Valentine's Day 2010, And Only a Month Late

Ok, so this is old news, but I feel the wines I had Valentine's Day need to be talked about. So, even though the day has passed more than thirty days ago, these wines are generally available out there and would be equally good on some other day. First, a quick bit about Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day, a day for loved ones to shower special attention on one another or a collusive plot between greeting card companies, chocolate makers and florists? Well we can't blame them for starting the holiday, but we can certainly throw some blame their way for the marketing frenzy it has become. The holiday gets its start in Roman times when Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD established a feast day to honor two, or quite possibly more Christian martyrs turned saints with the name Valentine. The holiday turned romantic in the Middle Ages with the help of Geoffrey Chaucer. This is one theory.

For me, the day is to be enjoyed with my loved one, eating, drinking, chatting, and keeping gift giving to the bare minimum. Flowers are nice, but good conversation, food and wine, not necessarily in that order, are better.

I wanted to do three wines, one for each course. The first course was seared scallops with a tarragon white wine sauce. The wine I decided to go with was a 2005 Grand Cru Chablis. I love Chablis yet I rarely drink it and as for Grand Crus, the occasions are even less frequent. I should have scallops more often as well and this might feed the need for more Chablis. I pledge to drink more Chablis of all levels in 2010!

2005 Louis Michel Chablis Grand Cru, Grenouilles - Clear, light yellow with a tinge of green around the edges. Clean and super intense nose of ripe apples, lemon, flint and a tiny nuance of mushroom. The aromas were coming out of the glass at least a foot away. Palate carried seamlessly from the nose with an intense burst of sweet fruit held up nicely with good acidity. More lemony on the palate with that hint of mushroom and flint. This was a complex wine with a medium to full body and a smooth texture, delicious concentration and length. Long finish. 13% alcohol as stated on the label. $70 retail. I would rate this: Excellent. While I wouldn't say that drinking this wine should be considered infanticide, it most certainly will improve over the next 3-5 years, and should last for quite some time after that.

The second course was Chateaubriand with a Bearnaise mushroom sauce. This is also something I don't have often (you need a serious hunk of beef tenderloin), and unlike scallops is generally out of my price range when it comes to food. So I don't see an uptick in frequency for this dish. The Chateaubriand was served with artichoke hearts steamed in wine and herbs, and oven roasted potato wedges. The wine I decided to go with was a 2000 Bordeaux and one that had a Valentine's Day appropriate label.


2000 Chateau Calon Segur, St. Estephe, Bordeaux - The color was garnet, with a slight orange hue at the rim. Fairly intense (not as much so as the Chablis) nose of dusty blackberry fruit, green pepper, mint, menthol and caraway seed. The palate was slightly grainy, medium bodied wine showing blackberries, roasted herbs, menthol and dark fruit of the nameless kind. Very nicely balanced with just a bit of soft tannin. Decent length. Moderate finish. 13% alcohol as stated on the label. $100-$145 retail. I would rate this: Very Good-. I would say this wine has a long life ahead of it, however, I don't suspect it is going to get much better.

The third course, dessert in this case, was chocolate baby lava cakes with whip cream. The whip cream, or ice cream if you prefer, is essential, in my opinion, as it is necessary to cut the chocolaty coma inducing richness of these decadently simple brownie/pudding thingies. I almost went with a Brachetto d'Acqui but I decided to stay with the French theme. The wine I chose for this was a Vin du Bugey from the Savoie in France. A sparkling wine made primarily from Gamay with some Poulsard thrown in.

NV Patrick Bottex Vin du Bugey-Cerdon, "La Cueille" - The color was a beautiful limpid rosy-pink. Good nose of raspberries and red delicious apples. On the palate I got a fruity sweetness which was definitely not cloying. The raspberry flavor was precise and the bubbles kept it light and bright. 8% alcohol as stated on the label. $20 retail. I would rate this: Good+ with a fun factor of 10.

The food was memorable and looking at these pictures again, as I write this, has me salivating a bit. The wines were all fantastic, however, while I feel the Chablis was money well spent, I can't say the same about the Bordeaux, even though I paid less than current retail for it. It lacked complexity and weight and perhaps my expectations were set too high. The Bottex Vin du Bugey-Cerdon, Imported by Kermit Lynch was fun and delicious. If you have never had this wine, please, run out and try it. Domaine Renardat-Fâch, imported by Louis Dressner is another excellent example. The conversation was delightful and focused on the wine and food pairings, which by the way, were all good marriages. So there it is; good food, good wine and good conversation, and yes, I bought flowers.