Thursday, October 16, 2014

Take Me Away


Okay, somebody call a time-out. Things are getting a little too edgy. Everybody back to their corner, now! We know that we live in a 24/7 news cycle world. It never stops—they’ve got to keep you scared and interested so you don’t change the channel or stop looking at the screen. 

I’m taking a breather. This week no market volatility discussion, no recession talk, no Ebola—let’s sit back and open a nice bottle of wine and breathe. Ahhhh, relax, and let’s enjoy the weekend.

A long time ago I gave up drinking chardonnay, especially that overly oaken beverage they claim is wine. Did you know that some California wine producers actually soak their juice in wood chips to get that oaky flavor? 

Recently I have been drinking one of France’s treasured wines, Muscadet. Muscadet is sometimes confused with the sweet wine muscatel, from the grape varietal muscat. Muscadet is a dry white wine from the Loire Valley. The wine is made from the muscadet grape, sometimes called melon. It is bone-dry with a little bit of a mineral taste, in a good way. There are several growing regions within Muscadet; the most famous wines come from Muscadet Sèvre et Maine.


What I love about Muscadet is that you can taste the fruit. It is not overpowered by oak or wood chips. It is subtle and elegant. Muscadet is best served with shellfish, but at a recent lunch I enjoyed a glass with Pork Milanese and a frisée salad—perfection!

Muscadet is best enjoyed young, so purchase a bottle from a recent vintage (within the last two years). Another great thing about Muscadet is that it is cheap. You don’t have to spend more than $12.00 for a good bottle.

Two bottles that I have enjoyed recently were from Château de la Chesnaie 2013 and Domaine de la Tourmaline 2012.

Go ahead, put your worrying on hold, or better yet, let it drift away and buy a few bottles of Muscadet this weekend. Prepare a pot of mussels or buy some fresh oysters and shrimp and Muscadet—take your troubles away.

 

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