Chateau Cantenac Brown-A Grand Cru Classe in Bordeaux

On Friday March 4th, my husband and I ventured into the beautiful vineyards of Bordeaux, France for the first time ever. The sun was shining, it was a warm day, and I was ready to learn as much about Bordeaux wines as I could possibly fit into my noggin. We got to visit Chateau Cantenac Brown in Margaux that day, and I was fortunate to get to learn a lot about their winery.

Chateau Cantenac Brown is situated in the Margaux appellation in the Bordeaux region, consisting of 104 acres (42 hectares) of vineyards producing 65% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, and 5% cabernet franc grape varieties. The vines are grown in rough, gravelly soil, full of rocks. This encourages toughness of the vines-if you "baby" the vines by growing them in rich, nutrient-laden soil, they will produce grapes that become weaker wines. The rough soil forces the vines to search for water deep beneath the surface and through rainfall, producing stronger grapes that give their wines more structure and taste more full-bodied. The vines were recently pruned to a Y shape, and tractors would be heading out in a few days from our visit to turn over the soil, as grass can grow beside the vines and cause them to compete for essential nutrients. As spring progresses the vines will grow more branches, and summer brings the grape clusters. The clusters will be harvested in late September by hand. The ripe and rotten grapes are removed right in the vineyards, and secondary filtering is done again when they enter the vat house.

Each individual grape variety goes into stainless steel casks for 2-3 weeks, where the sugar transforms into alcohol. Malolactic fermentation will also occur in the casks. The grape varieties, each still separate from each other, will then be moved into French oak barrels and will age for 12-15 months. Half of the barrels are new and the other half is 1 year old. Once this process is completed, the winemaker will taste each individual variety and will blend them together for optimum taste and quality.

There is a very interesting history attached to the property itself. A Scottish animal painter named John Lewis Brown was the original owner and had the first portion of the Chateau built for him in Tudor style to live the lush life in the early 19th century. Tons of lavish parties to impress the ladies were held there at first. Unfortunately, he spent everything he had and the property was sold to a banker named Gromard in 1843. The property was sold to various other owners throughout the years.

The winery received the prestigious Grand Cru classification in 1855 for the Medoc region. Part of this classification comes a strict set of rules set out by the AOC that each winery must comply with in order to maintain their cru classification. Some of these mentioned in the tour include: the vines cannot be watered through any artificial means; and the harvesting of the grapes must be done at the same time every year- late September. If a reason arises that it can't be done during that time, affected wineries have to get approval from the AOC to do so, and have all their data well put together. Chateau Cantenac Brown believes in strictly following these rules to maintain their quality.

While at the winery we were fortunate enough to taste their 2004 Margaux. Deep dark red in color, the bouquet reminded me of berries and plum , definitely fruity. I found the palate to be full bodied with soft tannins, not as bold as some of the other reds we tried in the area but I tend to like reds that are smoother. This one tasted like it could pair well with a beef dish or a strong cheese.

Chateau Cantenac Brown accepts visitors by appointment and can perform tours in French (bien sur), English and German as well. If you can't get out there anytime soon, their website has phenomenal photos on the home page that really show off the true beauty of the property:

www.cantenacbrown.com

One such gorgeous area is the land behind the Chateau itself; a lush forest that shines a vibrant emerald green in the sun. Here's a picture that my husband took when we were there. I felt like I could feel the history of the property when we first stepped out there, like I was stepping into a fairy tale and I can only hope it reflects a glimmer of the backyard's true radiance. But above all this, try the wine for yourself and see if you can experience the winery's beauty through taste!

A Great Vegetarian Soup for Hangovers!

"Hangovers. Because no good time goes unpunished."-A demotivational poster I have up on my wall at work. I spent most of today in pajamas with bangs wild & askew recovering from a great night with really good friends yesterday. It's just too bad that 3 pitchers of beer, too many to count amaretto & cokes and porn star shots will likely cause an internal revolution, because it is fun to do at the time!

I found the idea for this soup from a cookbook by a fabulous Canadian food personality, Lucy Waverman-the book was a gift from my mother-in-law last Christmas. I love this book because she shows her readers how to use unique items like fiddleheads in awesome ways. I'm hoping to try her recipe for cherry preserves in the future. The recipe I tried was her Spiced Cauliflower Soup with Spinach but her version calls for chicken broth, and I only had vegetable on hand. Also, I didn't season with salt or pepper-it didn't need it according to my tastebuds! The soup comes out a vibrant green color, a smooth, rich texture and full of spicy flavor. Here's my version:

1 head cauliflower, broken up into small florets
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, ground
1L vegetable broth
1 bunch spinach
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Toss cauliflower with olive oil, cumin, curry powder, coriander and fennel seeds in a bowl. Pour into shallow roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes, turning once.
3. Bring veggie broth to a boil in a pot and add roasted cauliflower. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add wilted spinach and simmer for 1 minute max, until spinach is wilted and a dark emerald green colour.
5. Puree soup and return to heat on low simmer. Add lemon juice and season to taste.

Serve with crusty bread. Serves 4.

I calculated the nutritional information on this recipe through an iPhone app that I have. It's only 82 calories as made, and I love that you can make some changes so it's even healthier-by using canola oil instead of olive oil, and water instead of the broth! It's also be very high in iron from the spinach.

My husband took a photo of it when it was finished. Here's what it looked like:




















Originally we were going to pair a bottle of rose wine with this, Robert Renzoni's 2008 La Rosa, but I want my friends to try this in a couple of weeks as I believe it cured a hangover in the past, so no go for tonight. Here's the side story for that belief:

Last May my husband and I took a side trip to Temecula, as part of a trip to California for his cousin's wedding. There is a small wine region nearby. The night before our wine tour we went out for sushi and wound up staying there until the wee hours of the morning drinking sake bombs as made by the sushi chefs. And boy did we ever get sake-bombed that night! I woke up the next morning while "praying to the porcelain Gods" and we had to leave the hotel at 10am for an all-day wine tour on the Grapeline. I wasn't sure I'd even make it through the first winery, I felt so sick during the first tasting! But I found a sweet surprise in the 2nd winery we visited, Robert Renzoni. Very plain looking on the exterior, but once we got to the tasting it was apparent that their main focus is on their wines, and they sell a fantastic Marinara Sauce too! The Rose was the highlight of the tasting, as I took one sip and I felt a million times better. In fact, I was easily able to stomach all the wines we tried from that point onwards! I ended up buying 2 bottles and the one pictured was signed by one of the owners, Fred Renzoni. He was so friendly and passionate about what he does. Lucky man.

After eating the soup I now feel so much better, just mostly lazy and tired, he he. If you're still reading, I'll end this entry with a video my husband took of us about to do a sake bomb on his phone. The girl knocking the sake into the beers with the samurai sword is me! If you're still reading this, check it out!

The V Day Menu Pt 2: How it Turned Out

Now that I am finally fully digested, it's time to write. I spent my entire weekend eating & drinking my way through the city and my cookbooks. Although I'm sure my waistline isn't happy with me, my taste buds sure are!

Saturday afternoon my husband and I went down to the "deep south" to Willow Park Wines & Spirits for a Port, Cheese & Chocolate Tasting. Tickets were only $20pp and I was fortunate enough to score 2 of the last 4 available. We got there early, expecting a line up and found no such line, but it was free samples day! After tastes of Chocolate Port, the new Mumm Napa Rose, Ukranian vodka (so smooth!) and even PEI "Straight Shine" (similar to moonshine but not quite-this version is legal to sell), I was almost stumbling into the tasting room when 2pm came! We found a seat at the end of the first row and these are the goodies we found on the table:














I was happy that I didn't eat lunch before this! The first pairing was a White Port with a triple cream Brie & White Chocolate-looked like the kind you melt and cook with. The Blood Orange rind inside the glass of port really brought out the citrus flavor and was nice. Then there was a 10 year Tawny Port paired with a Comte cheese (Matt really enjoyed the cheese) and Sea Salt Caramel w/almond & dark chocolate. At this point I'm thinking that I'm on Cloud 9, almost oblivious from the way all the flavors worked together! 3rd pairing was Warres Warrior Port (ruby) paired with a Blue Stilton in a shell of dark chocolate tart topped with port jelly. This was so amazing, I am now on the blue cheese wagon-I hated it before Saturday! And finally, the last taste pairing: St. Germain Liqueur paired with a Scottish Chevre Cheddar (just like Goat's cheese) and a candied pear with 38% milk chocolate. The St. Germain is an elderflower liqueur and the flowers are found in the Swiss Alps and made in Paris. According to the staff, this stuff is just about to take off with reviews being done in various media. We picked up a bottle and good thing we did: we heard there were only 2 cases left in the store! Other Port tasters left with bottles as well. The flavor is very light, very sweet, and we also got to try it mixed with Champagne. I'll be picking up some bubbly after work and drinking that tomorrow night! Here's a pic of the bottle:

After that we headed to the Keg for a steak dinner, using up gift cards we got from Christmas. We ate so much! I ended up with a "food hangover" and didn't sleep well that night.

And now, Sunday-my attempt at a spicy 3 course meal. I did exactly the menu I blogged about before and started the app, the Buffalo Chicken Bites, at 1:30pm to allow for a 4 hour cooking time on low. The chicken came out slightly overcooked I thought, but the sauce was robust and spicy (I added extra hot sauce to the mix and used beef broth instead of chicken-had to use it up) and Matt ended up dipping his bites into extra sauce!

I started the bread at 5:30pm - a cheddar herb bread. Although I followed the recipe exactly, it didn't rise as much as I thought it might and turned out more like a soft biscotti in size. Taste wise, it was a little dry, but was a great off-set to the heat of the chili.

Which brings us to the pork chili! I ended up making a last minute change: I can't call it Chipotle chili because I didn't use chipotle peppers-used regular hot chilis instead. I followed the recipe exactly as is and it turned out great-very rustic, flavorful and packed a good deal of heat too!

The wine pairing stayed the same as mentioned before, only I couldn't find a 2007 Sumac Ridge Gewurz anywhere-I had to settle for the younger 2009 version. The sweetness of the wine paired well with the heat of the buffalo chicken and the chili, but I thought it went best with the dessert...

Which leads me to my favorite course of the night! I made a spiced chocolate cake which was nice and moist, but the icing on the cake was the best part! I decided to get inventive for the frosting and here's the recipe-I call it "slowburn sauce"

1. Melt 3 squares of unsweetened chocolate in a bain marie (bowl over a pot of boiling/simmering water on the stovetop).

2. Add 2 tbsp of butter or margarine

3. Slowly add 1/3 cup icing sugar, add another tbsp of butter/margarine to bring to a good consistency, adjust to your taste

4. Add a few dashes of hot sauce to taste! I used Marie Sharp's Orange Pulp Habanero Sauce.
Stir it up!

Last but not least, frost & enjoy! Matt and I thought the sauce tastes mild at first, but wait about 10 seconds and a slow burn will rear it's hot head at the back of your throat. Loved it!!! I will definitely make this again.

So all in all our spicy Valentine's Day meal was great-and I had so much fun that I'm going to do another 3 course meal this weekend for Family Day long weekend! I don't know what the main event will be, but the feature food is cauliflower, or chou-fleur in French. And if Matt was smaller, he would be mon petit chou-fleur!