One Bordeaux region but different styles

This week I drank two different styles of Bordeaux red: Château Valfontaine  2010 and Les Hauts de Lestac AOC  Haut Médoc 2010. The former was bought in Waitrose at the reduced price of £5.99 and the latter was bought in a French Supermarket. Both of them are tremendous value for money in France where you can buy them for between 6 and 8 Eur a bottle. 

Château Valfontaine 2010  and Entre-Deux-Mers

This wine is from the Entre-Deux-Mers area of Bordeaux which is situated between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. Entre-Deux-Mers is more famous for its White Wine but the area is a source of a considerable production of light red wine. Château Valfontaine is a typical but good example of this style of red Bordeaux. The soil here is more clay based than the gravel of the Haut Médoc

The wine is produced from a high  proportion of Merlot blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The Merlot  produces wines which are lighter in tannin and which mature earlier and Merlot wines tend to be fruitier when young. Château Valfontaine 2010 has an intense cherry colour. On the nose it has a strong flavour of red fruits especially cherries.

On the palate it has a the typical taste of Bordeaux with concentrated red fruits, liquorice and tobacco box flavour. It has light tannins and feels smooth and sumptuous. It is well balanced and integrated. It has a long length. This wine is not made for keeping and I would drink it young. It is probably at its best now or over the next year.

It goes down well with beef and French cheeses. It is good standard quality wine and at £5.99 it represents really good value for money. It is wine which shows the character of Bordeaux without being expensive. So three cheers for the Waitrose buyers. You will not go wrong with this wine.

The wine is also labelled with the new Appellation d'origine Protégée which is now beginning to replace

Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) on French wine bottles.

Les Hauts de Lestac Cuvée Prestige 2010 AOC and the Haut-Médoc

The Haut-Médoc is situated on the left bank of the Gironde river and is considered to be one of the top wine areas of France if not the world. It includes the communes of Margaux, Pauillac, St Estephe and St Julien. Some of the worlds most expensive and prestigious red wines are made here such as Château Latour, Château Margaux and Château Mouton Rothschild. Some of this prestige rubs off onto lesser wines.

Whilst the famous wines are made from vines grown in the best locations alongside the river the other wines of the less renowned names of the area still benefit from the sand and gravel soils of the Haut-Médoc. The quality of the standard wines, however, is little different to the reds of Entre-Deux-Mers; this is reflected in the retail price in France. Les Hauts de Lestac does not command a much greater price than Château Valfontaine.

The style of wine is quite different, however, Les Hauts de Lestac is made from a predominance of Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the wine is much more tannic and austere and it is more closed up. The red fruit flavours are not as strong  and the wine needs to be kept to mature for a couple of more years before it will reveal its fruit flavour. The wine is matured in oak so it has a flavour of vanilla and liquorice.

It also has the typical tobacco box aroma and flavour of Bordeaux.  It is slightly stronger in alcohol than the Valfontaine at 13% but this is not noticeable on the palate. It is the level of tannin that makes the  difference. the tannins need to soften up a little before the wine is fully approachable. The wine has long length and it goes well with magret de canard as recommended on the bottle. The tannins helped to refresh the palate.

It is very good value for money if you buy it in France. The Baron de Lestac estate is one of the largest producers in the Haut-Médoc.

Two different Styles

Two different styles of wine created by the blend of the grapes used and to a certain extent the soil and the micro-climate. The  wines of the Haut-Médoc have the potential to age much longer and the potential to become great wines. This is not always the case, however. Both of these wines are of similar quality they are good everyday drinking wines. The wines of Entre-Deux-Mers should be drunk young and most of the wine from the Haut-Médoc should be allowed to mature and allow the tannins to soften to reveal the fruit.

The 2010 vintage

2010 was a very good year for Bordeaux reds; almost as good as 2009. I have tasted some very good examples of both vintages. It is well worth buying half a dozen bottles of medium priced  Haut-Médoc

 and storing them in a cool dark place for a few years.

http://www.decanter.com/bordeaux-2010/en-primeur-coverage/529002/bordeaux-2010-report-fatigue-readjustment-and-a-missed-opportunity

Valentina - Sevenoaks

I really like to go to this restaurant. They serve good basic Italian food which is unpretentious. Although it is part of a small family run chain it is certainly a step up the gastronomic ladder. The restaurant is also a delicatessen which you pass through on your way to eat. They have a wide selection of Italian wines including some of the top names. I always buy a bottle after dining. Valentina is worth visiting just for their wine.


The Saturday before last my wife and I joined some friends for lunch. On the wine list they have house selected wines from Vigneti Iucci which is a family run winery in the Lazio or Latium region of Italy just south of Rome. The Lazio region is famous for its dry white Frascati which is not normally a favourite of mine.

Vigneti Iucci is situated in la Creta which is not far from the famous monastery of Monte Cassino; the scene of a bloody battle during the second world war.

We chose Vigneti Iucci Sant'Elia red. This wine is made from a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah grapes. It is a well rounded wine with a taste of cherries and red fruits and some spice from the Syrah. There was also a slight taste of tobacco.

It went perfectly with the speciality dish of the restaurant, Capella Romana, which is meatballs in tomato sauce covered by a serving of tagliatelle and Italian ham baked in the oven. The Capella Romana was full of flavour and the wine was a perfect accompaniment. It was an excellent combination.

The wine was so good that we ordered another bottle and it was a good job I was not driving. This is not top quality wine but it is perfect for drinking with such a hearty dish. It certainly helped the conversation flow which is what drinking a good bottle of wine with friends is all about.

There are plenty of wine fairs in Italy to go and sample some wine and this interview gives you a feeling for what they are all about. The wine we drank is in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTncEqFSRio

The staff at Valentina are informal and friendly and are intent on giving you good service. My wife and her friend ordered a dish which was not to their liking. The manager replaced this dish with another without question or complaint. This is how it should be. It should be normal that a manager looks after his customers. This is quite often not the case in British restaurants.

We could not leave without buying some wine and bread from the delicatessen. I went away with a bottle of Mannara Syrah and Sangiovese 2011 red from Sicily and a bottle of Vigneti Iucci white.

We drank the Mannara at home on the Sunday with some roast duck. This is another good quality wine for everyday drinking. The wine held up well with the oiliness of the duck. It had a taste of  fresh red fruits with some spice from the Syrah. It went down well with French cheeses afterwards. The wine is drinking well now but I am sure you can keep it and it will develop more over the next couple of years.

We have not tasted the white wine yet but more of that later. I promised the manager a tasting note.

Valentina is well recommended if you want to pass a convivial afternoon dining with friends and then finding a great Italian wine to take home afterwards.




 

Liquid Nitrogen in a drink, whatever next!

Today we have just got news that a young lady drank a cocktail which contained liquid nitrogen. It is beyond belief that anyone could prepare such a drink and then sell it to someone for consumption. Liquid nitrogen is an extremely dangerous substance. Nitrogen is not poisonous but in liquid form it can do enormous damage to your skin if not handled properly. In this case the young lady's stomach was frost bitten to the extent that her stomach had to be removed to save her life.

Whatever was the bar thinking about?

If this is a new trend just to get kicks then it is extremely dangerous.  You have to be highly trained to use this substance. This is not the sort of training you get on a one day Bar and Health and Safety course. You need to know what you are doing. Before selling drinks like this you really need to use your Brain cells. If you run a bar you should soberly look at the facts. Please do not exploit young people's desire for kicks.

When someone is in your cocktail bar, wine bar or pub you are to a certain extent responsible for their safety. It is easy for someone who is drunk or just happily joining in the fun to make an error and in this case it was almost a fatal one.

Boiling Point

Liquid Nitrogen boils at -196 degrees celcius and this is exceptionally cold. Even dry ice, which is frozen carbon di-oxide, sublimates from a solid to a gas at - 78 degrees celcius: and it is very dangerous as well. I was once served a dessert at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, which was fuming from dry ice. I made sure that all the ice had disappeared before I went anywhere near it. It looks good but is frost bite worth it?

With liquid nitrogen the dangers are of several magnitudes higher.

Food programmes

Lots of food programmes on television show chefs using liquid nitrogen in the kitchen. Presumably the likes of a Michelin starred chef knows what he or she is doing. Your average barman in Lancaster probably does not. Perhaps the food programmes should give stronger health warnings. In general, I am not in favour of a nanny state but in this case I am. Serving liquid nitrogen with a cocktail should be banned.

Who is responsible for your safety?

Ultimately you are responsible for your own safety.  You cannot guarantee that a bar owner or your friends will look after you. It may be trendy to drink alcopops and slammers but think of your liver. These days you cannot drink and drive; so if you are the driver please look after your friends.

 If you are determined to drink lots then stick to beer and eat something before you go out.

If you are drinking lots of wine snack on food whilst you are drinking. The Spanish, Italians and French do this; it helps to fill you up so you do not want to drink so much and it helps to slow down the absorption of alcohol. Alcopops are dangerous not because they are particularly strong in alcohol but because they are sweet and easy to drink.

If you must participate in drinking games, it is best to stick to beer as you will probably throw up before you can poison yourself with alcohol. Drinking slammers, as part of a drinking game, is stupid and dangerous. It may be fun to participate in drinking games when you are young but think of your future.

I am not in favour of the "I told you so" attitude; the young lady who lost her stomach probably just wanted to enter into the fun of things. She should remain blameless. However, there is a lesson to be learnt from this. Even alcohol on its own can be dangerous but combined with liquid nitrogen it could be fatal; so please do touch cocktails like this.

Cool drinks

It may not be cool to drink a chilled glass of Chablis rather than a fuming cocktail but it shows that you have got some class.

Websites

Try these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice

http://chemistry.about.com/od/moleculescompounds/a/liquidnitrogen.htm