Two Disney wines (!) - TN

Jun 09, 2004 10 Replies

No, not actually made by Disney, but tasted there during our trip this last weekend (I had a conference in Orlando, so..)



Anyway, we had lunch at the moroccan place in Epcot - which was really very pleasant, as was the delightful belly-dancer. Made much more enjoyable by the wine - I figured I should at least try Moroccan wine given the location, not expecting anything decent, but what we got for our red choice was extremely floral, extremely smoooth, not even a hint of bitterness, and a delightful match to the spices of the roast lamb and couscous etc. This was an Amazir Beni M'tir, and we bought a couple of bottles (doubtless overpriced at $22). Almost like a simple French red in style, but much smoother and more floral. Anyway, a pleasant surprise.



A couple of days later, leaving for the airport we stoppped at Wolfgang Puck's place in Downtown Disney. The food was really again very good - I kept being pleasantly surprised by some of the meals this trip. The highlight for me, though, was the *match* between my roasted pumpkin ravioli and the Argentinian Malbec I had with them. The malbec ('02) was OK alone, but when paired the pumpkin somehow removed all of the residual harshness, almost as if it were polishing the wine - and the ravioli were also enhanced further. This is the first time I've happened upon such an amazing (well, to me!) synergy, and it made my day despite the flight with a fussy 18 month-old!



Pleasantly supprised to hear that Morocco makes a decent wine...I thought the only good Muslim wine out there was Chateau Mussar. As to Disney wines...well, since the advent of 2 buck chuck...don't be supprised if you see 'Mickey Merlot' or 'Capt. Sparrow Sauterne'..... After which Michael Moore will produce "Bowling for Berringer Blass' , exposing the use of wood chips in Disney's high end Claret....

toung firmly in cheek Mathew

Hmmm... Musar is made in the Beka'a valley of Lebanon (over 1500 km from Morocco), and I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that the Hochar family are Christian, not Muslim. However, if what we're looking for is quality wines made on the 'other' side of the Mediterranean, then there's also Kefraya from Lebanon...

Isn't Silverado Vineyards (Napa) still owned by Disney? They were at one point, anyway.

Mark Lipton

... even if Disney *didn't* use wood chips in their fictional high-end Claret.

It's amazing what passes for a "documentary" these days.

Dana

With all those wood chips, that would be Chateau le Pin-occhio...

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

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As Mark says, I think the Hochar family are Lebanese Christians.

Actually, there's a fair number of wines from the former French colonies. Besides the Amazir Beni M'Tir, probably most widely availalbe is the Algerian Sidi Brahim. OK , probably Carignan, tastes like a modest Languedoc.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Algeria was a major wine producer in the late 50s and early 60s. Their marketing was totally French dependent. Around 1962 or 63 the French wine industry came under some criticism with the claim that they were mixing cheap Algerian wine with their good wines to make more money. The French backed away from the Algerian wine and so it has gone to almost nothing since then.

Not just their marketing, back then Algeria was part of France. A colony of course, but in a way a lot more, it was a departement with all the same rights as any french departement. That of course did not make it any less a colony.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

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Unfortunately, Dale.. Here in BC, we'd never know... Thanks to our Govt. Monopoly on booze our access to wine is limited.... Whenever I get really frustrated by it, I consider moving to Calgary.

Cheers Mathew

But then you'd be shovelling it half the year instead of mowing it........

But the options on the post-shovel glass would be aprox 500% greater than in BC

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