The French #Winophiles – Rhone Gone Crazy

Wine, like friends, should be dependable and pair well with food. Sure it’s fun to experiment and meet new grapes and varietals, but at the end of the day you always have your old, reliable wine (or friend) that you fall back on. For me, those wines come from the Rhone (pronounced “roan”) Region. I didn’t realize it was my backup friend until I went to locate the two wines I bought for this month’s The French Winophiles virtual tour of Rhone and found 18 bottles from Rhone residing in my wine refrigerator.

Wines from the Rhone Region are easy drinking, food friendly and budget friendly. Rhone wines are the kind of wines you can enjoy every day without feeling too guilty about how much you spent on wine. You can pick up a good bottle between $15-20.  If you are a fan of GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre) blends, Rhone wines will be sure to please your palate. The Rhone GSM blends generally have characteristics of red-dark berries (raspberry/blackberry), lavender, spices, and dried green herbs. Wines produced in Northern Rhone and Southern Rhone are both unique and take on the characteristics of their terroir and climate. Northern Rhone is known as the birthplace of Syrah. Southern Rhone wines are more “Provencal” in style and known for their Grenache. There are four different levels of Rhone wines and Wine Folly has a great article on how each of the four levels is judged in terms of quality. The French Winophiles will be exploring this more in depth when we start touring appellations within the regions next year.

The wines I selected for this tour are from the Gigondas AOC (Southern Rhone) and the Cornas AOC (Northern Rhone). Both selections paired beautifully with food and displayed distinct characteristics.

2010 Pierre Amadieu Le Pas de L’Aigle Gigondas consists of 85% Grenache and 15% Syrah with 14.5% ABV. It is full-bodied, fruity with notes of blackberry, vanilla, anise, cherry cola with a hint of smokiness. The color is a beautiful deep ruby. This wine was paired with a home-made pizza after reading several articles by “Pizza Somms” recommending pairing Rhone wines with Pizza. What can I say, it was a brilliant pairing and I’m hooked. Don’t be afraid to mix French wine with Italian pizza! This wine retails for approximately $32 if you can find it.

Our next pairing was a 2013 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 30 with 13% ABV. The Cornas appellation is  in the Northern area of Rhone and is one of the smallest appellations. The grapes (Syrah) grown there are known for big, spicy, earthy notes. We found the wine restrained in style, with a medium body. Notes of spice, peppery, and raspberry were complimented with a touch of herbs – sage, oregano. This wine retails for $29.95 at K & L Wines. I tested the boundaries for this wine by pairing it with Chicken with Garlic and Vinegar. This was a phenomenal pairing. Vinegar based sauces can be hard to pair with wine, but the earthy, peppery notes helped cut some of the acidity from the vinegar sauce. The Chicken was moist and tender after being pan roasted, baked and then topped with a garlic, tomato and vinegar sauce.

It’s crazy to me that you can take wines from Rhone and pair them with pizza and a vinegar based sauce and have a successful pairing. Just like old friends, Rhone wine is dependable and shines through when you need it!

Don’t miss out on all the other great wine and food pairings from Rhone that my French Winophiles friends have prepared for you!

• Anna from Anna Dishes “Brown Butter Red Wine Filet with Mushrooms,Baby Potatoes & Asparagus”
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Souk-Spiced Leg of Lamb with L’O de Joncier”
• Cindy from Grape Experiences shares “Costières de Nîmes – The Rising Star of the Rhone”
• Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva “Rhones Gone Crazy”
• David from Cooking Chat “Wine for Rustic Chicken and Sausage Stew”
• Jeff from foodwineclick shares “Roti de Cochon Tout Simplement et Hermitage“
• Martin from Enofylz Wine Blog “A Taste of Gigondas and Vacqueyras”
• Michelle from Rockin Red Blog “Separation of Church & Wine”
• Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere “French Onion Soup and Cotes du Rhone Wine”

Wendy from A Day in the Life of a Farm “Braised Chicken with a Dual Pairing from Cotes du Rhone”

Join us for our upcoming events: November 21 Bordeaux – December 19  Champagne –  January 16 Burgundy – February 20  Alsace

Cheers!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Pan Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Vinegar

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Author: Alexander Lobrano - Hungry for France

Recipe type: Entree

Cuisine: French

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 - 3½ pound chicken cut into 8 pieces
• kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 12 unpeeled garlic cloves lightly crushed
• 6 thyme sprigs
• ¾ cup red wine vinegar
• 7 oz tomatoes chopped
• fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper
• freshly chopped tarragon

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 475. Set a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot. Season chicken pieces with salt. Reduce heat of skilled to medium high and add oil. Add chicken skin side down, 1 tablespoon butter, garlic and thyme and cook until skin is browned about 5-7 minutes.
2. Turn chicken skin side up and transfer skillet to lowest rack. Roast chicken until breast juices run clear about 10-15 minutes. Transfer breasts to platter. Return skillet to oven and cook until leg juices run clear - another 5-10 minutes. Transfer legs to platter and discard garlic and thyme.
3. Pour off fat in skillet. Set skillet over high heat. Add vinegar and simmer scraping up brown bits about 1 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and add remaining butter and stir until it melts.
4. Spoon sauce over chicken ,sprinkle with salt/pepper, garnish tarragon

3.4.3177