As your not-so-humble correspondent is currenty on the antibiotics and daren’t touch the vino, I’ll have to blog on it instead. My favourite drop is a good Chateau neuf du Pape. You can keep your watery vintages and delicate flavours – I need a fruity wine which hits you around the head and fills every crevice in your body.

In spirits, a Drambuie will do that but in wine, the CN du P fulfils the same function in sufficient quantities.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape roughly translates to “The Pope’s new castle” and, indeed, the history of this appellation is firmly entwined with papal history. In 1308, Pope Clement V, former Archbishop of Bordeaux, relocated the papacy to the town of Avignon. Clement V and subsequent “Avignon Popes” were said to be great lovers of Burgundy wines and did much to promote it during the seventy-year duration of the Avignon Papacy.

Baron Pierre le Roy of Château Fortia was the architect of the AOL which is quite prescriptive and all power to him, I say. one of the Baron’s requirements was that no vineyards could be planted on land that wasn’t arid enough to support plantings of both lavender and thyme.

Another quite vital measure was the 1954 passing of a municipal decree in the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape that banned the overhead flying, landing or taking off of flying saucers in the commune. Quite right too.

Between the galets roulés and the mistral wind, the location has been vital for the terroir of the wine. The Grenache noir is a fine grape and gives that characteristic flavour, heavier than many other wines and almost jam-like perhaps. This is accentuated in the heavy bottling and labelling. These are earthy wines, uncompromising and even a bit rustic. With the high presence of phenols, the wine is also very good for you.

Though in some ways a heavy red seems a bit out of place in a southerly region, it is a superb wine with game and red meat. I’d go so far as to say that these are the sort of things which make life bearable and add to man’s pleasure and quality of life.

[Most pics and most of the text in this post is attributable to Wiki.]

Recette

INGREDIENTS

Pour 4 personne(s)

4 grosses pommes de terre Bintje (minimum 9 cm de longueur),
4 cailles,
2 tranches de jambon blanc dégraissé coupées en 2,
400 g de raisin blanc Italia (ou Amandin),
2 c. à soupe d’huile d’olive vierge 1ère pression à froid,
sel, poivre blanc du moulin.

Matériel
4 cure-dents en bois

PREPARATION

Préchauffer le four chaud thermostat 7 (200°C).

Eplucher les pommes de terre, rincer, essuyer et les évider pour former un nid, les badigeonner avec un pinceau d’huile d’olive.

Saler et poivrer l’intérieur et l’extérieur des cailles, les farcir de trois grains de raisin chacune, entourer chaque caille d’une demi-tranche de jambon, les poser sur les pommes de terre. Badigeonner les cailles avec le reste d’huile, les disposer dans un plat à four et enfourner 30 minutes

Ajouter le reste des raisin égrainés et remettre15 minutes au four.

Dans 4 assiettes préchauffées servir les cailles dans leur nid de pomme de terre.

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