Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A mouthful of pig and a handful of grapes


I love those sticky, fatty, piggy dishes, especially as in Paris, autumn is starting to cool down the air and a cold breeze sometimes picks at my cuffs.

Lately, I stopped in at Le Comptoir and knew I had to glut myself on some offal. The main course would be a boned, breaded pig's foot. But what to drink with it?

2008 Gramenon Poignée de Raisins - The match was tasty, as was the wine itself. All silk carbonic perfection from this young-vines Grenache cuvée of the "natural" Côtes du Rhône producer. It had both raspberry-fruited purity and clove-y, peppery complexity; it was "natural" and showed the thin edge of no sulfur, but had no flaws. Nary a whiff of brettanomyces, etc. In fact, the absence of flaws, in combination with natural winemaking transparency, was a source of fascination, pointing out that when it's done right, that approach is compelling.

2 comments:

The Wine Mule said...

I'm sure L'Oeillade is still in business over on rue de St-Simon. I had pig's feet wrapped in caul there once...so rich...and another time cervelle de veau crusted with pistachios...but I didn't have any Poignée de Raisins, that's for damn sure. And now the task of trying to find the stuff in North Carolina. Hmmm....

David McDuff said...

Sharon,
If it's possible to put it in other words, would you please explain what you mean by "showed the thin edge of no sulfur"?
cheers,
DMcD