They say that good girls like bad boys.  So does it hold true that good boys like bad girls?  Well we are going to find out today, because we are sampling two French wines.  The sparkling is called “Bad Girl” and the red wine is called “Bad Boy”.

Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud are the masterminds of our two French wines today.  To say that they are an interesting couple would be the understatement of the year.  It seems as though people either love what they do… or not so much.

It has been said that Jean-Luc Thunevin is one of the first few winemakers to turn French winemaking upside-down and inside-out.  He was one of the first ‘garagistes’ otherwise known as ‘microchâteau’ or ‘vins de garage’.[1] This is a relatively new phenomenon.  These ‘garagistes’ produced what Richard and I like to call ‘wines for the new world palate’: big fruit, big colour, and often big oaky wines.  They became a hit and found the favour of wine writers like Robert M. Parker, Jr.  It was Mr. Parker who tagged Jean-Luc with the name ‘bad boy’ and ‘black sheep’.  This notoriety, so to speak, was what gave life to the idea of the ‘Bad Boy’ wine.[2] Château Valandraud, owned by Jean-Luc Thunevin and his partner Murielle Andraud, was one of the first microchâteaux.  The wines from these pioneering winemakers are commanding some very high prices.  Some wonder why, but others think why not.  Luckily the two wines we are trying this week are still within our reach!

You will notice this week that we don’t have any food pairings to go with the wines.  We figure nothing goes better at New Year’s than a glass of wine or bubbly with your honey in your arms.  How can you beat that?!

Bad Girl

Location: Bordeaux, France
Blend: 70% Sémillon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Muscadelle
Tasting: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

What exactly is Crémant de Bordeaux?  First of all, it isn’t Champagne.  Remember a wine may only be called Champagne if it is made in the Champagne region in France using the Méthode Champenoise (a.k.a. Traditional Method). This means that the second fermentation takes place in the bottle producing those beautiful sumptuous tiny bubbles.   However, Crémant de Bordeaux is a sparkling wine that is made in Bordeaux, France in the same method as Champagne, but with different grape varieties. The grapes allowed to be used in Crémant de Bordeaux are:  Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Côt (Malbec), Merlot, Muscadelle, Petit Verdot, Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris with minor additions of Colombard, Merlot Blanc and Ugni Blanc.  The Grapes for this wine are grown in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux (see right).  The literal translation of Entre-Deux-Mers is ‘between two seas’.  It isn’t, in fact, between two seas.  It is, however, between two rivers:  Dordogne and Garonne.

Crémant came into being in 1990 to replace Bordeaux Mousseaux.  Over the next five years, the Bordeaux Mousseaux designation was completely phased out.  Today only a small amount of sparkling wine is made in Bordeaux, in comparison to other regions of France.

Just a little geeky information:  Saumur and Vouvray were the first two French non-Champagne sparkling wine regions to use the term Crémant.  Crémant is also a term used to describe some of the best sparkling wines of Luxembourg.[3]

This is a fun wine.  Don’t save bubbles for what you might consider a special occasion.  Every day should be a special occasion.  If you feel like having bubbly on a Saturday evening instead of a Meritage or Burgundy or California Cabernet, then open it up.  Bubbles go with everything like:  Popcorn, Sushi, Chinese Seafood, Lobster and Salty Food.  Just to name a few things.

This ‘Bad Girl’ is going to surprise you… in a very good way.

CSPC:                   743225
Winesday Price:

$25.19 (Includes Winesday 10% discount)

Regular Price:

$27.99

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

Bad Boy

Location: Bordeaux, France
Blend: 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc
Tasting: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

There are those who sing the praises of Bad Boy (Mauvais Garçon) and those who are a little less warm in their approach.  Don’t you wonder why?  Here are our thoughts on the matter.  A winemaker decides he/she doesn’t want to follow the pack and goes against the grain in making wine.   The outcome are wines that are big and fruity, big colour and a little more approachable at a young age than some other Bordeaux wines that receive the admiration of wine consumers and wine-writers.  Geez, doesn’t that sound familiar?  Super Tuscans come to mind right away.  The winemakers in Tuscany were lambasted by some and lauded by others in the beginning.  After a number of years passed, they became accepted, if not reluctantly, by the traditional crew.

So let’s look at it another way.  If we didn’t have people who had a vision for something new because the status quo just didn’t do it for them, we wouldn’t have electricity, telephones, cars, airplanes, computers, Blackberrys and everything else that we take for granted in our day to day lives.  We think that switching it up a little is a good thing.  Some days you may feel like a little ‘Bad Boy’ (we are talkin’ wine here people) and other days you may feel like a Château d’Armailhac.  Diversity is a good thing.

In 2008 James Lawther MW (Decanter Magazine) wrote:  “Back in May (2008) the unthinkable happened. The bad boy of St-Emilion, Jean-Luc Thunevin, owner of Château Valandraud and godfather of the garagistes, was welcomed as an honorary member of the venerable Left Bank association, the Commanderie du Bontemps du Médoc et Graves, Sauternes et Barsac. ‘He woke us up and helped revolutionize Bordeaux,’ said the order’s grand maître, Jean- Michel Cazes of Château Lynch-Bages.”  Those are big kudos.  We are very excited to see what you think of this wine.

CSPC:                   733870
Winesday Price:

$25.19 (Includes Winesday 10% discount)

Regular Price: 

$27.99

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

Happy New Year to you and your families.  May 2012 bring you love, peace and joy.  Enjoy a nice bottle of wine with your best gal or guy and lots of friends and family.

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[1] The Oxford Companion to Wine

[2] www.thunevin.com

[3] The Oxford Companion to Wine

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.

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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.