Category Archives: Grenache

Dinner Grape Style

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When we get together with AuntGrape and UncleGrape we tend to have a fantastic feast and this weekend was no different. We spent the majority of Saturday preparing the food and visiting the Wine Library. CousinGrapette and BoyfriendGrape made guest appearances as well. Here was our menu:

Appetizers: Goat and blue cheese with crackers, Gougere

Main Course: 14 rib pork crown roast with bread and pear stuffing

Sides: Twice baked potato casserole, broccoli with garlic and cheese, fresh gravy

Desert: Individual baked apple pastry

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If you’ve never had gougere you are simply missing out. A light, fluffy pastry made with gruyere cheese, they are heaven right out of the oven. I got the chance to make it myself and it’s not that complicated, Moby and I are most certainly going to be making it again when we host our next dinner.

UncleGrape was generous enough to share some of his wine with us and we were delighted to drink whites, reds, and port throughout the meal. Let’s talk wine!

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To start the evening we opened a delicious picpoul with the cheese and crackers and in my excitement I forgot to take a picture of the bottle. It was light, delicious, and inexpensive. Picpoul is a white grape grown in the Chateauneuf du Pape region of Rhone. When the gougere arrived we opened a 2006 Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence from Alsace. This wine stole the show for Moby and myself. It was sweet, spicy, and coated the glass with it’s deliciousness. We wrapped up appetizers with a 2010 Dauvissat Chablis which is a chardonnay from Burgundy. It was light and fruity and a nice way to transition to the main course.

White wine rankings:

1: 2006 Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence. This wine was so delicious that I’ve ordered more to have in the house. 2006 was no longer available but I was able to find 2009 and 2010. Stay tuned for a full review in the future.

2: Picpoul: I wish I had more info on this bottle but we’ll be trying another soon.

3: 2010 Dauvissat Chablis.

Onto the the reds. UncleGrape approached me and said “How about Chateauneuf’s tonight?” I smiled and nodded my head excitedly. Here’s what we had with dinner:

1998 and 2000 CdPs from Paul 1998 Font de Michelle CdP

UncleGrape didn’t let us down and served us 4 excellent CdP’s. We agreed on the first two rankings but we flip flopped on the last two…here’s how I ranked them:

1. 2000 Domaine Charvin

2. 1998 Domaine Font de Michelle Cuvee Etienne Gonnet

3. 1998 Vieux Telegraph

4. 2000 Domaine de la Janasse

All 4 wines were delicious but the Charvin was head and shoulders above the other three wines. A perfect balance of fruit, spice, and body it was the best CdP I’ve had to date…ahead of the 2007 Bosquet des Pape we rated earlier this year. I’m looking forward to trying more CdP from Domaine Charvin in the future.

While I was hard at work on the gougere Moby was slaving over the baked apples we had for desert. Each serving is half an apple stuffed with a mixture of butter, sugar, and spices and wrapped in a pastry crust. We used golden delicious apples and will 100% be making these again. They look like little bowling balls but were one of the lightest deserts I’ve ever had. They melted in your mouth and left you wanting more…serving them with vanilla ice cream made it even better.

With the apples we had a fantastic 1977 Taylors Vintage Port:

1977 Taylor's Vintage Port

UncleGrape started this decanting about 7 hours before we drank it and there was probably a solid 1-2 cups of sediment in the sink after pouring it into the decanter. However, it opened up beautifully…we were all shocked at how much life it still had left. It was ready to drink now but it could easily age longer. It had the delicious raisin taste I associate with port and was even better than the 1994 Graham’s we had earlier this year. Moby and I kept the bottle to add to our collection…maybe we’ll use it as a vase or a decoration in the future.

What a night. Family, friends, and 8 bottles of fantastic wine. We’re looking forward to our next trip already!

2010 M. Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone

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After we had the Beaujolais Nouveau debacle we still wanted wine of course so I went back downstairs and came up with this bottle. A simple $12 CdR that probably wouldn’t blow us away but also wouldn’t leave us wondering why us.

colonelgrape: 71. Like I said previously this bottle was meant to be a filler of sorts. Not gonna wow you but not going to hurt you either. After working through the bottle I’ll say I wasn’t too pleased with it but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt after sampling such awfulness with the Beaujolais Nouveau…I’ll say it was barely average.

MobyGrape: 72. Definitely not my favorite Rhone, but I was told not to expect much from this one anyways.  I’m not sure how accurately I can assess this one, after drinking something I disliked so much, I wasn’t going to give anything a fair shake.

2009 Domaine Durieu Chateauneuf du Pape

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We were only planning on opening two bottles during our dinner but we were way ahead of schedule so I went downstairs and came up with a CdP. I was going to grab a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo to stick with our Italian theme but I wanted our guest to experience something different…but not this different. This was not a great CdP. This is the second and probably last 2009 I’m going to buy.

MobyGrape: 68. This smelled like a condom. I know I kid around a lot, but there were some serious eau de Trojan going on. And I really just couldn’t get past that. I was hoping it would go away after a while, or I wouldn’t notice it if I actually drank it instead of just sniffing at it, but that odor was still there and quite frankly ruined the whole thing for me. Fellas, if you’re trying to impress a special lady on a date by whipping this one out, she’ll pick up what you’re putting down, but don’t be surprised if she’s not into it. I feel like I’ve avoided so many obvious jokes in this review that I deserve some sort of prize.

colonelgrape: 65. How can I follow that? In all honesty when we were drinking it I was sitting there trying my best to defend it since I love CdP. However thinking about it more and more it just simply wasn’t a good example at all. I didn’t get the condom smell, yes we opened one up to compare, but everyone else did. I can’t give much useful tasting info after a long night but I do remember it being much more tart and just plain. Good CdP should be complex, structured, and exciting…this was not good CdP.

Guest Opinion: I was amazed at first wtih how accurate Mobygrape’s assessment of the condom smell was, but as I got more drunk, I started to question it, especially after smelling a real condom for comparison.  I wasn’t too fond of the flavor, but it definitely improved when drinking with the meal, although that might have also been me just enjoying the food.

2006 Montsant Laurona

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Don’t worry, there’s a good reason these two pictures are included.  I don’t really remember what it is right now, but just enjoy the pictures and leave me alone.  This wine is Spanish, and I’m pretty sure Enrique Iglesias is too, but that’s where my research ends.  From my brief search on the wine it looks like it comes from the Cataluña region in Spain, and that’s A-OK with me.  Barcelona is a great city, and if anyone wants to send me there to do some research, I’m a great ambassador.  Even if it doesn’t actually come from that region, please don’t ruin it for me.  I enjoyed this wine a great deal more than the Colonel, and I think he wasn’t feeling well when he had it becuase he didn’t even review it, but I was fine with that since it meant I got to drink most of it myself.  I think it was around $30, which I still cringe at for a bottle of wine but it actually does make a difference.  Don’t worry, I’m not a snob, I’m just facing the hard truth that I can’t be cheap all the time.  So here’s my review of the wine, one day I’ll get it back in the house and maybe the Colonel will review it then.  If not, I’ll get the bottle to myself.  That’s what we call a win-win.

MobyGrape:  91. Can’t really identify the flavors but I don’t care. Very smooth and easy to drink, with a meal or alone, although I don’t know if I’d put it with a steak. I do know that I’d have this Enrique Iglesias hot buttered soul stomper any night of the week and enjoy it.

2007 Le Cascavel Cotes du Ventoux

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So this is my first stab at the “official” wine review post….I doubt this is going to be comfortable for anyone so you might want to make sure you have a drink when you read this.  I didn’t even take this picture of the bottle, that’s how much of a hack I am.  Actually the first picture I pasted was a completely different wine, and the one in here is a different year.  I could promise these will get better, but I’d most definitely be lying.  I’ll probably just leave them to the Colonel from now on.  Anyways, back to the wine.  Clearly, it’s a French wine, which means it thinks it’s better than you.  I’m also told it’s aged in concrete instead of wooden barrels.  If you want to know more about that process Google it and then let me know.  I think that’s pretty neat, apparently these grapes rubbed someone with  mob connections the wrong way and wound up getting aged with the fishes.  Aside from needing to contribute something useful to this blog, This review holds a special place in my heart because it was the first “official” one we ever did.  I wish I could say I’ve grown since then.

colonelgrape:  78. A nice initial taste but a plain/flat finish. Mild aftertaste hints of raisins. Would be good with a light-medium non-red meat meal.

MobyGrape:  84. Doesn’t grab your grundle enough to drink with a nice steak, but it will tickle you enough to have with an average meal or have on its own.  Hints of concrete and fruit.