TN: strange matches- ragu with rose, Muscadet with grilled chicken, Chassagne with Asian fish

DaleW wrote in news:8ae14501-ef7e-4413-bd8f- snipped-for-privacy@b14g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:

Love that wine, love the people behind them (having visited the Domaine twice) and even recommended it to a local importer. It is a tough sell, however, since it is quite subtle and benefits from a good decant and not too low temperature. Both things are not easily understandable in Spain (and there is not a big appreciation of Muscadet), where whites are rarely decanted and most times served too cold.

I will open one this weekend.

s.

I've had the '05 Granite de Clisson twice now, once last year and again in Durham, NC last week (with Nathan VdG, the Vulgar Little Monkey). Maybe it just needs more time, but it was far more disjoint and even a bit soft. It had just traveled with me from Orlando, where I had found it in a nice little wine shop

Mark Lipton

DaleW wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@w41g2000yqb.googlegroups.com:

Unfortunately not (I do not think it is imported here). I have a memory of the basic wine by Marc Ollivier (vintage 2004 or so) but I always liked Luneau-Papin better.

My first contact with Muscadet was with a "caviste" in Angers that I visited for the first time in 2001, when I was invited to teach a subject at a Business School (and I keep going every autumn since then, both to the BS and the caviste!).

I remember that, back in home, when opening that cheap bottle of Domaine Pierre de la Grange VV 2000 or 2001 (from Luneau Papin) almost one year later and being astonished as how good the wine was.

So next year I purchased a case :) This was the time when I was starting to get interest in wine and, being just married, I had to keep an eye on. price, so this wine was some sort of a bargain to me.

When I knew that a local shop was selling Muscadet, I went and got a bottle, and it was Marc Ollivier's basic wine. I was a bit deceived, for I found a reductive note that I considered "dirty".

I even travelled once to the wine fair that is held in Angers every february and tasted the full range of wines by Mr. Ollivier, but I never found the clarity and precission that I find in the wines by Luneau-Papin. I do not want to sound like I am bashing Dom. de la Pepiere.

Since next autumn I will be travelling back to Angers to teach again, I will try to find a bottle of Granite de Clisson.

Sorry for telling a story that probably means nothing to most people.

Best,

s.

Emery Davis wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

I share your view. The fact is that the Grand Cru Muscadets is not but one attempt to charge a higher price for the wine. Since the wine is good, the wine deserve the price it fetches. I do not think they are easy to sell, specially in France, where the "Muscadet" brand is associated with cheap wine and not specially good. More like "supermarket wine". But you knew that since you live there.

However, I have had an interest in wine for about 10 years and in the process, there are wines that have gone beyond my reach. Whenever this happens, another unknown region or grower shows up making great wines at the right prices. If Muscadet goes out of reach, good for the people that gets up at 5am to prune in february. And just move to the next great wine in the queue.

Let's go on planning by email. Check your inbox.

Best,

s.