foodwineclick

A Keeper Recipe and a Wine Discovery
This dinner wasn’t intended for a blog post, but the dish is so good, it needs to be shared and remembered. Peter brought a wine to enjoy with dinner and that led to discovery of a wine region I was not previously aquainted with, Loire Volcanique. Here you go, Wine Harvester’s Chicken and Domaine Sérol from Côte Roannaise in the Loire Volcanique.

Domaine Sérol “Oudan” Côte Roannaise AOC 2017 ( $28 online) 12.5% abv
Domaine Sérol has cultivated vines on their estate since the 17th century. The newest generation took over in 1996 and converted the domaine to organic, then biodynamic viticulture. They are certified by Ecocert and Biodyvin. Fermentations are performed by native yeasts.

Oudan is named for one of Domaine Sérol’s vineyards. The grape is Gamay Saint Romain, a local version of Gamay Noir, producing darker spicier wines compared to its’ cousin. Since this wasn’t planned as a blog post, I don’t have the usual tasting details other than it was a delicious red wine similar to a nice Cru Beaujolais.

Wine Harvesters Chicken
I’m a big David Lebovitz fan, his My Paris Kitchen is one of my favorite cookbooks. This recipe is featured in his book, luckily it’s also available on his website as Wine Harvester’s Chicken. We didn’t have any allspice in our Airbnb kitchen, so we substituted fresh sprigs of rosemary. At the market in Dijon, thick cut bacon is called “lardon fumé”. The dish ends up with nicely cooked chicken and smoky savory bacon balanced by the fruity sweetness of the grapes. We loved it and hope you’ll give it a try!

(click on any photo below to see full size slide-show)

Curious About Loire Volcanique and Côte Roannaise
The Loire River Valley extends all the way from the Atlantic into the Central Loire vineyards of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fûmé. But that isn’t ALL the way to the source of the river. Vineyards have long been planted in the uppermost reaches of the river in the foothills of the Massif Central, and the Loire Volcanique association was formed in 2019 to promote the AOC’s in the region. The Côte Roannaise has been recognized as an AOC since 1994. Vineyards in the regions feature volcanic soils, and the Côte Roannaise has granite soils, similar to the Crus of Beaujolais. Gamay is the main red grape planted in the region with a variety of white grapes planted in smaller quantities. Wines from these AOC’s may be a bit of a challenge to find, but definitely worth a search!