This  month the French Winophiles (#Winophiles),in conjunction with our sponsor Vignobles & Signatures group of French wineries, are exploring French style seasonal food and wine.

I’m especially excited to dive into this month’s theme because my wife and I have, on many an occasion, discussed how fun it would be to be in France during the holiday season.  This is our chance to enjoy a virtual taste French holiday inspired food and wine!

Disclosure: These wines were provided to me as media samples. I received no compensation for this post, and all opinions presented are my own.

I received four sample wines, one each from Alsace, Bordeaux (Graves), Loire (Pouilly-Fume), and Occitanie ( established in 2016, it is a combination of the neighboring Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées regions).

After doing a bit of research on French holiday traditions, particularly as they related to food, I came away with two takeaways. First, the traditional Christmas meal is called  the “réveillon”.   The term derives from ‘réveil’ which means ‘waking’.  Taking part in the réveillon means staying awake past midnight to enjoying a copious, and typically extravagant  meal.   My second takeaway is that the French go all-out doing holiday season, enjoying foods such as foie gras (which can be challenging to come by in California due to the on and off ban of foie gras here), lobster and other special food items.  

With that in mind, I’m bringing two appetizers paired with the white wines and two main courses paired with the red wines to The French Winophiles virtual holiday potluck.  Each was inspired, in some way, by seasonal French gastronomy.

2017 Chateau de Tracy Pouilly-Fume paired with Mad King and Miyagi oyster and Andouille Sausage

Inspired by a French dish called  “Les huîtres avec les crépinettes”, I paired fresh Miyagi and Mad King oysters on the half shell with smoked andouille sausage.  In Bordeaux, it is a tradition to start the “réveillon” with oysters.  The oysters are eaten fresh,  and garnished with a lemon filet. It is accompanied by a small hot flat sausage called a crepinette.  The oyster is swallowed, then followed by a small bite of hot crepinette.   This is a pairing I’ve done before, except with Merguez sausage.  I loved it, the interplay between the raw briny oyster and the spicy sausage is fantastic for me!

2017 Château de Tracy Pouilly-Fumé – France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
Color – Clear with green reflections
Aromas – Passion fruit, flint, petrichor, and citrus
Body – Medium-bodied with lovely texture and weight with mouth-watering acidity make this a harmonious wine
Taste – Nectarine, passion fruit, and lime with a very appealing saline minerality
Finish – Medium plus

100% Sauvignon Blanc| 13.5% abv.   A delightful pairing with both the oysters and, a bit surprisingly, the sausage!

2017 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Rosenbourg paired with Stuffed Scallops

This pairing was inspired by the classic French dish Coquilles Saint Jacques – of minced scallops in a wine and cream sauce topped with grated cheese and browned  It is most often eaten as a first course or appetizer, but can be used as a delicious seafood entrée.

2017 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Rosenbourg – France, Alsace
Color – Very pale with green hue
Aromas – Low key lime zest, green apple, and wet stones
Body – Light-bodied, dry and harmonious with mouth-watering acidity
Taste – Lime sorbet, lime zest, green apple, and wet stone with a very appealing salinity
Finish – Long

100% Riesling|12.5% abv.  The wine’s mouth-watering acidity was a wonderful counterpoint to the richness of the Stuffed Scallops. 

2016 Coume del Mas Quadratur paired with Pan-Seared Bison and Roasted Mushrooms

As I was researching seasonal French food, it seems as if “game” is a popular item on tables in France.  Alas, it proved to be a challenge to find pheasant, quail, or squab.  Sure I could have substituted chicken, but what’s the fun in that?  I wanted some game meat.  Since I had a red wine, I opted for bison.

OMG…so delicious! I’ll definitely be buying more, not only for the great flavor, but it’s healthier than beef!

2016 Coume del Mas Collioure Quadratur – France, Languedoc Roussillon, Roussillon, Collioure
Color – Inky purple
Aromas – Aromatic black and red fruit, spice, leather, and garrigue with a hint of damp earth
Body – Medium-bodied with ample fruit, bright moderating acidity and well-integrated present tannins
Taste – Ripe black cherry, red currant, spice, and dark roast espresso
Finish – Long

Blend of Grenache 50%, Mourvedre 30%, Carignan 20%| 14.5% abv | The wine’s tannic structure and weight played very well with the bison.  A wonderful pairing! 

2015 Chateau Haut Selve paired with Beef Wellington

I chose to pair the Chateau Selve with Beef Wellington because Bordeaux and beef are typically a great pairing.  . Why Beef Wellington?  I’ve never had it before.  And I’d always thought of it as a French dish.  But, as the story goes, this classic English dish was named after Arthur Wellesley, the 1^st Duke of Wellington.  Apparently, the Duke loved a dish of beef, truffles, mushroom, Madeira wine and pâté cooked in pastry.  Other accounts credit the name to a patriotic chef wanting to give an English name to a variation on the French filet de bœuf en croûte during the Napoleonic Wars.   The classic Beef Wellington is a preparation of filet mignon coated with a pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles, which is then wrapped in a puff pastry and baked.  Either way it’s what I’d consider to be an extravagance fit for the holiday table!

2015 Château Haut Selve – France, Bordeaux, Graves
Color – Crimson
Aromas – Aromatic black currant, black cherry, dried herb, barrel spice and a whiff of mint
Body – Medium-bodied, elegant, and harmonious with suave tannins and juicy acidity
Taste – Black currant, plum, blackberry, graphite and subtle spice
Finish – Long

Blend of 60% Merlot/40% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 12 months in French oak |13.5% abv | A fabulous pairing!

What a fun and tasty exploration of the food and wine of French holiday season!  The wines provided by our sponsor,  Vignobles & Signatures group of French wineries (including my first wine from Graves – I’ll be back), were all memorable and food friendly.  And it was my first taste of Beef Wellington and Stuffed Scallops.   It was the next best thing to being France during the holiday season!

Check out what my fellow #Winophiles are bringing to our virtual holiday potluck! 

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla whips up “A French #Winophiles Fête: Foie Gras, Pain d’Epices & Champagne Drappier“
• Jill shares from L’OCCASION shares “How To Bring French Holiday Traditions Home“
• Gwen at WinePredator has “Season’s Greetings French-Style“
• Wendy at A Day In The Life On The Farm gives us “A Holiday Gathering with French Foods and Wines“
• Deanna from Asian Test Kitchen tells writes about “Ants Climb a Tree with French Wine“
• Jeff from foodwineclick discusses “What is French-Style Season?”
• Liz from What’s In That Bottle tells us how to “Frenchify Your Festivities with Fun Wines“
• Payal writes at Keep The Peas shares “Bonnes Fêtes à la #winophiles”
• Lauren from The Swirling Dervish shares “Parisian Holidays: A Few of My Favorite Things“
• David Crowley of CookingChat shares “Festive Pairings for Pouilly-Fumé and Other Special French Wine #winophiles“
• Kat from Bacchus Travel & Tours tells us about “Noël en Provence #winophiles“
• Jane cooks things up at Always Ravenous shares “A French-Inspired Winter Dinner”
• Nicole from Somms Table shares Crocus “l’Atelier Malbec de Cahors with Château Mercuès Saffron Chicken Soup”
• Rupal from Journeys of a Syrah Queen shares “French Inspired Holiday Wines”
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles entices us with “Un repas de Noël pour les fêtes de fin d’année (A Christmas Dinner for the end of the year celebrations)…with wine #Winophiles”
• Michelle of Rockin Red Blog writes about “A French-Inspired Holiday Alsatian Style”
• Lyn writes at L.M. Archer shares “The Hedonistic Taster: A French-Style Season“
  
• Lynn from Savor the Harvest shares “Give a Little Touche Française to your Holiday #Winophiles“

We hope you’ll join– 8am PT, 11 am ET, and 5pm in France— and chat with us. It’s easy to participate: just log in to Twitter at the times mentioned and follow #Winophiles. Feel free to chime in, making sure to append #Winophiles to your tweets so we can welcome you.

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