WTN: Christophe Pacalet Chiroubles 2011

Inter Beaujolais sponsored a superb 'tasting tour' of the west coast, visiting three cities to show off pairings of Beaujolais with three different cuisines. In Portland, seafood; in LA, Chinese; in San Diego, Mexican.

Here's one of the pairings from Portland, at Salty's on the Columbia

Alaskan Halibut and Chiroubles

Another step up in power and overall complexity was required by the Fricassee of Alaskan Halibut and Morels. The dense and tender flesh of the halibut, magnified by the umami of mushrooms and sauce was every bit as robust as a red meat dish. But the Christophe Pacalet Chiroubles 2011 strutted proudly, like a fine Burgundian Pinot Noir, with black cherry, blackberry, fine acidity, and surprisingly taut tannins giving excellent structure and ageability. With the dish, it blossomed in aroma and flavor expression, a superb example of the ability of a fine wine to balance and enhance the dish.

For the full article on the Portland pairing dinner, with pictures, go here: http://www.examiner.com/list/perfect-pairings-beaujolais-and-seafood

[Jenise]

Yet another Beaujolais producer that's new to me; are the producers featured in/at this event generally new to the U.S. market?

Yet another Beaujolais producer that's new to me; are the producers featured in/at this event generally new to the U.S. market?

Jenise, please note the typo in the subject: he's Christophe Pacalet. He's the nephew (I think) of Marcel Lapierre and was working in Lapierre's cellars when I visited them in 2001. He has a couple of US importers.

Mark Lipton

Thanks, Mark, for catching the typo. I went back and changed it in the origianal header. Sorry for the confusion, Jenise.

In my weak defense, I had it right in the body of the TN, but wrong in the title. Mark's information is correct.

And it was a very good wine, tending more to the burgundian model than what many people think of as Beaujolais.