Chapoutier's classic and a Basque jewel ...

DINNER PARTY AT BARBARA and NICHOLAS's house, Turville Heath.

 

Côtes-du-Rhône, Michel Chapoutier, Rhone Valley 2007

This was served with a partridge stew with mushrooms and lentils that had been sitting and gathering in perfumed potency all day … gamey and perfectly balanced. The wine was a great match, with its aromas of freshly picked black cherries, lavender and mineral, earthy backbone.

 

Pipas Txakolina, Bizkaiko Txakolina 2010

A very, very bone-dry and highly acidic, vivacious wine. Right up my alley. Perfect with the fresh goat’s cheese and the runny Epoisses Barbara served. This is a very unusual grape variety from the Basque region. I once lived in Biarritz, and I know and love these wines; they personify the lush, mystical greenery and misty rain clouds of the Pyrenees and the salty, moody beaches of the Atlantic beaches.