end Ch9 day

Short hand in the notebook and constant translation from French to English. After a day of stains on teeth, hands and notebook pages. After barrels here, tanks there, old wood foudres, and multiple blends. Different spices, fruits, and flowers. After all of the power (and alcohol) saturated wines, and after the varying tannin levels… At…

Chambertin 1979 Louis Trapet

This old thing was kicking around the cellar for reasons that are long to explain. The Duc thought it might be dead. But it was very much alive.   (the vintage was written by hand because the neck label with the vintage fell off in very damp storage conditions) Well, it had lost all of…

Spoon Recipes to accompany Port: Why

What inspired us to create these recipes? 1.     We found that even the Portuguese do not actually ‘drink’ a lot of Port. They sometimes have it as an aperitif, but even that is rare. 2.     Port is rich, both in alcohol and tannins, making it hard go through a full meal with only Port.  That…

Summer Nicoise Salad (and, surprisingly, Vincent Dureuil Janthial 2006 Red Burgundy)

Nicoise is what we like to have in the evening when we are feeling veggie starved because it is light, digestible, and full of flavors. It is a dish that is built upon the marriages of different bitternesses.   What we use: Green lettuce, green beans, cooked artichoke hearts, a ripe tomato, a couple of…

Red or white with fish: reply to a reader

A reader asked: ‘why do you think there is a general notion that fish MUST be with white?’ That is a great question (but a tough one): I’d like to think that it is an easy formula that people like to use without thinking too much about it, but some of my closest taster friends…