domaine in the Tursan AOC. Owners Daniel and Gaelle Vergnes are the entire staff and together produce about 5000 bottles a year, with nearly every step done by hand.  That includes hand harvesting in multiple passes through the vines to insure that only mature grape bundles are included, and even hand filling, corking and labeling every bottle.

In case you think that merely turning out 5000 bottles of wine a year is light work, consider that Gaelle and Daniel have two children, and in addition to the time they spend working on the domaine, Daniel also works as a vineyard and wine making consultant for other winemakers in the area and Gaelle turns out finely stitched napkins, handkerchiefs and doilies that she offers for sale to visitors. And, by reservation only, they also prepare vineyard dinners for groups of up to 12, served from a table set amid the vines.  Kinda makes me wonder what I do with all my time!

I was thankful for the  detailed instructions Gaelle sent for finding the domaine, because even in it’s tiny town of Pimbo (population 202 souls), you could drive right by the 300 year old barn that houses the Pentes de Barène tasting room if you weren’t looking for it.

The vines themselves cling to a steep south-facing hill with a magnificent view on to  the Pyrenees, but, as they are hidden between a stand of old oaks and a long row of fruit trees. it is hard to get a look at them until you are right among the vines. On this day in early May, the cherry tree was full of ripe red fruit and the noise from the bees busy in the fig, pear, quince and peach trees was palpable.

The vineyards include four varieties of grapes, all used to produce white wine:  gros manseng, petit manseng, sauvignon blanc and baroque.  Gros and petit manseng are the well know white wine grapes of the southwest, most notably in the wines of Jurancon.  Baroque is a local variety that Gaelle said is only grown in Tursan. Daniel and Gaelle turn most of their yield into dry whites, but as of 2016, they also make a limited number for bottles of sweet white wine exclusively from petit manseng…I was lucky enough to receive 2 of the only 250 bottles of sweet wine produced in 2016 as a gift at the end of our visit, with the proviso that it cannot be tasted until after July 2017.

Les Pentes de Barène is not certified organic;  being so small, the costs of certification are outside their budget. However, in practices they are completely organic.  As Gaelle explained, they feel that their primary job is to act as stewards of the land.  If they get that job right, the vines will take care of themselves.  The vineyard is knee deep in grass, wild flowers and clover, which helps the vines stay cool in the summer heat.  The surrounding trees and forest provide wind breaks and habitat for the biodiversity that keep pests to a minimum.  Compared to many vineyards I have visited, where the soil is bare and the landscape is grape vines as far as the eye can see, les Pentes vineyards seem like an idyllic paradise.

As for what happens in the cave, the same philosophy dominates:  let the wine do what it wants without trying to impose a style.  The vinification is in stainless tanks without any time spent on wood.  The result wines that are both lively and mouth filling at the same time. Rich and pale golden, they differ greatly from the leaner wines of neighboring Jurançon and Cotes-de-Gascogne.

After our tour of the vineyards and the cave, as we tasted wine, I couldn’t help but do a little quick math:  With an annual  production of 5000 bottles, I estimate that our guests at Cafe Presse and Le Pichet drank about 15% of last year’s total.  And I  must have drunk .5% of their yield just on my own!  I asked Gaelle if she thought it strange that there could be such a connection between her tiny piece of land in Tursan and my two restaurants in Seattle.  She just smiled and offered another glass.

Discover the unique and wonderful wines of the Jura, located in the foothills of the French Alps. Although little known in America, oenophiles consider the Vin Jaune de Jura one of the rare jewels of French wine making.

Dieter Klippstein of Cavatappi Distribuzione  will introduce you to the varied palette of Jura wines through six selections from two highly respected bio-dynamic wine making teams,
Valérie & Fabrice Closset of Champ Divin and Bénédicte & Stéphane Tissot.

Chef Jim Drohman has designed a six-course dinner composed of traditional dishes from the region, including its most famous dish, Poulet en Vin Jaune.

What: 6-course dinner featuring the wines of the Jura
When: Tuesday February 16, 2016, 6:30pm
Where: Café Presse
Cost:  Dinner including wine, $110 per person

 Places are limited for this very special event. Reservations 206.709.7674
Visit our website for complete menu and paired wines

]]> https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2016/01/24/jura-wine-dinner-at-cafe-presse/feed/ 0 https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2013/10/11/chocolat-chaud/ https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2013/10/11/chocolat-chaud/#comments Fri, 11 Oct 2013 08:35:57 +0000 https://www.jimdrohman.com/?p=3834 Chocolat chaud, our Paris-style made to order hot chocolate, is a go-to dessert at both Le Pichet and Cafe Presse (although it is definitely not just for dessert…makes a great pick me up in the middle of the afternoon as well).  I learned the recipe during a very short stage I worked at a well known Paris chocolatier.  The recipe is very simple, so the quality of the ingredients is front and center.

This national characteristic came to mind recently when I was lucky enough to be the recipient of several pounds of beautiful local walnuts.  These came compliments of Nikos and Alex who run The Shop Agora on 15th and thanks to a tree in the yard of one of their employees (thanks Amanda!).

Being a city boy (roughly speaking), it took some trial and error for me to develop a reliable shelling method.  I finally arrived at a technique that uses my marble mortar and pestle…not elegant, perhaps, but effective.

Of course, first and foremost with walnuts is the nut.  It is hard to tell scale from this photo, but these are big, robust beauties and, upon cracking, they turned out to be full of flavor, so toasty and delicious they are great just eaten raw.  They were fully magnificent in a salad of mixed lettuces with warm goat cheese croutons and a grain mustard-walnut oil vinaigrette.

Having devoured the contents of the shells, I decided to try my hand at making walnut scented Cognac using the shells.  After all, why let any part of something this good go to waste.  Flavoring Cognac with walnuts is not a new invention but something I first saw while traveling in France.  I vividly recall tasting walnut flavored alcohols, wines and liqueurs during a visit to the region around Albi, in the French southwest.

Closer to home, Bruce Naftaly, at the much lamented Le Gourmand use to gently macerate walnut shells in brandy each Fall, tucking the batches away for the following year (and I have personally tasted a batch made by  Le Gourmand sommelier David Butler).

Anyway, the method for doing this is so simple that I hesitate to call it a recipe.

1)  Put Cognac over the shells

2)  Leave in a cool place for 1 year.

3)  Strain, and enjoy.

Variations are possible;  I have seen bay leaves added to the shells to add an note of menthol, or a peel of orange, or a sprig of thyme.  Or the flavored Cognac, once strained, may be sweetened slightly.  But, given the quality of these shells, I think it will be best to just focus on the flavor of the walnuts.

See you next year, little friend.

Café Presse has the great privilege to host French Natural Wine Star Pierre Breton, for a 3 course family-style meal showcasing his remarkable wines on Thursday, March 1, 2012.  He and his wife, Catherine, took over their vineyards in the Loire Valley in 1989 and are leaders in the organic and biodynamic wine movement in France.  This is a remarkable opportunity to meet Pierre and find out more about his internationally sought-after wines.

Seating is very limited!  Please call 206.709.7674 for reservations.

$50.00/person does not include tax or gratuity.  6:30 P.M.

Menu:

Chèvre chaud sur crouton et sa salade à la frisée
“Warm goat’s milk cheese on grilled bread with curly endives, fines herbes and a walnut-cider vinaigrette”

Poulet rôti et son gratin aux pommes de terre, choux-fleur et champignons
“Natural Washington State chicken roasted to order, served with a creamy gratin of potatoes, cauliflower and mushrooms”

Clafoutis aux prunes et a l’Armagnac
“Dense vanilla custard cake with prunes and Armagnac, served warm with whipped cream”

Last Thursday night, the third Thursday of November, Le Pichet marked the arrival of the first French wine of 2011 with our traditional Fete de Beajolais Nouveau.  Beaujolais Nouveau is a wine made from  gamay grapes harvested in the regions south of Lyon and vinified using a  very short fermentation period, usually a few weeks.  It is a typically a very light, fruity, vivacious wine not intended to be taken very seriously, but instead to be quaffed with pleasure and exuberance at celebrations that are the moral equivalent of other harvest festivals like Munich’s Octoberfest.

Last Thursday was a cold, blustery night with a threat of rain and snow in the forecast.  We had heard that traffic was going to be terrible, as the “Occupy…” protesters had announce a march across the Montlake cut scheduled for rush hour.  Happily, there were a line of people waiting under Le Pichet’s awning at 6pm when the doors opened for the party.

For those who have not attended one of our Beaujolais Nouveau or Bastille Day parties, it can be hard to imagine what the atmosphere will be like.  After all, Le Pichet is usually a pretty orderly place.  Here are a few photos to give you an idea of how it happens.

In the neighborhood where I live, many of the trees that line the streets are lindens.  I was not really aware of this until a day several summers ago when I was walking home from work.  It was a warm late June evening and the still air was filled with an intoxicating, sweet floral fragrance that seemed to come from everywhere.  A little following my nose revealed that this wonderful summer smell was coming from the multitudinous yellow flowers of the trees all around me.

A little research yielded the identity of these trees and a lot of information about the use of linden blossoms.    It seems that linden blossoms are collected in much of Europe and the UK (where Lindens are called “lime” trees…I guess there are no actual citrus lime trees growing in England, so the confusion never arises), especially in Provence, where there are actually seasonal markets in linden blossoms.  Folk wisdom has it that linden blossom tea is a sleep aid and the blossoms are also used in herbal medicines and tinctures.

My main interest in these blossoms is their incredible fragrance and specifically, the question of whether it was possible to capture it in a liqueur.  If a liqueur made with  linden blossoms also had soporific properties, well I suppose that would be useful in certain situations as well.

My friend David and I began making plans to answer this question after the success of the cherry blossom liqueur, the blossoms for which we had together harvested the previous year.  Our plan of action was to use the same basic recipe as for the cherry blossom liqueur, but we differed as the the alcohol that we thought would provide the best result;  David favored grappa, I thought it would be best to stick with vodka.  With plan in mind, it remained only to wait for the lindens to bloom.

The waiting proved to be a much longer process that expected.  In the past I had noted that the lindens in my neighborhood bloom in mid to late June.  This year has been unseasonably cold and grey, with the result that the lindens still had not bloomed on the first of July.  Believe me, we checked…nice fat buds but no flowers.

On July 2nd the tiny yellow blossoms began to appear, their scent announcing the arrival before we noticed the blooms.  A scouting stroll indicated that many of the buds had not opened yet, so we made plans for picking blossoms two days later.  By then the blossoms were in there full glory, the linden trees literally robed in the heavy, hanging flowers.  Time to harvest.

Believe me, the trees were so heavy with blooms that the bowls full we snipped were barely noticeable or missed.  At least I hope they were not.

After the harvest, the process of macerating the blossoms in liqueur followed pretty much the same pattern as for the cherry blossoms.  David and I put down our two batches of blossoms to macerate each in a different alcohol.

After about 3 days, the vodka was beginning to take on a slightly tawny color from the flowers.

About 15 days later, my vodka had taken on a lovely amber hue and smelled richly of linden. I strained it and added a bit of sugar syrup.  Now begins the wait of 5 to 6 months, during which time the alcohol heat of the vodka will diminish and the liqueur will mellow.  The resulting liqueur should be ready to enjoy in December 2011. Stay tuned for an update later in the year.

Currently available in limited quantities on the wine list at Le Pichet and
to take home with you.  Special take-out wine prices apply to go bottle purchases,  including 10% discount on orders of 6 or more bottles with pre-order.

Please call Le Pichet for availability and special August pricing for this wine.

A perfectly roasted chicken may be my favorite thing to eat bar none.   It combines absolute simplicity of preparation, an absolute minimum of  ingredients and and an absolute reliance on the quality of the star attraction, the chicken…it encapsulates in a single dish the ideal esthetic of simple, well prepared food.  Because it is so simple, there is no hiding any imperfections in technique or in the quality of product.  Because it is so easy to do (although some people, including some professional cooks, still contrive to do it badly), one can find wonderfully delicious roasted chickens in a wide range of settings.   Whether it is purchased from the rotisserie in front of a Paris butcher shop and enjoyed on a sheet of paper in the nearest park, or roasted in an impeccably spotless copper pan and carved table side at a three star restaurant or hacked into manageable pieces and served with handmade tortillas, avocado and lime at a fonda in Zihuatanejo or just roasted at home on a quiet evening ….man those all sound so good, I forgot what point I was making.

Anyhow, the fact is I eat a lot of roasted chicken and have consequently eaten roasted chicken accompanied by many different wines.  I think that, with the chickens described above, the accompanying wines were, in order, a light Cabernet Franc from the Touraine, a powerful, well aged white from Graves in Bordeaux, a Pacifico with lime, and a modest Macon chardonnay (at least the  last time I roasted chicken at home).  Clearly there are many good choices to go with roast chicken.  

Being a cook and not a wine professional, I have developed a shorthand method of matching wines with food that has served me well over the years.  The governing premise of this method is that the food and wine from a certain region always make a harmonious pairing.  Its easy;  just figure out where the dish is from and match it with the wine from the same region.  With grilled sardines stuffed with chard and ricotta in the nicoise fashion?  Try a  rosé from the hills above the Cote d’Azur.  With  a crispy duck leg, a specialty of the southwest of France?  How about a Madiran or a Tursan from the same region.  You get the idea.  Its not foolproof, but nearly.

So when it comes to selecting wine to accompany a roasted chicken, my first though was to look for a wine from the region around Lyon, where the poulet de Bresse, the most highly esteemed chicken in France, is raised.  This leads in short order to Beaujolais, the wine of choice in the rustic  bouchons (traditional Lyonnais bistros) one finds there.  So would my wine selection method be up to the task?  Is Beaujolais a good choice with roasted chicken?

I posed this question to Cafe Presse and Le Pichet wine director and co-owner Joanne Herron who agreed that Beaujolais is a successful pairing.  She recommended a Morgon that is currently on the wine list at Le Pichet.  Morgon is a wine growing commune in the Beaujolais region .  Wine from the Beaujolais region is sold under many appellations (that is, designations awarded by the French wine authorities)  and very broadly speaking, the more regionally specific the appellation (or AOC), the better the quality of the wine.  In Beaujolais, the most general AOC is “Beaujolais”, above that there is “Beaujolais Village”, and highest of all are the wines that bear the actual name of the commune where they are produced, like “Morgon”.

When I think of Beaujolais, what jumps to mind are light, fruity wines for quaffing, cool from the barrel, with a plate of charcuterie, preferably while standing at the zinc at some wine bar in Paris or even better in Lyon, but if those are not at hand, here in Seattle.  All AOC red wines from Beaujolais are made from 100% gamay, a grape known for its youthful vivacity but not so much for its structure, firmness or elegance.  But the wines from certain communes in Beaujolais, including Morgon  can have a much more muscular character that not only stands up well to hearty fare, but can even benefit from some aging.

Joanne’s recommendation for a  roasted chicken is  the 2009 Domaine Louis-Claude Desvignes “La Voute Saint-Vincent” Morgon.  This wine is made by the Desvignes family with grapes from their own property (as the name implies, the family has been in wine making for many generations).   This  property is in the Montagne de Py, which is at the center of the commune of Morgon and is considered to be the premier section.  The grapes are hand harvested, and  vinified in small batches by father-daughter winemaker team  Louis-Claude and Claude-Emmanuelle Desvignes using only indigenous yeasts (in other words, no laboratory produced yeast is added).   They employe a longer, slower fermentation process than is typical in Beaujolais to get maximum color and flavor from the grapes.  The result is a dark, intense wine much  different from the raspberry colored wines of Beaujolais Nouveau parties.  Joanne thinks that this wine is very good right now but that it has the structure to improve with 4-5 years  of age, during which time the she expects that it will mellow with a grace and elegance reminiscent of wines made in neighboring Burgundy from pinot noir.

I think that this wine makes a very nice match with the current roasted chicken preparation at Le Pichet, which features a sort of summer succotash of flageolet beans, corn, bacon, scallions and Forme d’Ambert bleu cheese.  Yummy.  The richness of the bleu cheese needs a wine with a firm structure that will stand up to it and the Morgon from Domaine Louis-Cluade Devignes certainly fills the bill.  Joanne says that she thinks that this wine would be excellent with warm Saucisse de Lyon served on a potato gratin.  These sausages, which are made with 100% pork studded with pistachios and simmered in broth, are a staple of Lyonnais cookery.

So I guess that could be called another success for my wine pairing method.

PS To see good friend Bob Peterson’s photos from a 2009 visit with the Desvignes family, check out this post.