Rabbit and ????

My "first choice" would be a Chassagne Montrachet rouge, but as you didn't mention it, I assume that you might not have one handy. Next would be any number of Burgs, next OR/US PNs, then CndPs, or a Croze-Hermitage. Then I'd look to the Moulin a Vent, and finally the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Lets see what others choose for you, Hunt

I had rabbit or hare on a few occasions in Piemonte & Aosta, young lighter styled nebbiolo like a gattinara or ghemme went well with it but its like any other dish it depends on the preparation and sauces.

BTW one of the place I had rabbit was at Pinocchio's in the town of Borgomanero in Novarra-Vercelli near Lago Maggiore. They also served a salami made from donkey meat, which made me suggest they have a T-Shirt for American tourists that says "I had a piece of ass at Pinocchio's". (ka-boom)

snipped-for-privacy@hunt.com (Hunt) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

Well I went with the first choice the Chassange Montrachet Morey et Fils

1999 and it was a greeat choice. I understand your choices, Hunt. If I had a really good red Burgundy it would have tempted me, but at the last moment (decant time) I tasted the sauce and realized that it was such a perfect fit for the chassagne slightly nutty and fairly light. After I opened the Chassange I couldn't even see a red with this dish.

(Rabbit simmered in a bed of onion, sage, rosemary, garlic, mushrooms and chestnuts)

there were other wines that were available, but who would have paired an Amarone? or a Cal Cab S.?

Had I gone with the Burgundy or the St. Joseph I keep always close at hand, all would have been good I am sure. That is one of the joys of pairing, a lot of things work, what is important is what worked tonight.

thank you all

"Joe Rosenberg" skrev i melding news:Ms-dnbDnTf snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

And if that salami was served as an appetizer between courses the foreigner (me) might have written "The piece of ass we had for the intercourse at Pinocchio's was wonderful"

;-) Anders

Glad the white Burg turned out well. From initial description (chestnuts and mushrooms) red Burg would have been my suggestion.

Rabbit itself is pretty wine friendly, and my choice would usually depend on prep. I like big dry Riesling with rabbit in mustard sauce, or Brunello with rabbit ragu over pappadelle. I wish more Americans would get over their "Bugs" squeamishness- good eats.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

snipped-for-privacy@aol.comdamnspam (Dale Williams) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m04.aol.com:

thanks Dale, as I think I already indicated that the Chassange was my first choice but I got cold feet and wanted to revert to the more traditional sounding pairing. Perhaps if my wife had brought home the porcini for which the recipe called, the red would have been imperative, but with baby bellas it all stayed light enough for a nice match.

This was my first attempt at pushing tradition on a pairing other than a red Chinon with salmon, I stay fairly conservative. My experience with this one underscores the importance of working the sauce to the the wine. After tasting the sauce halfway through, I knew that the white would work.

I'm glad that the pairing, and the meal, went well. I will use ANY excuse to open a C-Montrachet, blanc or rouge! I'll keep your match for future reference and will try it. Looking onto the golf course today, I see that this is a good year for bunnies - hm-m, maybe sooner than I thought? No, I think I'll wait for the appropriate opportunity.

Thanks, Hunt

As a slight aside, I think that this might well be one of the main reasons to have a cellar. While many of us appreciate properly aged reds, and a few whites, one big plus is that when faced with a food pairing, if something doesn't work as intended, we just trapse off the the cellar, grab another bottle, and hope things get better. It sure beats taking off the "sweats" and heading over the hill to the wine shop as the chef and guests all tap their feet.

Thanks for the follow-up, Hunt

Oh, your fixing a rabbi, what does that mean? Do you make him sterile? Oh, you said rabbit not rabbi. Never mind

EM Tutella as told to

If it's an Italian (regional) recipe, use an Italian wine of that region.

Always a good idea with most foods. Qustion: is rabbit (rabbi to Beppe) a staple in Itallian cuisine? For some reason, I think of it as being mostly French, but that might be my limited exposure to it. One tends to provencialize, when they have not dined throughout the entire world. Please share some regional Italian recipes for rabbit, and your recommendations for the wine pairings.

Hunt

Beppe,

Did I forget my "t"s somewhere along this thread? Dang, if I would always type this stuff in the AM, before I declare "wine:30" that stuff wouldn't happen, at least not so often. Actually, with my rabbi, I serve Weinstock, or Baron Herzog, depending of whether the meal needs a Zin, or Cab-based wine. Am I wrong there? :-}

Again, nice to see you posting again, Hunt

Salut/Hi jcoulter,

le/on Sat, 22 Jan 2005 18:03:42 -0600, tu disais/you said:-

A warning, that I should have posted much earlier. Sorry.

In Europe, rabbit comes in two types, hutch bred, considered by the French as "poultry", meaning that it's to be found in farmyards, and "wild" or "garenne", considered as game.

The two are quite different in size and taste, and really have to be cooked and matched with wine differently.

In addition there is another animal known as "hare", which is always wild, is much larger and much more gamy in flavour.

So what?

Well, in the USA I don't think you have any hutch grown rabbits such as are the object of most modern French rabbit dishes. You might just be able to find some frozen from China, I think Secondly, the animal _you_ know of as rabbit, is in fact quite gamy in flavour and is mid way between wild European rabbit and hare, more or less.

I hope you don't mind me interjecting this, as otherwise suggestions of a good match will be hopelessly skewed! Hare (european) is a very powerfully flavoured gamy animal, best served with wines like a Shiraz, or a Barolo, IMO. Hutch rabbit, at the other end of the scale is a delicately flavoured, white fleshed animal, quite like chicken in flavour profile and texture, though tastier and leaner.

snipped-for-privacy@hunt.com (Hunt) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:

Hunt, In this case it was, is, an italian recipe from a restaurant in Northern Italy one reason I had considered Chianti and Montepulciano but the flavors were just too subtle and not at all for those wines and a super tuscan would have blasted it off the table.

the real key to the thing is the delicacy of the rabbit and the sweet richness of the chestnuts. It needed a full bodied wine with a lot of acidity and yet not a lot of red fruits or tannins. IMHO

] I had rabbit or hare on a few occasions in Piemonte & Aosta, young lighter ] styled nebbiolo like a gattinara or ghemme went well with it but its like ] any other dish it depends on the preparation and sauces. []

We should be careful not to confuse rabbit with hare. The latter is usually darkish meat, and quite gamey, calling for a big spicey red. The former is much more versatile, although I'd usually opt for red with it too. Sounds like a tastey recipe, Joe.

-E

What you are looking at are "middleweights" or maybe "Light heavingweights" for you Bugsy (Boneau aka Bunny) repast. Besides Novarra-Vercelli you could go to Valtellina Superiore or a ripasso styled Valpolicella. Of course in Tuscany-Emilia Romagna and Umbria, you have all sorts of sangiovese based wines. If you stay alway from Riservas and Brunello(rosso di montalcino is ok) Aglianico is also good, again skip the riservas.

Finally a rich plummy dolcetto might do the trick as would a cru Beaujolais or gigondas.

Salut/Hi Emery Davis,

le/on Tue, 25 Jan 2005 19:14:44 +0100, tu disais/you said:-

That's interesting, I didn't know that, nor did I see any when I was travelling.

anyway, I hope I've clarified the types of meat at least.

Thanks for the correction.

I'm not sure it's a staple, but I've had it numbers of times of Italy, and always enjoyed it.

Marcella Hazan has several rabbit recipes in her series of books, and in my experience her recipes are always excellent.

[] ] In Europe, rabbit comes in two types, hutch bred, considered by the French ] as "poultry", meaning that it's to be found in farmyards, and "wild" or ] "garenne", considered as game. ] ] The two are quite different in size and taste, and really have to be cooked ] and matched with wine differently. ] ] In addition there is another animal known as "hare", which is always wild, ] is much larger and much more gamy in flavour. ]

All true of course ] So what? ] ] Well, in the USA I don't think you have any hutch grown rabbits such as are ] the object of most modern French rabbit dishes. You might just be able to ] find some frozen from China, I think Secondly, the animal _you_ know of as ] rabbit, is in fact quite gamy in flavour and is mid way between wild ] European rabbit and hare, more or less. ]

Sorry Ian, "hutch grown" rabbit is now widely available in the US, at least in the urban markets I've frequented. It used to be only available frozen, but I've seen it fresh in NY and SF for some time now.

-E