Valentine's Day Thoughts

In 1998 I visited France for the first time, in the company of my wonderful wife-to-be. We explored Paris, Burgundy, the Rhone and Provence. Not bad for a 2-week visit. Between Burgundy and the Rhone we took an impulsive side trip to the Jura, nestled against the western tip of Switzerland.

There we found fabulously stinky cheeses and impossibly obscure (but delicious!) wines, from the ethereal Poulsards and Trousseaus to the tangy Savagnins and Vins de paille. We also found a spectacular campground, set among lakes underneath towering mountains.

Source: http://www.vacances-camping-jura-location.com/photos/photo-article-1285665301-1285748464.jpg

We found no grocery store, nor any other purveyor of food save for the one-Michelin-star restaurant at the campground itself (yes, that's how they do it in France. This is not KOA). Lacking appropriate attire to enter the restaurant, we sheepishly approached the kitchen door and explained our plight. "One hour" the shadowy figure behind the screen declared, "and 20 francs."

An hour later we were clutching a perfectly roast chicken and an abundance of frites. We returned to our campsite for the feast. We lacked silverware and napkins, but we did have a bottle of 1985 Burgundy we had found in a grocery store in Chablis for a song. '85 was a great vintage, but would a simple AOC Bourgogne hold up for 13 years? Yes, dear readers. Yes.

That meal, wonderful roast chicken, perfectly crisp french fries, and a simple but well aged Burgundy, enjoyed in the beautiful outdoors with my true love, is the most happily remembered meal of my life.

It's the day before Valentine's and, like many of you, we have yet to firm up our plans for tomorrow. As we consider our options, we'll look for inspiration in the memories of our time in the Jura. Enjoy your day!

Note: Inspiration for this post came from http://elsbethcooksanddrinks.wordpress.com/ Thank you, Elsbeth!

Wine and Food pairing -- what's the big deal?

Ask anyone in the wine industry, whatever their role, what question they are most often asked and the answer will be some variation of "What food goes with this wine?"

If a wine's back label says anything at all (beyond some gibberish about the glorious winery owner or the wonderful vineyard site) it will recommend food pairings.

Look at any winery's twitter stream and every other tweet will mention food and wine pairing.

We have two questions:

1. Are you, dear reader, interested in this sort of knowledge?
2. Why?

We don't mean to be snide. Rather, we feel that food and wine pairing is both incredibly subjective and relatively unimportant. There are a few no-brainers: most any steak will go well with most any red wine; most any crisp white will go well with shellfish, and some rich and fat whites will go well with some shellfish, Chardonnay and oysters, for instance.

But even those basics are disputed by some, and rightly so. What works for us may not work for you.

Or at least not as well. Because there are very few combinations that are disastrous to either wine or food. Artichokes are famous for making wine taste metallic, and peanut butter can make wine taste funny, too.

On the other hand there are very few combinations that make wine and food transcend themselves to become some magically wonderful taste sensation unlike any you have ever before experienced.

Which, come to think of it, is probably what people are asking for when they ask the question. But don't you think we'd tell you if we knew? And the answer probably isn't, "This wine pairs well with chicken, fish, roast meats, game and pizza," as you'll likely see on that back label.

In fact, the answer probably is not a particular pairing in the first place. Probably what makes some combinations so heavenly--and it does happen, dear reader. If not for you yet, we hope very much that it does soon--what makes some combinations so heavenly, we repeat, is the company.

The Jura (not where we were, though). Thanks, Modzzak.

Our most cherished wine memory involves a bottle of 1985 Burgundy (the cheap low-end stuff; we probably paid about $8) drunk in 1998 at a campsite in the Jura. We ate it with roast chicken and french fries we got from the servants' entrance of the nearby restaurant (for which we were impossibly underdressed), which was the only restaurant or grocery open on that lovely Sunday afternoon.

Chicken, but you knew that: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galant/ / CC BY 2.0

We were in the middle of a wonderful journey together and were entranced by the high mountain meadows and the Jura's stunning peaks. By our humble tent amidst all the splendor, the wine, chicken and fries were transporting--not that we wanted to go anywhere. It seemed all was abloom and a radiant glow suffused everything--the food, the wine, us.

Nope, that wasn't the bottle. Thanks, Wine Label Readers.

Does that mean that chicken and fries is the perfect combination for cheap burgundy? Maybe.... But it's at least as likely that the best way to enjoy a cheap burgundy is to walk around a mountain lake before enjoying dinner in the late summer light with your beloved. Yeah, that seems the more likely pairing.

What do you think? We'd love to hear your tales of food/wine bliss. We'd also love to know why you ask that question, if you do, and what sort of answer satisfies.