Bonjour, amis du vin
et de cuisine et bienvenue à “Cépage et
Cuisine.” Hello, friends of wine
and cooking and welcome to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s
wine and food blog. Most of our blog
entries are about mainly food or mainly wine, but this one is about both. We’ve been planning a Syrah event for a long
time, shopping and acquiring just the right wines for almost a year. We wanted to pair the wines with duck and
have been experimenting with different preparations of duck breast and duck
legs. We’ve had several dinners of
amazing duck confit at restaurants in the U.S. and France. After several trial runs here at Maison Mary et Brian, we decided to try
our hand at making our own duck confit.
Hold on to your hat, folks. We
had huge fun while learning about Syrah and a rather elaborate food event at
the same time. We have lots of
information and photos to share, so here goes!
Duck confit is a popular dish throughout France, but is
native to Gascony, the region of southwest France near Spain, roughly from Bordeaux
down to the Pyrenees. It is essentially
duck leg that has been cured with salt and herbs, cooked and preserved in its
own rendered fat. Just as an aside, duck
fat is less saturated and lower in cholesterol than butter, so it is healthier
(or at least less unhealthy) than most animal fat.
The wine event was on a Saturday. We finalized our decision on duck confit the
preceding Saturday. For duck confit to
be its best, it needs at least a little time in the fridge to cure and take on
the flavors of the salt, herbs, and fat.
We already had the duck legs in the freezer, so those came out for
thawing and we worked on them Sunday.
Here you see the ingredients, the duck, shallots, garlic,
and a variety of herbs, spices, salt, and pepper.
The first step is the preparation of the dry marinade. The shallot and
garlic are both chopped. We grow the
thyme in a pot on our deck where you see many of our wine bottle photos. Bay leaves are crumbled. The spice mixture you see in the mixing bowl
is called quatre épices, or four
spice blend. It includes cinnamon,
ground cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. We
also added white pepper. The salt and
freshly ground black pepper are also in the blend.
Everything is mixed together, producing a dry marinade, although the
fresh shallots and garlic provide a bit of moisture.
The duck legs are rubbed thoroughly with the marinade, then
placed in a glass casserole dish, covered in foil and put in the fridge.
Tuesday, two days later, we took the duck from the
fridge. Mary used a dry paper towel to
clean the marinade from the duck legs so the ingredients don’t burn during the
cooking process.
Here’s a tub of duck fat from the fridge, turned on its side
so you can see that it solidifies when chilled, much like butter.
This jar of duck fat is at normal room temperature, about 75
degrees. It isn’t completely melted, but
you can see that it is pourable when the jar is turned on its side.
Duck fat melts to a clear yellow liquid when heated. We used a Le Creuset enamel-coated cast iron
pot for cooking. The duck legs were
added to sufficient melted duck fat that they were pretty much submerged. Using a candy thermometer, I (Mary delegated
the cooking of this one to me) brought the temperature up slowly to about 200º
F, which takes at least a half-hour. The
duck simmers along at that temp for another two hours. Doneness was tested with a bamboo skewer.
The duck legs were removed from the pot and placed in a
casserole dish. The fat was strained over
the duck legs, again submerging the duck legs.
I put the dish in the fridge, uncovered overnight. By morning, the fat had re-solidified. The casserole dish is then covered and can
stay in the fridge like that for up to three months, getting better and better.
That gets us to Saturday, the day of World of Syrah!
Syrah is one of the noble grapes, meaning it is a grape
which produces wines of high quality and which is grown in many areas of the
world. Among red grapes, the other “nobles”
are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir.
Like all great wines, Syrah takes on the characteristics of the site
where it is grown. It can be grown in
cool or warm climates. Cool climate
Syrah often produces a wine with blue and black fruit as well as a peppery,
meaty, savory quality. Warm climate
Syrah produces bigger, more powerful wines with flavors of ripe, dark fruit
such as blackberry, plum, and chocolate, often with fuller body and higher
alcohol.
Syrah is thought to have originated hundreds, possibly
thousands, of years ago in the northern Rhone Valley, specifically on a single
broad hillside above the town of Tain-l’Hermitage, usually simply called Hermitage. This part of the Rhone Valley is south of
Lyon and well north of Marseilles on the Mediterranean. The red teardrop arrow on the map below shows
you the location. The Northern Rhone is
a cool climate, relative to most Syrah growing regions. Grapes struggle to ripen and often produce
the savory, meaty characteristics along with fruit aromas and flavors.
Syrah is the only red grape in the Northern Rhone,
cultivated from Côte-Rôtie in the north to Hermitage in the middle to Cornas in
the south, a distance of only about 42 miles.
Many of the vineyards are on very steep hillsides, sloping down to the
Rhone.
Côte-Rôtie is divided into two “côtes.” Côte Blonde is lighter with limestone and
silica and which produces elegant, finessed wines. Côte Brune is heavier soil with more iron,
which produces a more structured, powerful, mineral wine. The appellation rules of Côte-Rôtie allow a
small percentage of Viognier, a white varietal, to be added to Syrah for
enhanced floral and fruit aromatics and, curiously, darker color. The Côte-Rôtie I selected for our event was
produced by E. Guigal, perhaps the most well known producer in Côte-Rôtie. The wine is called “Brune et Blonde,” from the 2000 vintage, and includes Syrah from
both Côte Brune and Côte Blonde, along with 4% Viognier.
I also selected a wine from Hermitage, specifically a climat on the hill of Hermitage called La Chapelle, one of the most famous and
prestigious vineyards in the Northern Rhone.
The name of the vineyard derives from a small chapel which was built near
the top of the hill by monks in the 1500s.
This series of photos shows the town of Hermitage and the Rhone River from La Chapelle, me
standing next to the chapel, and the interior of the chapel, still maintained
by the church after centuries as a noble sentinel of the Rhone. The producer of La Chapelle is Paul Jaboulet
Aîné. Jaboulet is the sole producer of
La Chapelle. Although white grapes are
cultivated on the hill of Hermitage, La Chapelle is 100% Syrah. The bottle opened at our event was the 1999.
Cornas is a small appellation with only about 40 or so acres
under vine. Syrah is the only grape
grown in Cornas. There is no white wine
production. Cornas has the image of the “country
cousin” of the Northern Rhone, perhaps a little more rustic and old
school. Herbal notes such as olive and
sage often complement other flavors. I
selected a wine by Domaine Auguste Clape.
The Clape family produces wines that definitely help define the profile
of Cornas, well structured, a little rustic, complex. We opened the 2001 vintage at our event.
Syrah is widely grown along the U.S. West Coast in both warm and cool
climates. For our event and partly
because I tend to prefer cooler climate wines, I selected a wine by
Lagier-Meredith, the 2001 vintage, which actually carries the Napa Valley appellation
designation but is grown high atop Mt. Veeder.
As I’ve shared in other postings, mountain grapes are grown on thin soils,
which cause the grapes to work harder to ripen and often produce lower yields
of more intensely flavored, complex grapes.
The Lagier-Meredith site is just north of San Pablo Bay,
which you can see here on this map. The
altitude of the mountain vineyard provides cooler temperatures. Steve and Carole also get the cool breezes
from the chilly waters off the bay. With
abundant sunshine and a growing season with minimal rain, the grapes can mature
longer on the vine. The cooler
conditions, especially at night, preserve the balance of the grapes. The aroma and flavor profile sort of has one
foot in the Rhone and one foot in warm climates because of longer hang
time. Among U.S. Syrah producers, they
are one of my favorites. The event wine
was the 2001 vintage.
The other California wine was by Peay Vineyards. Their site is really out there. We visited a few years ago, and remote and
rugged are accurate descriptors of their location, to say the least.
They are way out on the true Sonoma Coast near the community
of Annapolis. You can see their location
on this map. They’re only four miles
from the ocean as the crow flies, but most of their site is above the fog
line. Once again, they have cool
temperatures from the ocean, but usually good sun and hang time for flavor
development. We opened the 2005 vintage
at our event.
An event called World of Syrah would not be complete without
a Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in Australia.
Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape, but the Aussies call it
Shiraz. The Barossa Valley is the most
well known of the major growing regions of Australia, located in South
Australia and north of Adelaide, as you can see on this map.
Barossa Valley is sometimes described as the Napa Valley
of Australia because of being so famous.
It is very hot and very dry in the summer. Grapes from old vines in the Barossa produce
typical expressions of warm climate wines, quite ripe, characterized by dark
fruit flavors, chocolate, not as much of the peppery, savory qualities, very
full-bodied and often high in alcohol. I
chose a wine by Two Hands, a producer that has become especially highly
regarded by American wine writers. Their
Bella’s Garden from the Barossa has ranked among the top wines in yearly
rankings by Wine Spectator. For our event I acquired the 2005 Bella’s
Garden.
World of Syrah was a blinded event. That means no one knew what was in the stems. We do that by putting the wine bottles in
plain paper bags, then removing the corks.
I do that while Mary is out of the room.
Then I leave the room. Mary comes
in, unaware of which bottle is in which bag.
The only thing she sees is the very top of the bottles. She pours the wines into color-coded
decanters, then the wine is poured into color-coded stems. Double blind!
Here’s a few photos to show what I mean.
We tasted through the wines, one by one, discussing them and
taking notes. It was such fun to compare
our impressions and preferences and guessing which wine was which. Here’s Sara and Sheryl, studying intently.
Once we tasted through all the wines and ranked our
preferences, we turned our attention to the food.
Mary prepared an appetizer course of baby Portobello mushrooms
stuffed with Chevre and topped with a crust of parmigiano reggiano, herbs, and
pepper.
To finish the duck confit, we put the casserole dish in the
oven on low heat to melt the duck fat, then put the duck leg in a frying pan,
skin side down, using low heat to crisp the duck leg. No additional cooking is needed.
We served the duck along with a salad of greens and walnuts
and ovals of gratin dauphinois,
scalloped potatoes. The duck was
divine! Everyone loved it. True to its countryside origins, it became
finger food for some of us (moi!) to
get at that delicious last bit of duck on the bone. It was meltingly tender, rich, moist, pulled right off
the bone, salty, savory, wonderful. Just
fantastic. There was almost nothing left
on anybody’s plate.
We finished with an assiette
de fromage, a plate of assorted cheeses.
In the French tradition, we had four cheeses of different geographies
and milk sources. Clockwise from the
right side of the plate, the cheeses were Vivace Bambino (cow) from Cato Corner
Farm in Connecticut, Abbaye de Bel’loc (sheep) from Notre-Dame de Belloc in the
French Basque region of the Pyrenees, Tome des Recollets (cow and goat) from
Jean d’Alos in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley, and my favorite, Epoisses from
Berthaut in the Burgundy region of France.
They were all lovely.
As is usually the case, wine preferences changed when tasted
with food. Here are my notes on each of
the wines.
Domaine Auguste Clape
Cornas 2001. This was the most preferred
wine of the evening for Dick, Mary, and me.
The color was dense and leaned toward garnet. The aroma profile was mostly herbal,
particularly olive, along with earthy and meaty notes. The palate showed a smooth texture, not quite
the chalkiness for which Clape is often known, with medium acidity and
body. Blue and black fruit, roasted
meat, and pepper were noted on the flavor profile. Very nicely balanced, complex, and long
finishing, it was the only bottle that was completely consumed. 13.0% alcohol. We paid $60 for this wine.
Paul Jaboulet Aîné
Hermitage La Chapelle 1999. This was
my second most preferred wine. It was
the most mature-appearing of the wines, even in the glass. The color was decidedly garnet, almost
turning amber, but still fairly dense.
It was more elegant than the others, showing some floral notes, perhaps
violet, and the bacon and roasted meat of a great Hermitage. There was almost no fruit on the nose. The palate showed medium acidity, on the high
side, quite smooth in texture with medium body.
Fruit characteristics did appear on the palate, red fruit such as
strawberry and raspberry, cherry, but still the savory and spice notes of Syrah. Beautifully complex, long finishing, well
balanced, excellent. It was a close
second for me. 13.5% alcohol, $55.
Guigal Côte-Rôtie
Brune et Blonde 2000. This was my
third most preferred wine, especially on its own, but it didn't perform quite
as well with dinner. It had all the
desirable Syrah characteristics, at least in terms of aroma and flavor
profile. Dark berries, earthy notes,
roast meat, smokiness, leather, quite a complex aroma profile. Blackberry, dark cherry, savory, meaty notes,
and spicy pepper were noted on the palate.
It was medium in acidity, fairly smooth in texture, medium in body. The length was only medium, but it was nicely
balanced and complex. 13.0% alcohol,
$45.
Peay Vineyards Syrah
Sonoma Coast Les Titans 2005. With
food, this was the most preferred wine of the evening for Sara and Sheryl. The initial assessment was interesting. The aromas were off, musty, with diminished
fruit. I thought it might be corked and
was thinking of unblinding it to open another bottle. With more time in the glass, the off aromas
dissipated and became fruitier and savory, more of what we would expect from a
good Syrah. By the end of the evening,
it was quite elegant and nuanced. The
palate was quite nice from the beginning.
Berry fruit, cherry, roasted meat, and pepper characteristics all
appeared. The texture was smooth, not
quite silky, but not at all rough. The
wine was medium in body and acidity.
Nicely balanced, long finishing, fairly complex. 14.0% alcohol. We paid $25 for the wine but it generally
sells for around $40-50.
Lagier-Meredith
Vineyard Syrah Napa Valley Mt. Veeder 2001.
I have enjoyed this wine a number of times and there was not a thing
wrong with it, but it settled in my second tier. I think the comparison with the other wines
just revealed my stylistic preference for wines of the Northern Rhone over more
powerful, dense wines of the New World.
It was quite dark in color density and on the purple or ruby end of the
spectrum. The nose did show a nice
savory and dark fruit character along with herbal notes. Dick suggested pipe tobacco, which resonated
with everyone. The texture of the wine
was not exactly rough, but not exactly smooth, the tannins still
resolving. It was more full-bodied than
most of the other wines and had a lower acidity, not hot or flabby, but not
what I would call fresh. The balance was
fine, although relatively low in acidity.
It had nice complexity and a nice, long finish. 14.3% alcohol. We paid $35 for this wine.
Two Hands Shiraz
Barossa Valley Bella’s Garden 2005. I'm
glad this was a blind tasting so that my impression wasn't biased by knowing
what was in the glass, but Mary and I both guessed the wine correctly just by
the color density, an almost opaque, black, dense purple. Interestingly, it had a distinct buttery
aroma, which I normally associate more with certain white wines. It also had dark fruit and earth. Not surprisingly, the palate showed low
acidity and a lush, full-bodied texture, very mouthfilling. It is a massive wine, surely a wonderful
example of Barossa Valley Shiraz for fans of the style, but I'm afraid I am not
among them. Dark berries, plum, earth,
some savory notes, and chocolate were all apparent on the flavor profile. Although low in acidity, it was not overtly
hot or flabby and didn't taste overly raisined, so I would have to say it was
adequately balanced. It was definitely
long in the mouth and fairly complex. The
alcohol checks in at a whopping 15.2%.
Perhaps owing to the publicity it has garnered, it is quite expensive at
$80. Unfortunately, I didn’t photograph
the label and Sara took our other bottle off our hands.
It was a wonderful evening of wine, food, and friends. We learned about Syrah, we experienced a new
culinary creation for us, we had a great cheese course, we laughed and
talked. I think it was certainly one of
our most enjoyable and educational wine events.
I’m looking forward to the next one.
Here are a few more photo memories.
That’s our post for today.
It’s long, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Keep checking back at Cépage et Cuisine for more wine and
food adventures at Maison Mary et Brian.
In the meantime,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
Brian: Frog legs! Hello, everybody. Welcome to Cépage
et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog. This one is a “leap” of faith for us. Growing up in a small town in northwest
Georgia, I remember friends who claimed they went “frog giggin’.” Whether they really did and whether they
actually ate the frogs, I don’t know, but I never did…until now. Modern day frog gigging is a trip to
Kroger.
Here in the Gulf South, frog legs are not an unusual dish
among the Cajun culture of south Mississippi and Louisiana and the “soul food”
culture of rural African Americans. It is
also a time-honored dish in France, where it is called Cuisses de Grenouille. In
keeping with our Francophile ways and wine and food adventures generally, we
tried them! It is probably our boldest
adventure so far, at least psychologically.
I was quite surprised that Mary agreed.
She didn’t express so much as an “ewww” reaction. I’ll talk about the wine at the end, but Mary
wrote most of this post to give you the full Monty from a California Pres girl
who never tried blackeyed peas and turnip greens before she met me, not to
mention frog legs! Keep an open mind and
don’t be grossed out by the pictures.
They turned out to be pretty good!
THEN ... silly me ... I saw frog legs tucked into the
corner of the seafood section and said to Brian, "Look, frog legs!" Not in an "excited to see them, yum"
way but not in an "ew, gross" way either. Just ... oddly interesting.
He immediately took out his smartphone
and found a recipe for frog legs. I
hadn't had breakfast or lunch and my brain must not have been functioning,
because I AGREED to try them!
I made Brian handle them.
I couldn’t bring myself to touch them. Soaking them in buttermilk was recommended, so
I did manage to pour the buttermilk over them and put them in the refrigerator.
I'm trying to keep an open mind, but ...
it's not red meat, it's not fish, it's not poultry, it's not vegetarian ---
it's amphibian! We marinated the frog legs overnight in buttermilk and Tabasco
sauce.
Here are the ingredients, including marinated frog legs -- kind of
creepy, I know -- shallots, garlic, fresh parsley, flour, Cajun seasoning,
chopped tomatoes (I just used canned), white wine, butter, salt and pepper.
Here are the ingredients again, without the hippity hop.
Brian separated the frog legs at the hip joint with a sturdy
chef’s knife.
The cooking wine was added next.
It’s in a stem instead of the bottle because for this recipe, I needed
to sip on the wine while I was cooking.
That’s what I really mean when I say cooking wine!
That’s Brian pouring the wine into the pan. 
