foodwineclick

French Winophiles Celebrate Women in Wine
March is Women’s History Month, with March 8 being International Women’s Day, so our French Winophiles are dedicating our March posts to French Women in Wine. Join us this month as we celebrate French Women involved in our favorite beverage. Take a look further down in this post for links to all my fellow French Winophiles articles. I’m highlighting Anne-Sophie Dubois, an organic certified winegrower in Fleurie in the the Beaujolais region.

Domaine Anne-Sophie Dubois
Anne-Sophie Dubois‘ family comes from the Champagne region, where they farm and provide grapes to their local cooperative. Ann-Sophie loves the Gamay grape, and luckily, land in Beaujolais is still accessible and somewhat affordable. She owns and farms 8 hectares (about 20 acres) of vines in the Les Labourons village in the Fleurie appellation of Beaujolais. She has worked to earn organic certification for her vineyard. Further, she ensures the vineyard soils are never bare, maintaining a cover crop which represents some of the most up-to-date sustainable techniques in viticulture. She only uses grapes she has grown. The grapes are all hand-harvested, manually sorted and whole clusters preserved. In the cellar, vinification proceeds with ambient yeasts and no chemical inputs are used. Wines are aged in old barrels to avoid oak flavors, wines are unfined, unfiltered and only a small amount of sulfur-dioxide is added at bottling.

Anne-Sophie Dubois “Les Cocottes” Fleurie AOC 2020 ($35 at Henry and Son) 12.5% abv
Winemaker’s notes: “A south-western exposure, a soil of pink granite and an altitude of 400m give elegance, minerality and tension. Natural yeasts produce aromatic complexity and concretize all the care we take in the vineyards. Bottling without filtration preserves the integrity of this cuvée. Additional notes: This is Anne-Sophie’s “fun” cuvée, made by 100% carbonic maceration, a fermentation style which emphasizes bright fruity character and minimizes tannins. This wine is intended for immediate enjoyment!
Eye: Pale purple
Nose: Pronounced aromas of apple blossoms, chamomile, raspberries, cranberries, barely ripe strawberries, leather, a sense of old weathered wood
Mouth: Dry, lip-smacking high acidity, low very refined tannins, medium minus body, medium alcohol, pronounced flavors, medium plus finish. The flavors follow the nose with the addition of a bit of fresh blueberries.
Observations: Absolutely delicious, this is a wine to enjoy without too much contemplation. Drinks beautifully either by itself or with food.

Wishing for Spring with Fleurie and Risotto
We’re currently knee-deep in the process of downsizing from our big house and moving into an apartment in downtown Minneapolis. Exciting change but SO much work! Julie suggested I keep the dinner preparations simple, so I made a favorite comfort food at our house – risotto. While stirring the risotto, I seared some scallops and roasted asparagus. Risotto is a dish well worth learning, it’s easy to adjust to either what’s seasonal and fresh or what you might have on hand. Here’s a recent version of my go-to method for risotto. Fleurie is an excellent partner to spring dishes as it tends to be a bit lighter than

Winophiles Celebrate French Women in Wine
Take a look below at all our Winophiles writers’ posts. You’re sure to find an interesting new vigneronne to follow. Then, why not join our chat on Saturday March 19 10-11am CDT on Twitter? Just search for the #Winophiles tag, we’d love to hear what you think.

Follow Anne-Sophie Dubois
As a younger generation vigneronne, Anne-Sophie answers her emails (!) and has an active instagram account. Follow her:

• Website
• Instagram