Colonel’s log, star date 1120201.2. Moby and I have ventured into the great unknown that is Burgundy. We pre-gamed a bit tonight with some Lobster Reef Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand while getting our beer-can chicken in order. A little olive oil, some seasoning, and a can of Guinness where the sun don’t shine and on the grill it goes with indirect heat for 1-1.5 hours until it hits 165 degrees. It’s an easy, inexpensive meal that delivers surprisingly moist chicken. I even started carving this guy up before we thought to take a picture. What goes well with any kind of chicken? Stove top…with butter. Enough said.

Let’s get to the wine! Tonight we had a 2009 Clod Paradis Mercurey Premier Cru bottled by Michel Picard. I’ve been excited about this bottle for a while now, every time I planned on opening it something would come up. I wasn’t disappointed but Moby was on the fence:

colonelgrape: 92. Initial leathery and dark fruity smell. The color is a brighter shade of reddish purple. Initial tastes of blackberry with moderate acidity. Smoother than I’d expect but definitely on the dryer side. The tannins are there but not in your face like a big cabernet. It has a mild spiciness to the ending, I get the same feeling in my mouth when I eat a piece of cinnamon gum. Would pair well with a variety of light, medium meals, and spicy meals.

MobyGrape: 82. This smelled like the bottom of your shoe if you stepped in a puddle of wine. Then I drank it and I’m pretty sure I could use it to take my nail polish off. I’d drink it again, but I can’t figure out what’s going on in this glass.  Maybe this is what mercury tastes like?  But it has Picard on the bottle, so I expected better from this. Captain’s log – don’t drink this by itself, you’re gonna need to eat something.

There’s a lot to digest when looking at a burgundy label. What’s a Cru? Isn’t mercurey spelled mercury and poisonous? I don’t know french, help. We’ll get into burgundy in an upcoming post. If you aren’t afraid to take risks, spend some money, and like pinot noir…I suggest setting a course for Burgundy, maximum warp.