Ouf alors! Matayac Cahors

This delicious wine was brought back from Paris in V.C.'s luggage. You can tell it's a good one because the bottle is sealed with wax...rather than aluminum foil or a screw top. Either that, or the vintner wants to give the illusion of something special.

In the case of the Matayac Cahors, the "something special" is not a veneer...

We saved this wine in our dorm room, expecting to drink it upon graduation...and then didn't. So I brought it home with me, waiting for a special occasion to drink it. We finally decided that, since I would be headed back to Europe on a Fulbright teaching assistantship, and C.B. made it down for a rare appearance in Green Bay, this was occasion enough...otherwise, when would we drink it? 

I certainly was not going to lug it back across the Atlantic...nor was I comfortable leaving it in my parents' house (Mom would probably put it in the refrigerator, drink it without me, or do something equally sacrilegious to red wine consumption...)

Thus, we popped off the wax, decanted, and enjoyed! According to CB, it was "good even before decanting." Other comments? "Wow!" Stats include:

Year: 2005

Appearance: deep red/purple

Cost: 10-15 € (can't remember exact price)

Taste: smoky, with notes of blackberry and hibiscus; 

                      aged in oak barrels, which accounts for the smokiness

Bought: in 2008 at Carrefour, Boulogne, Paris, France 

Le Bâtonnier

view from top of Mont Royal

A Québec wine from the vintner Denis Paradis, bought from a vendor on the streets of Montréal  for the somewhat unaccustomed price of $20 CAD, Le Bâtonnier, or “president of the Bar” (i.e. lawyer) in French, is a depart from the usual. A tart North American wine, made from grapes grown in Québec, the fruits are young-tasting, with notes of cranberry, and fluffy…like the wine equivalent of angel food cake.

Normally, I prefer a more full-bodied red, but the cranberry tartness and the young sweetness make it a great summer wine. When you don’t want anything too dark. Goes well with goat cheese, a pear and nut salad, or other summery dishes.

The price was a bit steep for the quality – my one critique was that the “oak barreled finish” seemed like a cop out for not knowing what else to do with the wine. Then again, red wines are meant to be aged…thus, the problem if you are drinking a young one.