Rosé again

This is from our day trip while in France last summer – there were 30 tables at the outdoor café set up this way.  Those French are clever people. This is beautiful

If you aren’t drinking rosé this summer then what’s wrong with you?

Penultimate supper ~ Cava and Rioja

One of my favorite Monty Python skits involves a conversation between Michelangelo and the Pope concerning his painting “The Last Supper”.  The Pope expresses his concern over the various inaccuracies of the painting, including Jello, the kangaroo, and the 28 disciples. Michelangelo offers a suggestion that perhaps this painting could be the “Penultimate Supper”. If there was a Last Supper there had to be a Penultimate Supper.

Tonight was my Penultimate Supper in Spain ~ promising to be more interesting than my Last Supper since that one will be a sandwich in a hotel room in Madrid.

The Penultimate Supper, of mostly tapas, was served with Cava and Rioja ~ it seemed a proper way to bid adieu to Spain (if you don’t mind me mixing metaphors).

The cava was Juve Y Camps Cinta Purpura (purple ribbon) ~ the Rioja a LAN Edición Limitada 2001.

I dislike writing about wines that I am drinking that we can’t get at the LCBO but there are several good choices available in Ontario.  Bodegas LAN Reserva or Crianza is often available through Vintages (I keep a couple in my cellar  but you can’t have those) and SEGURA VIUDAS BRUT RESERVA CAVA LCBO 158493 $ 14.55 is a great choice for cava.

Also, I love using the word Penultimate ~ a word that is often used here in Spain but only really used in Monty Python skits in the english language.

Italy ~ Let’s get ready to argue

I think I found the national past-time of Italians. Italians love to argue!  Whether it’s over espresso (Lavazza or Illy), soccer (InterMilan or AC Milan), or the best foccaceria (the one here or the one two doors down from here), Italians love to have heated “discussions”.  I don’t think it’s just my interpretation of watching them talk with their hands flying about – they love to argue.  They really are kind, generous people so who am I to argue over their love of arguing. Our train stopped due to technical difficulties the other day.  One older lady let the conductor know about it loud enough to entertain the rest of the riders. I’m not sure how to argue over a train’s technical difficulties but then again I am not Italian.

I’ve discovered I enjoy wines that are like Italians.  I want my wine to be delicious but to fight back a little.  I like that about the Bardolino that I am drinking.  Bardolino is from the lake district (Lago di Garda) east of Milan near Verona.  It has some nice berry flavours, is simple, but comes at you with a little edginess and tartness. I am coming home to try some of the LCBO’s bottles of Bardolino and see which ones I like fighting with ~ I will report on them early in September but if you want to try a couple and report to me I am ready to listen ~ and maybe argue with you.

Bardolino ~ you can't argue that this looks like a nice place to visit

Summer in Italy

This is something I got from my wife’s favorite food person ~ Nigella Lawson, the Food Network’s answer to a hungry Sophia Loren ~  and it is a great summer drink. I made it for our hosts here in Italy last night and now Donna and I are friends for life.

Juice 6 limes into a pitcher and then add a bottle of chilled sweet Prosecco (Italian “champagne”) ~ you can even use SPUMANTE BAMBINO LCBO $ 7.25 because it works just fine and it’s kinda fun for a wine blog to recommend Spumante Bambino. If you like your aperitif dry then use the VINO DEI POETI PROSECCO LCBO 897702 $ 11.45 ~ that’s the one I like using.

Don't forget to chill it first and don't forget the LIMES!

5 minute radius

Rosé is always on display in Provence

Okay, I am officially enamoured with France – again.

There are three bakeries and a charcuterie within 100 metres of the house that we are renting in France, the baguettes are 90 Eurocents ~ and yes that does seem crazy to me too.

What is really incredible, from a wine lover’s perspective, is that there are 8 wine stores within a 5 minute radius of my house ~ walking radius.  That doesn’t even include the cheese shops and specialty food stores that also sell a small selection of wine.  The displays inside these stores is spectacular ~ see the evidence of this store that also specialized in Foie Gras.

Any bottle of Champagne over 3 feet tall gets my attention

3 L of Rosé ~ French eye candy

Perspective from Provence

These photos are a quick reminder of a couple of things.

1. Enjoy chilled wine in the summer

2. Wine is not very serious when you drink it with potato chips

3. Wine isn’t supposed to be serious

4. Nobody in Provence cares what Robert Parker Jr. thinks

Faire du Shopping

I am vacationing in France but feel like I am shopping at Winners or TJ Maxx.

You know what it’s like shopping in those stores?  I find a pair of DKNY jeans for $10 and quickly look for the label, “Compare at $75″.  I love the “compare at” label ~ it makes me feel like I got an even better deal than paying only $10 for jeans.

That’s the way I feel shopping for wine here in Antibes, France.  The wine is inexpensive and I feel like I’m in the clearance section of Winners. Guigal Côtes du Rhône, €7 ~ compare at $16.95.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you want a great Cotes du Rhone (and everybody should) then go to the LCBO and get Guigal’s. It is a nice blend of Syrah / Grenache / Mourvèdre and will take you to France on a warm summer evening.

E. GUIGAL CÔTES DU RHÔNE (V)
VINTAGES 259721
Price: $ 16.95

Charmed by a Parisien – a lesson in Panache

We are about to embark on a side trip to Antibes, France.  I am prepared again for some french lessons. Yes,  I will learn some new words, some new wines, and some new foods – but what I will surely be taught is some panache and Monsieur Roger will be teaching me again.

Roger is the guardian of the house that we rent.  I have introduced him before.  A Parisien – he knows food, wine, gardening, and married well (a beautiful Brazilian professor).It was Roger that taught me French Lesson #1 on his favourite wine – “It depends what you are eating”.

Last time we visited he asked us, “Did you like the flowers that we left for you?”. My wife and I looked at each other.  We didn’t remember any flowers in the house. Did we miss them? Was Roger mistaken? We looked at him puzzled. “The flowers, in the fridge” he replied.  Of course Roger was referring to the bottle of Tavel (local rosé wine) that he had placed in the fridge for our arrival. Who but the French would use simple, beautiful, poetry to describe a bottle of wine in the fridge ( it does sound way better than the American version “Did y’all get the wine we left fer ya?”).

Thanks Roger for Panache Lesson #1 – I hope I come back from France a better man. I think my wife would approve of a little more panache in my life.

Flowers from Roger

Tavel lies to the northeast of Avignon on the right bank of the Rhône. A viticultural area first introduced to vines by the Romans, the appellation’s 2,000 acres were set forth in 1935 under A.O.C. law. Tavel’s sole designation is for rosé wines, which are produced from a blend of red and white varieties grown in extremely arid soils characterized by hillocks of sand over a chalky clay subsoil. The long growing season and intense, sunny summers yield fruit of exceptional ripeness, concentration and intensity of flavor.

from kobrandwineandspirits.com

Bodega Antigua Casa de Guardia – Vinos de Malaga

My favorite Malagueño, Mario, read my blog and told me that I need to write more about Malaga wines.  I am inclined to listen to Mario so I headed to Casa de Guardia in the heart of the city.

It’s 10:45 and I am not the first person in the local wine bar. Now to be fair, I have been awake since 6 am since I wake up early every morning excited to be in Spain. The Antigua Casa de Guardia is authentic – it looks like the walls are held up by the photos on them and the barrels like they have been there since 1840, as do some of the patrons. This is not a glamorous NYC wine bar. The selection of a dozen Malaga wines range from very dry to molasses sweet . Your server writes the bill in chalk on the bar and then erases it with his hand after you pay. It is so cool! The portions are small so that you can try a couple of different styles. Any wine lover visiting Malaga must make this a destination.

20 barrels of Malaga wine line the wall behind the bar

The bill - "la cuenta" - written in chalk on the bar is updated with each additional order

These clam tapas were so fresh that they moved when we squirted lemon juice on them

Our bartender - he's been here since 1830

My favorite wines are the Seco Añejo - which is a dry sherry style wine – and the Pajarete – which is a little sweeter and nuttier in the style of oloroso.  ”Pajarete is the wine that you want to drink in the morning … if you want to drink wine in the morning” (my sister-in-law)

More on Malaga wines and the Casa de Guardia http://www.casadeguardia.com/index.html?ididiomas=2&idioma=en&cambiar=si

Cultural differences

It’s hard not to judge a culture by your own culture’s standards and since I am North American here goes. There are at least two things about Spain that I can’t explain.

One is the dogs. Everybody has one.  I understand that.  This is a country with bars on its windows and doors. Breaking and entering into a hacienda style house with a small fence seems easy enough to do.  Nothing like a large German Shepherd to make you think twice about that.  What I don’t understand is why nobody tells the dogs to shut up when they are barking. People actually take a break in the conversation and let the dog finish.  Not even a “quiet down”! The dogs just bark and bark – outside my window at 5 am they bark and bark. I am learning the Spanish for “shut up you stupid dog” before I go to bed tonight.

The second thing I don’t understand is how I could purchase a bottle of wine – Echave from Navarra – for 73 euro cents AND the wine is good!  73 euro cents.  The cheapest bottle I can find in the LCBO is just under $7 and it’s not very good.  Even with a bad exchange rate that bottle I drank last night cost me $1.  I even splurged on the Reserva for $3.40 just because it seemed silly not to.

So I double dare our Ontario wineries to make me a drinkable wine that costs me $1. Furthermore,  I double-dog dare the government not to tax that bottle up to $7 just so that I can have “free” health care. And speaking of double-dog dare, “Cállate estúpido perro”.