... was a Friday, we had both worked like beavers, bees, or any other hard-working animal you might insert in this statement. It´s high autumn in Southern Sweden, which means that the young man´s mind turns lightly to thoughts of ... game. Yep, it´s the time for fun and game, although, admittedly, the game may not find that funny. SOrry, got carried away. This time of the tyear, the supermarkets will sell bambi, deer, boar, mallards and other fowl, but, the big one, the really big one, that closes down parts of Sweden for a week or two, is the elk. Someday I´ll find out if the only difference between elk and moose is that one is European and the other North American - today I´ll leave that academic discussion aside. Xina had done her shopping, elk for a casserole, and minced elk meat for 'pannbiff', sort of meat patties, right? Fried and often served with fried onion, potatoes, and a creamy sauce. Th eldest son, Ari, had invited himself to supper, so we opted for 'pannbiff' with mashed potatoes, it being a favorite of his. Xina had also baked a few beets, on a salt bed, the night before. While she did the patties I sliced teh beets and covered each slice with a small piece of chevre - a totally industry made French goat cheese, from, I think, President - and put them under the grill element. When the had some color, I sprinkelde with freshly ground black pepper. We had already opened a bottle of Ch Courac 2001 - a CdR which coems fairly cheap at SEK 89. To give it a good aeration (are you guys listening?) I, emulating good guy Mike T, first poured it in a glass pitcher. Immediately a heady perfume of dark cherries spread over said pitcher - lovely. Color slightly on the purple side (violett highlights, to quote the back-side label), nose very complex, autumn leaves, blackberries, cheery pits, after a while also celery. Smooth although fiery on the palate, tannins supple and accomodating, hints of walnut, geranium, ceder, roast duck. Reminiscent of certain Languedoc reds containing a lot of Mourvedre - and it does, 15 % apparently, but mostly it´s Grenache and Syrah. A lovely wine to sip and sniff while the aromas of roast onion spread in the kitchen ... The self-invited Ari failing to appear, and the table loaded with food, we called another of the young `uns, Johan, and asked him over. While Ari doesn´t drink wine (except CHampagne), Johan is no stranger to the odd glass or two, so we went for another bottle, a Raimat Merlot 2000. We bought this after having supper with the in a previous post mentioned brother-in-law, and at the time thought it a great quaffer ('quaffer' apparently derives from French 'coiffeur', an indictment on the drinking habits of French hair dressers). However, after the CdR, it felt astringently tannic, too dry and ungenerous, a bit 'sit-still-or-I´ll hit-you with-an-oak-plank', with a nose of (European) blueberries and dill, apart from the oak. This, too, costs SEK
89 but I find it decidedly inferior to the first one. (The difference between European and North American blueberries is that the Europeans are more astringent and acidic - the Yanks being, to my palate, more juicy/sweetyish, with less character).
Cheers
Nils Gustaf