Portland Wine

A Blog for Clients, Customers, and Wine Geeks everywhere.

       This month’s white wine is EASY! Easy to drink, easy to like, easy on the wallet…an easy club selection. Yes, wine club faithful, we normally debate and taste and spit through many a wine looking for the right one to challenge our palates and yours—feel sorry for us yet? Well, this month when our French importer walked into the office and began his pitch on wines from the Mâcon (“underrated, great value, crowd-pleaser”), he was preaching to the choir as long as the wine was up to snuff, and it was. A few years back we spent a month in the Mâconnais region of southern Burgundy and were so very impressed with the white table wines we drank nightly with dinner. Made predominantly from Chardonnay (with a few Aligotés here and there), we found these wines to be splendidly refreshing, with bright acidity, tropical, steely aromas, and great with most foods. When we got home, we discovered that most of these wines were unavailable—they didn’t make it out of the region. The locals kept this secret to themselves until recently. Although the Mâconnais has always taken a backseat to its more northern neighbor, Côte de Beaune, thanks to renowned Burgundian producer Domaine Leflaive (who also makes wines from the Verzé appellation), wines from the area have been getting deserved attention as well, and more are now being exported. Our wine comes from producer Nicolas Maillet, whose domain consists of 5.5 hectares of vines planted primarily with Chardonnay. His Mâcon Verzé is produced from 40-year-old vines and is one of the more rich and complex Mâcons, and at a price you can drink nightly with your dinner right here at home. So what better way to ease into the warmer summer months than by sipping this month’s white? Easily the easiest wine to drink, we think!
        Our second wine this month comes from Jacky Blot, notable Loire Valley producer best known for his Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups. He acquired Domaine de la Butte in the appellation of Bourgueil back in the summer of 2002. Bourgueil is Cabernet Franc country, similar to its slightly more famous neighbor Chinon, but you actually need to be a pro to distinguish the difference. Bourgueil and Chinon lie across the Loire River from one another and share a similar terroir, history, and winemaking tradition. The Mi-Pente (mid-slope) bottling is the most concentrated cuvée Jacky Blot crafts. The ideal south-facing block of vines makes Cabernet Francs of greater structure and distinction in the Bourgueil region. The Mi-Pente is a superbly structured, firmly tannic wine that can be enjoyed today with a few hours of decanting but will show at its best with three to five years’ cellaring.

Nicolas Maillet
Mâcon-Verzé
100% Chardonnay
Region: Mâcon Verzé, France
Vintage: 2009
Mâcon Verzé wines fall within the larger Mâcon appellation, near the commune of Verzé. This Chardonnay has elements of tropical and stone fruits. It’s refreshing with bright acidity, yet has a slight bit of richness that gives it some additional structure. These Mâconnais Chards are so easy to love and are a great introduction to French Chards at a reasonable price.

Domaine de La Butte
Mi-Pente
100% Cabernet Franc
Region: Loire Valley, France
Vintage: 2008

Black cherry, mushroom, truffle, and other earthy characteristics with a slight bit of funk make this Cabernet Franc recognizable as an Old World effort. Coming from the Bourgueil region of the Loire Valley in France. Winemaker Jacky Blot crafts this wine from a single vineyard of 50-year-old vines. With aromas of dark, ripe fruit and bold tannins, this wine will cellar up to five years but can be enjoyed today with game and heartier meats.

Recipe of the Month:
Crepes de Sarrasin

Savory crepes can be found all over France and are eaten at all times of the day. This recipe calls for gruyere as the filling but you can use anything. I recently used leftover smoked pork with some diced up pickles.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup white buckwheat flour
¼ cup whole buckwheat flower
½ pound grated gruyere
½ stick butter
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Whisk eggs and 1 ½ cups water together. Stir flour and salt and pepper into egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
2. To cook, heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Once hot, remove pan from heat and pour ¼ cup batter into pan center. Tilt pan to distribute batter and return to heat. Cook until lightly browned and then flip. Cook other side 1 minute more. Transfer to plate and keep warm in oven.
3. Continue cooking all the crepes until batter is finished.
4. Return cooked crepes to pan one at a time, sprinkle ¼ cup cheese in the middle, and fold to make a square. Cook for about 30 seconds or until cheese melts. Serve with a pat of butter.
5. Try adding other ingredients in addition to or in place of the gruyere.