Three Puffeney reds & three Loire whites

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Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
A memorable tasting and dinner at home with a group of old and new friends. Marcia outdid herself and made a small, delicate dish to go with each wine. Every component meshed and delivered, inspiring the conversation into an ascending spiral of camaraderie. There's a glow when everything fits just so.

2007 Luneau-Papin Gros Plant du Pays Nantais VV Sur Lie 11.0%
Chalk, slate, grapefruit, white flowers. Fresh as a daisy in heat. Lovely tongue tickling acidity and vibrant fruit. Crystal clear, like a Laura Cantrell song.

2005 Franois Chidaine Montlouis Les Choisilles 14.0%
Intense nose, very minerally, supercharged with grapefruit and white flowers. Lovely texture and thickness, the nearly off-dry sweetness offset by a deftly bitter orange pekoe finish. Smoky and slightly hot from the alcohol. Could have used a bit more acidity, and perhaps time.

2006 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Poulsard M 12.5%
The color of a darker ros. Strawberry and cloves. Vibrant acidity, matched by brash fruit, closer to cherry in the mouth. Initially theres an objectionable gloss to the sweetness, like cherry cola, but with air and food this straightens itself out. Still prefer Overnoy/Houillon in the Poulsard sweepstakes.

2007 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Trousseau Les Berangres 13.0%
Cherry, cloves and spices. Delicious acidity, perfect balance, satisfying body. Serious and elegant. A thingamabob of beauty. In the right hands, what a grape this is. Puffeney and Tissot trousseaus both rock in the cradle.

2007 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Pinot Noir 13.0%
Deep dark berry aromas with leather, resin and cloves. Terrific acidity and mouth feel. Classy yet savage. Hard to pick between this and the previous, but Ill go with the underdog.

1997 Domaine du Clos Naudin/Foreau Vouvray Moelleux 13.0%
Apricots, peaches, almonds, white flowers, botrytis, the sweetness kept in check by a lovely bitterness and sufficient acidity. Quite the closing chord.
 
Nice drinking. I had the Puffeney Poulsard and Trousseau last weekend but they both seemed to be showing a bit of funk (reduction/brett?) that I hadn't tasted before. Generally I love those wines and am tempted to say I prefer them to Overnoy (but really I'm not sure I prefer either producer, just happy to have both). But after last week's funk I think my itch was satisfied for the next short while.
 
Yes, now that Jim mentions it, I see you say Marcia made a different dish for each wine. Meaning a different dish for each of the Puffeney wines? Care to share what they were? Interesting to see how one would handle that fine-grained 'progression'.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Yes, now that Jim mentions it, I see you say Marcia made a different dish for each wine. Meaning a different dish for each of the Puffeney wines? Care to share what they were? Interesting to see how one would handle that fine-grained 'progression'.
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Actually a different dish with each wine. I've found that focus is much greater if each wine is served with a corresponding food, so that has become our ritual, even if, at its simplest, it's just a different cheese.

2007 Luneau-Papin Gros Plant du Pays Nantais VV Sur Lie
Sipped before we went to the table, so accompanied by assorted Brazil and cashew nuts

2005 Franois Chidaine Montlouis Les Choisilles 14.0%
Salmon tartar covered with a blend of sour and avocado creams, seasoned with lemon, salt & pepper, topped with fish eggs

2006 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Poulsard M 12.5%
Millefeuilles covered with cream of chicken and leeks

2007 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Trousseau Les Berangres 13.0%
Sausage ravioli with pumpkin pure and parmesan sauce

2007 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Pinot Noir 13.0%
Manioc pure with minced meat cooked in onions, garlic, olive oil and a tomato, seasoned with a parsley coriander sauce

1997 Domaine du Clos Naudin/Foreau Vouvray Moelleux 13.0%
Two desserts:
Pastry with whipped cream mixed with balsamic truffle, reduction topped by a cherry
Mascarpone with madeira wine, orange marmelade and an almond biscuit

Marcia commented that when she uses more condiments, the food tastes better but interacts less well with the wine, so very light use of condiments makes for better combinations.

If you had been present, she would have invented something meatless!
 
Sounds like a great meal, even if I don't eat meat.

I was just curious how precise one could be with the pairings for the three Puffeney wines because even if they are all different grapes etc, they are a lot closer in terms of potential food matches than progressing from Puffeney to Chateauneuf to Bordeaux, etc. So I didn't know if you could have switched the pairings for those three and still had great matches.

Either way, good stuff, sounds like you have a real Kitchen Gem! (Although I'm sure she shines in many other ways as well).
 
Agreed, a different order for the three Puffeneys might have fared just as well. Yup, Marcia got tired of my serving just a sequence of cheeses, and has stepped up to the culinary plate with impressive resourcefulness.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I would look like Orson Welles in his later years if I lived with you.
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If a vacancy for a man opens up, I'll let you know.

PS: Marlene did say "you ought to lay off those candy bars" in his later years, but that's because Orson didn't work out.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I would look like Orson Welles in his later years if I lived with you.
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!!

Does that mean the only reason you don't look that way now is because the food in your house is not delicious?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I would look like Orson Welles in his later years if I lived with you.
Click to expand...

If a vacancy for a man opens up, I'll let you know.

PS: Marlene did say "you ought to lay off those candy bars" in his later years, but that's because Orson didn't work out.
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"I wish it was your chili I was getting fat on."
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
For those who don't know, Tristan is Orson's grandson (and Laura Cantrell's cousin).
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Sadly, no relation. Orson's father added the second E to their name for reasons biographers (pronounced bee-ographers by the big O) can't tease out. Our family has always spelled it with two Es.

Now it's time for a little taaarrrget practice.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I would look like Orson Welles in his later years if I lived with you.
Click to expand...

If a vacancy for a man opens up, I'll let you know.

...
Click to expand...

Better wait for a double.

originally posted by Rahsaan:
!!

Does that mean the only reason you don't look that way now is because the food in your house is not delicious?
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Rahsaan, you are an incorrigible trouble-maker!

However good the food a cote de chez Fitzsimmons, we rarely produce a menu as varied and delectable-sounding as Marcia's and Oswaldo's on this occasion.
 
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