Winey Wednesday (plus food!)

I decided this week to review a white wine.  I'm a red drinker, so I'm not versed in white wine, but I shall try.  PLUS this week I have a food pairing courtesy of the boyfriend who is wonderful with food.  (If anyone is interested in hiring him to do a food pairing for a wine party, let me know!)

So, I picked a wine from Cotes du Rhone, as I love their red wines.  I'm not familiar with this vineyard, but when I spoke to one of the wine specialists at Total Wine, I was told this is a fuller body white, and I was not disappointed.

The Wine:

J.V. Fleury
Cotes du Rhone Blanc 2010
100% Vigonier grapes.
$13.99 at Total Wine

Appearance:  Straw like, very light
Smell:  Full fruit, heavy on apricot, orange and some lychee - perhaps some floral?
Body: light but full - hows that for oxymoronic?  It was full for a white wine, but obviously light in comparison to what I'm used to drinking reds.
Taste:  Wood, apricot, light honey and floral in the finish.

The finish was dry, which almost mimicked the tannins you find in red wine.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by this white.  I normally find whites either too dry or too sweet, this was neither. 

Rating: 7.6/10 for under $15.00.




The food:

As I mentioned, the boyfriend loves to cook.  Whether its small plate fair, or massive amounts of protein, he loves to play with different tastes and spices - I am a lucky girl (although my pants don't thank him)  When I told him I got a white for the review tonight, he came up with a few food pairings to go along:

Spiced apple slices poached in butter, lemon juice and a touch of honey, dusted with cardamom, an aged Italian parmesan style cows milk cheese, a young cranberry cows milk cheese and some Italian bread.
I beleive the boyfriend was doing a deconstructionist version of food, which explained why taken separately, the apples were fine, but not mind blowing.  Now, when you mix the young cow milk cheese with the apple on the bread - you get to experience the different flavors of the apple spices.  Somehow the mixture of the foods brings out the different flavors more than eating each separately.  In all honesty, I was not a fan of the aged cheese, but that's not surprising, as I don't like the texture of block Parmesan cheese.

All in all, a fabulous pairing of interesting wine and wonderful food.