Sauternes - something sweet

Here's a mighty good intro from Wiki:

Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wines. Due to its climate, Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence. Even so, production is a hit-or-miss proposition, with widely varying harvests from vintage to vintage.

I personally love sweet wine - this has been a bit of a joke with my wine loving friends who prefer drier wines and pretty much think that sweet wines are nothing more than grape juice. But hey, I am all for individuality and I will proudly say, I love sweet wines. I really adore Sauternes. It can be quite hard to find out side of France and most probably it is because wine snobs like my friends are consistently ignoring sweet wines.

While I like cheaper sweet whites (will save this for another post), Sauternes is one which has pedigree. Sauternes' wines have been around for a long time (documented since 17th century) and are extremely expensive to make, hence the end product is not cheap too. Premier Cru Supérieur from the estate of Château d'Yquem is supposedly the most premium you can get. This poor cat has never tried it but what other 'cheap' ones I had was never disappointing. Sauternes typically starts out with a golden, yellow color that becomes progressively darker as it ages - so find the darkest shade that you can and if possible from a good year of harvest that fits your budget. 

Sauternes can be drank as an aperitif to being a dessert wine and whatever is in between. Like other white wines, it is usually served chilled. I (please take this with a pinch of salt as I am no sommelier) would suggest having it with stronger tasting food.. as it is a 'strong' and sweet wine. I feel that it goes especially well with South East Asian food which is heavier on the spices, or spicy food in general as the sweetness work well with the spices. Traditionally food pairing however is - Sauternes with Foie gras. 

Here's a list of the vintages if you are interested... 2007 is a good year it seems a 2008 no so good for instance.. but for me, I justly just go ahead and grab something I fancy that fits the budget. One man's meat is another man's poison and you don't know until you try.. if you don't get it right, try and try again.. mm somehow that sounds like the recipe for alcoholism.

Happy drinking!

Most beautiful Villages of France - Part 1 Provence

By this post I would like to share with you the beauty of some villages in France. Most of foreigners visit only Paris and the French Riviera but one of the treasure of France is its small beautiful and charming villages.

They are all over the country so it's difficult to make a selection. Hence I decided to focus on region of France, let's start first with the "Provence"as this is most probably one of the place in France where the villages have a special charm.

Note: All pictures in this post are unfortunately not mine and taken from the web. If you have a copyright issue with it, please let me know. I have tried to linked it to the original source though.

First of all, let's see on a map, where we are? Provence is located in south-east France, the main city being Marseille (Circled on this Map).

If we are zooming, we arrive here:

Provence became popular thanks to the impressionist painters such as Paul Cézanne or Vincent Van Gogh, who particularly loved the light and the beauty of landscapes and villages of this area.

One of the part of Provence I prefer is called the "Lubéron" located just few kilometers from Avignon. But let's talk first of Avignon, which is the previous residence of the Pope before Rome. The Pope palace is worthwhile to visit, and the old city itself very beautiful. Avignon can be a good starting point for your journey in Lubéron. Here a view on the Avignon's Pope Palace:

Now take your car and go direction the "Lubéron". This part of France has one of the biggest number of the so-called "plus beaux villages de France" (most beautiful villages of France). You can find more information on these villages all over France here: http://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/en

One of my favourite place is the village of Roussillon. The particularity of this village is the Ochre colour used for the architecture of the town. The light of Provence on these red walls with the Mount Ventoux (well known by Tour de France fans) in background gives you a feeling of Western.

Not bad isn't it?

Very close from Roussillon you will find the village of Gordes. Here is the feeling totally different even if only 10km away from Roussillon. This time is the architecture  based on white rocks made from limestone. The charm of this village is as well its location on a cliff surrounded by a pine forest, just gorgeous. The village was created during the roman time, and is now one of the main touristic highlight of the area.

Traditional housing and streets of this village: