WEEKEND IN CHABLIS

The Church next to the J-M Brocard's vineyard and winery

Hubert's Birthday Cake

This is the time of year when some of us start thinking about which wine regions we might visit in the coming months.    If you are a white wine fan you could certainly do worse than visit Chablis.     We visited there last July for a friend’s 50^th Birthday party and really enjoyed ourselves.  There are plenty of cellars to visit, restaurants to try and walks to go on.   Look at our pictures below and start planning your trip!

Map of the Grand Crus walk in the town

Grand Cru grapes in July

Grand Cru Vines

Chablis is of course made with Chardonnay grapes

A pretty river runs through the town

It is not all about grapes

Our tour guide explains about the wines in the Brocard cellars

Lots of good produce in the Sunday market

Other things to buy apart from wine

Do try the Jambon Persilee

Rillettes du lapin  and a favourite Chablis - a great match!

Jane tasting a Defaix Chablis

If you do go, I can certainly recommend a visit to the cellars of J.M.Brocard outside the town and Daniel-Etienne Defaix inside the town.   The latter also has a nice restaurant.  Another good restaurant we would recommend is  Au Bistrot des Grands Crus.  Do make sure you go on the walk around the Grand Cru Vineyards.  We stayed in a Gite attached to the Hotel Bergerand’s and found this suited us well.

Remember there are 5 qualities of Chablis that in ascending order are Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru Chablis and Grand Cru Chablis.  Do try some of each and from different vineyards and producers.  It is well worth going to Daniel-Etienne Defaix as they will let you taste and buy some older Chablis.  It may surprise you that a ten year old Chablis tastes brilliant.

Who doesn't love Chablis?

POP-UP RESTAURANTS

Pop-Up restaurants, whilst not new, have become very popular of late and essentially are temporary restaurants in all sorts of venues or supper clubs in people's homes.   On New Year's Day this year we had a rather unusual one near us when Hampton Estate set up a pop-up restaurant in the open air on Puttenham Common.   It was great fun and they served up some nice but basic dishes to quite a large crowd at lunch-time. I realy enjoyed the apple fritter. Considering the time of year they were rather lucky with the weather, although it did start to rain later on.  If you don't know about Hampton Estate, do visit their web-site as they sell some great beef and other products.

On the way to the Pop-Up Restaurant on Puttenham Common

First Course of Meatbals, Crusty Bread and Salad

Dessert Course of Apple Fritter

The Make-shift Kitchen

A Large Gathering Came For Lunch

I suppose some of our Tongham Taster and Tongham Village Hall events are in effect pop-up restaurants so if you enjoy this kind of thing or have yet to experience a pop-up restaurant do give us a try.  Coming up soon are:

Saturday 3rd March 2012 - Tongham Village Hall, Tongham, Surrey, UK - Mediterranean Wine Tasting Dinner - £22.50 per head with about 50 to 60 guests expected.   Give Jane a call on 07983 154 295 if interested.

Friday 16th March 2012 - Our house in Grange Road, Tongham, Surrey, UK - Italian Wine and Pasta Evening - £10 per head with about 10 to 12 guests expected.   Give myself, John, a call on 07717 876743 if interested.

FOR MY VALENTINE

Each Valentine’s Day I prepare my wife, Jane, a feast of seven or eight courses, matched by some lovely wines.  I try and make the menu easy to prepare and stress free so that we can both enjoy the evening, whilst enjoying some good food, perhaps, something different to what we normally eat.    My trick is preparing as much as possible in advance so that I never spend more than 10 minutes away from the table.   So what did we have his year:

Course 1:  A Duo of Duck and Goose Foie Gras with Sauternes Jelly.

I made the Sauternes Jelly myself and it was both very easy to make and absolutely delicious.   First get two leaves of gelatine and put them into cold water to soak.     Then put about 187.5 ml (a quarter bottle) of Sauternes or other dessert wine into a saucepan with 100g of caster sugar and a little salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and stir to dissolve the sugar. Take the 2 gelatine leaves and squeeze to remove any excess water and then add to the heated wine mixture and stir.  Remove from the heat and add a squeeze of lemon juice..  Pour through a tea strainer or fine sieve into a bowl and let cool a little.  Then pour into your chosen mould (I used heart shaped ice cube moulds) and let it cool in the refrigerator overnight or for about 6 hours.   This is a brilliant pairing for Foie Gras or blue cheese.

Sauternes Jelly with Foie Gras and Pea Shoots

Course 2: A Carpaccio of Smoked Haddock.

For the second course I followed a Rowley Leigh recipe from the Financial Times and added a few touches of my own.  Undyed smoked haddock is delicious and I just “cooked” it, ceviche style, in a little lemon juice, oil, chilli and herbs.   Served with some roasted yellow and red peppers it made for a very pretty and tasty plate.

A Carpaccio of Smoked Haddock and Peppers

Course 3: Poussin En Cocotte with Bacon and Endives.

For the third course I adapted another Rowley Leigh recipe from the FT but used a poussin instead of pheasant.   The poussin and bacon were browned in some butter and then braised in a small casserole with some white wine for twenty minutes. After this the breast and legs were removed from the bird and then put back into the casserole. The endives were coloured in some butter and then cooked for a short time with some sugar, sherry vinegar and lemon.  This was all done prior to the first course.  Just before serving I added the endive mixture to the poussin and heated through.   The taste was lovely and is the best way yet of making endives delicious.

Poussin en Cocotte with Bacon and Endives

Course 4: A Salad of Young Leaves.

To keep the meal light and healthy, the fourth course was a small salad of fresh young salad leaves.   I decided not to dress the salad and we just ate the greens with our fingers and tasted the gorgeous individual taste of the leaves.

A Salad of Young Leaves

Course 5: Cheese Course.

To finish off the lovely Burgundy (a 1er Cru Volnay) we had three nice cheeses from Waitrose; a wonderful Comté, an Old Amsterdam and a Wensleydale with Cranberries.

The Cheese Board

Course 6: Pear Sorbet

To cleanse our palates I made an Italian style pear sorbet in our Thermomix, in between courses. I had frozen 500g of pears a few days before.  On the night I just combined the pears, some pear liqueur, lemon juice, sugar and egg white in the thermomix, as per the Fast and Easy Cooking recipe book you get with the Thermomix.  The best pear sorbet ever!

Homemade Pear Sorbet

Course 7: Tongham Treacle Mine Pudding.

Jane is American but loves English style puddings, so I decided to make her a treat as dessert.  We live in Tongham and there is an ancient tradition that there was a Treacle Mine in the area and so I created this recipe, using the basis of a Pudding Club recipe posted on the Kitchen Delights blog, but using my own special touch and thermomix techniques.  Very easy to make and a real hit with Jane!   I made the puddings a few nights before and microwaved them for 90 seconds on the night and served with cream, a squeeze of lemon and a little more syrup on top.

120g Butter

120g Demerara  Sugar

120g Self raising Flour

Zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime

Half a lemon

2 Eggs

Golden Syrup

You’ll get the idea of how to make it from the pictures below:

1. Butter the dariole Moulds

2. Add the Lemon & Lime Zest to the Thermomix

3. Add Sugar and Grind for 10 seconds.

4.  Add the Butter and quickly combine.

5.  Cream the mixture using the butterfly whisk.

6. Ad the eggs and flour and then whisk again.

7.  Add some syrup to each mould and then half fill each mould with the mixture.

8.  put the moulds into the varoma.

9.  Steam for 25 minutes.

10. Relax as they steam and rise.

11.  After steaming.

12. Remove from mould and pour on some lemon juice and syrup and serve with cream

Course 8: Coffee and Chocolates

A nice cup of decaffeinated coffee and some heart shaped caramel flavoured chocolates from Fauchon in Paris made for a great end to a very pleasant and completely stress-free evening meal.   As well as the Volnay we had a nice bottle of vintage Champagne which went well with the early courses.  Thanks to Rowley Leigh and others for their inspiration.  Most of all, thanks to Jane for appreciating it!

Expresso Coffee and Fauchon Chocolates

A Perfect Score

Let the tasting commence!

For our February Tongham Taster’s evening we were invited around to Steve and Yvonne’s place in The Street, Tongham.  Steve had arranged a little tasting competition for us to see how much we had learnt in 16 months of our little group.  Despite a cold and snowy evening, eight of us gathered around their dining room table for an excellent evening of wine, food and chat, spiced up with Steve’s little fun competition.



A snowy day in Seale and Tongham

For our “Red All Over” evening, Steve had gathered together six single varietal red wines and we had to guess which grape varietal each was.  As we are not Masters of Wine, Steve gave us a chance by telling us in advance that he had a French Gamay, an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, a French Malbec, a New Zealand Pinot Noir, an Italian Sangiovese and a Spanish Tempranillo.   As usual we were blind tasting but we did get a little clue from whether the wines were a screw cap or not!

So how well did we do in identifying the wines and how did we rate them?  As usual the wines are listed in a descending order of preference and all of the scores noted are out of twenty.  Score are listed in the order John E, Jane, Steve S, Ian, John S, Clive and Sheila.

It was such a cold night outside that we really appreciated Steve's choice of doing all reds for this evening.

1. Katnook, Founder’s Block Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra Australia 2009, 13.5%, Waitrose £11.00

Everyone had this wine in his or her top three bottles of the evening and three had it as their top wine.  For those of us trying to guess the varietal is was relatively easy with its dark colour and classic plummy cassis with notes of tobacco and herbs taste.   This was the most expensive wine of the evening but one, which we can recommend.  Scores were 13.5, 15, 14.75, 13, 14, 14 and 12.  The region of Coonawarra in South Australia is the best in that country for Cabernet Sauvignon and Katnook Estate is a well know and respected wine maker and thus no surprise that this wine pleased our educated palates.

2. Marques de la Concordia Crianza 2007 Signa, Rioja Spain, 13.5%, Majestic £7.00

This wine had two top votes from our panel and three second places.   It was the last wine we tasted and had the classic taste of an oaked Rioja with vanilla notes and an aromatic elegance and was a relatively easy “spot” for some of us.   Marques de la Concordia produces some good value wines that are sold in Majestic.   Scores were 14.5, 14, 14.75, 14.5, 13, 19 and 11.  Another wine we can recommend.

3. Chateau Cos Suzanne Vielles Vignes 2006,  Cahors France, 12.5%, Auchan €6.50

This wine got one top vote but split the rest of the panel with some liking it and some not so sure.  It was one of the most difficult of the varietals to spot and probably wasn’t 100% Malbec but we had fun tasting it.  Initially some of us had this down as the Tempranillo as it had a distinct oakiness.  Clive loved it and thought it would be ideal for sitting beside the fire and supping throughout the evening.  Scores were 13, 14, 15, 11, 10, 18 and 10.  I’m rather disappointed that I missed this wine from an independent vigneron at the last Foire aux Vins in Auchan!

4. Majestic Peaks Pinot Noir 2009, Central Otago New Zealand, 13.5%, Majestic £7.00

This wine also got one top vote but not all of us appreciated this relatively cheap Pinot Noir from New Zealand.  For most of us it didn’t have the classic New Zealand Pinot Noir taste but the light colour of the wine and cherry taste helped identify the grape.  Scores were 10, 16, 12.5, 11, 10, 14 and 6.  Jane liked the taste of this one but Sheila found it too light and gave it a very low score.  At the price it may be worth trying.

5. Hospices de Beaujeu Beaujolais Villages 2010, 12.5%, France, Waitrose £8.50

Our first wine of the evening, Steve was very generous and slightly chilled this Beaujolais made with the Gamay grape.  It was relatively easy to identify with its light purple colour and classic Beaujolais taste.  Yvonne thought this was nice and like most Gamay wines is an easy match for many foods.  Scores were 10.5, 12, 10, 10.5, 10, 12 and 8.  This is a wine to drink and enjoy with snacks or food rather than to savour.

6. Mandrielle Sangiovese 2010 Banfi, 12.5%, Toscana IGT Italy, Majestic £6.00

This was the second wine of the evening ad definitely didn’t really have the classic taste of a good Chianti or Brunello for instance.  However, the colour helped give it away a little and if you have drunk enough cheap Italian wine over the years it did have a certain characteristic that gave it away.   Scores were 10, 8, 10.25, 9, 9, 13 and 9.  There weren’t really any fans for this but at last it wasn’t too

I claim my prize!

When we got to the end of the evening, Steve was rather surprised that three of us, Ian, John S and myself had all managed to identify all six wines and thus got the perfect score!   A tie break meant that I won the prize of a  really nice bottle of Mas de Cynanque 2008 from Saint Chinian, but I shared it with the rest of the team as it was a Friday evening, by which time we were discussing Vladimir Putin, and it probably gave everyone a Saturday morning hangover!

Chorizo and Saucisson

Steve and Yvonne had put on a really great spread including some lovely bread from Tongham Bakery, some lovely saucisson and chorizo and some amazing Comte and Ossau Iraty cheese from Waitrose, not too mention the usual palate cleansers.  A great fun evening.

Next up is  a Tongham Village Hall wine tasting dinner on Saturday March 3^rd when we will be having seven Mediterranean wines matched with seven Mediterranean dishes  for just £22.50 a head.  This event is open to up to fifty or sixty people depending on demand.  Give Jane a call on 07983 154 295.

Following this, our next Tongham Tasters’ evening is on Friday March 16^th when I will be presenting six, hopefully stunning,  Italian wines (two white and four red) along with some Italian pasta dishes.  This evening will cost the normal £10 per head and will be limited to our normal ten or twelve participants.  We love seeing new faces so if you live near Tongham and want to join in the fun ring me, John, on 07717 876 743.  For our other dates and more information, click on Wine Circle above.

As usual thanks to Clive for his excellent photographs of the evening.