11/10/17 COOKBOOK & FRENCH WINE POP UP - Friday Sips at The Cellar Door


FRIDAY SIPS
COOKBOOK & FRENCH WINES POP-UP Today November 10 from 3:00 – 6:30 (note later start time)
Special Guests - Local Cookbook author Ivy Manning and Chad Zimmerman, owner - Animaux du Vin Selections
Join us today as we welcome local cookbook author Ivy Manning who will be on hand with her new cookbook 'Easy Soups From Scratch & Quick Breads To Match'. Ivy will also have a nibble or two to share that will be specifically paired with a lineup of Chad's French wines. Both will be in the house with wares to share! If you like food, wine, cooking and entertaining, this is a special event that is one to attend.


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2014 PESQUIER COTES-DU-RHONE
$13.99 BTL./$167.88 CASE

For the second year in a row, the visit to Domaine Pesquier was truly one of the highlights of the Southern Rhone visit to France. Now fully in charge and a virtual one man operation, Mathieu Boutiere is putting forth smashing wines from his Gigondas-based compound that reflect true essence of place.

Always a stalwart value, the Pesquier Cotes-du-Rhone comes solely from the village of Sablet’s sandy, clay-limestone soils. 56% Grenache and 14% Carignan, but it is the 30% Mourvedre that gives this wine its spine and complexity. Absolute transparency. Peat-smoke, lavender, kisses of blueberry. Spices abound with hints of tealeaf. Chewy fruit with ample charm up front with some Mourvedre muscle that arrives in mid-palate and carries to the back end. Nothing but sheer pleasure here, especially with its mouthwatering, engaging finish.



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2015 VOGE COTES-DU-RHONE
$19.99 BTL./$167.88 CASE

Earlier this year when winemaker Alberic Mazoyer was here, we had 2014 and 2015 uncorked. Turned out the ‘15 was a bit primal early on but now that it has settled out, one sees the prodigious qualities of this vintage. A "step-up", out of the ordinary Cotes-du-Rhone and from the Northern Rhone Valley's great Cornas masters. Made from 100% Syrah, this fascinating, refined and aromatic number is made with heroic doses of declassified young vine Cornas fruit along with some from plots from around the area.

2015 is a great vintage in this area and we have to commend Domaine Voge for resisting the urge to increase pricing. Exuberant and vivacious, there is Syrah's prototypical character of smoked meat, roasted coffee, creamy raspberry, milk chocolate, white pepper and violet permeating throughout. A bit more here than usual. Creamy and deep in the mouth with cool ethereal, brisk tones and leaving a deep and long lasting impression…drink over the next 5-6 years with pulled pork sandwiches, grilled meat and hearty stews.



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2014 CHATEAU BEAUSEJOUR FRONSAC
$11.99 BTL./$143.88 CASE

A tasty red from an excellent Bordeaux producer who is located in the Fronsac appellation, not far from St-Emilion. We have been keeping a secret from you - the 2014 is even stronger than the 2012 that so many of you adored! Having tasted this wine at the Chateau last year there has been no shortage of anticipation and then re-tasting it in Bordeaux this year; we knew that it would imminently arrive and that you will all adore it!

Coffee, plum, violet and prototype Right Bank energy. Bright undertones and forest floor scents come out along with classic mineral. In the mouth it is suave, stylish and ‘tres Bordelais’. Gentle spices, plenty of fruit and earth, lots of movement and expansion on the surprisingly long finish. This really punches above its weight class. Drink over the next 5-6 years.



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2014 CHATEAU HAUT RIAN
BORDEAUX BLANC 'EXCELLENCE'
$14.99 BTL./$179.88 CASE

For close to 20 years, many of us have enjoyed the 10-buck wonder that is Chateau Haut-Rian's ever-popular white Bordeaux in the green & white label. For the third consecutive year, we have now offered Michel Dietrich’s special white wine. I previewed the 2014 when I was in France at the end of May, and all of us in the room noted that the 2014 Excellence is one of the finest white wines to emerge from Michel’s cellars.

Made with 100% Semillon from 70-year-old vines from the estate's best clay and chalk soils and aged in oak, and over-delivers at 15 bucks! Stone fruit, specifically nectarine takes off from the glass. Vanilla, mineral, smoke and a touch of hazelnut butter and fig. Generous, full and very vinous penetration. Electric and very vivid with momentum in the middle as it builds and expands. Almost hedonistic, yet succulent and vivid and very lengthy indeed. Drink this over the next 5-6 years with scallops in sauce, grilled tuna, roasted chicken and a nicely aged St-Nectaire or Reblochon cheese.