Chassagne-Montrachet {shah-san-yuh-mon-rah-shay}

As a wine educator, and in particular one of 7 French Wine Scholars (FWS)  in Georgia, I’m a little embarrassed by the way I have been botching the pronunciation of this profound wine region within Burgundy, France.  Profound in that the red and white wines from this region are so elegant and distinctive, mispronouncing or Americanizing the pronunciation of this place is somewhat disrespectful and for this I apologize.  Now, to my defense, I am American and most Americans pronounce letters when they see them.  The French elegant-ize their words and there is nothing wrong with that so we all need to just get on board.  Now on to the fabulous wine from one the worlds most famous plots of land, Chassagne-Montrachet {shah-san-yuh-mon-rah-shay}.  One of easiest things to remember when you see this name on a wine label is that if the wine inside the bottle is red, it’s Pinot Noir and if it’s white, it’s Chardonnay…..how simple is that!  The glory of Burgundy is the uncomplicatedness of using only two grape varieties expressed from different points of view through different plots of land.  The bottle pictured is what we sampled in class, Chateau de la Maltroye 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet (red).  My class and I felt it had the most perfect balance of deep berries, tannin and earth; a perfect expression of pinot noir.  Now there are other expressions within other famous plots of land in Burgundy; Chambolle-Musigny {shom-bowl-moo-sih-nyee}, Corton-Charlemagne {cor-tawn-shahr-lih-mahn} and Vosne-Romanee {vone-roh-mah-nah}…..those we’ll tackle later.  Mastering the proper pronunciation is half the battle :)

enjoy

Brunch :)

I’m a brunch person.  Brunch gives me the liberty to merge breakfast delights with lunch pleasures.  Names like gratins, berry fruits, eggs, waffles, pancakes, country sausage, French breads layered with wine gelee, and smoke salmon provide the canvas for an elegant meal table.   An elegant fare, like brunch, should be matched with elegant wines.  Brunch wines include;  Provence roses, Champagne, Spanish Cava, and Italian Prosecco.   One of the most elegant and simplest of all brunch foods to make is Quiche Lorraine.  I found the perfect recipe and made it my own.  I used a 5 cheddar cheese instead of Emmental and I replaced the onions with red peppers.  What resulted was sheer food pleasure and a permanent staple on our family brunch table.  Here’s the basic recipe compliments of Il de France:

Easy Quiche Lorraine Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made pie pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 12 slices bacon
• 1 cup shredded Emmental Cheese
• 1/3 cup minced onion
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups light cream
• Salt an Pepper to taste

Methods/steps

Fry bacon until crispy. Chop bacon and combine with cheese and onions, then place mixture pie shell. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, cream, salt, and pepper then pour into pastry shell. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated 425 degree oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes. Let set 15 minutes before cutting.

Match with your favorite sparking rose or Champagne

enjoy

 

Technorati Tags: Quiche Lorraine recipe,brunch foods,wine jelly

Simple Pleasures…….

  |every day wines like ‘Bistro’ produced by Barton & Guestier ~ pinot noir, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon|

|French Food at Home on the Cooking Channel|

|vintage wine books|

|Italian roast Eight O’ Clock coffee|

|Whole Foods lemon tart paired with a Chilean sauvignon blanc|

|Sunday brunch ~ crepes with blueberries paired with Champagne|

|fresh from the oven peanut butter cookies for the kids after school snack|

|vintage aprons|

|browsing through a Williams-Sonoma catalogue|

|meatballs by Jacques Pepin|

|football season|

|family meals|

|cookbooks|

|picnics in the park|

|goat cheese and salami with wine gelee on top|

 

|life|

 

enjoy

Elegance in a bottle……..

…floral, strawberry, raspberry, berry-berry, crispness, totally Provence

~ Domaine Houchart Cotes de Provence Rose vintage 2010 ~

enjoy