I’ve spent the last few winter months quaffing full bodied Spanish, Argentinian and Italian wine, which quite frankly made this recent cold weather in London a little more bearable. But with my optimistic head on, seeing the snow melt and some sun on my terrace, felt it was time to lighten things up on the wine front and asked Csaba from FineWineToMe what I should try.
My first wine is a Marcillac, a red wine from the independent producer Philippe & Julien Teulier, from Domaine du Cros , east of Cahors in the Dordogne. Marcillac is produced from the grape variety Mansois, known locally as Fer Servadou, one that I’d not come across before, which adds a little more intrigue to the tasting.
In view of my mission to welcome, or let’s say encourage Spring, I rustled up one of my favourite French brasserie dishes, a paillard of chicken, marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon, pan-fried and served with some green leaves and beef tomatoes – a little splash of homemade French dressing with some cheeky roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary – yum!
Now all prepared, we were ready to taste the wine …. as already hinted, Marcillac is a light wine, one to drink while in its youth (which simply means it’s not a wine to age, but to drink relatively soon after bottled by the winery). I was a little surprised to get the aromas of black fruit - as a novice wine taster, I expected more red fruit … but blackcurrant and blackberry stood out for me, with some hints of blackcurrant leaves and a hint of raspberry, which along with the light tannins, gave the wine that extra bit of freshness.
Conclusion: I felt suitably optimistic about the forthcoming spring and summer weather – tick, and it was an enjoyable accompaniment to my paillard de poulet Francais et salade. Le printemps est arrivé.