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You are here: Home / Archives for Wine / France - Southwestern

France - Southwestern

What to Drink with Foie Gras: Monbazillac Dessert Wine

What to Drink with Foie Gras: Monbazillac Dessert Wine

by liz · Jul 1, 2012

Monbazillac is really the great foie gras wine. Neighboring Sauternes (you know it, Château d’Yquem from Bordeaux) is usually regarded as holding this position, but Monbazillac is indeed from the same region as the French home of foie gras, the Dordogne. This region is well-known by foie gras lovers — producing 90% of all foie consumed in France — as well as wine lovers, as it’s Bordeaux’s thoroughly respectable wine-neighbor. This means high-quality wines from down-to-earth wine makers in a range of easy-to-palate prices.

Monbazillac Castle

Monbazillac is the gem of Bergerac (yes, the town from which the famous writer and lover Cyrano came) and is made from mostly the same grapes (Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle) plus noble rot as Sauternes. The major difference is that Muscadelle does particularly well in this region, making these wines somewhat lighter and full of life, as well as nuttier.

Monbazillac dessert wine

This wine goes well with rich French cheeses, fresh fruit tarts, nutty desserts, and also works as an aperitif in the garden before dinner. And, of course, with foie gras. There couldn’t have been a better wine than Château Montdoyen Monbazillac on my Day of Foie (5 kinds of foie gras in one day!) in this most delicious French region; it shone sweetly, like the French spring sun, rounding out a perfect day of wine and foie.

Filed Under: France - Southwestern Tagged With: dessert wine, Dordogne, foie gras, France, Monbazillac, muscadelle, Sauternes, sauvignon blanc, semillon

Château Bouscassé: Wine Worthy of a Lover’s Last Night

Château Bouscassé: Wine Worthy of a Lover’s Last Night

by liz · May 28, 2012

Matching the right wine with specific foods/dinners can dramatically enhance both the food and the wine, as well as the dining experience. And sometimes your dinner company too.

To accomplish this, the wine needs some acid, good balance and something interesting to offer for pairing — like a pleasing mix of spice, fruit aromas or bold flavors that don’t overpower other elements. And please, no extra oak or residual sugar designed to trick your palate into liking it. (Which is more than I can say for some of the company I’ve kept.)

Eugénie-les-Bains

This French wine, 2008 Château Bouscassé, Les Jardins de Bouscassé, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec, was the most local thing on the menu. Literally. Our waiter said it was the wine made closest to the town of Eugénie-les-Bains, the town where famed chef Michel Guerard cooks works of art and improves your figure at his restaurant/spa hotel Les Prés d’Eugénie.

2008 Château Bouscassé Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec Les Jardins de Bouscassé

The beautifully balanced wine was 80% Petite Courbou and 20% Petit Manseng, two grapes indigenous to southwest France, and it paired very well with all courses in this meal and the elegant restaurant itself. Beguiling and lovely in its acidity and floral-ness, understated with the promise of more to come, this wine from this small corner of the world was deserving of much more attention than it ever receives (much like this relationship with the Baker).

Les Prés d'Eugénie

It was perfect. We drank in its beauty, trying to hold the brightness inside ourselves. And we ate gloriously for this one last night, temporarily averting a creeping sadness and slowly devolving palate for each other.

Santé!

Filed Under: France - Southwestern, Restaurants Tagged With: Château Bouscassé, fine dining, French wine, Love, petite courbou, white wine

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