WTN: Wines with Cassoulet

[Jenise]

2013 Camel Valley Brut Cornwall White Blend
Fresh and lively, great texture, classic champagne flavors with kaffir lime leaf and hazelnut. One of the best if not THE best non-champagne champagne I've ever had. And it's English!!! Crazy good.

2016 Rôtie Cellars Northern Blend Walla Walla Valley Syrah Blend, Syrah
I'm a big defender of Washington syrahs but this one from a widely respected producer hasn't made a good case for them. This is the fifth in a six pack I've opened, and the results have been oddly mixed. Every other bottle has been jammy and overripe, lacking acidity and structure, like this one.

2010 Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel Red Rhone Blend
Decanted three hours. Deep burnished garnet-purple color. Nose of black currant fruit, sage and beef jerky with mild barnyard funk. Gained leather notes around the edges during the long decant. Has the tannins for further development--great now and will only get better.

2006 M. Chapoutier Crozes-Ermitage Les Varonniers Crozes-Hermitage Syrah
Mostly red raspberry fruit, rare beef, black olive, sweet roasted fennel, and a lot of sage-y garrique on the finish. Also some grenache-like spice. Very sophisticated; exceeds expectations for a C-H. WOTN for me.

1996 Sacred Hill Basket Press Merlot Cabernet Reserve Hawke's Bay Red Bordeaux Blend
Brought by a guest, a questionably stored bottle, no idea what to expect. Good cork removed whole easily, decanted for sediment of which there was almost none. Full tertiary development in the best way possible with tasty fruit leather, spice tea, and dried rose petals. Got 'younger' in the glass. Delightful.

[David M. Bueker]

Coudoulet is one of the great wine values of the world.

The funny thing about Rotie Cellars is I've generally been disappointed in the syrahs, but rather liked the Northern white, even though I generally shy away from Rhone white varietals.
I usually go Madiran. Cahors, or Rhone with cassoulet.

[Jenise]

Dave, it is, and what a great vintage '10 is. I only paid $17 and change for these, found them about four or five years ago on a local supermarket shelf in a blue collar, beer-oriented kind of neighborhood. I bought every bottle.

Dale, a friend in our local Bellingham group is a member of Rotie's club, and he's brought good bottles to tastings--both reds and whites. Enough that I understand that the house style is generally rounder in a New World way than someone who is trading on the name Rotie should lean (blind, they don't pass), but nonetheless they've been good enough that my loyalty to my new home state kicked in and made me a customer when I had the chance at about 30% under cellar-door price. But it's so weird how they've shown. It's not like they tasted one way early on and have evolved into something else--I've pulled one every 8 or 9 months and it has been Up Down Up Down. Very odd. In the future, I'll stick with the whites.

[David M. Bueker]

Be careful with that Coudoulet. Supermarket wines are not always top provenance. Better to enjoy on the way up.

[Jenise]

Understood, David. Not that buying from trusted sources always works out (cooked Produttoris, anyone? Direct from the trunk of the winemaker's rental car!)

This is my 2nd bottle, they're solid.

I'm with Dale on this match. My reflex is to stretch for a wine from the French South West, notably Madiran, Cahors or Irouléguy, to go with cassoulet. They have the right firm tannins to cut though grease and enough richness to match the flavours. Madiran and Cahors have become much more supple and approachable in the last 20 years to the extent of some becoming very enjoyable by their third or fourth years.

That said, I think cool climate Syrah would work fairly well and perhaps Barolo.

Like David, I'm a big fan of Coudoulet but I think I have no bottles left .

[Robin Garr]

Camel Valley! I got connected with the winery owner Bob Lindo while traveling in Friuli-Venezia Guilia one time and spent a couple of days touring wineries with him. Fascinating gent, with a true commitment to quality.

[Jenise]

I'm with Dale on this match. My reflex is to stretch for a wine from the French South West, notably Madiran, Cahors or Irouléguy, to go with cassoulet. They have the right firm tannins to cut though grease and enough richness to match the flavours.

I guess I take a slightly different view. My #1 choice of grape would be grenache for acidity and spice--I want red fruit with my cassoulet, not black. All the wines I opened worked well but for the dog Rotie. My fave was the Chapoutier.

[Jenise]

Camel Valley! I got connected with the winery owner Bob Lindo while traveling in Friuli-Venezia Guilia one time and spent a couple of days touring wineries with him. Fascinating gent, with a true commitment to quality.

How cool! I had four bottles of this 2013, all were excellent but the last was the best. Was fun to pour it for my brother as our ancestors come from this part of Britain.

[David M. Bueker]

Opened the 2019 Coudoulet de Beaucastel tonight, and after an hour of air it really knit together into a lovely wine.