Tour de France: What is in a name; Francesca's?

WAY back in the summer of 1999 we sat around the Boardroom Table in the The Grille at the The Resort Course of The Westin La Cantera Hill Country Resort.  The Resort was sparkling new, just opened, and our fine dinning restaurant had yet to open.  Around the table were Westin executives, the Matre 'd, servers and our consulting Chef Mark Miller.  Yes, THE Mark Miller of Coyote Cafe fame.  I was one of the servers.  The hot topic was how are we going to pronounce the name of our restaurant.

We all agreed that it sounded best as "Fran-CHESS-kas."  It is just how most of us said it.  Then Chef Miller gave us a lesson in European pronunciations; the "Fran-CHESS-kas" we were saying was Italian and we wanted to stay away from being an Italian restaurant.  Since we have more Spanish influence in our cuisine, culture, and region he maintained that we should use the Spanish pronunciation .."Fran-ses-kas."  From there on we agreed, the Spanish pronunciation was the way to go.

Nowhere in all our discussion do I remember us talking about what the name meant. We all got that it was a girl's name, which is obvious, the legend that our name is honoring was the prettiest lady in the county who stole the heart of a young man that was destined to become a priest.

What I did not catch is that it was acknowledgment of France or French heritage which was itself a reference to freedom or "free one!"  

Many will agree that this French Spirit of freedom is vibrantly on display in the feats of the month long race that tours the country, called the Tour de France.

AND it can be tasted in the wines made from their land!  Which is why our wine list is featuring French wines during July.  Check out this wine list here.

Featured Red Wine:

• Grenache, SHATTER, Maury, Roussillon, France, 2010
• Pinot Noir, Bourgogne, LOUIS CHEVALLIER, Burgundy, France, 2010
• Merlot / Cabernet Blend, Graves, CHÂTEAU CABANNIEUX, Bordeaux, France, 2009
• Merlot/Cab. Sauvignon, CHASSE, Bordeaux, France, 2008

Featured White Wine:

• Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre, JEAN REVERDY "La Reine Blanche" Loire, France, 2011
• Chardonnay, Chablis, DOMAINE LONG-DEPAQUIT Burgundy, France, 2011
• Viognier,  CINQUANTE-CINQ, Vin de Pays d'Oc, Languedoc, France, 2012
• Melon de Bourgogne, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine, Sur Lie, DOMAINES VINET, "DOMAINE ST. MARTIN" Loire, France, 2011

Variety the Spice of Life; Chardonnay

Chardonnay can range from medium to full body with expressive aromas, fruit forward flavors and complexity.  And, most importantly they have a SUPPLE mouthfeel that drives Chardonnay drinkers wild!  This grape is grown everywhere and the styles can be diverse with some being ordinary in their expression and others tasting absolutely sublime!!!

Flavors Commonly Experienced :

• Apple  
• Pineapple
• Pear  
• Lemon / Lime
• Vanilla  
• Oak / Butter

Chardonnay is the offspring of the noble grape Pinot Noir and a rather ignoble grape called Gouais Blanc.  The wines from Gouais Blanc were so bad the French government in acted laws requiring the vines to be pulled out of existing vineyards and forbidding them from ever being replanted.  Learning this genetic origins of Chardonnay helped me to understand the wines from this grape better.  This combined with the grape's ability to reflect the soil composition and vinification techniques used to make it; result in a quite beguiling and fascinating wine.

Some Recommended Chardonnay...

• CHARDONNAY,FREI BROTHERS, "RESERVE" SUSTAINABLY GROWN, RussianRiver Valley, California, 2011
• Chardonnay, FERRARI-CARANO, Sonoma County, California, 2011 

And please reply to this blog; 
what is your  favorite Chardonnay?

BRANNON'S CAFE
WINE LIST

Wine Study- "Chardonnay"

Veramonte boasts one of Chile’s largest contiguous vineyards, with 11,000 acres of vines in the Casablanca region, an ultra-modern winery with a world class visitor’s center (how much of it is Chardonnay???)

“It’s weird that everyone is

crazy about Chardonnay.” 

“it is such a neutral grape variety,

yet it is the world's

favorite wine!”

- Jancis Robinson

We continue a series of sessions with the Francesca's at Sunset and Brannon's Cafe teams we are calling "Wine Study."  We are meeting every other Saturday for the purpose of expanding our knowledge and experience with wine.  Our guide is Jancis Robinson's Wine Course DVD, an excellent resource!  Aired in the United Kingdom in 1995 and is fascinating to see both area where the wine industry has not changed and areas where it has.

Episode 2- Chardonnay is amazing because of the juxtaposition Jancis shows us; New World vs Old World. She starts out on the Geoff Merrill's winery in McLaren Vale Australia where it is DRY as a bone and there seems to be two maybe three men working with giant machines, pumps, giant hoses, tractors and using additives like enzymes, yeast nutrients and liquid sulfur (to prevent oxidization), and techniques like all MOG removed (Martial Other than Grapes), and cooled like crazy (REFRIGERATION is very important to modern wine making), juice is squeezed as gently as possible to avoid any harsh flavors in the skins, stems and seeds.  The Mrs. Robinson takes us to France, Meursault specifically, the vineyards and winery of  Dominique Lafon where it is soaking WET and there are dozens of people working, a lot of it by hand, some machines, pumps, hoses, tractors are used however only natural yeast and no additives are used. The two wineries are a night and day comparison in every way except one; both wine makers did not like the other's Chardonnay AT ALL!

Jancis returns to Australia driving home even further the point of how dry it is there and interviewing  Adam Wynn of Mountadam in the Barossa Valley. He went to Bordeaux university, worked in Burgundy and had some of the most critical things to say about the French. “They have everything in their favor in France.”  “If you are born lucky enough to inherit three hectares of Meursault; it is a license to print money.”  “It is a tragedy to taste a bad French wine.”  AND the punch line to it all is that Monntadam was founded by Adam's father in 1972 as one of Australia's pioneer Chardonnay producers and handed it all over to Adam which he sold off in 2002 and is seemingly out of the wine business(?). While the other two Mr. Merrill and Mr. Lafon are both making GREAT wines today!  

As important to Chardonnay as anything else is the time it spends in oak barrels, so Mrs. Robinson takes us to the Francois Freres cooperage in the Saint-Romain Forests where a 150 year old tree is cut down to make two barrels!  On a whirlwind the way only a DVD can be Jancis takes us to San Francisco where the cooperage has an office and where Chardonnay DOMINATES on restaurant wine lists where she makes the declarative quote listed above.

It is a very compelling episode which is informative and instructional. Our group watched it and I provided this handout which has a few notes from the video and some information and links to more on the web related to the topics Jancis covers, hopefully it adds a bit of depth on the subjects.


To check your learning experience and highlight the most important information here is the quiz.  And the quiz with answers. And please reply to this blog; is Chardonnay your  favorite wine?