When he's right, he's right, the Austrian writer Johannes Mario Simmel. It really doesn't always have to be caviar! Not even on holidays, not even when food (and drink) are part of the sweet seduction. Fifty years ago, Simmel's character in the novel, the banker Thomas Lieven, joined various secret services to bring peace (and confusion) with his cooking skills. And he was able to do this - as can be read in the book - with good "home cooking". Should this be different in the world of wine? Isn't there also something like home cooking in wine: hearty, nutritious and traditional? The festive wines did not provide the proof.
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| Simmel's book is older than wine: to enjoy both. |
On feast days, on welcome visits, on birthdays, wherever there is a celebration to be had, the wine lover usually looks for a very special bottle in the far corner of his cellar. Something with which to celebrate a not everyday occasion with a convincing cheers-wow. And because this "cheers-wow" cannot be guaranteed, one reaches for wine from famous wine regions, with great names and excellent vintages...
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| Famous names from a famous region |
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| Bündner Herrschaft - Pinot Noir region |
The experience made me think: Does it really always have to be Bordeaux? A few days later, Rémy and Uriela, two friends who know something about wine, came to visit. Again, I put my money on the safety card. Not good vintages, but very big names. Ausone 1997 and Mouton Rothschild 1993, two bottles that are somehow special. The Ausone - I still don't know why I bought it then - was (like the 1997 Bordeaux vintage as a whole) far too expensive, but still (almost) affordable compared to today. And the 1993 Mouton Rothschild caused a furore at the time because the nude on the artist's label of Balthus (whose real name is Count Balthazar Koslowski) was banned in America. We enjoyed the two wines, they were great, the Ausone as expected a lot better than the Mouton. And again I wonder: is it the quality of the wines or "just" the feeling of having drunk something extraordinary, something special?
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| The two labels of Mouton Rothschild 1993 - left for America% right for the rest of the world |
Nevertheless: on New Year's Eve I do it no differently again. We are alone, that evening, my wife and I. We had "home cooking", osso bucco, a typical Italian meat dish made from the shank of veal. It would probably go well with a strong red from Italy, a Chianti Classico, perhaps even a mature Bandol from Provence, if it absolutely had to be a French wine (Philippe Bourguigon's recommendation). In fact, I cooked with an Italian, but into the glass again came a Bordeaux, Latour 1986, a classic, with black forest berries, tobacco, maybe even some marzipan (in any case sweet hints), but opulent, powerful, with a balanced long finish. All this I - déformation professionelle - still registered that evening, but otherwise found the wine simply delicious. France and Italy united!
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| Final touches at Château Latour - checking the labels |
Again, I chose the "safe side", preferring "caviar" to discovery, to the new. Latour in this case was simply the sign of the extraordinary, a sure marker on the threshold of the new year. It is probably more the thought of starting 2011 with something special, of capturing the moment oenophilically as well, and thus leaving the often tedious daily grind behind me that captivates.
But afterwards I seriously asked myself: does it really always have to be caviar? Does the wine always have to be an (almost) safe bet in terms of the growing region, the vintage, the rating, the name, the maturity, etc.? Or wouldn't something different, something that hasn't long since been praised, sung about and awarded points, perhaps even a wine discovery, be the right thing; a very "small" wine that gives pleasure, where enthusiasm and disappointment lie close together and which carries the spirit of Marco Polo more than that of Louis XIV, the ruler by the grace of God.
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| On a voyage of discovery - Châteaux Marac in Puijols (Entre-deux-Mers) |
So, already in the first days of the new year, I made a "bold" decision. No, it doesn't always have to be caviar. Not even in festive hours. And I decided to buy a wine I had never heard of before. From my favourite region, Bordeaux, of course. Château Marac, a so-called insider tip from the large Entre-Deux-Mers region, south-east of Saint-Emilion, recommended solely by a wine merchant who usually offers "inexpensive" wines, and who also has my favourite Bordeaux table wine, "Parenchère", in his range. Reason enough to set sail, head for the unknown, and perhaps, perhaps - name, price, wine region, vintage without tantalising siren notes - find the next festive wine. Certainly not one that can compete with caviar, but with good, independent, perhaps even more natural home cooking.
Hearty