Ugly pumpkin meets its match in Chateauneuf-du-Pape

The day before, I had been tasting 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape's at Vineyard Gate - they clearly had lots of food-friendly qualities, which at the same time made them hard to enjoy on their own - a lot of spice, pepper, exotic dry flowers, berries and herbs, a touch of sweetness, and refreshing acid - all those great things we've come to expect from Chateauneuf. Tasting those wines had transported me to the South of France where this past December I visited many of the area's great wine domaines, and predictably made me think spicy pork or herb-crusted roasted poultry, game or lamb.
A month ago, I discovered a liver pate + Cotes du Rhone (less expensive wine in the Southern Rhone) pairing that was an eye-opener for similar reasons - where the basic taste elements in the food are like the elements in the wine. But last night, boosted by the sheer brilliance of A.C.'s cooking force that transformed an ugly pumpkin into a silky beauty, combined with classic 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape styles from Moulin-Tacussel and Grand Veneur, just for a brief moment, I felt all was alright with the world! And that, my friends, was priceless!
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