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Wednesday April 30, 2008 - Syrah Wine

Today's Syrah Wine Article

Vintage Wine with "President" Value

Even now when Mr Chirac is no longer the mayer his taste for good wine brings a big benefit to the city hall. Bertrand Delanoe who is now the mayor of Paris discovered some bottles of wine being held in the city hall's cellar since Chirac's seat. It seem that the wine bottles had increased so much in value they were deemed too extravagant to be served by the Paris city hall. The Socialist mayer decided to organise an auction to sell the valuable bottles. The wine has attracted bidders from around the world.

The most appreciated wine were two bottles of Romanee Conti 1986. The plot called Roman?e-Conti situated in Burgundy has at first glance nothing extraordinary with its ground containing a very fine clay which does not exist in the neighbouring plots. But the natural draining is perfect. The plot Roman?e-Conti was traced during the XVth century, and maybe earliest in the XIIth century by the monks of Saint-Viviant. The result is a subtile equation between grape, soil, climate, orientation and watering. "We are the keeper of a certain philosophy of wine and, mainly, we are concern by the perfection in details" assures Aubert de Vilaine, one of the owners of the place with the Leroys. Usually a potential client must aqcuire the wines of the domains by boxes of twelve, which means one bottle of Roman?e-Conti among 11 bottles of other domains. A box of twelve bottles is worth about 3,000 Euros. But the two bottles of Romanee Conti 1986 have been sold for 5,000-euro each.

Other attractions of the auction have been the of Chateau Petrus Bordeaux priced at 1,200 euros each. P?trus is a wine of the Pomerol wine region in Bordeaux made almost entirely from the Merlot grape. The ch?teau belongs to the family of the Libourne wine merchant Moueix. Although the wines of Pomerol have never been classified, P?trus is now considered among the best of Bordeaux. Ch?teau P?trus produces approximately 3,000 cases of wine in an average year. Grapes are hand harvested and fermented in cement tanks, then aged for two years in new oak before bottling. Newly released bottles are typically offered for more than 400 euros as futures, with mature examples often fetching more than 800 euros.

The budget of the Paris city hall was raised by the auction and can be incresed as the French news website LCI says the bottles on sale amount to three-quarters of the city hall's collection.

Visit Vintage Roots at http://www.vintageroots.co.uk, for organic wines

About the Author

Who can appreciate the good things in life and the taste of a good wine better than a Frenchman? And from all the Frenchmen, Mr Chirac proved to be a bon viveur having a huge appetite for the finer things of life. As the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris it seems that as mayor of Paris, Mr Chirac was a frequent host of lavish parties while his wife used to spend more than a couple of pounds per day on their personal food and drink alone.

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6:30 AM

Wednesday - Wine Icon

Today's Wine Icon Article

I Love Italian Wine and Food - The Molise Region

If you are looking for fine Italian wine and food, consider the Molise region of central Italy. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you?ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour.

Molise is a small region of central eastern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most unspoiled regions of Italy, about 90% hills and mountains. Its total population is less than a third of a million people, which makes it the second least populous region of Italy after the Aosta Valley. Molise was associated with Abbruzo until 1963.

Agricultural products include livestock, pigs, sheep, and goats, wheat and a variety of vegetables including giant celery. The coast furnishes seafood and fish. Polenta (cornbread) is as popular as pasta.

Isernia is the largest city with a population somewhat less than ninety thousand. This area was first settled about 700,000 years ago (not a typographical error) and is of archeological interest. The regional capital, Campobasso, was the site of major battles during World War II. If you love old European cities consider visiting Larino, even if it is not mentioned in major tourist guides. (I?m not naming names.)

Molise devotes about nineteen thousand acres to grapevines, it ranks 18th among the 20 Italian regions. Its total annual wine production is about nine and a half million gallons, also giving it an 18th place. The region produces 3 DOC wines. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine. Less than 4% of Molise wine carries the DOC designation. Molise is home to almost two dozen major and secondary grape varieties, about half white and half red.

Widely grown international white grape varieties include Chardonnay and Trebbiano (in particular the Italian Trebbiano Toscano subvariety). The best known Italian white variety is Falanghina, the main component in the wine reviewed below.

The best known strictly Italian red varieties are Montepulciano, Agliacano, and Tintilia.

Before reviewing the Molise wine and cheese that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region.
Start with Taccozze alla Crema a?Asparagi, Hand-Cut Pasta Squares in Asparagus Cream.
Then move on to Zuppa di Pesce alla Termolese, Seafood Pot from Termoli, a resort on the Adriatic Sea.
For dessert indulge yourself with Calcuini del Molise, Sweet Chestnut Fritters.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY While we have communicated with well over a thousand Italian wine producers and merchants to help prepare these articles, our policy is clear. All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Rami Di Majo Norante Falanghina Del Molise 2005 12.5% alcohol about $11.50

I?ll start by quoting the marketing materials. ?Made from the well-known Falanghina grape (with a little help from the ubiquitous Fiano variety), this delviers fresh peach and apricot flavors with a good citrus spine. It?s crisp and refreshing. And goes well with slightly spicy seafood or chicken, or makes an excellent sipping wine.?

I first tasted this wine with fried chicken cutlets, rice, and corn on the cob. I found it smooth with apricot but no peach flavors. It had more of a citrus smell than taste. I added a cayenne pepper sauce to the meat, and the wine rose to the challenge.

I then tried Talapia filets cooked in an onion sauce with a side of green beans in tomato sauce. I added too much cayenne pepper sauce, which was too harsh for the wine and for the fish itself. However, even with a deadened palate the wine was pleasant.

In the presence of a commercial chicken pot pie with a chili and lime hot sauce (but not too much) the wine was citrusy and refreshingly acidic. On the down side, the wine was short.

Kube, also known as kibbe, is a Middle-Eastern specialty of balls of ground rice filled with ground meat that cooks slowly. The wine was an excellent companion, its acidity cutting the grease nicely. The word gossamer came to mind.

Sometimes we have to make compromises. As you can guess from the name, Pecorino Toscano is not a cheese from the Molise region. It is a sheep?s milk cheese that has been made in Tuscany and neighboring Umbria for thousands of years. Soft Pecorino Toscano is white with a tinge of yellow, while semi-hard Pecorino Toscano is pale yellow. It is moderately strong smelling and has a complex nutty flavor. In the presence of this cheese, our was crisp and yet unctuous.

Final verdict. This wine is a winner. When making notes on this wine I mistakenly identified it as a DOC wine but I double-checked the label. It is not a DOC wine, but in my opinion is better than many DOC wines that I?ve tasted.

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His wine website is http://www.theworldwidewine.com

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