Food and wine

A day of gastronomic excellence. The focus of the day, on setting out at about 11.30, was to visit the winery of Marcel Deiss, in Bestheim, about  which, apparently,  people speak and write only in superlatives.  We stopped by the craft shop in Itterswiller that fly has previously visited, and were distracted by the cost warmth of the adjacent restaurant, and encouraged by the carloads of people pulling up to go in.  It was the best lunch ever. Pumpkin soup to rival my previous best (enjoyed on the west coast of Tasmania), and then the ultimate Onion Tart.  Chablis had the onion tart as starter, and then steak, perfectly seared, with a potato gratin.  Not being the driver, she was able to have a pinot gris with the tart, and a pinot noir with the steak.  Fly, being the driver, had to be content with inhaling the aromas.  

Perhaps the aromas were too much, or maybe it was just overconfidence, but we did get a little lost on the way to Bestheim, and although the detour was a pleasant drive, it was nearly three when we arrived at Marcel Deiss. 

It lived up to Chablis’ expectations.  Even fly enjoyed the ritual of tasting, which was conducted by Florian, and facilitated by  pictures and videos on a plasma TV on the wall to show which particular vineyards the fruit came from for which wines. (Engelgarten (Angel garden), Altenberg, etc - they all have names, which is then the name of the wine.)  And also, with a bit of practice, fly is appreciating the aromas and tastes.  My favourite, of which I bought a bottle for Christmas lunch, as it is said to be perfect with poulet, was the Schoffweg (see below).  Note description of the terroir on which the grape is grown - very important in this winery.

The last three wines we tasted were blends of several varieties. Chablis asked Florian how they decide which varieties to include in a blend, and was surprised by his response – the variety is not critical, what matters is where they are grown. So a number of varieties, but all grown in the same terroir, are included in a blend.  The blend is the expression of the terroir. Chablis bought a bottle of the Schoenenb0urg to take home, about which the current Deiss (don’t know how many generations there have been), wrote: The production of this wine is a milestone in my life as a wine-grower and marks a break with the variety-over-terroir dominance under which the Alsace region has suffered so greatly for the past 100 years.  Jean-Michel Deiss  (Pic) 

This is a somewhat iconoclastic viewpoint apparently.  Chablis took quite a while to mull it over, here education and training so far having emphasised the importance of variety, but is beginning to think that maybe there is a thesis topic here.  

Then Florian gave us the good news that on Sunday there is an event at the Chateau of Kientzheim where of all the grands crus of Alsace bring their wines for tasting. Chablis was absolutely ecstatic, such a golden opportunity.  So she has changed her plans to go back to Germany before flying out from Frankfurt next week, and we are off to the grands crus tasting on Sunday.  Even fly is excited.

It was pitch-dark and still foggy when we left Deiss, though only 5.15pm.  Something was happening around that part of Alsace, as we saw several flashing blue lights of the gendarmerie; and in one village we were stopped at a road-block.  Very handsome gendarme checked my licences (Australian and international) and my car papers (ownership and insurance),  but I think it was the French delivered in an Australian accent that convinced him we were not the do-bads they were after.  We were dismissed.