Escape Winter, Cycle Through
French Wine Regions
By Kathy Ward
Tasting Card
· Traditions Catering
It's January again. Drippy, dreary, dead-of-winter January. Let's
break out! Let's go away together, on an enological tour of France.
We'll bicycle through the warm countryside, picnic in the vineyards
and, of course, taste great wines along the way.
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Regional
French Wines
Tasting Card
Food Courses by
Traditions Catering
Chef Christophe deGoix
Domaine Cherrier et Fils
Sancerre 1997
Perrin Côtes du Rhône Blanc 1997
Tri Layer Cheese Torta
A velvet texture made of four European cheeses in three flavor
layers:
Sun-dried tomato, caramelized onion
Dill and roasted garlic
Kalamata olive and capers
Bruno Clair Marsannay Rouge 1996
Duck Pate with Condiments
Finely chopped meats marinated in Cognac, green peppercorns
and house blend of spices. Served with grain mustards and
pickles
Coudoulet de Beaucastel
Côtes du Rhône 1996
Dr. Parcé Collioure Piloumes 1996
Double Chocolate Walnut Decadence
A rich chocolate and toasted walnut cake with a hint of rum
and a delicateswiss chocolate ganache
Domaine du Mas Cremat
Muscat Rivesalte 1996
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Our getaway will be the January program meeting, with Michael Brown,
a 16-year veteran of the wine trade and seasoned traveler, as our
guide. He'll escort us through the Loire Valley, into Burgundy,
on to the Rhône Valley and down to the South of France. Bring your
daydreams. La bicyclette is optional.
Michael also will lead us through the importance of terroir
and why place of origin is so important in French winemaking. The
tasting card includes distinctive wines of each region on our tour.
As Northwest regional manager of Vineyard Brands, Michael will
present wines gathered by that well-established import firm. Robert
Haas, founder of the company, began buying for his father's wine
shop in New York City in the 1950s, encouraging top French producers
to estate-bottle their wines for export rather than sell in bulk
to negoçiants as was the common practice. Today, Vineyard Brands
represents more than 40 growers in France.
Cherrier and Sons, a three-generation winemaking family, will start
us off with a Sauvignon Blanc. Their Sancerre winery is the namesake
of a medieval town in the Loire Valley.
Selections from Château de Beaucastel, the Perrin family winery
located in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, are a white Grenache and a red made
in traditional Rhône fashion from a blend of up to 13 varietals,
each separately vinified.
We'll visit the village of Marsannay in the Côte de Nuits with
a Burgundian style Bruno Clair Pinot Noir. A Collioure red from
further south near the Spanish border is made by the Parcé family,
whose ancestry in the region dates back to 1625 and who fought for
Appellation Contrôlée status for the area in 1971.
The tour finale is a Muscat from the Côtes du Roussillon, from
grapes grown in black volcanic soil basking in Mediterranean sunlight.
Our Picnic Basket
How would a Frenchman sustain himself on a leisurely pedal through
the countryside? A poetic soul rides with "a loaf of bread ...,
a flask of wine, a book of verse and thou."
French-born Chef Christophe deGoix of Kirkland-based Traditions
Catering has an extensive repertoire of foods and service styles
that range from corporate lunches to 10-course dinners, buffets,
wedding receptions, barbecues — just about any occasion.
Christophe began his culinary career apprenticing with the Compagnon
du tour de France at l'Auberge Normande. He first came to Seattle
in 1984 as chef at Gerard's Relais de Lyon, then back to France,
eventually becoming chef for the Royal Viking Sun around-the-world
cruises. He returned to America, first to work at the Watergate
Hotel in Washington, D.C., and now runs Traditions with his wife,
Lisa.
Click here to
see a list of past Seattle Programs
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