Basque cider baby back ribs for Sunday Night Delicacies
...well friends, wasn't it an enjoyable week, with a little hint of Spring??? The cherry blossoms are in!!! For a few weeks, we'll be witnessing the awakening of Mother Nature. That period of the year when days are getting longer than nights, so plants are developing toward the sky rather than the Earth due to less attraction of gravity. At that point, flowers will open up to store all the energy coming from up high.
Flowers after the Summer solstice, when day light starts to get shorter, will turn into fruit and seeds. Like apple trees in the Basque region whose gorgeous fruit is transformed into a very unique, bone dry & super aromatic cider. That, combined with some baby back ribs, will take you to Heaven... So here we are, the equation has been rounded up, BASQUE CIDER BABY BACK RIBS it will be this Sunday!!!
Wine wise, this week, Jean-Marie Rimbert's back in the rack with his Saint-Chinian "Les Travers de Marceau" 08 (Languedoc region). This vintage has really come to life now. A big nose full of berries and plum notes balanced by just enough acidity goes along with the freshness of the mouth.
Another one of our favorite producers in the Languedoc, Magalie Roux & Dominique Terrier, from Domaine des 2 Anes, are back in the rack with the cuvee "Premier Pas" (First Step) 08. The blend is made mostly from Carignan with a touch of Grenache that are destemmed before being pressed, then pigeage, fermentation and aging in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. The result is a fruit forward juice with a matching nose/palate full of ripe black currant & plum that stays fresh due to a great minerality. Off course, natural yeast and no filtration.
After working with the Genius Rene-Jean Dard & Francois Ribo, Herve created his Domaine in 1993 in Ardeche on 5 hectares including old vines aging between 50 and 100 years old : Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet. With Gamay, Syrah for the reds, Roussanne & Viognier for the white. Nowadays, 2 cuvees are available in the New-York area, so we picked them both!!!
What about the white??? A blend made of 90% Roussanne and 10% Viognier, going through a long maceration @ low temperature without destemming the fruits, the juice is fermented in wooden tank and aged on fine lies in oak casks for 8 months before being bottled without filtration. The great complexity of the juice with floral & exotic fruit aromas, pear skin tannin and dry fig aromas, toasty hints with high minerality and a good acidity make me wonder how it might taste coming out of a Jeroboam!!!
Flowers after the Summer solstice, when day light starts to get shorter, will turn into fruit and seeds. Like apple trees in the Basque region whose gorgeous fruit is transformed into a very unique, bone dry & super aromatic cider. That, combined with some baby back ribs, will take you to Heaven... So here we are, the equation has been rounded up, BASQUE CIDER BABY BACK RIBS it will be this Sunday!!!
Wine wise, this week, Jean-Marie Rimbert's back in the rack with his Saint-Chinian "Les Travers de Marceau" 08 (Languedoc region). This vintage has really come to life now. A big nose full of berries and plum notes balanced by just enough acidity goes along with the freshness of the mouth.
Another one of our favorite producers in the Languedoc, Magalie Roux & Dominique Terrier, from Domaine des 2 Anes, are back in the rack with the cuvee "Premier Pas" (First Step) 08. The blend is made mostly from Carignan with a touch of Grenache that are destemmed before being pressed, then pigeage, fermentation and aging in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. The result is a fruit forward juice with a matching nose/palate full of ripe black currant & plum that stays fresh due to a great minerality. Off course, natural yeast and no filtration.
After working with the Genius Rene-Jean Dard & Francois Ribo, Herve created his Domaine in 1993 in Ardeche on 5 hectares including old vines aging between 50 and 100 years old : Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet. With Gamay, Syrah for the reds, Roussanne & Viognier for the white. Nowadays, 2 cuvees are available in the New-York area, so we picked them both!!!
The Vin de Pays de l'Ardeche Syrah 08 is a wine Jules Chauvet would have loved. Low on alcohol with 11%, and great perfume. The nose is all about the garrigue and black olive tapenade!!! The palate is clean and fresh, light, digest, with see breeze hints...etc
What about the white??? A blend made of 90% Roussanne and 10% Viognier, going through a long maceration @ low temperature without destemming the fruits, the juice is fermented in wooden tank and aged on fine lies in oak casks for 8 months before being bottled without filtration. The great complexity of the juice with floral & exotic fruit aromas, pear skin tannin and dry fig aromas, toasty hints with high minerality and a good acidity make me wonder how it might taste coming out of a Jeroboam!!!
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