Tour de France without bikes but with wine: Maison Louis Jadot

November 28, 2014December 1, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It might seem strange to visit more than 1 vineyard in the same region or even in the same town. But every winemaker has its own way of making wines and therefore have wines will taste differently… also they don’t all have vines on the same places or might use different grape varieties. As second Bourgogne vineyard we visited Maison Louis Jadot. Maison Louis Jadot is not as old as the previous vineyard I wrote about, but nearly as old Jadot was founded in 1859 by Louis Henry Denis Jadot and belonged to the Jadot family until 1985. In this year in order to ensure the company’s future, Madame Jadot (who didn’t have children) decided to sell the company to the 3 daughters of Rudy Kopf, Jadot’s US importer and a very good friend of her. FYI these 3 sisters are still alive and kicking, they still visit the vineyard once a week or once a month (can’t remember it exactly). Maison Louis Jadot today gets run by Pierre-Henry Gagey and this since 1985 (with the helping hand of Technical Director Frédéric Barnier since 2011) . Obviously more things happened between 1859 and 2014, but I decided to keep the history to a minimum as you can read most about their history on their website 🙂

Our visit of Maison Jadot was at their ‘new’ location or better ‘cuverie’ (where they bottle and ago most wines except for the old vintages) where they moved in just a few years ago . I would have loved visiting their original location aka ’Couvent des Jacobins’, that as you might already guessed from its name used to be a convent. The ‘Couvent des Jacobins’ is still used as storage/aging location for the Grand Cru wines and some of the older wines… but one cannot have it all and their new location is as magnificent and incredible but just more modern :-). The mental picture that sticks in my mind when I think back (besides the one from the enormous cellar) was the production hall. Yes, production hall!! It reminded me a bit of a concert arena (that big) where they had a specific way to make and distribute their wines in/to barrels and stainless steal (INOX)tanks. They pump the grapes in INOX tanks via a unique stubbing system that I have never seen before. Also they will be pumping the grapes in both INOX and wooden barrels, the reason they pump it in both types of barrels is purely related to space 🙂 as in that stage the types of barrels don’t matter yet. FYI the aging in tanks all happens naturally, as for as far as we were told there is no temperature control! Like for example the Gamay grapes they destem the grapes in order to allow them to undergo a vinification according to the traditional method from the 19th century. This basically means the fermentation is done with wild yeasts, with maceration periods lasting two up to three weeks. What I also noticed during their explanations by Baptiste (our guide) is that as they don’t regulate their temperatures automatically they depend on seasons and weather even more than other vineyards. Anyhow, a very interesting method they use!

The cellars were also an eye-catcher with wooden barrels as far as the eye can see. It is like when you’re walking through Harrods in London, you always find a new room you didn’t see before with more stuff … in Jadot’s case always a new room with more wooden wine barrels. I’m not sure how many it were, but A LOT!! We considered ourselves lucky to be able to taste some wines directly from the barrel itself. First of all to experience how some wines taste during their aging process (young, not completely developed or maybe ready for bottling), but also to afterwards being able to make better comparisons with the similar finished/ already bottled wine from a different year. A way of tasting you learn a lot from to my opinion… I think Carlos also had a favorite?! Or he forgot spitting and started feeling it 😉

Something I noticed about the Jadot wines had a more herbal/ complex taste and smell compared to the ones we tasted at Bouchard for example. Best way for you guys to try this is to for example buy a particular wine from the same region from different wine makers and taste them next to each other. This will prove 100% what I’ve been saying until now that 2 (of more) winemakers might have vineyards on the same location, but both of their finished product will have a completely different product! Of course this might have also been because of the selection they served us, but still…

Plan appellations Jadot (2)

Feast your eyes on the soils 🙂

To make the tasting of the bottled wines more interesting Baptiste made it a blind tasting. I admit I wasn’t nearly as good I started thinking I was 😦 I think most of the wines we tasted were Mâcconais which is close to the Beaujolais wine region where the wines also have this more herbal taste/scent … but this is my amateur opinion. It is true lots of wines should be drunk accompanied from some food (Cheeses, meat, etc…) as this will make you look at these wines from a totally different perspective. Nevertheless I did find a few favorites like the Corton-Pougets Grand Cru 🙂 (Carlos even insisted I took a picture with it as I couldn’t stop saying how good it was)

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BUT I did learn lots of new things during our visit and cannot wait to open one of the Jadot Bottle I now have a home and learn some more 😉 On the question which of the Burgundy wines I liked the most I wouldn’t be able as they were too different + they all have something I like for a different occasion (If I don’t find one I’ll make one). You try them and see what your opinion is?!

Up to Champagne….

In case you would want more about these wines please contact Peter lauwerens from Cinoco – Le palais Du Vin +32 (0)475/595.3456 – peter.lauwerens@cinoco.com

Tour de France without bikes but with wine – Bouchard

November 24, 2014November 25, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

After a good night of sleep (which we needed because the day before was a very long day) we set sail to visit a vineyard in one of Beaune’s most ancient buildings that goes back to Louis XI (15^th century) and where thanks to Michel Bouchard there is wine made. Up to today this vineyard is still family owned with Christophe Bouchard as current General Manager. I must add that eventhough the vineyard is still family owned and lead by a Bouchard family member, it is now owned by the Henriot family (who are also owner of Henriot Champagne). Welcome to the Bouchard vineyard I’d say! We are in Beaune… for those who didn’t know it yet, we entered the world of Bourgogne/Burgundy wines. Together with Bordeaux, Bourgogneis one of the most spoken about all over the world (mainly the wine world I’m sure). Most wine makers from outside of France either follow the Bordeaux or the Bourgogne methodology to make their wines … so I was really interested in knowing/seeing what was so special about it and what fascinates/attracts all the winemakers to this wine region, but also why they all come here to learn everything about winemaking.

First things first. What do you guys need to know about Bourgogne/ Burgundy wines to be able to mingle in when people are talking about this wine region? The Bourgogne wine region is located somewhere between Lyon and Dijon in which we can distinguish 4 different departments: Yonne (Chablis), Côte-d’Or (Côtes de Nuits and Côte de Beaune), Saône-et-Loire (Chalonnais en Mâconnais which is next to the Beaujolais (Fleurie) wine region) and last but not least Nièvre. The vineyard from our friends from Bouchard is in the Côte-d’Or which is basically the heart and soul of the Bourgogne wine region.

As grapes, they mainly use Pinot Noir for the red wines and for white wines this would be Chardonnay. Sometimes they’ll also blend with other kinds of grape like Pinot Blanc for whites and Gamay Noire or César for the reds. Bouchard mostly sticks to the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Something that always used to confuse me in the past with French wines was when they started talking about ‘Premier cru’, ‘Grand cru’ and/or ‘Village’… you agree?? The difference between them all is mostly the location of the grapes which leads to either a very affordable or very expensive wine 🙂 (so even in winemaking it is all about ‘location, location, location’). The ‘Grand Cru’ represents the best of the best where the grapes were able to grow in the best conditions (best weather, sunshine, nutrition, etc…) whereas the regular wines aka ‘Appellations Régionales’ in “lesser” conditions (there are obviously more differences, but my example is just generally speaking). Due to the fact that there are not that many grounds/area’s that are considered as ‘’Grand Cru’makes it that it only represents 2% of the total wine volume and therefore are also much more expensive than the ‘Appellations Régionales’ or the’ Appellations Villages’ For example. A fact you do also need to take into consideration is that Grand or Premier Cru wines also age much longer (so a bigger investment for the winemaker) Maybe the pyramid below will help you understanding.

It is also very possible that for example a particular wine can all 4 gradations of wine of the pyramid. So for example a ‘regular’ Nuits Saint-Georges and a Nuits Saint-Georges 1ière cru 🙂 . To understand the best the difference between them you should just buy all 3 and taste them next to each other… a whole new world will open, I promise!

Back to our visit to Bouchard which was basically a walk through history (without some King doing his business behind the curtain in the hallway that is 🙂 (luckily)). All kidding aside, Bouchard might be one of the most beautiful vineyards I have ever visited and it being in an ancient castle with everything still intact makes it soooo incredible. I was also surprised to find out they still have a few bottles from the 19^th century that believe it or not that are still drinkable! They did admit that not all of the bottles preserved as well. A reason why Bouchard still has bottled wines of the 19^th and 20^th century, is because they first of all can age them in the original conditions and they change the corks every X years (depending on the wine they do it more regularly, but mostly between 20-30 years) . The moment they change the corks, they do check if the wine is still OK or not. In case it is not OK anymore they don’t keep that bottle… this makes that the bottles they do still have are still good to drink… can you imagine to drink a wine from over 200 years??? Obviously this is only something a few fortunate people are able to taste, but still….

BTW Comme Chez Soi’s wine-cellar reminds me a bit of the Bouchard cellar (less ancient obviously) … just FYI that I mentioned that 🙂

I hope it doesn’t come over in a wrong way or make you think differently about me, but it was 10:30 in the morning we started tasting wine 🙂 🙂 BUT in my defense, when I say tasting I do mean tasting and spitting out the wine (so NOT drinking it) no matter how good they were. It might be strange we started tasting the reds and afterwards the whites, but according to a French saying, ’Blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge, rouge sur blanc tout fout le camp’ that says that it is better to first drink red and than white wine 🙂 so we didn’t want to argue with that…

Already from the first sip I was converted into a Côte-d’Or Bourgogne fan… even the first, a 2011 Monthélie , wasn’t the highest level they had or more complex wine yet it was definitely my cup of tea :-). It was a very playful wine that everybody would like and is easy to drink and that leaves a very fresh fruity taste in your mouth. FYI all wines we tasted were 2011 Premier Cru’s (besides the first that is as that was an Appellation Village)… which proved (not that I needed it to be proved) I prefer the stronger/ more complex wines and that I am one spoiled brat :-).

My Absolute favourite from amongst the red wines we tasted was the Nuits-Saint-Georges – Les Cailles Premier Cru with scent and taste of very ripe dark red fruits like cassis or bil/blue berry and even lickerish accents in it and yet very elegant to drink without too heavy tannins…. The second favorite would be the Volnay – Caillerets Premier Cru which is made from the Bouchard Family’s first and oldest vineyard… It must be said that these wines are best with a stronger meal and not really like a Monthélie that can be drunk on a summer’s day outside with some friends.

What I was surprised to read is that unlike the Rhône valley where red wine is 89% of the total wine production and I did also assume it would be the same for Bourgogne… but I was wrong as it seems that 70% of the total wine production in this region is white??? Who knew (I didn’t, nor expected it)

When tasting their white wines I started understanding why… the most famous white wines from this region that for sure ring a bell are Chablis (Chardonnay) or Pouilly-Fuisse. FYI not all chardonnay wine from this region is Chablis! What is nice about white wines, is that most of the time you can distinguish ‘easier’ what flavours or smells they have. Like the white variant of the Monthélie (and with variant I mean that you can drink outside on a sunny day with friends) would be the Bourgogne Chardonnay La Vignée where you can find hinds of peach and pear.

Again here my preference went to the stronger whites. Number 1 would be the Meursault – Genevrières a rich wine with hinds of vanilla, wood (not too much) that can still ago for 8 years and would be a perfect match for foie gras or poultry. N°2 and 3 would be the Beaune du Château Premier Cru (Marzipan, almonds, grilled bread) and the Montagny Premier Cru (Honey).

I could keep talking about how they taste or with what they would go well, but there is only 1 way to find it all out yourself and that is by tasting it yourself (I know I say it every time, but it is true). Also I think this post it more than long enough and I hope you already learned something 🙂 BUT there is still more to learn!!

To be continued….

info about these wines like where you can buy them contact Peter Lauwerens: Cinoco – Le palais Du Vin 0475/595.3456 – peter.lauwerens@cinoco.com

Tour de France without bikes but with wine and food

November 19, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Travelling on an empty stomach isn’t advisable or at least I would never do it :-). So before setting sail towards Beaune Carlos and I decided to enforce our inner person in a local eatery recommended by locals (in this case Laure and Florie). This brought us to ‘La Ruche’ in the heart of the Cornas town centre (Cornas city if you will ;-)). La Ruche means ‘beehive’ in English, this is also why the restaurant’s logo is a part of a beehive…(I’ve been told the story about it, but I can’t remember :-() We were not sure what kind of food to expect , but in the end it was exactly the kind of food were craving and looking for (comfort food with high quality ingredients)… Simple, very tasty and accompanied by a good glass of local wine… Sweet as honey (to keep it in the ‘bee’ theme 😉 ) Their nice interior and the lovely young lady behind the counter were a bonus. 😉

Not that we were in a big hurry, but as we still had to drive 3hours towards Beaune we didn’t want to take too long to eat. This is why we chose La Ruche’s lunch menu (the other dishes on the black board also look appetizing) existing out of a main dish and dessert (we also got some njammy homemade Humus as taster). As main dish we were served was Codfish with a parsnip purée and Jerusalem artichokes with which I took a refreshing glass(es) of white Viognier by Alain Jaume . Our dessert was an all time favorite, a ‘moelleux au chocolat’ made with the local Valrhona chocolate from Tain-l’Hermitage (15minutes from Cornas). A nice glass of Port (a Vintage or Colheita), Madeira of Sherry (Oloroso) would have made even more perfect… but sometimes one just doesn’t have to exaggerate 🙂 🙂 This was only day 1… I know you normally should see every day as your last day, but my cholesterol sometimes things otherwise 😉

If you are ever in the neighborhood, I definitely recommend you to make a stop at La Ruche because you won’t regret it!!

Up to Beaune …

La Ruche

Address: Quai du Docteur Jules Bouvat 13, 07130 Saint-Péray

Phone n° : +33 (0) 982 404 438

Tour de France without bikes but with wine

November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

This year the main theme on my blog has been wine. I had the occasion to visit some vineyards across Europe, in Spain, Italy and Portugal and learn lots of new things . When my wife told me she had to travel to San Diego for a few weeks for business I saw this as the perfect opportunity to organize myself a little French wine trip together with one of my best friends Carlos. The main reason for traveling to France was because it is the wine country I know less about … so I found it the time to learn more about French wines 🙂 . The other reason is/was knowing that in a few months my daughter will be born and visiting vineyards will be out of the question for a while :-)… Reason enough not to travel to just 1 wine region, but to make it through 3 French wines regions… Going from Cornas (Rhône), through Beaune (Bourgogne) to end up in Damary (Champagne). It seemed very logical to start our trip with the most distant location which in this case was Cornas at the Jean-Luc Colombo vineyard. For people who are already following me for a while ‘Jean-Luc Colombo’ might sound familiar because I did already talk about their wines. A few years ago I had a sommelier lunch in company of the lovely Laure Colombo (daughter of…) who introduced us the world of their (Rhône) wines resulting that I their vineyard has been on my ‘wish/to do’ list ever since!

Jean-Luc Colombo’s vineyard is as mentioned located in Cornas, a town in the Northern part of the Rhône wine country where the main grape (aka cepage) used for the Red wines is Syrah (aka Shiraz for the Australians) and for the white wines Viognier and Marsanne. I emphasize that there vineyard is in the Northern part, is because there is a big distinction that can be made between Northern and southern… already starting with the use of different grapes as in the Southern part of the Rhône they mainly use the Grenache grape for the red wines. (Find here the complete grape list used in the Rhône region). We also couldn’t have picked a better day as it was the most beautiful (sunny) day they had in weeks… Unfortunately Laure wasn’t able to join us for the visit as she was held up in the UK… but she left in the good hands of Florie who revealed some Colombo’s ‘secrets’ for making a good Rhône wine. I did found it a pity I didn’t get to see where the magic happens aka winemaking itself is done, I would have really enjoyed to see it… on the other hand I did get to walk through the vines on a very sunny day and had a taste of some of their wines. When driving through this region I also got why people like coming here 🙂 Beautiful region

What I have learned over the last year is that there are so many different ways of winemaking, everybody tries to find his/her way to make the perfect wine year in year out… as they also keep perfecting and exploring their techniques or even finding new/better techniques . Obviously it are still the grapes itself that play the main role on how the wine will be, but it takes the masters touch/hand to turn the grape juice into a wonderful wine!! Just like an artist who is making a new painting or sculpture…

A few more facts(besides the grapes, but I already told you about that) I want to share with you like for example that 89% of the wine they produce in the Rhône valley is red wine and only 4% white wine… another important thing to know is that from the 5 soil types in Rhône Valley the Colombo family chose the most difficult to work with 🙂 as in Cornas there is a granite, basically a very hard soil and yet the vines seem to survive already hundreds of years and they have roots that grown up to 15 meters underground to find nutrition…Also all the little green areas (small forests) between the vineyards are protected by law as they have a very big influence on . The Cornas vineyards are as mentioned very old and go back to the 9^th and 10^th century!! Legend has it that Charlemagne himself tasted the wine when traveling through Cornas in the year 840, and liked it so much that he had some sent on to his residence in Aix la Chapelle…Historical !! 🙂

A big difference between the Jean-Luc Colombo vineyards and the ones from their colleague winemakers in the region is the way they plant and grown their vines. At the Colombo vineyard they grown the like rose arches (see picture below and I’m sure you’ll get what I’m talking about). One of the reasons for this is that this way the grapes won’t touch the soil. Something we also noticed was that they used tree bark in-between the vines, this is to keep the coldness underground and to keep the grass from growing in-between the vines…

Knowing that 89% of the wines produced in the Rhône valley are red, it won’t come as a surprise that most of the wines in the Jean-Luc Colombo range are red, but they do also have a few nasty white ones that I didn’t expect to find in this region… Trying all their wines would have been a too much, so Florie made a selection of her own favorites that she was sure would be of our liking. We started with tasting 2 white wines, the La Redonne with its fresh and very floral smell and the Belle de Mai that had not such an open smell, but you have a light buttery, nutty and woody scent. My preference went to the 2nd one because it had a richer taste eventhough the scent of the first was sooo nice 🙂 . The favorite reds were without ‘Les Méjéans’ that some very nice hinds of raspberry and was very mineral. The ‘Les Terres Brûlées’ on the other hand had a more concentrated scent of red fruits (jam), the taste was as lovely . Last but definitely not least was the ‘Les Ruchets‘ which maybe is my n°1 (of the wines we tasted that is), it was most complex/strong wine we tasted… I think it would even be better to enjoy it with some red meat of stronger cheeses… I know it were my favorites as I bought some bottles to drink at home 🙂 I’m also trying to describe the wines in the best way (not being a professional doesn’t make it easier)

Something nice to know is that all the names of the wines reference to parts of the city of Marseille where Jean-Luc Colombo is originally from. All drawings you’ll find on the labels of the bottles were designed by a local Cornas artist if I remember it right.

Sun, great wine, a lovely young lady joinng us… can you imagine a better way to spend a day?? Great start for our first stop on this French wine trip!!

BTW, I’m getting better and better keeping my blogposts “shorter” 😉

To be continued….

That is what a brother is for…

November 7, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you guys but in I haven’t… I have 1 older brother who besides being a great brother is also one of my best friends! When it comes to food my brother is as fanatic (if not more) about food than I am with the only difference that I’m open for all kinds of food and for him it has to be Italian food/wine :-). FYI, to my opinion he also is a better cook than me… (he cooks just like my beloved zia Livia – I’m pretty sure when he’ll read this he’ll have a giant smile for me saying this) Therefore I also from time to time ask him for some cooking tips. Earlier this week for example I was telling him I still had some ricotta and wasn’t sure what to make with it and that I didn’t feel like making the usual stuffed spinach and ricotta crespelle or cannelloni… So after him giving a few options that didn’t really float my boat (I’m not difficult in case you’re wondering) he advised me to go the “Giallo Zafferano” website. For me this website is definitely the discovery of the year!!

You can just enter a main ingredient that you feel like cooking with for example(or my case I had left) and the website gives you an enormous list of recipes. Recipes that are easy to make for everybody (even for the non-Italian speakers), they are explained in an easy ways and are included with instructive pictures and sometimes even a video… For the Italian speakers, I think with some help of google translate you’ll be able to figure out all ingredients). Also once you opened a recipe they also give you a few alternative recipes or recipes that are alike…

In case you are wondering I made the Lasagna alla ricotta, I did add some cooked ham (also leftover) which wasn’t part of the original recipe…

I hope you’ll find the website as useful as I did!!

Visiting Megavino 2014

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

As mentioned in a previous blogpost, I’m not really a convention center person. I always feel like I’m begging for a glass of wine… I know that I shouldn’t feel like this, but in some way I do. On the other hand for many years I accompanied my dad and 2 of his friends to Vinitaly a wine convention in Verona (with around 5000 exhibitors/winemakers). The difference there was that this was I was able to spend more time with my dad (and a good excuse to travel) and we usually would also only visit the winemakers he knew personally and therefore it felt less like begging and more like just visiting a friend (which it also was). My visit to Megavino in Brussels this year was for the exact same reason, to visit friends… coincidentally mostly female friends that took me (and my friends) on a trip through their wines 🙂 🙂

My first stop was at the French Pavilion to join the always lovely Miss Vicky (that all of you probably all know from me mentioning her in some of previous blog posts). Not only is she a very nice French young lady, her life also turns ALL around wine. She makes wine, writes about wine, knows almost everything about wine and travels the world to share that wisdom and to bring together people to drink and share their experiences about wine both Miss Vicky as other wines (in a nutshell). One of Vicky’s goals (I think) is amongst other to put French wine in the picture again and give them a younger image. In which to my opinion she ( lots of French winemakers also support her in that mission) succeeds. Megavino this year was also a little family moment for Miss Vicky as she brought her whole family to the convention (besides her mom). Surprise , surprise, her whole family also work in the wine business 🙂 (besides her brother whose main activity is art). So I was able to try all their wines and I’m really not able to say which vineyard I preferred, Miss Vicky’s or her dad’s…. What I can say is that we (me and my friends) had a preference for their Fleurie (both Miss Vicky as from Domains des Moriers) because of the fact it is an easy to drink wine with a nice aftertaste and from Miss Vicky’s white’s I did like the fresh en fruitiness of the Beaujolais.

My next stop was to meet Claudia from Podere Marcampo. I had never met Claudia before, we only knew eachother from our correspondence over the internet 🙂 normally the plan was to visit her vineyard during my trip in Tuscany earlier this year, but due to a few schedule changes we didn’t make it happen… The combination of Claudia’s and her enthusiasm when we met at Megavino made me wanting to immediately join her to visit their vineyard in Italy :-). Podere Marcampo is a fairly new small vineyard (only 2ha of vines and around 10000 bottles a year) that was started around 2006 when father Del Duca purchased Podere Marcampo. Wine making isn’t (yet) their main focus as besides winemaking they also have already for many years a refined enoteca/restaurant in the historical centre of Volterra called Enotaca Del Duca (a must if you are ever in the area). They also have a Agriturismo in the middle of their vineyards on top of a hill with some breathtaking views (also around Volterra). I didn’t stay their yet myself, but one of my friends did and enjoyed every moment of their stay :-). Regarding their wines you can still feel and hear they are still looking for the exact direction they want to take and are still experimenting a bit… what you must know is that the area around Volterra is not really seen as a wine area as the climate isn’t as mild as for example 50 or 100km around them . Nevertheless this didn’t stop them (difficult is also an option 🙂 ). Because of the use of Sangiovese and Merlot grapes and the fact the wines aren’t too heavy, makes their wines an every person’s friend. I must be honest and admit that some of the wines I tasted were still a little too young, but still very drinkable 🙂 I’m already looking forward to try their wines when they are a bit older!

The frosting on the cake on this day was without any doubt the Master class I was able to take thanks to France Wine (UbiFrance) about wines in Amphora. It basically is a ceramic container in which they age and conserve wine already since the 8^th century before Christ!!! The reason I subscribed for this course was because it just intrigued me that a technique like this still god used after century’s aaaand that it was my friend top sommelier Cesar Roman who would be teaching the masterclass. It might seem unbelievable, but I learned quite a lot in those 45 minutes, like that the first signs of winemaking can be found in Georgia (country)… form all places I never expected it was Georgia 🙂 . And this is just one of the many things I learned, but I’ll be talking in more detail about this in one of my next posts. The taste of the wine wasn’t 100% my cup of tea 😉 (“of course not, it was wine 🙂 🙂 hahaha, sorry!! Bad joke I know) but just like with all wines, I’m sure there also some very good or better amphora wines of my liking…

I did visit more stands, but I wanted to keep it “short” 🙂

So even-though I’m not really a convention center person I did have a great time at Megavino! Thanks guys!

Where good food leads me

October 16, 2014October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

I know the contrast couldn’t be bigger, a few days ago I was writing about a family diner and now I’’m talking about being dressed in a tuxedo and eating at one best restaurants in Belgium aka Sea Grill (2*)… but I just go where the good food leads me 🙂 or in this case where the Belgian top sommeliers lead me ;-). Like every year this year it was time again to nominate this year Best Belgian Sommelier and for a few years now is held at the Royal Radisson Blue hotel where Yves Mattagne’s Sea Grill is located. So why go somewhere else if you have the best you can have under the same roof. To read more about the game itself and Antoine Lebehel’s victory please check my previous blogpost .

As some of you might already know at the age of 12 I started doing chef school, so seeing young upcoming talents from the chef school PIVA helping Yves Mattagne to prepare this year’s Gala dinner another success makes me nostalgic. Not that I ever worked in restaurants of this level. I mean the fact that great chefs like in this case Yves Mattagne (The piva students also often work at banquets of the Royal Family,etc…) ask PIVA to have their students help them says something about the level of school aims for their students. I wanted to mention PIVA because a good education and good guidance is very important and will lead to successful career or at least give the students the possibilities to achieve it (I didn’t always realize that when I was still in school). If you can already learn at this level while in school, I’m sure once they actually start working the sky is the limit?! And no, they didn’t only get the “shitty” jobs, they were a helping hand at all levels, from doing the ‘mise en place’, preparing plates to cleaning and doing dishes like all the other cooks working there. (FYI in the picture bellow people in white are from PIVA , people in Black from Sea grill itself). The same goes for the waiters, they were also assisted by students from PIVA. WELL DONE both the students as Lucas Delforge (and the other teachers/chefs) of PIVA !!

It wasn’t the first time I was fortunate enough to join one of the banquets at the Sea Grill and yet Yves Mattagne is always able to surprise me with both the menu as the actual pieces of flavored art we are served. The Trophy of Belgian Sommelier is just the perfect excuse for me to get to the Sea Grill again :-). This year’s menu was yet another gastronomical feast paired with some very nice wines (being the Gala from the Belgian Sommeliers I didn’t expect otherwise).

After a few very nice glasses of J.L Telmont champagne and some appetizers (didn’t have empty hands, so couldn’t take pictures :-() my appetite was bigger than ever… feast your eyes on the menu we got served (scroll over picture to see what it was). FYI in one of my next posts I’ll be talking in more detail about J.L Telmont champagne.

This dish was served with a white wine made by a Belgian winemaker (former IT consultant like me 🙂 ) in Burgundy (France). It was a 2011 Terre Blonde by Domaine de la Douaix nice round wine and soon an addition to my collection ;-). The dish itself was very nice although initially I wasn’t sure about the black pudding, but the combo worked great and the dish went well with the wine.

We are very lucky people as with the grilled marrow we were served a unique champagne that was opened specially for this occasion (Normally they don’t open them easily), a Cuvée du Centenaire by J.L Telmont. What makes this wine so special is that it is a blend from wine from 1967 until 2005. The first smell made me think it would be a very heavy taste champagne, but after the first sip it was more fruity than imagined. Once it opened up it was like an angel p…. in your mouth 🙂 Nice!

Served with a 2010 Spanish 5 Fincas 2010 Reserva by Perelada. Its smell was familiar, but couldn’t exactly tell what it reminded me. Meat cooked with perfection and served with my favorite kind of mushrooms (porcini)… so for me they couldn’t go wrong.

Served with a 2007 Portuguese wine made 100% with Touriga Nacional grapes by Quinta de lemos. Just the way I like my wines although I think the wine they served with the next dish would have also worked really well with this dish… but maybe that’s just because it is one of my favorite drinks :-). The dish itself maybe seemed a bit heavy for already being almost at the end, but I’m not a difficult person 😉

Served with one of my favorites aka a 1847 Gonzales-Byass Solera

I do also enjoy that every year BRU seems to find the perfect way to stimulate people to drink more water by having it served by very nice young ladies (I know I’m becoming a dad, but I’m not blind either 🙂 ) So I actually have to thank them for being an added value for helping me to get home safe.

A very nice meal! They serve the food the way I like it, the “simple” way , I mean not too many ingredients that make you loose the focus on what you are actually eating. This doesn’t mean the food wasn’t served and prepared in a very refined way of course!! The only thing I wasn’t too crazy about were the coffee ice-cubes that came with the dessert… but that’s a personal taste. Besides that I enjoyed my whole meal and the great company I had during this meal!! I can’t wait for next year’s gala. Yves Mattagne’s team together with the students from PIVA chef school made this year’s gala another success!!

Cheers

It is all about the experience

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Life is all about experiences, basically trying things you have never tried before. My wife and I have already been together for 15 years (although every day still feels like the first) and have already had so many wonderful experience together that finding new isn’t always that easy. Last week, to celebrate our 15^th anniversary, I arranged an experience she didn’t expect at all. I’m sure you now are all thinking I took her to some posh restaurant or some trip abroad, but those are things she would have expected me to do… and I guess that the eating part is mostly my favorite part (I’m sure she prefers the gift receiving). I took her to a restaurant chain called Colmar. For you who don’t know Colmar, Colmar is a Belgian chain of family diners that recently renovated all their restaurants :-). I bet you didn’t expect I would ever take her to a restaurant like this? Like I said before life is all about experiences and this doesn’t mean places like this can’t be an experience?! For me it was a totally new experience as I never ate at Colmar restaurants and for my wife it would be nostalgic as she used to come here from time to time with her parents when she was still a child… (and for some reason only ate hard boiled eggs). The food being served fast is a bonus now my wife is pregnant and doesn’t feel like spending hours at a dinner table 🙂

Something I never doubted was the quality they serve for an honest price. There are soooo many people who eat at Colmar restaurants and every time I drive by one of their restaurants they always seem to be full. This can only indicate that the price/quality is good and you can also be sure you’ll be eating fresh food…Right? After my meal I can only confirm and agree with all those people. This is of course no top gastronomy (that is also not Colmar’s ambition), but good food for a good price and nothing wrong with that at all.

Colmar has 3 menu options (4 if you take into account the special for kids) with Express as the most ‘basic’ menu and Enjoyer as the most elaborate menu and lover just in between those 2.

Express: Main course + drinks
Lover: Main course + starter or dessert + drinks
Enjoyer: Main course + starter + dessert + drinks

My wife and I decided to take the Enjoyer formula. I was surprised though with the variety of dishes going from burgers to spare ribs to kangaroo filet to codfish, etc… to even vegetarian dishes. They have something for everybody. The starters and desserts are to be taken by yourself from the buffet, the main course you order and it prepared in the kitchen. My wife had the salmon ‘en croute’ with bearnaise sauce and french fries as main menu. I had the Gourmand burger, but like in every other restaurant it was a tough decision to make as I saw lots of dishes I wanted to try… but for some reason greasiness always wins 🙂

What I also enjoyed seeing is that every child I saw entering in the restaurant had a enormous smile of happiness. I also found out the reason why they have this smile, the waiters /personnel!! At one moment I even saw a little girl running to one of the waiters and jumping in his arms… if this doesn’t prove Colmar is a kid friendly environment I’m not sure what will?! I must also say that even for the grown-ups Colmar is a nice environment to sit, they did a great job with the renovation!

I do know it is in contrast with the restaurants I usually write about, but nevertheless I found it essential to write about this experience is an experience like any other experience I had so far. I am also sure this wasn’t our last time at one of the Colmar restaurant. FYI we ate at the Colmar Wezenberg.

2014 Best Belgian Sommeliers Trophy

October 14, 2014October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

Wine has now more than ever become such a great deal of my life and I keep learning every day. Watching this year’s finals of the Best Belgian Sommelier competition made me realise there is still a very long way if I ever want to be as good as the finalists :-). What made this year’s final extra special is that for the first time the “Belgische Sommeliers Gilde”, “Prosper Montagé” and “VVS” have joined their forces in organising 1 collective competition (instead of all separate contests).

Every year again I am surprised how tough the finals of the Trophy of Belgian Sommelier is. Lots of people despise it a bit and don’t get the whole sommelier thing or the importance of it. Trust me when I say a good sommelier who knows what he’s talking about and how things should be done is a world of difference with one who doesn’t! During a dinner for example. I dear you to check it next few times you go out for dinner or lunch and after a while you’ll know what we’re talking about and their importance of making your food experience more complete! Another possibility would be to come and see the 2015 finals as they are open for everybody to come and see. You’ll be surprised of the level these guys work at. before I continue I must introduce this year’s victims 🙂 🙂 : Benoît Couderé (Karmeliet), Antoine Lehebel ( Villa Lorraine) and Jasper Van Papeghem ( Hostellerie L’ Esco )

Some parts of the competition might seem simple, but they’re not. What first of all makes it so difficult is that there are so many different types of wine from so many countries each having their uniqueness but also similarities.Also there some ways/ rules on how bottles should be opened, decanted and served… On top of that all stages of the competition are to be done in certain amount of time going from 3 to 15 minutes. The first “test” is for example a very good example of seeming simple… Just like last year the finalist had to serve according to the rules of the art a particular bottle of J.L Telmont champagne. So far nothing special might think, which is true if it weren’t for the fact the finalist has to explain what is special about the champagne he is serving, taking into account that the oldest person at the table is celebrating its birthday and that all of a sudden somebody from the public joins the table and asks a Belgian beer (and yes here again the finalist has to tell something about)… still taking into account he only has I think it was 10-15minutes (not sure anymore) to fulfill this task and there is a whole room full of top sommeliers, journalists and “regular” people watching your every move .

The most difficult part according to most spectators was where the finalist has to make corrections to a wine list. The errors on the wine list can be grammatical, a wine being in the wrong section of the menu, as well as that for example there is written a wine is Millésime but according to the other specifications it is not possible this wine is a Millésime. Me personally I always find the most difficult part the tasting and recognizing wines or alcoholic drinks… where they have to tell as much as possible about what they taste, like country, grapes, vintage, etc… knowing they (the jury) try everything to confuse the finalist by for example serving the drink in a black tinted glass. FYI the whole completion gets followed by a bailiff to make sure every happens correct and that all 3 finalist get treated in exactly the same way. Also the jury judging the finalist exists out of a international group of people of Top Sommeliers, Top wine journalists (no, not talking about myself ;-), but about somebody like Fiona Morrison for example). After all 3 participants did their thing the answers are show, this sometimes gives big surprises.

Again, I think I still have to learn a loooooooot before I could ever participate or to maybe even get close to level of the participants. This year’s winner was Antoine Lehebel ( Villa Lorraine)!!!! Last year he was 2^nd and before the start already a favorite. All 3 participants were very good, but Antoine gave the most correct answers and seemed the most fluent of all 3. Congratulations to Antoine! I must admit I was jealous about all the gifts he got :-). Another advantage of the joined forces of the organizers of the contest is that the winner gets even more gifts than last year 🙂 I hope to see you guys next year to get a new view on the world of sommeliers!

More about the celebration of the victory in my next post …

Food & Friends at Graanmarkt 13

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It might seem that I’m not writing that many restaurant blog-posts anymore lately… I just visited fewer restaurants in Belgium this last year as I’ve been more abroad and visiting vineyards. I had to choose, one or the other…

Like every year, this year I organised another dinner with a whole group of friends. What is so special about these dinners and different than other dinners we organise is that once a year the restaurant is more Gastronomical. The last few year’s we used to go to Sergio Herman’s 1 Michelin restaurant Pure C (where we have always had great meals). This year however we chose to do it closer to home as the only date we could find where most people could come was a Friday evening. This year “our” choice (or better my choice as I tend to push my choice 🙂 ) went to restaurant Graanmarkt 13 that earlier this week was elected as best Flemish vegetable restaurant of 2015. Even before they had been elected it was already known that Chef Seppe Nobles liked working with vegetables as he is one of the few (or to my knowledge the only) restaurant with a city garden on the roof of his restaurant 🙂 (including beehives to make his own honey).

Graanmarkt 13 has already been in Antwerp for a few years now, but it was not until recently the restaurant came on my radar of restaurants I want(ed) to try… The dinner with friends seemed like the perfect occasion to try it and spoil my taste buds. I’m not sure when they exactly changed their concept, but until recent Graanmarkt 13 was like most gastronomical restaurants in the area with an ‘ à la carte’ menu, tasting menus, tablecloths, etc… Nowadays Graanmarkt 13 exchanged all that for a cozy and comfortable interior only serving a 2 course menu for lunch (29EUR) and a 3 course menu for dinner (39EUR), that both can be extended with a few appetizers (at normal prices), 1 extra dish or course and/or cheese (the last to either on top of or replacing dishes in the menu). Also both menus have a vegetarian alternative. So basically gastronomy that is reachable for everybody to try without the posh atmosphere around it. I’m also sure that this way of working makes it both easier on the kitchen as the customers as too much choice only complicates things.

My wife, who is pregnant for over 3 months now (you cannot believe how long I’ve wanted to say it on my blog) and therefore has a few restrictions of things she’s allowed to eat,was happy when she found out and saw Graanmarkt 13 had alternatives for her to eat 🙂 🙂 . They also indicated that if there were still some things in the menu that had to be replaced there was no problem (we can also say for a fact they do like this). So also here size doesn’t matter, even on a small menu you’ll find something of your liking 😉 😉

As we were all greedy people we (not only me) choose to take some extra appetizers where fresh vegetables play a lead role. Normally a plate of appetizers is enough for 2 people. I do advice you to take “Tomatoes with black chocolate” as those were some of the best tomatoes ever!! They had so much more flavor than the regular tomatoes you buy!! Not sure though if they were from his own garden or if they came from a farmer?? Please feast your eyes on our appetizers (scroll over the picture to know what it was) I was also a big fan of the Farm egg with black summer truffle. I didn’t try the figs with goat cheese as I’m not really crazy about goat cheese … but my friends ordered 2 plates of it so I guess they liked it.

The menu of the night:

Meagre / sorrel / chervil / fennel / cabbage / algae / sake

Horn of plenty / leek / monkfish / lentils / Lardo di Colonnata
or
Young carrot / artichoke / Holstein “Sirloin” / quinoa / pepper

Banana / butterscotch / hazelnut / chocolate / Jack Daniel’s

The extra course was a Barley risotto with porcini

Alternative starter was Tomatoes with Burrata

With these dishes Seppe Nobels shows that with a few simple ingredients brought together one can make a whole celebration meal that doesn’t have to be expensive 🙂 as that is how I saw this anyway…You guys also know how I like it when a chef has the motto “Keep it simple”!! Simple is best (If the simple is well prepared that is)

My biggest “fear” for our dinner at Graanmarkt 13 was that they would only be having Organic or Bio wines. Some or of them are good but lots of them are not and have a weird taste to them… luckily they had very nice wines on wine list 🙂 🙂 and when seeing Filipa Pato wine on the menu I just felt obligated, first of all because I like her wines and because via this way I support Portuguese wine!! After that we chose to take a bit “stronger” wine, a Sancerre Rouge ( Loire Valley)by Paul Cherrier which to our opinion would match good with the Holstein sirloin.

Ending your dinner at Graanmarkt 13 can be in no better way than with warm homemade Madeline’s with homemade honey (and on top get the recipe to try it at home). A perfect ending of a perfect time with friends paired with the perfect food.

For people between 18 -30 years old are lucky as Graanmarkt 13 is also participating with Jong keukengeweld you can eat a 3 course menu (drinks included) for 45 or 55 EUR. Every year the list of young chefs participating gets better and better and every year more and more restaurants come on my list to try …

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