Friday, April 19, 2019

Chardonnay? White Burgundy? Chablis!!! #FrenchWinophiles

You're in a restaurant looking at the wine list.  You have decided to have seafood and would now like a bottle of wine that would pair well.  Under the list of white wines you see Chardonnay, White Burgundy and Chablis.  Which do you choose to pair with the seafood?


Would you be surprised if I told you that they are all the same wine?  They may taste a little different because of the terroir in which they are grown or the method used in making the wine but they all are made of 100% Chardonnay grapes.



European wines are named for the appellation in which they are grown.  White Burgundy is made from Chardonnay grapes grown in the Burgundy region of Eastern France. Chardonnay grapes are believed to have originated in Burgundy but are now grown throughout the world.

Chablis is the northernmost area of the Burgundy region.  It, too, is made of 100% Chardonnay grapes.  Wines made in Chablis, however, are very rarely put into oak barrels.

Here in the USA, the wines are named after the grape varietal, hence the popularity of Chardonnay instead of Chablis or White Burgundy in this country.  The first wine that I ever gave my husband was a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.  That started his love affair with wine and our mutual interest in learning and tasting.


This has been a crazy, busy month for me.  I got all discombobulated and thought that the wine for next month was for this month.  I made a meal to pair with that wine. When I went to write my post, I discovered my error.  That was on Tuesday.  

I always have several bottles of Chardonnay on hand and I considered just opening one and explaining that, although not from France, it was still a Chablis but that's not quite right.  You see, they do use the same grape, however a Chablis can only come from Chablis.  A Chardonnay can come from anywhere.

So on Thursday when I went out to do my shopping for Easter Dinner, I picked up a bottle of Chablis from Seguinot-Bordet.


This photo is from the winery.  Stainless steel as far as the eye can see.  Not an oak barrel to be found.  The bottle I chose was the 2016 Premier Cru Fourchaume at a retail price of $32.  This is more than I would normally spend on a bottle for Frank and I to share on a typical evening but, as I said, it has been a crazy month and I decided to indulge.

While out running my errands for Easter I grabbed a sandwich on the way home.  Frank had attended meetings all morning and then met up with his brother for a late lunch.  I got home, put away the groceries, made a sandwich for Marissa and ran out the door to pick her up from school and get her to the orthodontist.  We went straight from the orthodontist to Holy Thursday Mass.



After Mass, we grabbed Marissa a fast food sandwich and took her over to a friend's house where she was spending the night since there was no school on Good Friday.  When finally got home at around 9 pm. we realized that we were hungry.  Neither one of us had any energy for cooking so Frank opened the Chablis while I opened a package of Boursin cheese and some crackers.

We sat down on the couch and toasted to finally being able to relax for a moment.  The first sip was lovely.  Buttery, rich and crisp.  We finished off the bottle and all of the cheese and crackers while watching episodes of Blindspot that had been taped and waiting for us to have some down time.

Here it is, Friday evening and I am getting this post in just under the wire for our Twitter Chat tomorrow at 11 AM ET following #Winophiles.  This chat will be led by our host Liz of What's in that Bottle.   You can see her invitation post here.   

Stop by and check out some of the other posts that we will be discussing and then join in the fun.









16 comments:

  1. Ahh Boursin! It is a savior and so good. Nice job getting this post done in timw!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job! I love those nights of just cheese and wine. Thanks for sharing, Wendy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually think the Chablis and Boursin combo sounds heavenly! Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you pulled together a great wine selection, pairing and an easy last minute dinner! Sometimes the unplanned just works out!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm impressed you were able to put this together at the last minute! I'll bet the Boursin hit the spot with the Chablis. And now, you're all set for next month, right?

    ReplyDelete
  6. A nice simple pairing! Hopefully you had a good Easter and enjoyed a bit of relaxing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well we had 15 guests for dinner so it wasn't very relaxing but it was fun and vacation starts in 6 days!!!

      Delete
  7. You pulled it off so well last minute. Boursin is my all time favorite as it's so versatile. I can tell your Premier Cru Fourchaume Chablis - buttery, rich yet crisp, works really well with this cheese. Also you deserved this bottle as you seemed to multi-task so much this month!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pinney...I am really looking forward to my vacation.

      Delete
  8. After the week you had, at least you are ahead for next month! What a joyous thing to just relax with a nice bottle of Chablis and some cheese. No cooking, just relaxing and breathing and enjoying that wonderful wine.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy getting comments and feedback from my audience. Please let me know what you think, keeping in mind that we are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions. I am happy to hear yours as long as they are stated nicely.