Le Tour De France des Vins

"Wilfried Sentex is born in Bordeaux, France and for sure his passion for wine comes from his home country. At present he is working in New York, at Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud Wine bar. For more information you can reach him at willsentex@gmail.com"

France is a wonderful wine country with a great variety of grapes, climates and soils and some talented and devoted winemakers. For a better understanding of French appellations and different wine styles I decided to do a Tour de France Des Vins (France's wine Tour).

As a native of Bordeaux I wanted to start with this part of France. Bordeaux is divided in two parts, known as The Left Bank and the Right Bank, due to the two rivers ("La Garonne" and "La Dordogne"), which separate the vineyards from Bordeaux in two Banks. In Bordeaux a variety of different grapes is planted, such as Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot for the reds and roses and Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle for the whites and sweet wines. In Bordeaux there are also 57 appellations and 6 main classifications.

But let's talk today about the Left Bank which is divided in two parts, the Medoc and the Graves. Set between the ocean and the Garonne river (following the river for 150km) and protected from the sea air by big pine forests, the soils are mostly composed of gravel (graves) and pebble (galet), but you can also find some sand and limestone. Because of the location and the climate, the soil gets warmed up faster during the day and can keep the heat during the night, therefore the vines will not suffer from the day and night temperature differences.

As for the grapes you will mostly find Cabernet Sauvignon (often blended with some Merlot) and maybe some Malbec and Petit Verdot (the last two in small quantity). Cabernet Sauvignon gives a tannic and aromatic wine (black fruits, rose and licorice) but blending it with Merlot will bring some structure and power to the wine. Those wines are usually better drinking after a few years depending on the vintage but it could be either 3 years or 20 years old after the stockage factor is playing.

Medoc is situated on the north and consists of 8 appellations: Medoc, Haut Medoc, Listrac-Medoc, Moulis-en-Medoc, Pauillac, Margaux,Saint-Julien and Saint-Estephe. Graves region includes the Pessac Leognan.

In 1855, for the Universal Exposition, Napoleon asked for the classification of the Bordeaux wines. Following his order, the wines were classified by the following criteria: reputation of the Chateaux and the price of the production (which at that time was directly related to the quality of the wines). In this classifications 88 wines were selected (61 reds and 27 whites) in importance from the First to the Fifth growth. Only 4 wines were classified as First growth: Chateau Lafitte Rothschild, Chateau Latour (both from Pauillac), Chateau Margaux (from Margaux) and Chateau Haut Brion (from Pessac Leognan). In 1973 two more wines were added, Chateau Mouton Rothschild as First growth and Chateau Cantemerle as Fifth growth.


The next stop will be the Right bank with the Saint-Emilion and Pomerol.

Bodega Del Fin de Mundo Special Blend 2006

Winery: Bodega Del Fin de Mundo

Brand: Special Blend

Vintage: 2006.

Location: San Patricio del Chañar, Neuquén, Patagonia.

Varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon (40%), Malbec (40%), Merlot (20%)

Oak: 15 months aging in oak barrels (100% French oak barrels)

Average Price: $35.-

Tasting Notes: deep red colour with juicy plums, raspberries, tobacco and chocolate aromas. It is aged in new French oak barrels for 15 months which gives this wine outstanding complexity in which you may discover countless sensations as you explore its intense bouquet. It is a unique full bodied wine with excellent structure, complimented by velvety tannins that envelop the palate with an elegant sensuality.

Food Pairing Suggestions: this blend is perfect to be enjoyed with greasy red meat.

Winery Notes: Bodega Del Fin del Mundo was the first winery in the province of Neuquén. Its vineyards are located in the district of San Patricio del Chañar, 55 km away from Neuquen city. The region enjoys exceptional conditions for the cultivation of the grapes. There is excellent temperature variation with warm sunny days followed by cold nights witch give the grapes an excellent balance of fruit and acidity, colour, aromas and body.

Organic wine & food matching: Marcel Deiss Engelgarten & saffroned chicken biryani

Randy Caparoso is an award winning wine professional and journalist, living in Denver, Colorado. For a free subscription to Randy's Organic Wine Match of the Day, visit the Denver Wine Examiner.

In Alsace, a part of France full of famous rebels – like André Ostertag, Charles Schléret, and Zind-Humbrecht’s Olivier Humbrecht – Jean-Michel Deiss (right) has played the role of absolute pariah.

It’s not so much that he took the organically cultivated vineyards inherited from his grandfather, Marcel Deiss, and turned them into biodynamic farms by 1997. The domaines of Marc Kreydenweiss, Zind-Humbrecht, Ostertag and other top Alsatian vignerons are also farmed biodynamically. More than anything, what has rubbed colleagues and local authorities the wrong way has been Deiss’ total disregard of the sanctity of singular varietal bottling; for in Alsace, the finest wines have always been bottled by the names of the great grapes of Alsace – namely, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Muscat d’Alsace.

Instead, Deiss’ finest wines are bottled simply by the name of Marcel Deiss along with the names of their vineyard sources: such as the grand crus Schoenenbourg and Altenberg de Bergheim vineyards, and premier crus such as Burg, Rotenberg, Gruenspiel and Engelgarten. But no mention of any grape on the label.

Deiss himself says that a turning point was in 1993, when a Riesling from his Burg vineyard was criticized for not tasting like a “Riesling.” This prompted Deiss to not just remove the names of grapes from his single vineyard bottlings, but also to start planting as many as seven different varieties in his best vineyards (which, also unusually, Deiss harvests and co-ferments all at once). No more blind following of tradition, he has said, because of obligatory feelings. “I realized that the grape in a vineyard is an ingredient, but not a dish… it is wrong to transform the energy of a unique place into a ‘Riesling’… by having many varieties in Burg I am giving the terroir different letters so it can create sentences.”

Hence, no winemaker in Alsace focuses as much on terroir as Jean-Michel Deiss. As in our organic wine of the day: the 2003 Marcel Deiss Engelgarten (about $45), which is a field blend composed mostly of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Auxerrois. True to Deiss’ intentions, this white wine does not taste of any one grape; but rather, in the words of Deiss’ winemaker Marie-Hélène Christofaro (right), like a “filtering” of wine through the gravel dominating Engelgarten’s soil. Nevertheless, the nose is honeyed, suggesting ripe, juicy, white fleshed stone fruits (peach, nectarine and lychee); and a steely, austere entry gives way quickly to almost sweet, viscous sensations of the honeyed fruit, before finishing with a mouth-watering bang and emphatically stony, faintly bitter, citrus peel dryness.

Peculiar, maybe even strange… yes. Expressive and flavorful… ditto...

Saffroned Chicken Biryani

And you know what I love even more about the Engelgarten? This wine’s electrifying minerality and multi-grape fruit complexity make a match for dishes few other wines in the world are up to handling. No, I’m not talking Asian/fusion sweet, sour, salty, or spicy food sensations. I’m thinking specifically of dishes dominated by the flavor of saffron – that wild, indescribably pure, organic seasoning derived directly from the stigma of the crocus flower.

Of course, being a wine guy, I do have words for saffron. To me, saffon infused foods suggest sea water, citrus peel, burnt hay, roasted clove, warm humus, dusty velvet, sun dried fruit and sex. I know many people say saffron makes them laugh, and many others just smile. Me, I just get hungry, like for this Kuwaiti style dish of saffroned chicken biryani, adapted from Peter Mentzel and Faith d’Aluisio’s Hungry Planet:

2½ cups basmati rice
1 tsp. saffron, soaked 10 minutes in warm water
2 tsp. canola oil
2 medium sweet onions, minced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 whole chicken (about 4 lbs.), cut into pieces
salt (to taste)
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. turmeric
3 tsp. allspice
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup plain yogurt
1 medium fresh tomato, diced
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Optional garnishes:
1 medium sweet onion, minced (fried to brown crispness)
¼ cup golden raisins, fried
1/8 cup crushed cashews, fried
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

Heat Dutch oven pot on stove and add oil; when oil is hot, add onions, garlic, and ginger, and sauté until onions are transluscent. Add chicken pieces, salt, coriander, turmeric, 1 tsp. of allspice, yogurt, tomato and lemon juice. Stir over moderate heat for 7 minutes, taking care to prevent yogurt from boiling. Add water to cover chicken, with salt to taste; cover with lid and cook at high simmer for 45 minutes. Towards end, preheat oven to 350°.

Add rice to pot with butter, saffron and remaining allspice; stir to combine. Cover pot with aluminum foil and pot lid, and cook in oven for 45 minutes. In meantime, prepare garnishes (fry raisins and cashews with onions). Remove pot from oven, stir to combine, sprinkle over garnishes, and serve.