WINE AND A BEAUTIFUL LUNCH IN AUBIGNY
After a busy morning of visiting growers in the communes of the Sancerrois I was looking forward to a good lunch at a restaurant that a grower had recommended as always having great river fish - exactly what I was in the mood for.
I guess I should encapsulate a few notes before my petit repas...
The 2006's that I had begun to taste in the States were showing more fat here. They just do not have the spine or the phenolics of the 2005's...which I will now lay more away - especially as fruit set is late for this year and hurts the odds of this year as a top performer. I miss the 96's that I have finished from my own cellar that still have good life ahead for a few years. I just drank them too fast...
At any rate I don't recommend cellaring much if any and only the best Sancerre from the strongest vintages for more than 5 years. Most are best at 3-4 years after the vintage. They retain fruit and freshness but show better complexity and minerality.
In the town of Aubigny, just a short drive from Sancerre and Chavignol is a little restaurant called La Chaumière (also an Auberge). It's a perfect room for lunch - lots of light, clean buttery linens on the tables, lots of exposed 600 year old beams and architectural elements. Also of note, I was the only diner at lunch under 70 on this weekday except for some sort of English soccer tour troupe in the far corner drinking Kronenbourg and talking "birds".
The menu is short and purely regional. My first dish was the house-fruitwood-smoked salmon. Beautifully and delicately done (although inexpertly sliced) and served with crunchy-fresh local butter lettuces, frissee and fresh juniper berries in white wine vinaigrette. My second dish was the eel (colin). This is the small river eels that had been bragged about: super fresh, roasted on the bone and served whole with a reduced cream with fresh sorrel. This was a great simple dish. The eel was fresh, firm and sweet. What you wish swordfish would be like (with a finer grain to the flesh).
I drank a ‘96 Sancerre (white) from Chateau de Maimbray that showed beautifully with both dishes. I had to battle with the Sommelier who was on a mission to prove to me the quality of the red wines of the region. Bleck. Twice over the years and after hundreds of attempts have I had a red Sancerre that was pleasurable. The popularity of these wines in Parisian cafes indicts the clientele on charges of masochism in the first degree.
I guess I should encapsulate a few notes before my petit repas...
The 2006's that I had begun to taste in the States were showing more fat here. They just do not have the spine or the phenolics of the 2005's...which I will now lay more away - especially as fruit set is late for this year and hurts the odds of this year as a top performer. I miss the 96's that I have finished from my own cellar that still have good life ahead for a few years. I just drank them too fast...
At any rate I don't recommend cellaring much if any and only the best Sancerre from the strongest vintages for more than 5 years. Most are best at 3-4 years after the vintage. They retain fruit and freshness but show better complexity and minerality.
In the town of Aubigny, just a short drive from Sancerre and Chavignol is a little restaurant called La Chaumière (also an Auberge). It's a perfect room for lunch - lots of light, clean buttery linens on the tables, lots of exposed 600 year old beams and architectural elements. Also of note, I was the only diner at lunch under 70 on this weekday except for some sort of English soccer tour troupe in the far corner drinking Kronenbourg and talking "birds".
The menu is short and purely regional. My first dish was the house-fruitwood-smoked salmon. Beautifully and delicately done (although inexpertly sliced) and served with crunchy-fresh local butter lettuces, frissee and fresh juniper berries in white wine vinaigrette. My second dish was the eel (colin). This is the small river eels that had been bragged about: super fresh, roasted on the bone and served whole with a reduced cream with fresh sorrel. This was a great simple dish. The eel was fresh, firm and sweet. What you wish swordfish would be like (with a finer grain to the flesh).
I drank a ‘96 Sancerre (white) from Chateau de Maimbray that showed beautifully with both dishes. I had to battle with the Sommelier who was on a mission to prove to me the quality of the red wines of the region. Bleck. Twice over the years and after hundreds of attempts have I had a red Sancerre that was pleasurable. The popularity of these wines in Parisian cafes indicts the clientele on charges of masochism in the first degree.
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