Welcome to Cepage et Cuisine, Mary's and Brian's blog about wine and food. We are enthusiasts in Mississippi with a passion for fine wine and great food. Mary is the chef de cuisine (here she is) and, wow, is she wonderful at preparing great dinners to pair with great wines!
Brian is the wine guy, although Mary is the person who got him interested in wine in the first place.
This blog is about any and all things related to these subjects. We coordinate a small network of friends in the Jackson area who share our interests, hosting wine tasting events, take wine classes, go on wine vacations, and generally seek new information wherever we can find it. Our intent is to post descriptions of events, interesting photos, tasting notes, recipes, and discussion of topics as they arise, learning and educating as we go. There are already tons of wine blogs and our blog probably won't add much to what is already out there, but it will be relevant to what is going on with our group, talk about wines we are tasting now, what is available in our area, experiences and opportunities, generally providing a creative outlet for us. We don't want it to be burdensome or too time consuming, nor posting on a rigid schedule, so check in from time to time to see what's new and we'll try to post enough to keep things interesting...in a winegeek sort of way.
To kick things off, here's today's wine.
It is a 2008 Gruner Veltliner from the Wachau region of Austria, a refreshing white, great for warm summer evenings and light fare. Terrassen refers to the steep vineyard terraces. Federspiel refers to the level of ripeness, which is a medium level, rather light, good acidity, and not too high in alcohol. It typically has notes of citrus, tree fruit, minerals, and a signature peppery quality on the finish. For all of us Southerners, it pairs terrifically with crispy fried chicken. Here's a link to an interesting short video about Gruner Veltliner.
Here's my tasting note on the wine.
Beautifully aromatic of white flowers, peach, citrus, and stony minerality. The palate was fresh, vibrant, had terrific lemon and grapefruit citrus, and the same pebbly minerality. As the wine warmed slightly in the glass the Gruner white pepper became more evident. It is light-bodied, fresh, very nicely balanced, moderately complex, delicious with food. 12.0% alcohol. This wine is $17 at Briarwood Wines and Spirits in Jackson.
That's it for our first post. We'll see where the journey takes us. This is our first attempt at blogging, so comments and suggestions about topics or making the site more interesting are welcome.
Cheers,
Brian and Mary
Briarwood is having a sale tomorrow if you don't already know. Good luck with your new venture, (wine)geek.
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