Boutinot Limited

Paul Boutinot is the son of a very successful restauranteur. Over the years, Paul became frustrated with the quality of wines that were available to restaurants and decided that he would do something about it. He travelled to France and brought back some wonderful house wines for his dad to serve in his restaurant. He would do this on a regular basis and then word got out to other restaurants and soon people were knocking on his door and asking him to do the same thing for them.

So in 1980 Paul opened Boutinot Limited in his home town of Manchester. Yes Manchester. For those of you who are big football (soccer) fans, you will know this area for its two Premier League Football teams of Manchester United and Manchester City.

Nine years later things changed for Boutinot Limited. Boutinot established production facilities in France “to provide total control over the winemaking process”. They made the move because they were “unhappy with the homogenization of wine styles and poor quality winemaking.” Paul Boutinot “has built a thriving business doing things differently from his competitors.” Being different is a good thing. If everything was the same, then all the wine would be the same and who in heaven’s name would want that to be the case?

Since early this century, Paul Boutinot now has a production base located in Schaapenberg in South Africa, which also gives greater control over what happens from the vineyard to the bottle and everything in between for his wines from that country.

Boutinot Limited has a team of talented winemakers. One of the best known is Eric Monnin. Eric has a talent for finding the best grapes that wine growing season has to offer. Boutinot has been working with grape growers in the Languedoc for over twenty years. So there are a lot of wonderful grapes to choose from. At the 2010 Sommelier Wine Awards Eric was given the honour of being chosen The Critics Choice Winemaker.

We have a fun line up of wines for you this week… a white, a rosé and a red.

Chat-en-Oeuf Blanc
Languedoc

Producer: Boutinot France Languedoc Roussillon
Vintage: 2009
Location: Languedoc, France
Blend: 60% Grenache, 30% Marsanne and 10% Roussanne and a dash of Rolle (Vermentino) and left un-oaked
Alcohol: 12.5%
Tasting: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 4:00 – 7:00 p.m

Okay, before we go any further, we just have to talk about this name… Chat-en-Oeuf. What a great cheeky name to have fun with Châteauneuf-du-Pape the famous wine from the Rhône wine region in southeastern France. Chat-en-Oeuf literally translated means ‘cat in egg’. As you can see by the label, the cat isn’t actually in the egg, but on the egg. Close enough. A South African winery pulled a funny on the French a number of years ago and made a wine called ‘Goats Do Roam’, after the Côtes du Rhône in France. Then they came out with Goats Rotie to have fun with Côte Rôtie, another wine region in France. I had heard many years ago that the French were not amused, but I guess some of them decided they might as well join them instead of fight them. Good on them, we say.

Eric Monnin is Boutinot’s winemaker for the Languedoc region. He seems to have the ability to find grape growers who have something special in the vineyard. He also helps to advise these growers so that the harvested fruit will express exactly what he wants, whether for the whites, rosés or the reds. “The grapes for the Chat-en-Oeuf Blanc come from selected growers around Beziers in the South of France and expertly blended by Eric Monnin and Kim Tidy of Maison Boutinot who produce the wines for the Chat-en-Oeuf range.”

The tasting notes for this wine are: “This scrumptious dry white is wonderfully aromatic and mouth-filling - crammed with citrus fruit flavours, a touch of apricot and a subtle twist of spice.”

This wine won a silver medal at the 2010 Decanter Wine Awards.

Food Pairing:

Roasted chicken; Roast of pork; Atlantic cod poached; Pork chops with a light mushroom sauce.

CSPC: 65433
Price:

$ 11.25 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price correct at time of printing. Price subject to change without notice

Chat-en-Oeuf Rosé
Vin de Pays d’Oc

Producer: Boutinot France Languedoc Roussillon
Vintage: 2009
Location: Languedoc, France
Blend: Cinsault 50%, Grenache Noir 30%, Syrah 20%
Alcohol: 12.5%
Tasting: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 4:00 – 7:00 p.m

First of all you need to know that this wine is a Rosé, not a blush. I am going out on a limb with my percentages, but I would say that 95% of Rosé wines are dry. Now, there are always the exceptions like Mateus and Gazela. On the other side of things, blush wines are made to have some sweetness. If you see the word ‘white’ in front of ‘zinfandel’, ‘grenache’ or ‘merlot’ to name a few, then it will be a wine with a sweetness generally speaking of anywhere from a 2 to 4. Our Chat-en-Oeuf Rosé is dry and flavourful.

“Made by the ‘rosé de presse’ method where the grapes are not macerated on their skins but go straight to the press where the finer aroma and the flavour compounds located just under the skins are gently extracted on a slow cycle.”

Here is how they describe the wine: “A fruity, mouth-filling Rosé packed with juicy red berry flavours, a touch of floral aromas and a subtle twist of sweet spice.”

This wine won a Bronze Medal at the Decanter Wine Awards.

Food Pairing:

Mild tomato based pasta dishes; Trout; White fish; Green Salad with a light fruit dressing.

CSPC: 79236
Price:

$ 12.50 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price correct at time of printing. Price subject to change without notice

Chat-en-Oeuf Rouge
Ventoux

Winery: Boutinot France Rhône
Vintage: 2007
Location: Rhône, France
Blend: Grenache 70%, Syrah 30%
Alcohol: 13.5%
Tasting: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

I love this quote from the Boutinot website: “The affair with the southern Rhône is both enduring and unswerving. We believe to our marrow that we can make great wine here.” ‘Enduring and unswerving’… that almost sounds romantic. For those people growing grapes and making wine, it truly is a love affair.

You will notice that the grapes for this wine come from a different area. Ventoux is not an area extremely well known to most of us. However, there is a little bike race (tongue in cheek) held every year call the ‘Tour de France’ and on a number of occasions the participants have had to gather every bit of strength to climb the steep grade of Mont Ventoux, which is nearby.

The new vintage for this wine is the 2007. The 2006 vintage was ‘Commended’ at the 2007 Decanter Wine Awards and was also given note at the 2007 IWSC.

The tasting notes describe this wine as follows: “A truly mouth-filling red packed with rich, juicy and ripe berry fruit flavours, a touch of soft tannin and a subtle twist of spice and ‘garrigue’ herbs.”

Food Pairing:

Beef Casserole; Grilled or broiled sausages; Cheese.

CSPC: 21113
Price:

$ 12.50 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price correct at time of printing. Price subject to change without notice

Next week Richard and I are travelling a beautiful estate in Montalcino, Italy. Come join us for some Italian hospitality.

Distiller: Cointreau
Location: Angers, France
Alcohol: 40 %
Tasting: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

First of all, before we start anything here, I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Diana for taking care of everything while Richard and I were in Europe.  Thank you for being so amazing, Diana.

Now on to our feature this week:

In 1849 in Angers, France, Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau opened a distillery to create spirits from local fruit.  Now you may not think that is too unusual.  What you don’t know is that Adolphe and Edouard-Jean were very famous master confectioners.  Going from making bonbons to making spirits is quite a leap.  I for one am very glad they made that jump.  In 1875 Edouard-Jean’s son, Edouard, not only distilled the sweet and bitter orange peels and the other ingredients to make Cointreau, but he also invented the square-sided amber bottle, which is the signature look of Cointreau today.  Cointreau is referred to as ‘the original orange liqueur.

Cointreau (kwan-tro) is a liqueur made from a secret family recipe.  It is made by distilling sweet and bitter orange peels, blended with natural alcohol, sugar and water.  It is referred to as ‘the original orange liqueur.  That is the technical speak part of this article.

When people first see Cointreau, they are quite surprised by the colour.  Well, lack of colour, I should say.  Yes it is made out of sweet and bitter orange peel, but it is totally clear.  Most people expect to see a brownish or orange-brown type colour.  By it being clear, it makes it very attractive as a mix in drinks.  And it does a lot of mixing:  Margarita, Cointreau Bubbles, Side Car, B-52, Cosmopolitan, Champs-Elysées, Kamikaze, Spanish Sangria and Daiquiri to name just a few.

It is amazing how many people think that a Margarita comes out of just one bottle that says ‘Margarita’.  It is such an easy drink to make and it tastes to darn good.  Just look:

Margarita

- 20ml (1oz) Cointreau
- 40ml (2 oz) tequila
- 10ml  (0.5oz) lime juice

Shake and strain into a salt rimmed margarita glass

Trick: Garnish: lime slice

Now how simple is that!

Cointreau isn’t just for drinks either.  There are some fabulous recipes for food.  Something as simple as a nice vinaigrette.  I don’t know about you, but I make my salad dressing on a regular basis.  It is so simple and it takes only a couple of minutes.  Once in a very blue moon I buy one, but it is so easy to make on your own and you can experiment.

Take a look at this vinaigrette:

There are so many food recipes like:  Strawberries Romanoff (sounds complicated, but it isn’t and it is yummy), Dutch Apple Pie and my husband’s wonderful Cointreau Cheesecake (no bake variety).  All of these recipes, of course, have no calories in them (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Now you can try one or all of these recipes or just simply just sip on the Cointreau all on its own, or over ice.

Today we are going to have a wonderful drink called “Cointreau Bubbles” or, if you like, you may try the Cointreau all on its own.

Come by and enjoy.  We’ll be waiting for you.

Thank you to www.cointreau.com for the wonderful recipes.

CSPC:     6502 (750 ml)
Price:

$34.99 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

CSPC:     10322 (375 ml)
Price:

$18.50 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price correct at time of printing.  Price subject to change without notice

Next week we are travelling back to the United States of America.

Winery: Baron Phillippe de Rothschild S.A. Mouton Cadet
Location: France
Alcohol: 13%
Blend: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
Tasting: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

When one utters the name ‘Rothschild’, people automatically think of history, luxury beyond imagination and everything expensive.  Quite frankly that is true.  Although Baron Philippe de Rothschild was a member of the banking dynasty family, he was also a Grand Prix racecar driver, a screenwriter, a film producer, a theatrical producer and, one of the most successful wine producers in the world.

The company today is still a family owned company.  The Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the Baron’s daughter, is the majority shareholder.  In this day and age when so many large family companies have gone by the wayside, that is quite wonderful.

The Rothschild family has been making wines that have been lauded for many years. For example Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Mouton Rothschild have been mentioned in just about every wine magazine you can think of.  At the same time as making these incredible wines, they have also been making some very approachable wines at very reasonable prices.  The Rothschild Escudo Rojo wines from Chile are fabulous wines, and are priced reasonably.  Then there is “Mouton Cadet”.

Can you believe that Mouton Cadet is celebrating 80 years this year?  In honour of this celebration, we thought this would be a great time to sample two of their Bordeaux wines… a little red and a little white.  Come join us in France on this little birthday trip.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild was known for making exceptional wines that fetched a very good price.  In 1930, however, Baron Philippe Rothschild felt that the vintage was not up to snuff to put the Mouton Rothschild name on it.  It was still a nice wine however.  So he decided that he would come up with a new wine line called Mouton Cadet.  Baron Philippe was the youngest child, so he put the French term for youngest on the label… ‘cadet’.  The wine became an instant hit.  The following year, 1931, brought a high demand for this new label.  So much so, that the Rothschilds had to purchase grapes from other growers in neighbouring vineyards to keep up with the demand for this new wine.  Grapes came from Pauillac, Ste. Estephe, Haut-Medoc to name a few.  After the Second World War the wine was given AOC status.  The popularity of the wine grew immensely and before you knew it, a white Mouton Cadet became part of the family in the 1970’s.

The red wine is a blend of 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 65% Merlot and  15% Cabernet Franc.  This wine is easy drinking and what I like to call, as I said before, very approachable. It is not matured in oak casks, so the fruit is more evident when you taste it.

The wine has nice aromas of red berry fruit (raspberry, cherry and strawberry) and even a wee touch of mint.  The tannins are not over abundant, so it feels nice and ‘round’.

This wine has been around for 80 years, that is true, but it is still very popular.  On their website it says Mouton Cadet “The world’s leading Bordeaux AOC”.  See what you think when you try it.

Food Pairing: 

Lamb; medium to older aged hard cheese; veal (especially either grilled or done in a light tomato based sauce); and of course the perennial favourite… beef.

CSPC:     943
Price:

$13.99 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price subject to change without notice.  Price correct at time of printing.

Winery: Mouton Cadet
Location: France
Blend: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle
Tasting: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Just like its red brother, this wine is meant to sit back and enjoy.  When people think of Bordeaux, they usually think of just red wines.  Don’t forget about the whites!!  Think about where Bordeaux is located and what kind of food one would likely have there.  It has a strong influence not just from the land, but also from the sea.  Lots of fish!  So red wine with scallops just isn’t gonna cut it, no matter how much you may want it to.  That is where the Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc come in.  They are very good friends not just to fish, of course, but to other foods as well.

The home of Sauvignon Blanc (pictured left) is France.  It thrives here and it makes some of the most incredible wines, from very dry to some of the most expensive and delicious dessert wines you have ever tasted (quite often paired with Semillon).  We are talking about the dry wine today.  The taste you can get from this grape can go from grassy crisp and acidic to almost tropical flavours.  It just depends on where it is grown.  Different areas and climates produce different types of wines.  In the Bordeaux region the Sauvignon Blanc has a fruitier characteristic to it so that works very well with its partner in this wine… Semillon.  Semillon is a relatively easy grape to grow (don’t tell the winemaker’s that I said that, though).  Semillon (pictured left), Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle are the three white grape varieties allowed in the Bordeaux region.  In this particular wine, the tropical flavours are abound.  Freeze some grapes and put them in the glass to keep your wine chilled when you are sitting out on the deck.

So let’s look at the food pairings for this pleasant wine:

Food Pairing:

Goat’s cheese (used in a sauce or just on a light cracker); light tasting Brie cheese; Scallops and other shellfish just steamed;  Scallops/shellfish done in a light broth or butter/cream sauce;  Broiled fish; light chicken dishes.

CSPC:     323105
Price:

$13.99 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price subject to change without notice.  Price correct at time of printing.