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Roast Chicken and Chinon – A Perfect Match

IMG_1044Sometimes things just work.  Sometimes they don’t.  We’ve found it’s far better when they do, so let’s stay on that thread.  A little while back we were at Hive Restaurant in Westchester, NY, and they had a Coq au Chinon on the menu.  We were tired and in need of a comfortable and cozy evening, so it seemed like a perfect hearty and homey thing to order.  It was.  You can read a little about that here.

Now Julia Child would have said you should use Burgundy or Cotes du Rhone in a Coq au Vin, but the Chinon worked perfectly.  In fact, it left me asking the chef why they didn’t serve the wine by the glass so people could pair it with the dish.  We never did get a good answer to that, but the dish was excellent.  As it turned out there was a bottle of Chinon in our cellar, and when pondering when might be a good time to open it (of course the real answer here is anytime, but I digress) it suddenly dawned on me that it must be with a good roasted chicken.  We finally got around to that.

Chinon is a red wine from the Touraine in the Loire Valley.  It is Cabernet Franc, usually 100% but they can add 10% Cabernet Sauvignon if they choose.  A good, hearty wine, it’s perfect with food or by itself.  In this case it was with roasted chicken with garlic, thyme and rosemary, and it was delicious.

Here’s the wine:

IMG_1043Wine:     2010 Domaine de Pallus, Les Pensees de Pallus Chinon

Winery Location:  Touraine, Loire Valley

Tasted By:  Neil & Cheri                Date:  January, 2015  

Tasting Notes:    the wine is a deep, red color.  On the nose blackberry, current, violet and bits of spice come through.  They all follow through onto the palate.  There might be a little tart cherry in there as well.  Full bodied and lush it leaves huge legs on the glass.  It’s only 12.5% alcohol, but don’t think it’s light.  This is quite elegant and is made to go with flavorful food.  Les Pensees is a second wine, the Domaine’s front line Chinon will run you about twice as much.  Based on this experience we’d like to try it.

Price Point –    $18-$20

Would We Buy It?    Yes, we did, and might again.  It’s on the value edge for us, but it is a very nice wine.  Pair it with roast chicken and find out how good.  Try something a little different.

Wine and food, food and wine.  They do go well together.  Of course good wine always goes just fine with itself.

A votre sante!

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