Irancy,a little known Burgundian jewel.

Vines and fruit trees above Irancy

Irancy always has a special place in my heart as it was the first ever wine I tasted with Jane back in 2002.   It is a light Pinot Noir red wine from the northern reaches of Burgundy near Auxerre and not far from Chablis.   Occasionaly the wines also contain the local grape - Cesar.   The best producer is Colinot and I have enjoyed their wines a number of times over the years.  If in Chablis, you can also buy Irancy from many of the Chablis producers such as J-M Brocard.

It was only recently that I finally visited the village and it is quite pituresque so I would recommend a detour if in the area.  It is only a small village and won't take long unless you decide to taste all the different producers' wines.  There is a viewpoint above the village to take some nice photographs. Some of my snaps accompany this blog.  Do try the wines of Irancy - we often cool them down and let them warm up over the course of a meal so that it will suit fish, meat and then cheese.

The Irancy vines with the church and village in the distance.

Driving through the narrow streeets of Irancy

The best Irancies have a lovely strawberry flavour with a hint of plums.  Very enjoyable to drink on its own, it can accompany many dishes that are not too powerfully flavoured.   The first occasion I had it was with langoustine lightly smoked over rosemary and then lamb with tapenade.  Both matched surprisingly well but then the company was excellent that day!

The wines can age well but never seem to last that long in my house!

If you look hard enough you may find this wine in the UK but go to the specialist retailers rather than the supermarket.

On Burgundies and Soup

Unfortunately most of life’s luxuries cost money. One of these luxuries that I love is Burgundy wine and personally I normally buy premier Cru Burgundies as I can’t afford the Grand Cru and the lower levels of burgundy are so often a disappointment. I normally buy my premier Cru Burgundies in France but locally in Farnham we are lucky enough to have an excellent wine shop selling those expensive wines for special occasions – Imbibros.  I have tried some of their wines - excellent!  Their web site is

http://www.imbibros.co.uk/.

One my food loves is soup and the kitchen gadget that is expensive but indispensable for making Michelin Star quality smooth soups is the Thermomix. Want to learn more, go tohttp://www.whyisthereair.com/

The other weekend I combined these two loves. We were having a gorgeous rib of beef cooked French style like a steak and I decided that a Nuits St Georges would be the perfect accompaniment. Cheese would obviously make a perfect third course but what would make a perfect first course to go with a Premier Cru red Burgundy? I didn’t want to go for an obvious choice such as something Burgundian and eventually hit on the idea of a White Bean Soup. It was a marriage made in heaven. The ingredients were a small tin of cannellini beans, 4 cloves of garlic, a large potato, a small onion and some fresh herbs from the garden (at this time of the year just sage, rosemary and a little thyme). All of this was put in the Thermomix, sautéed in a little olive oil plus some oil from a jar of Anchovies (my special secret ingredient but don't use too much!), and then water added, cooked for fifteen minutes and then blitzed for 30 seconds. Smooth, delicious and a great food pairing for the Nuits St Georges.

By the way, the reason I love burgundies are that they are probably the most versatile food wines and also great for drinking on their own. So many people pick a Bordeaux to go with their steak but for me it would be Burgundy every time. Luckily, I am a lamb lover too and this is where Bordeauxs reign supreme and those special Graves or Medocs come into play..... but for so much food from fish to chicken to beef, Pinot Noir is the winner.

By the way, the Nuits St Georges was purchased in Auchan in France in 2009 for a very reasonable €23.   It was from the excellent Les Vaucrains vineyard and was made by the grower Domaine Christian Confurons & fils.  A 2006, I scored it a 16/20 as it had a lovely spicy cherry flavour.  

Recipe for Mushrooms Feuilleté

(2 large starter servings or 2 light lunch servings)


We were surprised how many of you really enjoyed the mushrooms at the Champagne Gala Fundraising Dinner this September at Tongham Village Hall. In the absence of Jane sharing her recipe at present, here is a recipe I did one Valentine’s Day for Jane – it was very good, even though I say that myself. It is a good way of using up any left-over puff pastry. I was once a vegetarian and this developed my love of mushrooms and cooking them. This recipe shows you how to properly twice cook mushrooms and how to make a nice mushroom stock and also a mushroom sauce without cream. Credit must go to Paul Gayler whose excellent Vegetarian Cookbook taught me how to make a good mushroom stock; the version below is simplified a little. Also mention must go to Patricia Wells and her wonderful Paris Cookbook that first taught me the proper way to twice cook mushrooms à la Frederic Anton.

Shopping List
400g of Cheap Basic Mushrooms
2 Shallots or 1 medium onion
2 Tomatoes
1 large clove Garlic
1 bunch Parsley (preferably Flat Leaf)
Ready Made Puff Pastry
250g Chestnut Mushrooms
2 large knobs of butter

Store Cupboard Ingredients required (Check before you go shopping!)
Olive Oil
Tomato Puree
Soy Sauce
Salt & pepper

Step 1 – Make the stock for the sauce (this can be done the previous night if preferred)

Take 400g of cheap basic mushrooms and roughly chop.

Chop 2 shallots or one medium onion finely.

Peel and chop 1 large clove of garlic.

Roughly chop 2 tomatoes.

Cut the stalks off of a bunch of parsley and then chop the stalks.

Add one tablespoon of Olive Oil into a very large saucepan and bring to medium heat.

Add the chopped shallot and garlic and sweat for a few minutes until soft, without browning.

Add the 400g of chopped mushrooms, bring up the heat, and stir until they have gone brown and released their liquid.

Add the chopped tomatoes and a squeeze of tomato puree and the chopped parsley stalks.

Add a pint of water and turn up the heat.

Bring to a rolling boil and continue boiling for 25 to 30 minutes (it depends on the pan) until well reduced (it needs to taste quite concentrated).

Add 2 good slugs of soy sauce and stir.

Taste and season with salt, pepper and soy sauce as required.

Sieve the stock into another saucepan, pressing down in the sieve to ensure you get all of the good stock out of the vegetables and let cool. The contents of the sieve can be discarded as all the flavours have been cooked out. You will need the stock in Step 4.

Step 2 – Making the “Feuilleté”

Roll out the ready-made puff pastry.

Cut out 2 three-inch squares. Other shapes such as triangles or circles also work well. Make a smaller square, not cut all the way through, in each pastry square, to form a border.

Bake in the oven according to the instructions on the packet.

Step 3 – Prepare the Mushrooms and Herbs.

Take most of the parsley leaves, leaving a few whole to decorate the plate later, and chop (not too finely). Reserve until step 5.

Take 250g of Chestnut Mushrooms and thinly slice.

Fry the mushrooms in a little olive oil until they begin to lose most of their liquid.

Put to one side.

Step 4 – Prepare the Sauce

Take the stock you prepared earlier and heat in a small saucepan to just below boiling and then stir in a knob of butter; continue to stir until you have a shiny rich sauce. Taste and add seasoning if required.

Step 5 – Finish Cooking the Mushrooms.

Add a knob of butter to a frying pan and bring up to a reasonably high heat.

Add the mushrooms and stir whilst cooking for about 2 minutes.

At the end, stir in the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Step 6 – Plating Up.

Put the mushrooms on each plate.

Add some sauce to the mushrooms.

Place the puff pastry delicately on top.

Decorate with some whole parsley leaves.

Serve and enjoy!

Alternative serving suggestion - If you’re not a fan of puff pastry, serve on some toasted brioche or other toasted bread. If not a fan of Parsley then try Tarragon or Chervil. At this time of the year you could substitute any Wild Mushrooms for the Chestnut Mushrooms. If you have other mushrooms such as Shitake or Portabello use can these in the stock; they add more flavour but make it more expensive.

Wine Pairing – This goes very nicely with a Blanc de Noirs Champagne. Otherwise try a Pinot Noir (e.g. Burgundy, Oregon or New Zealand) or a Cabernet Franc (e.g. a Chinon or Bourgueil from the Loire). If you are a confirmed white wine drinker, try a Chardonnay.

John's Tongham Taster Guide to Burgundy Wines

Generic Appellations

Frankly most cheap Burgundy is worth avoiding. Much Appellation Bourgogne Controlée is awful even when approaching £9 a bottle. Bourgogne Ordinaire and Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire are even worse and usually not good at any price. They are also confusing to the normal buyer as they expect the whites to be Chardonnay and the reds to be Pinot Noir but often they are not.
Bourgogne Aligoté is made with the Aligoté grape and is the wine that is traditionally used to make Kir - but is otherwise relatively uninteresting.

The sparkling Crémant de Bourgogne can be very good and also excellent value but as usual with French wines there is huge variability.

Chablis & Auxerrois Area

Chablis is very well known and popular in the UK and generally represents good value for money. It is made with the Chardonnay grape but the limestone and clay soils give it a unique fresh, flinty, sometimes steely, sometimes appley flavour. Its wine is very different to the other famous whites of Burgundy. In fact Chablis is quite a long way from the rest of Burgundy and is closer to Champagne.

Chablis can vary from the sublime to the ridiculously poor. Petit Chablis tends to be slightly lower quality but can be good. Chablis Premier Cru is well worth trying and can be great value for money in the £12 to £20 range. The Grands Crus are more expensive and unless you have a cellar to age them in, something to avoid as they taste awful when young. Our tasting of many supermarket and wine shop Chablis indicated that ASDA is definitely the place to go for an excellent, reasonably priced Chablis. Go to Laithwaites, Majestic etc to try a Premier Cru as a treat.

In the same general area of Chablis is an unusual appellation in that it is a Sauvignon Blanc in a sea of Chardonnay - Saint Bris. Similar to a Sancerre it is worth trying and reasonable value.
There are also a few reds in the area including Irancy and Epineuil. These two I would recommend if you see them and like light Pinot Noir. I have a real attachment to Irancy as it was the first wine I ever drank with Jane! The best grower is Colinot.

Epineuil is particularly good as a Rosé but I have only ever seen it in France.

Côte Chalonnaise

Much further South than Chablis but North of Macon is the Côte Chalonnaise. For most connoisseurs this area is where we search out our value wines. Look out for the wines of Mercurey, Rully, Montagny and especially Givry.

The wines of Givry used not to be so good but the recent examples I have tasted have been excellent. One of the best ever wines I tasted was a 1996 Louis Latour Mercurey Blanc. It was a hot summer's day and I was sitting under a Cherry tree on a really hot summer's day having Sunday lunch with Jane in our garden in France - a great memory and not all Mercureys have proved as good but I keep trying to recapture that day!

Côte de Beaune

Many of my favourite wines come from this area. Give me a good bottle of Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru and I'll be your friend for life! This is a white Chardonnay that sets the standard for all others in my book.

When it comes to reds I love those of Aloxe-Corton. There is also good value in this area with some excellent reds at a good price from Monthélie, Savigny-les-Beaune and other appellations. There is also value to be had in the more generic Hautes Côtes de Beaune appellations. From Ladoix and Santenay come some pleasant rustic reds. I mustn't forget Pommard which is particularly popular with us Brits as it is one of the few Burgundy wine areas that we can pronounce properly.

Côte de Nuits

Together the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune form the Côte D'Or, which is one the most famous wine areas in the world. It is great driving up the wine road from Beaune to Dijon and seeing all the great wine names of the world pass in front of your eyes - Nuits St Georges, Gevrey Chambertin, Vosne Romanée, Morey Saint Denis, Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny etc etc. Enough to bring tears to your eyes!

Unfortunately, many of these wines are extremely expensive but they represent the Pinot Noirs that the rest of the World aspires to emulate. The one wine in the region that tends not to be expensive - Fixin - is cheap for a reason but can sometimes be OK and at a price much cheaper than the rest.

The whites from this region are relatively rare. Right near Dijon is the appellation of Marsannay and here is produced what I regard as possibly the best rosé wine in the world.

General

In Burgundy Grands Crus are the top wines and normally out of most ordinary folks' price range. They often need ageing to get the best out of them. Premiers Crus are the next level down and give a reasonable guarantee of quality and are often more affordable.

The commune appellations are very hit and miss. This all makes Burgundy such a frustrating area, but the wines can be sublime.

The best way to buy is to spend the afternoon in a wine cellar of a négociant in the area trying many different wines or to chase the recommendations of the wine critics before they are sold out.

A votre santé !