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This episode Rob & Carter are joined by Dave to drink and discuss French wines. All three of us are exploring more Old World wines. Rob has been exploring a little longer so he talks the basics of red French wine, regions and the varietals used in those regions. Rob also set up a blind of three wines for Dave and Carter to see what they like.
hey everyone Rob here with food wine and whiskey in your own backyard we’re getting ready to start an episode but before we do I wanted to let you know it’s going to have in it a blind on wines um Dave Scott and Matt Carter are coming over and we’re going to talk about French wines Carter wants to get into oldw World Wines and I think Dave does as well so French is kind of the the topic for tonight but what I wanted to do for them was give them three wines that they could just blind as we kind of have the podcast tonight and just see without knowing what they’re drinking what kind of varietal where it’s from what region uh what they like if they like any of them so before we started I wanted to let you all know the listeners what we’re drinking tonight so when you hear us speak of wine number one we’re going to be drinking a 2016 St Joseph um this is a northern northern rone wine it’s 100% srat 13.5% alcohol so number one is going to be a northern rone 100% SRA uh wine that we’ll be drinking number two that we’ll be drinking is a 2010 Chateau F brage from St amelion and it’s a grand crew this is a right bank berau so it’s going to be mostly Mero actually it’s 80% Mero it’s got 12% cap Fran and 8% Cabernet salvon and the alcohol on that is 14.5 um the third wine I’ve chose for them tonight is I didn’t want to go into burgundy because I’m trying to kind of watch the dollars that we’re spending so I went right next door to Bal and we’re doing a Chateau de jaes which is a 100% game I’m a huge fan of game and bouet in general some of the wines that they’re doing so this is a 2016 bouet but it’s 100% game and uh just wanted to let you guys know these are the wines they’re going to be talking about 1 two and three as we go through this blind tonight and talk about French wines so without any further Ado let’s get into the [Music] show hey everyone welcome to another episode of food wine and whiskey in your own backyard I am Rob and Carter with us tonight how you doing Carter I am great and for those who don’t know you are now I’m going to say it the next couple of episodes just so people who maybe didn’t listen to the last one uh you are now a regular co-host of the show ah I’ve been graced with this honor and and you and you all listening have been disgraced with my presence a regular contributor been on the show a lot I don’t know maybe one day he’ll want to be on the show Regular uh Dave Scott how you doing buddy I’m doing well how are y’all all right we are uh we are diving into some Veno tonight let’s do this finally yeah and Carter you and I had a conversation and we were talking about you know doing some shows and coming up and we had we had all kinds of things we were talking about but one of the things you’d mentioned was you you like California wines you like old world but you’re not as experienced in Old World and you kind of wanted to get into that a little bit more and we kind of said let’s just kind of do a fun episode just kind of the basics into a region of Old World wine I love it yes uh right off the Jump uh my experience in wine is mostly Nappa Sonoma um P robas like that kind of stuff um I like old world WIS when somebody pours me something I go man I love this you know like it’s some good stuff that people you know like you share with me um but I just don’t know a lot about it be honest when we talk about you like and Dave tell everybody where you’re at in wine I mean you’re a big Nappa guy to start but you’re you you drink some old world I am so my background is definitely in Napa so big bold cabs that’s my favorite but I do dabble a little bit here and there with some Italian some kantes um as well as some some French wines but it it’s I think we were talking a little earlier it’s more of a guessing game for me with the with the French with the French wines because I’m so familiar with Napa I know exactly what region I’m looking what Appalachian I’m looking for whereas French it’s it’s just can be confusing yeah it’s a guessing game because I haven’t had enough of them but they all have funny names on the outside that’s right that I can’t read well just to start off one of the big differences between you know old world whether it’s Italian or French and American wines Napa Valley Wines is Nappa is going to clearly tell you on the front of the label what’s in the bottle absolutely I mean right and by what’s in the bottle I mean what’s the predom yeah what’s the predominate I mean a lot of people have this perception when it says Cavern saon that it’s 100% it’s not all it’s mostly not 100% still Blended what it means in American I think it’s still 75% it has to be in America in North America that uh whatever the if as long as you have 75% or more you can call it that varietal Cabernet salvon Mero C Fran whatever it might and it also if you are going to call it if you were going to call it estate grown then it has to be even so yeah very different so when you get into Old World they go more by region so people go you know I I love a good Bordeaux and they go well that’s a kind of wine it’s not really a kind of wine it’s a region yep in France and and so when you start getting to Old World Wines we’re going to talk specifically about French wines understanding the region within France is going to tell you what kind of varietal is in that bottle right because with with the Bordeaux there are five major varietal within the Bordeaux region that’s right so let’s start with this what are what are your Dave you kind of mentioned you like big bold cabs what else do you two like to drink on a regular basis um I guess like you know just going back to California I like uh Leed Zeppelin song great one uh like I like uh Zen fendels I like cab uh peti SRA um you want me to help you yeah I know you like a sarra yeah I know you like a c Fran yeah Pino Noir P Noir not so much P Noir from California from California no okay y um but you like a allbeck I do I do yeah and Dave is that kind of your yeah I would I would definitely say that I would start with with the Cabernet song then move on I like love petite sarra and sarra big heavy stain your teeth purple yeah curd meat kind of right I mean beef jerky right after the first drink um I I love a good Peno Noir but that’s definitely not going to be my first choice if if I’m looking for something a little lighter fruer then yeah TN a little more little more red fruit than than the dark dark fruits than I’m going with a that P Noir but but that’s never going to be my first choice so when when Carter mentioned you know let’s let’s do something in an old world I I suggested let’s do French wines first because I thought the varietals you know obviously chir and you know style of wine making is going to make a difference to what you’re actually chasing in the bottle but I think it’s going to be the closest thing you’re going to get to what you’re used to enjoying from Napa okay I mean when we get into Italian wines and we start talking about s sanesi and niolo we’re we’re totally different grapes correct than what we’re talking about in French where we’re still going to have the sarra and all the vordo varietals and the pin Noir and things like that so I thought this would be an easier transition so what we did was well what I did was for you two gentlemen is there’s really six different regions that I enjoy in red wines and we’re going to stay just red wines tonight in France and so the biggest and probably well burgundy fans might uh argue with me here but I’ll say the two biggest are Bordeaux and burgundy they’re the worldwide most well-known and if you think about Bordeaux I mean some of the most expensive Wines in the world come out of Bordeaux um you have kind of two different areas in Bordeaux avas you have right right bank and Left Bank and your right bank is going to be your more Mero heavy okay with cab Fran as the second wine or or varial that that’s not wine but verial that’s in that wine uh and then some cabol uh and you might have some petite forough or malbeck or something like that but usually it’s more low and cap Fran heavy okay when you get into left bank now you’re talking about Cabernet Salon is the main grae with some Mero and some cap fron paero and malbeck and you don’t see as much malbeck in France as much anymore as you used to you know the fxia kind of ran out a lot of the different varietal in France and uh malbeck being a a you know a grape that started there in in France uh kind of got taken over to to uh Argentina and and French still use it but it’s not as it’s not a predominant grape like it used to be uh in in France so you’re you’re really dealing with cab and Cabernet saon and cab Fran and Mero with a Sprinkle of uh petite forau for the most part so what’s a I mean totally ignorant you know question here um what what are we talking about blend wise like when we’re talking about you know like we were talking about with you know Napa I think a lot of American wine drinkers who haven’t dove in deep you know went down the rabbit hole see something on a label like we just said that says Cabernet Salon Mero whatever it might say and think that it’s that grape only and it’s it’s usually never is no very rarely very rarely it’s usually that and a blend that’s in there but a petite forau some Mero malbeck whatever the blend might be that the wine maker used to make that wine um when you talk about Baux it’s all about blending when you say a Bordeaux it’s always Blended we know that for a fact uh it’s very rare that you would see 100% of something from Bordeaux it’s always Blended and you know that if it’s Left Bank it’s heavy cap blended with Mero cap Fran whatever else if it’s right right bank it’s heavy Mero blended with cap Fran usually the second grape and then mixing on to you know whether it’s PE Vero or or Cabernet Salon or something like that yeah it’s and it’s very interesting because California wines were the Mero was always a blending grape yes cab Fran was always a blending grape just to round out the Cabernet Salon well as Cycles go berlow was super popular for for a long time until sideways right until sideways then it was P Noir yeah that that took over but now we it just seems to be a cyclical thing where Mero or P Noir cab Fran but it all comes back to blending yeah and and it even in the stakes you know just like Bordeaux uh cab and Mero were the two big grapes that stood on their own mhm and the the the blending grapes were your petite forau your malbeck and your and your um C Fran yeah that would blend with those but in the states I like what they’ve been doing in Napa because they are now allowing petite forough C Fran other regions as well with malbeck but malbeck is standing on its own but specifically cap Fran and petite vaux are being able to be that big grape that leads yeah that leads which is which is fantastic so that’s kind of your your Bordeaux region so you’re going to have the same similar type of grapes again when we start talking about toar because if you look at um you know right Bank versus Left Bank you’re going to have different types of soil you know Granite which is going to give you that more minerally kind of versus a clay or something like that that’s going to be less manually so that all makes and it’s very very interesting when you start getting into wine and you become kind of that wine geek uh you start to understand that you could be in in in a whether it’s Napa or in Old World and you can be in a plot of land that’s growing grapes and pick up a rock and throw it and wherever it lands go over there and the wine will be totally different huh totally different can I ask a stupid question no stupid questions but go ahead okay um so uh you know we’re talking cab we’re talking Mero you know depending on are these grapes native to France oh yes yes so when when you hear about Napa you say you know you hear everybody say Napa Valley has bordeau varidol right because those are French ones okay you know I didn’t I don’t know if anybody traced the lineage of the gra and all that kind of stuff and that’s what’s really big in California is that it’s almost as if they were smuggled the cuting of the vines in Bordeaux were basically smuggled to California so they they cut them little sections of the vines brought them to California to grow and that’s why the big thing there are different clones so if you get a let’s say a clone 51 I’m just throwing out a number that is traced back to the French Bordeaux region that is famous for putting out Grand cruise I mean they but they and the real way uh I think the way I understand it Dave you tell me if I’m wrong because I know you’re a big Nappa guy uh it wasn’t that uh you know wines and Napa weren’t brought here from France going we’re going to go there and just make wine that wasn’t their goal it was we’re going to go to America and what do we need have well hell we like our wine here in France so if I’m going to move to America I need to bring some vines with me so I can plant them and have my table wine if you think about growing up in the 1800s you know you think if you lived in a farmhouse you had a cow that gave you milk you had a a chicken that gave you eggs and things like that well for the Europeans that came over from whether it be Italy or France they went well yeah you got to have your chicken in your cow but hell you got to have your Vines for some wine too so that was very very important so I think that’s where it started was just them growing wine or Vines to make table wine and then it kind of went to over the years evolved to well [ __ ] we can make some pretty good wine here right let’s let’s try grafting this clone with this with this native Vine to to see what what we’re going to get yeah one of the uh one of the wine makers uh Glenn Hugo who is the head wine maker for Gerard and Nappa one of the thing I likes I like that he does is he have a he has a certain part of his Vineyard where he still does what they did as you know just Farm people uh back in the old days which was just mixed blacks so he would take whether it’s your sarra your Cabernet your Malo whatever it was and just all grows in a field on the vines you don’t know what’s what you just Harvest it and make it and it’s a wine that he calls mixed blacks and it’s just the way he makes it it’s delicious so but it really I appreciate it because it’s a way it’s a it’s in homage to the the the Old Settlers who came and and just kind of had that table wine that was what they put on the table to have meals every day yeah so to digress just a hair and I and I apologize for going out on a changent do we have Italian varietals that are you know big in Napa or anything like that well I wouldn’t say they’re big I would I would say the one varietal that’s starting to show up more and more in Napa is sanio vasy yep okay so it’s it’s a and that’s a very I mean it’s one of my favorite varietals I mean I’m a huge sanio AC fan and I I don’t even want to Veer off there let’s not go there I just thought from a from a Prof perspective of ignorance here I am I’m just throwing out a question yeah no no and and that’s why I kind of focused more on French wines tonight getting into oldw world was because I knew that you guys are Nappa guys and the varietal would kind of now the style might be different but the varietal you know you know what you like in those varietal from Napa so let’s see what you like from those varietals in uh in France per so we got Bordeaux we’ve got burgundy which is p Noir and when you think about the United States making Pino California does but or has kind of been earmarked that you know Pino Noir capital I mean there’s some question and there’s some agreement that they’re on the same longitude latitude whatever it is the the same kind of weather profile for coolness and weather and things like that um when I think about burgundy burgundy can be very expensive in France I mean it gets up there a region that used to be part of burgundy but now is its own Ava uh Appalachian I call it an Ava I shouldn’t it’s an Appalachian uh is Bay and Bay is the grape varietal there isn’t P Noir but it’s a grape very similar which is game uh which you both have had pin noirs have either of you you remember had a game you’ve had game have you I don’t know unless you’ve given it to me at some point in time and I’m not sure if you have you may have but it’ll be interesting to see if you pick out and and can figure out which one you think that might be okay so cool oh [ __ ] I just kind of told you it might be in there maybe it is maybe it is I mean I wouldn’t know either way another another region in uh and what I’ve done is kind of you know I went through Bordeaux bouet burgundy these are regions that I like to drink wine from and we’re just going to kind of stay in that area because I think it’s kind of what you guys like as well um these are all reds you know if we want to get into whites that’ll be another episode and when you think about France you know if you look at the center of France and you go north it’s going to be you know when you get into those cooler climates that’s when you start thinking about whether it’s Pino Noir or game which are those grapes that need that cooler climate and then those whites when you get into Chardonnay and savan Blan and things like that uh when you go south now you’re getting the Heat and those big bold wines like you think about with uh Saras and things like that so now we’re going to go south and get into the ran Valley and the r R Valley is broken up into two areas which is Northern ran and Southern ran Northern ran is known just for not just for but the big red grape that they’re known for making wines is the sarra which we’re all fans of Southern rone is known for the GSM blend when we talk about posel roblas it’s very popular over there for the GSM Blends and they’re compared to ran that style so GSM being the granach the mdra the sarra those wines so if you think about a Cheta pop or a jandas those are typically what you’re going to find now there’s other grapes in those areas that can be grown I think you know shetan the pop has 13 grapes that are allowed to be grown and made into Wines in that region yeah but if you really look into it I mean those three a combination of one two or three the granache the mued the SRA are the three grapes that are typically always used for the most part those are what you think about when I say shet enough to pop people are going to think GSM blend always same way jenas if I say coach terone or if I say something in Northern um northern ran Valley you’re going to think of sarra you know so so that’s another area I like now another region that I like is the Lorie Valley which is just North of Bordeaux and the reason I like that area is if you think about what what’s one of your favorite wines besides a Cabernet uh saon um um C Fran maybe bingo so that’s what this region grows for or makes for a red wine oh man so they are known for their cap Fran so that’s why it’s one of my favorite areas and I would think that you would like that oh yeah yeah and me and my wife da right absolutely yeah and and then you have the lodu rouson region okay which also does gsms and SAS uh and then they do the carrian uh I don’t know if you’ve ever had the carrian grape from from France but it’s it’s really good as well um and so that’s that same style but these are the the regions that I enjoy drinking red wines from there is another area in France kind of the Southwest area and it’s really kind of cool because they make really good Mall and uh there’s another oh a tanat they make a really good tanat but for some reason and I don’t know why it is they’re not you know kind of Taken outside of the country they’re they’re kind of sold and kept just in France or maybe in neighboring countries but we don’t get them in the United States uh but but I know from people who have had them they’re supposedly fantastic malbecks and fantastic tats all right but uh it’s not one on my list because you can’t go to our local wine shop and get those particular wines so so of these six areas that I’ve listed to you and in regions in in France I’ve poured you three one from each of or or three of these regions are represented in the glasses you have today okay so you want to dive in I do do it I do all right well let’s dive in what we’re going to do is we’ll do this first just on a pallet okay and then we have some good food that we’ve cooked to kind of come back and we always say Old World Wines you know are really good with food and that’s how they’re recommended to be drank is with food so we’re going to just kind of do them on the pallet and uh no nosing notes yeah nosing pallet drinking and seeing what you think and then we’ll come back and do it with some food woo okay so let’s dive into these and we we’ll be right back okay we gave you a few seconds off the podcast just to kind of get your thoughts together after going through three glasses so where you where you guys stand let’s let’s start with you Dave as far as let let me ask you this let’s let’s just make keep it simple and go one two and three do you like one do you like two do you like three on the nose and then on have you have you put them on the pallet yet I have okay I’ve no all three of them several times and and I have put them on the pallet so let’s go through and see if you just like them first let’s go there one yes one you like two yes pallet and nose pallet and nose Okay number two the nose is fantastic um the pallet doesn’t quite deliver what the nose does but okay three not a fan of the nose and not a fan of the pallette okay Carter okay one I like a lot um it’s got a nice like I my guess not that I know anything but my guess is it a younger wine um but one yeah number one um and younger tell me what that means and what’s your definition of younger I mean there’s a certain if you had to name a vintage you would say this might be what uh maybe this is Mero is maybe heavy um it’s got a nice sweetness to it I can tell I I can I love that U but year vintage you say young um I’d say it’s like three years old or younger so 18 something like that okay something like that um it’s got a like I said it’s got a great sweetness and I mean it’s highly enjoyable um not particularly complex but I really like it um two um I’m on the fence on and and this maybe just the new newer you know old world guy uh and me but uh it uh I hate to I hate to even say it like this but you know I’ve tried some older World V uh uh wines before and um the uh uh sneaker rubber kind of nose comes out and and some of those and I’m getting a hint of that really okay but uh that being said you know maybe like I said you guys can laugh me off the off the podcast but uh but I I do think the Finish is very nice on this uh wine it’s got a nice tartness to it that I I really like three I freaking love it by the way okay it’s it’s a lighter wine I I’m I’m kind of giving getting that impression um great sweetness um and you know I know you know this Dave but Matt you you can always look at the wine the color things like that can give you some indication of what you might be drinking if you know the area it’s coming from that’ll help you kind of decide what it it might be yeah and and and like honestly yeah it’s got a a little bit lighter color but it’s enjoyable it’s just uh I don’t think that I would I don’t think that I would say like oh my gosh this is going to blow me away but it’s extremely enjoyable and extremely drinkable and and you know we’re drinking these just out of the glass and most people who know when you talk about Old World Wines they will tell you they’re made to be enjoyed with food yeah they’re not not meant to be drank by themselves so I say now that we’ve done this exercise of just kind of going through them and seeing what you think just on their own let’s uh you know we’ve cooked a pretty good meal we’ve got some red meat we’ve got some uh palinta and some veggies and and let’s put a little plate of food in front of us and start sipping back through these and see what you guys think what do you think let’s do it sounds good all right we’ll be right back [Music] okay we are back and and here’s what we did we ate dinner we did we we ate some food it was horrible I mean who cooked that crap sorry no in all honesty you know much praise to the chef amazing food well thank you for that but I I think it’s always fun to you know have wine try the wine on its own and then you know I think especially old world wines are made to be enjoyed with food yeah so to have a a little bit of food and and try it with the wine and see if that changes in Carter it it obviously kind of I think changed your opinion on on one of the wines yeah it really did uh in fact um it’s a real tie for me between number one and number two uh very different very different wines um I just felt like number two really cut through through uh the food extremely well um balanced out all that we had staks and we had let’s let everybody know what we had we had um yeah I I did and and I love to cook subid when I do steaks or reverse se but we had some veggies in the oven so I did subid but we did a big old ribey yeah we did a big old uh New York strip yep and we did some fillet so we kind of had our what we call in our group the tour to beef yeah so we had a little bit of those three cuts of meat with like you said some creamy Parmesan Pala and some asparagus and I can say that two with that meal cuts through extremely well okay um I I like the complexity of it I like the way that it pairs with the food quite a bit um what I’ll say is one kind of totally different um more of the fruit root forward um more of like a sweetness to it that kind of stuff but it’s big and bold enough to where it can compete with all those fatty foods um so I definitely I I’m ranking mine you know not that we’ve gotten there yet but I like to jump the gun on everything sure goe jump uh I get froggy it’s one a 2 B you know like it’s like it’s like they’re close when it comes to food um and then three being last however I have to make the comment three held up a lot better than I was expecting with that type of meal so uh I’m I’m not like I don’t know that I necessarily go to it uh for the the the type of food that we had however it did better than I thought well let’s go through the wines now that you’ve had them on their own mhm let let you’ve had them with some food what do you think about the wines in general what what do you see from a balance from a structure kind of standpoint you guys have had enough wine to kind of give some idea on what you think about these wines and then maybe if you’re willing to kind of give a guess on maybe what kind of varietal you think it is uh maybe not the region but the variet all you think you’re drinking and uh and just kind of overall what you’re thinking thinking about these wines okay yeah yeah absolutely so let’s start with number one what do you both think about number one who wants to start I’ll start okay what do we what do we think about number one in what what way you know one you know you’re just just looking at it full-bodied wine do you think it’s balanced with acid with alcohol with tannins you know what what what do you get in this wine are you enjoying the wine do you think it’s too young do you think it’s past its prime okay do you think it’s drinking well I I think one is definitely drinking well it’s a little lighter wine a little more red fruit than dark fruit um very little tannins and which would lead me to think that it’s towards the P Noir on number one varietal yes on number one okay um I actually think it’s probably going toward more than Mero uh type P no Mero malbeck I would I would agree it’s it’s but man it is really a standout to me uh I would agree I not a lot of tanic notes or anything like that that’s what that’s why I think it’s more towards the Mero Mal TN P because there lack of tannin lack of tannin big big fruit big fruit uh yeah but red fruit red fruit yeah it’s like your raspberry not not your dark dark not cherry or anything like that but you know like it’s but I really like it I agree when before we before we ate I tasted through or nosed all through through all three of them tasted through all three of them two is my absolute favorite of the three that we’re tasting and it held up that way after after food or with food one I thought was outstanding as well with the food three does not fit three I didn’t I didn’t like it on the nose originally I didn’t like it on the palette originally and after eating and tasting it with a fatty meal and a creamy palenta you know different textures and and it didn’t hold up it does not hold up okay no it it it it is the one that it that does not fit yeah with this group of I’m trying to think of the old Sesame Street you know which one these does not belong okay and number three is it that’s it with this type of meal correct correct all right I I’d say like on three I liked it more um upfront uh when we were just diving into the wine um now I’m less of a fan of it um so I don’t know and I’ll let a little cat out of the bag to me I’m not surprised with your answer okay okay and I’ll let you know why later but I’m not surprised with your answer two I did not like right up front at all I was like it’s kind of got like an offensive flavor to to me like and it it’s like something something there that just doesn’t you said rubber on a tennis shoe yeah yeah I mean like something just just I didn’t like it okay now that I’ve had food totally different animal now it I think you said it rank your first favorite it’s it’s real neck and neck with one real neck and neck okay uh for very different reasons but I really like how powerful it is it can really cut through the fat you know like when we’re we’re talking meat and and Penza and cream and you know all the fats okay and to me number two doesn’t it’s still by far my favorite number two is your favorite number two is my favorite okay and and I would rank it in there with a with a it to me I think it’s either a Cabernet Fran cab Fran or cab sanon but it doesn’t seem to have the tanic structure that a cab suon has so I’m I’m guessing a cab FR okay you guys want to go ahead and and dive into what the wines are and what you’re drinking yeah let’s do it let let’s start with number three because both of you agreed that with this meal it didn’t go no yeah and this is a a a bouet okay so this is a a a really good bouet but it’s uh the bouet is a it’s 100% game yep which is like a Peno Noir Y and when you think about the big you know doesn’t have a lot of tannins and when you think about eating red meat you think tannins to help cut through the fat of that red meat and this doesn’t have it so you all saying it doesn’t go with this meal you’re exactly right I would agree with you yep uh it’s a wine that I haven’t had before I picked it up today okay uh but it’s a highly rated wine it’s been bought by LS jidat uh in 1996 which is I mean they make some very lowend village Village wines but they make some very good gr Grand Cruise as well and uh for bileet this is a really high-end not high-end but it’s a very wellth thought of wine it’s and I thought it was very good for what it is uh but it didn’t necessarily go with the meal when think about these types of wines you’re thinking that spicier kind of food whether it’s Asian food or something like that that these would pair very nicely with the this is a I actually really enjoy this and uh like not right now not with the meal that we had however like if we were comparing it against most California panina noirs I would probably go this direction most most uh and the reason I went bouet versus uh a burgundy is just on price this is a $35 wine uh yeah that’s it’s rated very high when you get into some of the burgundies when you get into the premier cruise and the grand Cruise Cru y I mean you’re spending 60 to 100 bucks and and yeah there’s another wine out there the bouet with the game grape which to me it holds itself up very well to Those Grapes without having to spend that kind of money to me this this wine would go well with a sh shuty board oh yeah spicy salami some peppered peppered cheeses so and that’s what I that’s what I figured with with that wine I I didn’t even go venture out and say shellfish or something like that like I know that like we’re you know crossing the border with red wine and you know Seafood but this would this one is not you know big enough to really compete with it AG totally agree and so I think it would it would might do well in there I agree and again I think when you think about pin Noir and uh and uh game but more P Noir for me I always think for whatever reason Asian food I love a Pino Noir with it holds well to that spicy if you get something with some spice on it this really balances that out very well yeah it doesn’t have the big tannins it does it’s not big and bold it’s just light and delicate and it balances out the spice that you might have in an Asian dish yeah and even maybe a Mexican dish or something whatever might be with spice I think this just goes very well with spice agreed so wine number one that you guys are drinking oh I like one you like one I do so oh and just so you know the Vintage on the game which is the Chateau deis is 2016 okay the alcohol is 13.5% and again it’s 100% game okay right number one is again 2016 okay you you thought it might have been a little younger 2018 but it’s actually 16 for for a northern rone this is 100% sarra 13 .5% alcohol and uh it’s from the the appalachi of uh St Joseph well that explains why I really like it a s s like a lot 100% yeah and again this bottle is about 39 bucks so it’s not like break oh yeah I think this is a buy all the way right here for 40 bucks I agree that one is is very good I I would not have guessed SRA to me on this one the tannin aren’t as big as you would think no on a SRA that’s only a 2016 nope the tannin are very subtle great yeah so on the tannin on the SRA I would think much much more heavy tannins as well as just way more mouth coating this one seemed a little a little lighter than than what I would expect from a normal Sur I agree with you and I’ll be honest I’ve had this bottle in my fridge for a while and I it’s my first time having it and for sarra I agree with you 100% Dave what I get I like it absolutely it is it is outstanding it seems more finessed and delicate more delicate absolutely then what I think about the big bold chiras that we get from Napa Valley right that turn your teeth purple oh yeah as soon as you take the first sip you can feel it coating your teeth but I like this and with the food to your point Carter paired well absolutely oh yeah even though I don’t get the tannins on my palette it’s not pinched in the side of my cheeks nope it’s still cut through that fat of the beef and the and the palinta very well it’s it’s a I I get what you’re saying is it being like more of a unique animal being a SRA however I get like the essence of it you know like there is that sarra now that now that I know that it’s a Sur you kind of pick up you look more for those things that you’re yeah but but originally smelling it and ta nosing it tasting it I had way more red fruit that would more lean me lean me towards a zinfindel yeah or or a Pino a heavy heavy penino that being said for $40 that’s a great buy yeah it’s solid you could uh you could bring this to any event and it would pair well with a lot of different foods and that’s one thing I think you know American wine drinkers and we’re we’re here in Houston we’re our podcast is based in America uh so most of the people we know are into Napa wines uh and and I I totally understand that when you buy Napa wines just the cost of real estate in Napa in California and just all the you know government bureaucracy what’s the word bureaucracy bureaucracy they have to go through paying for whatever permit and this and that and I mean they pay a crap load of money they got to pass that on and so that’s why their wines are fantastic but they are expensive and when you can learn and get into whether it be French or uh Italian or other New World areas whether it’s Argentina or Chile or wherever there’s just such great value out there that that we can have and enjoy and that’s that’s one of the things that I’ve come to really enjoy about old world win is the value I mean you can get such good wine because when you think about the real estate in Old World Wines somebody who’s had a a French Vineyard has probably had it 200 years and it’s been in the family you know or whatever 100 years in the family and there is no more you know huge debt on that land they’ve owned it for a long time so they that is reflected in the cost that they charge you for what they’re putting in the um I just think if you if you’re a wine lover getting into Old World Wines one I think they make fantastic juice and two I think it’s great value well yes I I’d agree uh now what I’ll say about this sarra I I was surprised very surprised by this one um it it confused me in a way uh like I didn’t I didn’t know that would be SRA it it has this sweetness that I’m not used to um but dang did it pair well with food I mean really well but I think once you get kind of the the what you know it is it’s that trigger and now you start thinking what do I think about with sarra and you start smell cured meats and pepper and yeah it’s there then you go [ __ ] now I get it you know because that was one of the first first things I thought of when I nose through them before we had any food at all first one number one I thought I’d smell beef jerky yeah and I smell some smoked meat some cured meat in there and yep I I get you you know honestly like I uh I I I didn’t want to say it because I I was feeling kind of embarrassed about it but it had like a smoked goua y quality to it yeah know there is a smoked it’s not smokey but there there is that essence of a smoked meat like jerky or yes a smoked cheese something I I really love it yep fantastic whereas number two when I held number two up it to me it was sweet fruit bomb just bold fruit bomb right from the right from the get-go now now that I’ve had food you know I’m all over number two yeah I mean like it is that’s she said that’s correct I it is ridiculously good yeah I’m glad that you both say that because to me it’s the best wine that I’ve presented to you all tonight this is a grand crew yep when I tasted through when I nosed through them the first time as soon as I got to number two it was like okay yeah Yep this is this good wine absolutely this is a 2010 and if know anything about the vintages of of you know Old World Wines France uh 2010 was a great year in in France and uh this is St amelion uhhuh which is right bank which means it’s going to be more Mero driven which I’m a fan of Mero some people aren’t you know sideways uh but I am blame Paul Giamatti yeah but this is 80% Mero 12 % cap Fran and 8% Cabernet salvon okay and it’s 145% alcohol and uh to me this is a wine that I’ve got a few more bottles in the fridge this is one Carter I talked to you about uh I think a few weeks ago that I said you need to try and that’s one of the reasons I opened it tonight with the the meat we were having and everything and I think it’s just a fantastic one it’s a hitter man I like it’s amazing how much your pallet changes and your old factory system and everything after you’ve eaten um because you know being completely honest with everybody listening I haven’t eaten anything today like I do intermittent fasting so I’m like I came in here like completely like yeah like starving starving you know and so when I drank this wine at first I was like something in there I don’t like I don’t know after I’ve eaten changed the world on this wine and you know you always hear that and I know I’ve said it already but you always hear that with Old World Wines that they tell you it’s made to be had you know when you when you go to Italy or you go to France if if you just order a bottle wine they’re still going to bring you out cheese and bread and something to eat as you’re drinking that wine and and uh you know a lot of times with Napa wines you think uh you know porch pounder there’s a big bold fruit B we were talking about one the other night yeah that I go it’s just a fruit balb you can drink this just sitting on the back porch and you go I like that uh and and some of those wines are made that way that you can you don’t have to have food right uh but I think a lot of the old world wines are made in a way that food is in that process that thought process of what they’re making to to compliment each other yeah yeah and if you think of a like a traditional French meal French meals tend to have a lot of cream in them m tenda have a lot of rich rich flavors butter you know uh they use butter n not much yeah but like you know you think of like a CO a cavon or you think of like you know just a bagette with a bunch of bread on the top of it or something like that I mean you’re you’re talking about like fatty foods yeah you’re right you’re exactly right and I guess they made their wine to go extremely well with the the food that they eat so so my goal tonight was to just kind of you know Dave I think you’ve probably explored French wines more than than Carter has but just to kind of give you three different regions that you didn’t know Bordeaux uh Northern Rome and something from burgundy bealu and you just see if there was something that you go this is what I like yeah um and and just to see if you found something that you like from one of those regions knowing that you already liked Napa cabs and cab FR and SAS from Napa and things like that so I think we accomplished that oh absolutely oh yeah absolutely and I found I found like that I liked all of them for different reasons yeah because I I’ve had several balet that just on their own that I thought were fantastic yeah I agree but in this lineup when you’re comparing a sarra base big bold wines big bold it to a thinner skinned grape that’s more delicate it it was the one that didn’t fit in if but if I did that intentionally yes and if you’re going to start off drinking that wine for the night and stick with it it’s going to be fantastic yeah but but when you’re comparing it to to the highly structured heavier Boulder wines that we had with the SRA and and the Mero cab Fran Cabernet soyon blend it doesn’t fit yeah and and and you know we can’t help as humans to if you have three different things in front of you you’re you’re going to compare them against each other abely and that that was part of my you know I threw that in just to see part of it was you know drinking them on your own without the food to just see what you thought because I knew once we added the type of food we were having tonight and I did that type of food because we have two of our wines that I thought went with that more than but I wanted to see what you thought about the game on its own MH and then what you thought about it with the food compared to the other ones but you know if we car if we cook some spicy dish I think that game would just be absolutely yeah fantastic well I mean we’ve done it with whiskey before as far as blinds you know like we blind the most amazing whiskies you know against each other we’re like that thing is crap and then but if that was the first por that you had of the night you go holy crap I Dr for my life you know I mean so it is all kind of like relative to the scale sure it is it is and and I think you know I did you guys like the game on its own I think you did more than I did yeah but but now that I’m drinking it by itself and thinking about what it is you kind of appreciate what’s supposed to be in the glass correct okay but but when I’m nosing all three one a sarra two a blend of Merlo cab Fran and cabern San and then get to the game it totally different totally different it’s like no I do not like that but but if I take the other two out of the equation and only knows that and tastes it on the pallet it it it’s definitely a nice wine cuz on the nose I think you know when initially when it was open and I let it decant for a while you know and again it was about an hour but I still think the Morts opened up in the glass on the nose it’s gotten a lot nicer for me it has but to me it still has a has a very heavy red fruit but also with some I don’t even know how to describe it some stems and leaves and it’s it’s a green flavored a green oh you’re getting that kind of that bell pepper it’s not I wouldn’t even call it bell pepper but it it’s it is definitely a I can see that okay I wasn’t getting that until you you know again one of those trigger things that make me and then now I’m I’m getting that oh yeah yeah almost like a like a um like a waxy like type of thing um but that being said I still like it no well I think it’s really now that I’m drinking it only by itself and not going back and forth down the line I think it’s very good I think it’s very good but again it I don’t think it held up or paired well with a fatty the food we had heavy red beef and palenta creamy yeah wasn’t meant to go with that kind of food no not at all um but I think if somebody you know doesn’t like the the big tannin that are going to you know bite the insides of your cheeks and and things like that game or or uh burgundy is a great and I think you know done right I’ll I’ll tell you I’m I’ve not found a lot uh in California or Oregon that I like in the in the P Noir they don’t they don’t have to my knowledge they don’t have gam here in the states um but when you get over to uh France I’m a huge fan of burgundy that I get from there and I’m a huge fan of of good quality G that I can get from there and price-wise it’s just to me it’s just quality to Value it’s a home run every time I mean I just really enjoy it so you guys are not disappointed with tonight you no getting into French wines these are some regions that you enjoy and and you would explore you know getting into producers and things like that you know when we think about Napa wines we all know well I say we all those of us who are into wine know Nappa um won by the producer producer whose name is on the bottle and two by the Ava that’s represented on the bottle whether it’s Rutherford or Calistoga or oakl District or whatever it might be and that helps us kind of go to what the quality is that’s going to be in the bottle um when you get over to the French wines now you’re talking about again like we said in the beginning of this episode you don’t know what’s in the bottle as far as varietal you have to know what’s made in that real that region in that region and that’s going to define the type of varieties that are used in that bottle of wine whether it’s ran which would be the GSM or Bordeaux with the malb cabau all of those or burgundy if you say burgundy most people who know are going to go that’s a Pino Noir they just know yeah um what you don’t know what’s hard for me um and I’m still young into this is finding those producers because Dave you and I know I mean we can say Taylor family we can say Robinson we can say Lura Michael we can sa all kinds of producers that we know right in Napa Valley and there’s a lot in Napa Valley mhm but times 20 or whatever times a big number uh when you go to France even though it’s a small country and they have a lot of people making wine oh yeah yeah so that’s the hardest part what I would say is is you know if you’re going to get into Old World Wines French or Italian find the region understand what wines are made in that region with the varietal of grapes that are used and then just kind of you know go through and and find producers that you like buy bottles that you know look for Value as far as what you want to spend but once you find them you know keep some kind of log or or uh spreadsheet or something so that you can remember cuz it’s so easy to have a bottle of wine and go [ __ ] what what did we drink that night yeah and you forget what it was and it was fantastic for you know $18 or something you want to remember those things I find myself myself taking pictures a lot of times yeah it’s great way to do and and in today’s age where you can take a picture with your phone yeah it’s great way you’re right very convenient but I would agree that the best way to do it is to keep a log book yeah buy buy the wine record it put your tasting notes next to it whether it’s a buy again or never again yeah yeah and that’s a great Point Dave there’s some wines you want to make a note of that don’t buy this again never again that’s true that’s a great point and again it it it may all depend on okay what did we have for dinner tonight yeah that’s true did we have a really fatty steak with some sweet ass palenta or or or did we have fish or did you know did we have a hamburger that was you know and and that’s something that you know I would like to get more into is pairing Foods because I I do think there’s it makes a difference there’s value to understanding what wines you know kind of really accent and and help the food and the food really helps the wine yep uh and I’m not I’m not real educated there I’m really not I’d like to learn more about that uh having said that I think you know doing an episode maybe next time or in the future maybe not next time but in the future where we do something spicy and maybe do some game and some red burgundy and then just kind of see what we think there but then also getting into you know Italian wines as well which I think would be good yep which I’m totally ignorant to on Italian wines mhm I I will tell you that uh ital well kind of getting off this has been about France but just kind of a sneak preview for the Italian episode there are some great Italian wines Tuscany be in a region that’s great pedmont when you get up there to the nebiolo grape yep uh but even within tusin you know having different clones of the sanio vasy but then also getting into Montano which people some people think is a region and it is yeah but it’s also a grape you know that’s made and some people don’t go wow that’s a grape as well and it is which there’s some really good wine made from so that’s for another episode oh yeah definitely and uh I actually just found about uh found out about this uh Sardinian uh restaurant in town um they have their own wines yeah Sardinian absolutely you know so and then if you get into Mount Edna with that volcanic ash where they grow some I mean again that’s another episode wi there’s just to me you know what I would say to people who want to get into you know if you’re into wine and you’ve been into Napa wines or American wines or whatever wine you’ve been into if you’re in Texas and you’ve only been drinking Texas wine we know somebody like that uh I would say you know widen your blinders you know open be open-minded a little bit more because to me wine is such a great thing I mean there’s so many ways you can go the rabbit hole is just so deep hey man different countries there’s a reason they’ve been making it for you know Millennia you know well and there is but I’m just saying that don’t get stuck on one thing I have friends that go I just want to drink Napa okay but I love Napa wine but to get into a good you know bordeau or a good you know GSM from shatan pop from rone Valley or a super tusin from Tuscany or just a good kto Classico Reserva or Bello de moncino there’s so many great wines out there and then we haven’t even got into Argentina and Chile and Australia and New Zealand and yeah to me that’s what makes wine fun is to be able to go explore all all these different wines and really kind of understand what the wine maker is trying to do what he’s putting in the bottle that goes into your glass yeah that eventually goes on your pallet 100% agree so um yeah I mean thank you so much Rob for setting this up I hope you guys enjoyed it hopefully you found that uh if you haven’t been into French wines that you know there’s some French wines out there different regions that that you guys would enjoy and from a value standpoint I think you just can’t go wrong with uh now there’s some you know off the chart expensive wines uh they’ve been making wines for a long time in France and they’re known as the best wine makers in the world for a reason yeah no doubt quality to price is really good but this was excellent well good I’m glad you guys enjoyed definitely eye opening and enjoyed every bit of it well thanks everybody for listening to this episode of food wine and whiskey in your own backyard and until our next episode enjoy your next pour [Music]