I think I’ve made my appreciation of France’s Loire Valley known. It produces an incredibly diverse array of food-friendly wines, many at very reasonable prices. This region, with its plethora of romantic chateaux (I sooooooo want to visit), is also a treasure trove for wine drinkers interested in sustainable, organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. About 30% of Loire Valley vineyards today are farmed sustainably or organically, with the numbers increasing each year. Moreover, many of the country’s most celebrated and earliest adopters of these practices come from the banks of the Loire River.

Map borrowed from WineFolly.com.

Today we’re opening a bottle from one of those celebrated OG’s of organics/biodynamics – Domaine Huet. This domaine has been a standard-bearer for Vouvray, and by extension Chenin Blanc, for a very long time. They make wines in the spanning Chenin’s full range – sparkling, dry, semi-dry, and dessert styles. I’ve never had a bottle from Huet that wasn’t freak’n delicious! 

The domaine was founded in 1928 after Victor Huët, formerly a Parisian bistro owner returned from World War II with shattered nerves and lungs. He resettled in Vouvray and purchased the first of the domaine’s famed vineyards, Le Haut-Lieu. Victor’s son Gaston worked with his father from the very start and built up the winery’s reputation for quality over the next 55 years.He eventually brought on his son-in-law, Noël Pinguet, and 1979 by chef de culture, Jean-Bernard Berthomé. As Gaston got older he decided he needed a partner and ultimately brought on New Yorker Anthony Hwang. Today the domaine is owned and operated by his children, brother-sister duo, Sarah & Hugo Hwang, who have worked hard to preserve the legacy by maintaining key members of the team.

The vineyards at Domaine Huet have always been worked without chemicals, but in the late 1980s Gaston Huët, Pinguet, and Bertholmé heard grape grower François Bouchet extolling the benefits of biodynamics at a conference, and decided to try it out for themselves. They put the principles into practice in 1988, by 1990 all of their vineyards were being farmed biodynamically, and they received their Demeter certification in 1993. 

Sarah Hwang described the domaine’s history with biodynamics in a 2019 article for SevenFiftyDaily:

 “Never in the history of the estate have we used chemical fertilizers or pesticides . . . After the Second World War, there was a harmony that was lost,” says Hwang. “Biodynamics offered the possibility of reconnecting with nature. For us, the philosophy is really about balance.”

Map borrowed from WineFolly.com.

THE WINE AND PAIRING

For this post, I decided to open a rather special bottle of Domaine Huet that has been in “my cellar” for quite a while – the Domaine Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux Première Trie 2006. 

Chenin’s high acidity makes it a good candidate for aging in general, and when made by a winery of the caliber of Domain Huet’s, it’s very likely that you have a bottle that can be easily laid down for a very long time. Sugar is another preservative, and moelleux is among the sweetest styles of Vouvray. (If you see the term liquoreux, that’s the sweetest style, but this is up there.) All together this 2006 was alive and kick’n – no sweat. In fact, we accidentally left the bottle out overnight after opening it, not realizing there was a little wine left in the bottle – the wine was still totally fine when I tried it the next morning.

Moelleux styles are also typically botrytized wines and showed the honeyed character and complexity that goes with noble rot. (Check out this post for a more in-depth description of botrytis.) Because noble rot affects grapes unevenly, growers working with botrytized grapes will often collect them in various “tries” or passes through the vineyards. Première Tries, therefore, means “first selection” and essentially indicates that the wine is made from the best grapes of the vintage. 

Huet has three principal vineyards – Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont, and Clos du Bourg. All three are located on Vouvray’s “Première Côte” (or “first slope”), home to the majority of the region’s best vineyards – basically, the Grand Cru of the area. Today’s bottle comes from Clos du Bourg, an ancient, walled vineyard. Gaston Huet believed it to be the greatest of all Vouvray vineyards as it has the Première Côte’s shallowest, stoniest soils. The wines tend to balance intense minerality and generous texture.

On the day we opened this bottle, I picked up notes of candied grapefruit, tangerine, ginger, and honeysuckle on the nose. The wine was very layered on the palate. The tangerine and honeyed grapefruit notes were joined by bruised golden apples and dried tropical fruits. This is definitely a sweet wine, but the sweetness is balanced by a pleasant hint of bitterness like grapefruit pith was mixed in, as well as earthy notes of straw and stones, and even a touch of chamomile. Greg compared it to pink grapefruit lemonade sweetened with honey. 

Although this is a dessert wine, I thought I’d try to create an entrée to pair with it. I immediately thoughts of duck a l’orange. The tiny hint of bitterness I picked in the wine also made me think of gastrique, which blends sugar and a sour element like citrus juice or vinegar. That’s the idea I ran with and chose a mixture of grapefruit and lemon juice to create a version of this sweet-and-sour sauce. 

The sauce topped simply prepared sous vide pork tenderloin. I really think sous vide cooking is ideal for preparing pork tenderloin since it makes this otherwise easy-to-overcook cut pretty foolproof. To complete the dish, I roasted some sliced carrots which were glazed in a bit of the gastrique and tossed with wilted kale and a little blue cheese. 

It was a very good match as the flavors in the wine and the dish mirrored each other nicely. The blue cheese made for a great salty contrast. In fact, I liked how those two worked so well that I cut a couple of additional slices of cheese for us to enjoy with the wine after dinner. The wine also wasn’t half bad with dark salted chocolate with almond, complementing the chocolate the way it might work with candied oranges.

GEEKY DETAILS

The current average price on this wine is $99. The release price is usually in the $60-$70 range.

Alcohol: 12.5%

If Vouvray is new to you, I invite you to check out this post where you’ll find a cheat sheet on the background and details of the region.  Here's an infographic from WineFolly.com that shares the basics on Vouvray.

I couldn’t a find tech sheet describing the winemaking for this wine (neither for current nor past vintages) but you can find additional information on the winery and its wines the Rare Wine Co. and Polaner Selections. 

One more quick note, Domaine Huet has always held back a good percentage of wines, so it’s not uncommon to find library vintages out in the world. They’re a good bet if you’re interested in older vintages since both the house and the grape are known for their ageability. 

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

As I mentioned above, I think this would be fantastic with duck à l'orange, as well as with Peking Duck, and other sweeter Asian dishes. 

It’d also be perfect with strong cheeses and fruit desserts, particularly those featuring peaches, apples, pears, or candied citrus. I’m conjuring up images of apple strudel. 

For a dessert pairing, consider this Cinnamon Apple Crème Brûlée. I think you could easily swap the wines and pairings in these two posts.

LoireValleyWine.com recommends sweet styles of Vouvray “as an aperitif, or with desserts featuring apples, pears, nougat or almond paste; blue cheese such as Fourme d’Ambert, Roquefort and Bleu d’Auvergne.” 

*****

sous vide, pork tenderloin, gastrique, sweet-and-sour

dinner

French

Servings: 4

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin with Citrus Gastrique and Roasted Carrots with Kale and Blue Cheese

Prep Time: 10 MinCooking Time: 1 H & 10 MTotal Time: 1 H & 20 M

Ingredients

For the pork:

• 1 pork tenderloin
• ⅛ tsp white pepper
• ⅛ tsp ginger
• ⅛ tsp onion powder
• 2 to 4 sprigs of thyme
• lemon and/or grapefruit zest, a generous pinch, optional
• Salt, as needed
• Olive oil

For the carrots and kale:

• 1 bunch of medium carrots, about 8, sliced into approximately ½” pieces
• 2 to 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, or as needed
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 2 to 3 sprigs of thyme
• 2 cups chopped kale
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese, or to taste
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

For the gastrique:

• ½ cup of sugar
• 2 Tbsp of water, or as needed
• Juice of 1 lemon, reserve the zest for use on the pork and as garnish
• Juice of ½ a grapefruit (about ½ a cup), reserve the zest for use on the pork and as garnish, optional
• 1 or 2 sprigs of thyme
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Set up sous vide immersion circulator and preheat water to desired final cooking temperature–In this case, I set it to 129°F for medium-rare. (Searing the pork at the final stage brought it closer to the medium by the end.)
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F
3. Prepare the Pork. Place the pork tenderloin in a heavy-duty, food-grade zipper bag. Season with the white pepper, ginger, onion powder, and salt, as well as a pinch of citrus zest if using. Drizzle with a little olive oil and add in the sprigs of thyme. Seal the bag using a vacuum sealer or via the water displacement method. Cook for 1 hour.  (Note: To use the water displacement method, zip up the majority of the bag leaving just an inch or open at the end. Lower the bag into the water–as you do so, the water on the outside of the bag will push out the remaining air in the bag. Once the bag is lowered the majority of the way into the water, zip up the remainder of the bag.)
4. Prepare the carrots. Place the sliced carrots in a medium roasting pan – the pan just needs to be big enough to be able to arrange the carrot slices in roughly a single layer. Toss with the a generous pour of olive oil (about 2 tablespoons), apple cider vinegar, the Dijon mustard, the shallots, and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Add the sprigs of thyme. (You can pick the thyme leaves, but I find they tend separate from the sprig on their own while roasting.)
5. Roast the carrots in the oven and roast for about one hour total, stirring after 25 to 30 minutes. I’d recommend checking on them after 45 to 50 minutes to gauge their doneness. They’re ready when a knife or fork inserted into them slides in with little resistance, but you can let them go longer if you prefer them softer and/or more caramelization.
6. Make the gastrique while the pork and carrots are cooking. Stir together the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture turns deep caramel to amber (about 6 to 8 minutes), gently swirling or stirring occasionally to make sure the sugar is fully incorporated. (Don’t stray too far away, once the color begins to turn, it darkens quickly.) Reduce the heat, and mix in the citrus juices to the caramel – be careful and stand back just in case the mixture spits and splatters. Add the thyme sprigs and a pinch of salt, and allow the mixture to continue to reduce for a few minutes until it reaches a syrupy consistency. If the mixture becomes too thick, add a little more water or juice to loosen it up again. Keep warm until ready to serve.
7. Once the carrots have cooked to the desired level, pour just enough gastrique on top to lightly glaze them once tossed, then set the rest aside again and keep warm. Toss the kale on top and place it all back in the oven for a couple of more minutes while the kale wilts. Toss and taste, and keep warm until ready to serve.
8. Finish the pork. Remove the pork tenderloin from the bag and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a small amount of olive oil (or cooking oil of your choice) in a large pan over high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the pork and sear until golden brown on all sides. Transfer the pork to a cutting board. Brush the tenderloin with a little gastrique and slice.
9. Toss the carrots and kale with blue cheese crumbles just before serving. Serve the pork sliced on a bed of the vegetables, with a little gastrique spooned on top or on the plate, and the rest of the gastrique on the side. Garnish with extra citrus zest if desired.
   

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/04/domaine-huet-vouvray-clos-du-bourg-and-pork-loin.html

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This month, join the French Winophiles hosted by Gwedolyn of Wine Predator, as we explore organic Loire:

Additional Reading and Sources:

• Winefolly.com
  
• JancisRobinson.com
  
• Wine-Searcher.com
• Meet the Natural Wine Rebels Transforming France’s Loire Valley
  
• Why is the Loire Valley the cradle of France's natural wine movement?
  

It’s easy to love rosé in the summertime and I know summer has drawn to a close. We're now well past Labor Day, but I’m definitely not one of those to put away the pinks after the summer is over –– and it’s actually still quite warm out in California anyway! In any case, rosés are just too useful for pairing purposes to be benched the entire rest of the year.

Rosés fit into a space where they’re able to pair with lots of different dishes that are otherwise tricky to work with precisely because they straddle the color lines of wine – much like orange wines and light reds. My experiment with Côtes du Rhônes of different colors that I shared last week was a great reminder that pinks are a great bet when you don’t know what to pair with a dish.

Today, I thought I’d share a broad round-up of rosés, along with some of these situations where they often come to the rescuce, and a look at why they work. In looking through pictures, I’ve found that there are a few broad categories where I tend to reach for rosés again and again, and they’re categories of food that we tend to eat all year round.

Note: Some wines in this post were provided as media samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own. 

Light Meats

Chicken, pork, and other meats and poultry that are on the lighter end of the spectrum can work with a broad range of toppings and sauces. Light and bright preparations can be overpowered by, or even downright clash with big reds. It’s actually a better bet to pair to the sauce or toppings where these lighter meats are involved. Rosés, however, pretty much take the guesswork out of the pairing, because they’re likely to work solidly well regardless of the topping – they typically have the freshness to work with even a lemony dish, but can also often stand up to a more intense preparation, particularly if you pick a style with a little more structure. 

This Arnot-Roberts Touriga Nacional Rosé 2018 (Avg price $29) a fun, New World take on a Portuguese grape. It had notes of orange blossoms, a mix of citrus, peaches, cherries, and tart strawberries, with light herbal notes. It's light on it's feet and had plenty of freshness, but had a little tannic grip on the finish. We had with fried chicken take-out and I thought it worked really well with the chicken itself as well as with the savory sides. Admittedly, it didn't work as well with sweeter sides like yams. 

This Tenuta di Fessina Erse Etna Rosato 2018 (sample) is great choice for richer chicken and light meat dishes because it's a bit fuller and more structured than other rosés. It has notes of juicy cherries, accompanied by orange zest and herbs, and definitely has a little tannin. It worked really well with a spread of chicken, rich collard greens, and cornbread. I particularly liked it with the collard greens with their mix of vegetal and smoky, meat notes.

Sausages are regular weeknight go-to's around here, and they definitely fall into this middle-weight meat camp, particularly chicken sausages. I also often pair them with vegetables of different kinds and rosé works easily with lots of veggies as well. Here are three cases: Chateau de Berne Cotes de Provence Inspiration 2018 (sample, avg. price $20) worked beautifully with a sausage dish alongside kale, tomatoes, and lentils; Côte West Mounts Vineyard Rosé of Counoise 2018 ($25) had bright notes of tangerines, pink grapefruit, peaches and strawberries and worked nicely with chicken sausage and braised cabbage with cornbread croutons; Domaine du Pegau Pink Pegau Rosé 2016 is a bit of a richer style of French rosé and paired up nicely with a creamy sausage casserole. 

Hearty Seafood Dishes

The rule of thumb dictates the white wines are the go-to’s when seafod is involved, since the tannins in red wines tend to clash with the proteins and oils in seafood, even while the work magically with those in meats.  This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and there are definitely lots of reds that can work quite well with certain seafood dishes. However, if you’re not sure which ones are likely to work, but you have a seafood dish that seems to be begging for something a little deeper than a light white, once again rosé is a good bet.

Three delicious seafood and rosé pairings from three local wineries: Lusu Cellars Single Leaf Cellars El Dorado Rosé 2016 with a citrus roasted salmon and Brussels sprouts with bacon; another rosé from Côte West (they make three) this one of Zinfandel ($22) with BBQ seasoned salmon with broccoli; Vinca Minor Carignan Rosé Redwood Valley 2019 ($25, sample) with sheet pan shrimp with roasted peppers and onions (although you can't see them clearly).

Light Pasta, Pizzas, and Quiche

Pasta and pizzas that have lighter toppings are in a similar boat to the situations described above. The carbs give them some richness, but the toppings might not have the heft to stand up to a bigger red wine. Pinks are once again an easy choice. 

Rosés from Provence tend to be light, crisp, minerally, with light floral notes. I think they tend to go well with pasta dishes that are veggie-driven and that have lots of savory herbal notes, like this Chateau de Berne Cotes de Provence Emotion Rosé 2017 (sample, avg. price $17) which was paired with fusilli with mixed summer squash and Parmesan.

 

Mexican and South American Cuisines

These cuisines are a slightly different case. Here you often have many different flavors occurring in one dish. You might have steak, but it’s flavored with lots of bright citrus, plus lots of herbs a veggies. Alternatively, you might have light meats or seafood combined with richer elements like beans. Rosés tend to be able to bridge these different flavors. One note, if you have a dish with lots heat, you might want to opt for a fruitier rosé as it will help tame the heat better.

The old pairing adage "what grows together goes together" definitely held true for this bottle Las Nubes Bodegas y Vinedos Jaak Rose Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico 2018  of ordered to go with a spread at Calavera Mexican Kitchen& Bar in Oakland.

Asian Cuisines

Similar elements are at play with Asian cuisines which also often have many different spices and flavor components at work in a dish or on the table at one time. Off-dry Rieslings (or other off-dry white wines) or a fruity bubbly like Prosecco tend to be my preference with sweeter dishes or more firey cuisines like Sichuan, but I often enjoy rosés with cuisines that aren’t toooooo sweet or spicy and still have many flavors in the mix. It’s likewise a good option if off-dry wines just aren’t to your taste. In general, I’d again recommend fruitier styles to work with dishes with some heat in the mix.

This pairing for Chateau de Berne Inspiration Côtes de Provence Rosé 2019 (sample) came as a bit of surprise. We'd made meatballs in  Japanese curry with roasted broccoli and grabbed this bottle on a slight gamble. It paid off and the typically light rosé with notes of underripe strawberries, peach, pink grapefruit, with herbs on the finish got rounder and fruitier with the food.

Of course, rosés are perfectly paired with bright, sunny days  on their own as well, but that nearly goes without saying. August Kessler Pinot Noir Rosé Rheingau Germany 2019  (sample)  and CARBONISTE'S Sea Urchin Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir 2019($28) are two I've kicked back with on more than one occasion.

The main take away here is that rosés can bridge lots of flavors and textures in foods we enjoy year round, so don’t put them away permanently during the chillier months. Moreover, these same qualities make them perfect for holiday spreads where you have all kinds of dishes on the table at once!

*****

As I've been writing this post, fires are once again raging across Napa and Sonoma. Many historical wineries have been burned to the ground or having sustained damage, including Shramsberg whose Brut Rosé I was just enjoying over the weekend with my friend Kristie, whose rosé is mentioned above. California is certainly not alone. I've heard that Twill Cellars, also mentioned above, has suffered major losses in Oregon. 

I'm certain these aren't the only ones, as the fires are continuing to burn here and many don't know the extent of damage as of yet. 

Certainly, this is not what I had in mind when I set out to write a post on rosé, which for me is almost always a wine that goes with happy times, but this is where climate change has left us and it's terrifying. 

If you're inclined to help, this page has a list of resources for California's wildfire relief and the American Red Cross is collecting funds for fires affecting all of the Western states. Buying wines from affected wineries directly benefits them as well.

For more pink inspiration, check out these posts and recipes related to rosé:

• 2 oz Pours: Warm Weather Vibes 
• 2 oz Pours: 16 French Wine Values  
• 2 oz Pours: Looking at the World Through Rosé Colored Glasses  
• 2 oz Pours: Campsite Dining  
• Cooking to the Wine: Ultimate Provence Urban Rosé with Herbed Sous Vide Chicken Breasts and Roasted Eggplant Sheet Pan 
• Trekking Out with Canned Wines  
• Crémants for Going Out and Staying In (Psst! They're Your New All-Purpose Bubblies!)  
• The Ladies of Laurent-Perrier and an Anniversary Toast  
• Memories of New Zealand’s South Island with Waipapa Bay Wines (#WinePW)  
• Thanksgiving Pairing Guide Round-Up  
• Just a Little Bit Fancy: Delamotte Brut Rosé Champagne & Crudo  
• Cooking to the Wine: Clos Cibonne Tibouren Cuvée Tradition Rosé & Savory Citrus Chicken with Couscous  
• Marenco Pineto Brachetto d'Acqui and a Simple Strawberry Treat 
• Cheese, Charcuterie, Ciabatta & Praesidium Cerasuolo 
• All the Colors of Côtes du Rhône with Famille Perrin 
• Exploring Etna with Tenuta di Fessina  
• 8 & $20: Seared Scallops With Creamy Cheddar-Jalapeño Corn 
• 8 & $20: Beet Risotto with Herbed Chicken Tenders
• 8 & $20: Turkey and Strawberry Salad with Baked Goat Cheese 
• 8 & $20: Pork Flautas with Guacamole and Rosé 
• 8 & $20: Roasted Spaghetti Squash Carbonara 
• 8 & $20: Salmon and Goat Cheese Puffs 
• Sunday, December 31, 2017 4-Layer Caviar Dip with Potato Chips and Other Happy New Year's Appies!