'Tis The Season…for White Truffles

This is the time of year that White Truffles from Alba, Italy make their appearance at many of the better restaurants in NYC and NJ.  According to Wikipedia a truffle is “the fruiting body of a subterranean Ascomycete fungus.”  Now I must admit that does not sound inviting or appetizing...at least not until you take one whiff of this most expensive culinary delight (about $175 an ounce this year).  The aroma is orgasmic, and when shaved atop the right foods, the dish is elevated to a whole new culinary level.   The right foods for me are fresh eggs, fresh pasta such as Tagliolini, Risotto, potatoes and soft polenta.

Every year, along with a friend or two, I head for lunch at Esca in NYC, as I did with Emil on Monday to indulge in a couple of my favorite preparations. We began with soft scrambled eggs with copious amounts of shaved truffles. Chef/co-owner David Pasternack (Mario Batali & Joe Bastianich are the other owners) is THE MASTER of this dish.  I spent the first minute just inhaling the aroma of the truffles before diving into this perfectly prepared dish.  Eggs with truffles are my favorite way of enjoying this sublime decadence.

For our main course, more truffles of course. This time we had them atop fresh, homemade Tagliolini pasta, sauced simply with a bit of butter and Parmigianno Reggiano cheese. Another brilliant combination and perfect example of the magnificence of a few fresh ingredients simply prepared to perfection.  

While many wines, such as Barolo, Barbaresco or White Burgundy would have paired beautifully with these dishes, we selected a bottle of 2009 Emidio Pepe Trebbiano from the Abruzzo region of Italy. This earthy white wine, made from the Trebbiano grape (Italy's most widely planted grape), thad a beautiful light orange hue, a delicate nose, excellent complexity with terrific focus, balance and earthiness on the palate and a long, seductive finish.  We decanted the bottle and it evolved beautifully throughout the lunch.  I suggest you decant this wine for an hour or two as it is still quite young.  It should provide enjoyment for a couple of decades to come.

A staunch traditionalist, Pepe, crushes the grapes in wooden tubs by foot in order to avoid the contact between the iron presses and the acids of the fruit.  The grapes are grown organically, hand-harvested, hand destemmed, naturally fermented and aged 18-24 months in glass-lined tanks. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, without added SO2, and aged in their cellar, in bottle, for continued development. Before release, the wines are decanted by hand into new bottles, and then labeled.  $72.  Wine Searcher.

Saluté

Red Wines of Southern France

Our monthly wine group was treated this month to five different and very nice red wines from three of the wine regions in the South of France.  I find the wines of this area, especially the reds, to be quite distinctive in character and marked by a peppery Mediterranean flair.  Marc selected the wines as well as The Pluckemin Inn to have the tasting at.  As I have praised the food at the Pluckemin in previous posts, I will focus this time on only the wines.  Suffice it to say that the food was excellent as always.  A search of my Blog will provide more info as well as photos of the food from previous posts.

The Rhone wine region is situated in the Rhone River Valley in Southern France.  It is further divided into two sub-regions, The Northern Rhone and Southern Rhone.  The Northern Rhone Valley is known for red wines primarily made from the Syrah grape.   French wine law does allow for up to 20% of white wine grapes such as Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne to be added. Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Cornas and Saint Joseph are the appellations of Northern Rhode red wines.

The Southern Rhone Valley is principally known for its Châteauneuf du Pape.  While thirteen grapes, eight red and five white, are allowed by law to be blended when making the wine, Grenache and Mourvedre are the primary grapes used by many estates.  Other appellations of note are Côtes du Rhône, Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

Below the Southern Rhone Valley, at the most Southern tip of France is the Languedoc-Roussillon region.  In addition to the traditional Rhône grapes of Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, and Viognier international varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are grown here.

Southern Rhone

2009 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine.  Made from 100% Grenache this was decidedly the most modern styled wine of the evening.  I found the fruit to be a bit muted and a bit light on the palate compared to the others, but a good wine for the price.  $50.  Wine-Searcher.  

In the opinion of many, myself included, Chateau Rayas is the iconic producer of wine in the Southern Rhone. The estate is but ten-hectares, and is located in the heart of the woods where the vines are planted in a very poor, sandy soil that produces wines with great finesse.   The wines from the estate are among the most sought after wines from the region, if not the entire world. They are highly allocated and thus not easy to come by.   The estate, today run by Jacques Reynaud’s nephew, Emmanuel, also owns Chateau Fonsalette, which is located just outside Châteauneuf-du-Pape, near the village of Lagarde-Paréol in the Côtes-du-Rhône appellation.  

The estate produces three wines, a Blanc, a Rouge and a 100% Syrah, all of which are superb. Marc brought along a 2004 Chateau Rayas Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone Reserve.  While some might consider this a “second” wine to Rayas CdP or Pignan CdP, I do not.  In my opinion this is simply the finest example of a Cotes du Rhone red I have ever tasted.  What a soulful wine it was.  A blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, and 15% Syrah the wine had a magnificent earthy and herbal bouquet with vibrant fresh fruit and a peppery backend.  The wine was completely round and delicious and at $55 (about 1/4th the price of Rayas and ½ the price of Pignan) it's a sensational bargain.  Wine-Searcher.

2005 Chateau Rayas Pignan Chateauneuf du Pape.  The grapes for the CdP wines at Rayas come from their three vineyards, Le Couchant, Le Levant and Le Coeur. Like his magnificant Chateau Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Riserve, the wine is made from 100% Grenache.  Rayas chooses to harvest late so that he has ripe fruit for his wines.  It is a philosophy that produces completely round and delicious wines.   The bouquet from tonight’s wine exploded from the glass and on the palate was full-bodied with great balance, ripe fruit and soft tannins.  The wine was stunningly delicious and elegant with a 45+ second finish.  $115.  Wine-Searcher.

Northern Rhone

1999 Francois Villard Cote Rotie la Brocarde.   This Syrah based wine includes 10% Viognier from Cote Brune in the blend.  The wine is aged in 80% new oak for 18 months before being bottled without filtration.  The oak was very well integrated, as I would have guessed for a 15 year old wine.  I found it to be medium-bodied, with a pleasant palate and decent finish, but not worth today’s price of $106.  Wine-Searcher.

Languedoc-Roussillon

1998 Domaine de la Grange des Peres VDP de l’Herault. The wines of Laurent Vaillé have achieved cult wine status. Having spent his early career training under such masters as Jean-François Coche-Dury (Meursault), Gérard Chave (Hermitage), and Eloi Durrbach (Domaine Trévallon, Provence), he settled in the l’Hérault of the Languedoc and purchased his own land in 1989.  

The wine we drank tonight was a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Mourvèdre, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cunoise.  The grapes are harvested and vinified separately and then aged in 228-L barrels separately before Vaillé decides at a later date in what proportions to blend them. Tonight’s wine had a dark red hue and intoxicating earthy bouquet.  The palate was balanced, full-bodied with hints of pepper and herbs and soft tannins that made for a nice finish. $200.  Wine-Searcher.

I believe that the consensus of opinion was that the Rayas wines tonight were the hit of a very, very good tasting.  Thanks for a great selection Marc.

Saluté