Restaurant Au Relais Montmartre Paris

Last weekend we had a superb lunch in Paris at the Au Relais Bistro, 48 Rue Lamarck, which is not far from la   Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre. You walk past the Montmartre vineyard which produces about 1500 bottles of wine per year and then walk down some steps near the residence in the photograph below. You turn right at the bottom of the steps and find Rue Lamarck.

It's amazing that you only have to walk a couple of hundred metres to get to a quiet place far from the crowds. Well, the crowds were missing out on some superb food. Three of us shared a Côte de Bœuf or Rib of Beef. It was full of flavour and cooked to perfection. It was some of the best beef we had eaten in quite some time.

We washed this down with a bottle of 2010 Domaine L'Hortus "Le Loup Dans La Bergerie" Vin de Pays  Rouge and the website below describes the wine perfectly. This brand named wine did not have the class of the Burgundy that we drank for aperitif the previous day but it went down quite well. In the US you can buy it for ten bucks a bottle and Nicolas in France is selling it for about 8 Eur.

The restaurant had marked up the wine considerably but it went well with such wonderful food so who I am I to complain? Especially, as I did not pay the bill.

"Le Loup Dans La Bergerie"  or "The Wolf in the Sheep Pen";  the dog would not have got much meat from the bones that I left.

The next time you are in Paris why not give Au Relais a try?

http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1090346

http://www.restaurant-aurelais-paris18.fr/

http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/

2010 Antonin Guyon Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Goudelettes

We drank this wine with some friends in Paris last weekend for an aperitif and it was superb. 2010 was a good year in Burgundy and this wine reflects the both the good weather conditions and the terroir of  of the appellation. Domaine Antonin Guyon is an excellent producer.

This wine was well balanced and integrated and had the powerful flavours of red fruits - cherries and strawberries - typical of a fine red Burgundy. Its aroma was powerful and the concentrated and complex flavours lingered on the palate for a long time. The wine also had a subtle hint of cloves from the oak barrels. This wine will keep lot longer.

The Domaine produces 1er cru and grand cru reds and also a selection of white wines. This village wine easily has the quality of a 1er cru.

I researched it on a wine web site and the wine can be obtained in the UK ex-tax for £23 per bottle. I would gladly pay more; this is the best wine I have drunk for a long time.  I am glad to have such good friends who are happy to serve this wine to my wife and me.

It also confirms my opinion that France produces more top wines than any other country.

http://www.guyon-bourgogne.com/Les-vins/

Wine Industry Comment

In the last couple of weeks we have seen a number of news items about the wine industry and one of them is very disturbing.

There was an attack on students studying wine in Bordeaux. Six Chinese students were attacked in their home in a village near Bordeaux. One of them required facial surgery.

Of course most people associated with the wine industry in France will condemn this attack and be appalled by it.

These students were trying to improve their lives just like anyone else. The cruel people who committed this attack should realise that it is essential that there is a thriving industry in China to serve both export and internal markets. The middle class in China is growing rapidly and demand for wine is growing rapidly with it.

If the domestic supply for wine in China does not meet the demand created by the rapid growth of the middle class then the price of wine will go up for all of us.

Nobody will benefit from being violent towards defenceless students. This type of thuggish behaviour must stop.

Wine should be about conviviality not violence.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10125578/China-demands-action-from-France-as-wine-students-attacked-in-Bordeaux.html

There were severe hailstorms in France on the 17th of June and high temperatures are continuing to set off severe rainfall and thunderstorms. One storm on Monday destroyed some vineyards in the Vouvray district. Not only were the developing grapes damaged but also their branches which will not have time to repair themselves for next year.

This is very damaging for the vineyards concerned and coupled with the poor summer last year it only adds to the difficulties. The weather may be damaging for the French wine industry but not as damaging as violence towards Chines wine students.

http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/06/vouvray-crops-damaged-by-hail-storm/

On a lighter note we now have the possibility of drinking our wine straight from a can. I shall stick to tippling from a glass. Whatever next, will there be tinned Whisky?

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/french-embrace-wine-article-1.1370628

I am all in favour of anything which makes opening a bottle of wine easier especially if you have forgotten a corkscrew on a picnic. We have umpteen corkscrews in our house and quite often I can't find one. So I think that the twist-off cork is a great idea. This stopper is rather like a Champagne cork without the flanges. You can grip the top and twist off the cork.

The inside of the bottle neck has a thread with locks into the groove in the stopper. No need for a cork screw and the cork will make a popping noise when you remove it. You can also reseal an unfinished bottle, but of course any air  left in the bottle will spoil the wine. I am surprised that a bright spark did not find a method of venting the air from the bottle when resealing it.

Screw caps do the job of protecting the wine equally as well as these new types of corks. But there is resistance to the use of screw caps in many markets including America.

Any wine sealed with a cork could be subject to cork taint caused by a fungal mould which taints the wine - "Waiter my wine is corked".  If the the new twist-off cork can resolve this problem we are on to a winner. Even top class wines could be sealed in this way.

When bottles are placed on their side the wine penetrates the cork to make the seal expand, but the cork allows a small amount of oxygen into the bottle to help the wine mature - or so the theory goes. Stelvar screw caps form an airtight seal so top class wine producers are reluctant to use a metal cap.

The new twist corks will also allow some of the bottle opening ceremony to remain. You can twist off the cork as you would with a Champagne bottle and produce a popping noise. You can even sniff the new cork to make sure that the wine is not corked. The pretence of being a connoisseur  can still be maintained at the the dining table unless of course you spill the wine all over your guests by opening the bottle with too much force.

You can even wind the capsule around the cork - this is very difficult to do with a Stelvar cap! So let us all hail the twist off cork.

http://www.gizmag.com/helix-cork/27951/