As Nils and Xina undergo their gradual conversion from extreme northeners to extreme southerners, we decided to throw a dinner that was extremely ... oriental. Our japanese guest, Yuki, prepared a few specialties of Osaka, and of course the greatest challenge is the wine. Mainly because I have never tried this. Now you might say rice wine, real sake, is the logical choice, but I am not convinced. Most of what we ate would have been better matched to beer, real beer.
Aperitif : we started with something Nils brought, Rancio, a dry apple wine from real swedish apples, made in the style of some of our southern wines, solera and all. Distinct apple nose (geee, really?), but apples that have turned brown, and a nut-like pleasant oxidation.
14 degrees. Drinks like something between a cider from the pyrenees and a norman pommeau (but this is not fortified!). Very nice drink, never tried anything like it, please Nils bring some more next trip down. Anyhow, it set the tone for the evening, as everything that followed was olfactively coherent with this auspicious beginning.Our first dish, sushi, with fresh peas, prawns, strips of ultrathin omelet and rice with vinegar and sugar. Not easy to find japanese ingredients in France, the rice turned out to be real japonicus yet produced in Piemonte ; Yuki claimed it was close enough... So what do you do with vinegar and sugar, all hinges on balance, I am lost, but what the heck, let's go for it : the wine, Vin de Pierre, Domaine de la Rectorie, Vin de Table (hence no year shown...but it is a 2000). Delicate oxidative light pale amber flowery beauty, evolved gently, the mark of a well done solera, yet full of ripeness that still shows through. I was worried, but hell, it works, we certainly liked the combination, the wine seemed to fear none of the strange ingredients, it even seemed to mesh well, the slight bitterness of the wine ended up being pleasantly refreshing, as strange at this statement may seem. The wine was definitely a good segue for the aperitif, similar colour, aromas not completely unrelated, same evolution.
Next, Okonomi-yaki, a kind of cabbage pancake to which you can add whatever you want. Fast food, in a way. Ours had these little dried shrimp added, and bacon, plus a soy-based sauce. We finished the Vin de Pierre, again no problem with the soy sauce, many aromas seemed similar. But the bottled was empty, so I brought out (wait for it) a
1995 Coulee de Serrant, the famous Savennieres by Nicolas Joly, opened a few hours earlier and shaken up in an open carafe in order to make up for the fact that I did not open it the night before. I love the idea of eating simple street food (albeit excellent) with one of the world's great wines. A wine this powerful and rich goes remarkably well with the Osaka version of pizza, the strong sweet and sour tastes of the dish no problem the Coulee de Serrant with its vibrant acidity. Nils did guess the grape variety, as he did last week with the Bonnezeaux 94, and he was not too far with the vintage. The wonder of this wine is the crispness and the complexity and the incredible length. As the hours go by this wine undergoes several transformations, from initial bergamot, quince, almond to later rich butterscotch and again that pale amber gold colour and that sherry-like evolution. Is it the biodynamics that does this ? Who cares, the wine is to die for.And while drinking, the third course has come along, pork and potatoes, a homey dish that I can see kids loving, very tasty, the adults go for it too... And Joly is still doing fine, the various spices only bring out the wonders of planet-influenced chenin even more...
OK, the plan is to have a late night tea ceremony, so before things get serious, dessert, western this time. Cathy has prepared a variation of tiramisu, the raw salmonella-rich egg yolks have been removed and replaced with a chocolate cream made from 72% Ebene couverture from Weiss, and creme fraiche. Without the egg, you get a much livelier lighter dessert, with more chocolate flavour. I am not a fan of chocolate with Sauternes, but I like to test my silly convictions, so I brought out a 1996 Cru Barrejats, one of my favourites, a best of class Sauternes, from Barsac, with plenty of acidity but huge sugar charge and a beautiful quince wax citrus butterscotch nose, with a luscious deeply golden colour. I would not drink this with a tablet of my best chocolate, but with this eggless tiramisu the chocolate had enough restraint to let the wine come through, the sweet bitter balance of the dish helping things out and seemingly enhancing the acidity of the wine, helping to compensate for all that sugar.
The rest is OT, I mean, oh, tea. No wine, beautiful to watch, and I must admit to actually liking that that strange fluorescent green tea. I say this because I was warned that most japanese don't like it... Interesting how again balance is key, you eat a sweet candy and then chase it with a sip of bitter green tea. The ceremonial bowl was shipped from Japan, and shared by all.
Mike
Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link