Sober Clams + a French Syrah #Winophiles #Sponsored

This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with the March #Winophiles event.

Wine samples were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links.

Liz of What's in That Bottle is hosting the French Winophiles this month. She wrote: "There's great variety in the Rhône, from north to south, and it should be a fun wine region to explore. And since our Twitter chat will be scheduled on March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day - perhaps we can consider the delights of Irish food with Rhône Valley wines! Sausages, bacon, Shepherd's Pie ... I can imagine all these would be delish with a Rhône red!" You can read her invitation (here) and her preview post (here).

photo from Jill at L'Occasion

Fac et Spera

Not only is Liz hosting, but she organized a sponsor to send a group of us bloggers some wine samples. Many thanks to Maison M. Chapoutier for providing us with three different wines for the event.

Maison M. Chapoutier's family motto is: Fac et Spera which, in Latin, means 'Do and Hope.' To them, those words encompass their winemaking philosophy and guide their winemaking process.

On their website, they list a respect for the terroir ("paying attention... to the world, the environment, anticipating the needs of the earth") then, a respect for the grape ("acting as a merchant for the grapes"), and a respect for the wine drinkers ("aim to always convey the same love of wine...to discover its diversity").

Yes, That's Braille on the Label

I was curious about the Braille on the label! Here's what I found: In 1993, when Michel Chapoutier had only been the lead winemaker in the family business for a few years, his friend musician Gilbert Montagné discussed his discomfort at going to a wine shop alone. He couldn't read the labels and always felt better when a friend could describe the wines available. With a little research, Chapoutier found it was a fairly simple process to add Braille to his labels. Since then, every bottle of Chapoutier includes appellation, name of the wine, vintage, and whether it's a white or a red wine.

Jill from L’Occasion has a different version of the reason based on the original owner of the vineyards who was blinded. Read her post for that explanation!

And, after Chapoutier adopted Braille on his labels, other winemakers followed suit. I recently saw Braille on a bottle from Greece...but that is for another post in another wine group.

The Other #Winophiles

• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator tells us about Duck à l’Orange with M. Chapoutier’s Biodynamic, Organic Rhone Wines
• Jill from L’Occasion writes about Braille on the Label: A Chapoutier Pioneering Moment
• J.R. from Great Big Reds writes about The Dark Side of Syrah, with Domaine FondrechePersia 2012  (Ventoux)
• Jeff from Food Wine Click shares Northern Rhone Wines and My Steak Tartare Disaster
• David at Cooking Chat at tells us about London Broil Steak with Châteauneuf-du-Pape
• Rob at Odd Bacchus writes about Return to the Rhône
• Susannah at Avvinare writes about Rhône Gems from Chapoutier in Chateauneuf, du Pape, Crozes-Hermitage, and Luberon
• Nicole at Somm’s Table tells her story of Cooking to the Wine: Les Vins de Vienne Gigondas with Gratinéed Shepherd’s Pie
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures shares a post on Sober Clams + a French Syrah
• Jane at Always Ravenous shares Bison Burger Paired with Northern Rhône Syrah
• Martin of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog at shares A Taste of The House of Chapoutier
• Rupal at Syrah Queen writes about Chapoutier: King of the Rhône
• Lauren at The Swirling Dervish writes about France’s Rhône Valley: Mountains, Sea, Wind, and Wine
• Michelle at Rockin Red Blog writes about Maison M. Chapoutier: Expressing Terroir Through Biodynamics
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares Ireland and France Collide
• Payal of Keep the Peas writes The Rhône: A Taste of Terroir with the #Winophiles

Crozes-Hermitage “Les Meysonniers”

For this event, I received three bottles from them: Lubéron, Les Meysonniers Crozes-Hermitage, and La Bernardine Châteauneuf-du-Pape.* I will share pairings and posts for all of them within the coming weeks, but for today's #Winophiles' event, I am pouring their Crozes-Hermitage "Les Meysonniers."

This is a single varietal wine made from Syrah grapes that are, at least, a quarter of a century old. Grown in a blended soil, the grapes are hand-harvested and vinified in a traditional manner with through treading and remontage, also called pumping over. The Crozes-Hermitage is then aged in concrete tanks for about a year.

To the eye, the wine is an intense violet hue. Maybe it's a trick of the eye, but the color actually had me getting violet aromas, too...along with rich berry notes. On the tongue, the wine is round and full. It finishes with a tinge of sweet vanilla. Though I initially planned to pair the wine with an Irish stew made with lamb, I decided to play with the sweet and tart and serve it with seafood and a splash of citrus. Success! This was a hit with all.

You'll see the Lubéron and La Bernardine Châteauneuf-du-Pape in future posts. But I'll give a teaser and tell you that I served the Lubéron with pork and the La Bernardine Châteauneuf-du-Pape with chicken. Is your curiosity piqued? I hope so.

Sober Clams
This is a riff on an Irish dish that Jake and I love: Drunken Mussels. But the two Manns of non-drinking age don't care for the alcohol in the dish and asked if we could make it without the booze. And, when I went to the fish market, there were no mussels to be had. So...no alcohol and no mussels; we ended up with sober clams!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds clams, soaked, scrubbed, and dried
• 1 stick of butter, divided in half
• splash of olive oil
• 3 to 4 whole juniper berries, crushed
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced (approximately 1 C)
• 1 red onion, diced (approximately 1 C)
• 1/4 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 C water
• 1 C organic heavy cream
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 C fresh chopped herbs (I used a mixture of parsley, tarragon, and thyme)

Procedure

Place 1/2 stick of butter and crushed juniper berries in a large, flat-bottom pan with a lid. Add a splash of olive oil to keep the butter from burning. Heat until the butter is completely melted and foamy.

 

Add in the fennel and onion. Cook until the fennel is softened and the onion beginning to caramelize. Deglaze the pan with water (you can do this with wine if you aren't making sober clams!). Once the water begins to simmer, pour in the lemon juice and place the clams in a single layer in the pan and add the remaining butter. Cook for one to two minutes, then pour in the cream. Stir to combine, then cover and steam until the clams open. Check them after five minutes. They are cooked and ready when the shells are completely open. 

Remove the clams and fold the herbs into the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, I cooked squid ink pasta and placed them in individual serving bowls. I divided the clams evenly into the bowls and spooned the sauce over the top.

Find the Sponsor..

Maison M.Chapoutier on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter

*Disclosure: I received sample wines for recipe development, pairing, and generating social media traction. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the organizer and sponsors of this event.