TN: Three wines with food

[Florida Jim]

Grilled Italian (chicken) sausages, hummus, plain yogurt, grilled zucchini, sliced tomatoes and Naan:

1999 Juge, Cornas Cuvée C:

Feminine Cornas; it sounds contradictory but it tastes great; crunchy blackberry, turned earth, meat and ash aromas; the same in the mouth on an almost weightless delivery with good grip, complexity and balance; excellent length. A terrific wine that either is or is very close to, one of its drinking windows. 13% alcohol, imported by New France Wine Co. and about $35; worth it.

Chosen to pair with the grilled sausage but this did well across the spectrum of foods and the combinations of those foods in this meal. Fantastic with the sausage and hummus combination, very good with every other variation. A memorable meal.

Crackers with brie goat cheese:

1999 Nigl, Riesling Piri Privat:

A perplexing showing; nice balance, floral, varietally correct and of its place but its like somebody turned the volume down. I hesitate to call it thin or weak but it was more muted than I expected, especially since I tasted this many times during its first years after release and found it potent. No discernable corkiness. 13% alcohol, imported by Skurnik and about $40 on release; I’m not sure what to think.

Chosen on a whim – bad choice. First of all, a pungent cheese like goat doesn’t need the additional pungency of a rind. Not my kind of cheese. Further, the wine couldn’t stand against the power of the cheese nor did it come close to matching the flavors. And, as noted, it wasn’t all that impressive alone.

A ragout of sausage (chicken), white beans, tomatoes, onions and garlic served with Naan and a big salad:

1999 Gilles Robin, Crozes-Hermitage Cuvée Albéric Bouvet:

The beginnings of bottle bouquet with a marrowy, savory note on the nose along with solid northern Rhône syrah aromas; medium high acid, delineated flavors follow the nose, good balance, intense without weight and very long. Still has some grip. Nothing “mouth-coating” here as this delivers etched flavors without any chunkiness. 13% alcohol, imported by Eric Solomon and I paid anywhere from $9 to $20 for the bottles I have; a personal favorite.

Since I had good luck pairing Cornas with sausage I thought another northern Rhône might work here; it did. The acidity of the wine cut the richness of the dish and the flavors harmonized well. Not a great pairing but a very good one and certainly one I’d do again.

Best, Jim