Minerality of Muscadet

A great Mucadet is an antithesis to modern wines of fruit bombs and full bodies.

Whereas many modern wines are described in fruits of cherries, blackberries, peaches, blah, blah and more blah, a great Muscadet has no desire to fit into a category of a particular fruit.  When tasted in a typical trade tasting without foods, a great Muscadet doesn’t even show very well. 

A great Muscadet is all about minerals and food, especially shell fishes such as raw oysters and steamed mussels.  A great Muscadet without food is like Fred without Ginger, a rose without fragrance, or Leonard Cohen without poetry.  A great Muscadet is for wine and food lovers. 

The qualifier ‘great’ is important when choosing a Muscadet because the majority of Muscadet is merely a mouthwash that is made industrially with chemical farming, lab yeasts and mechanical harvesting selling at supermarket low prices.

The good news is there is still a handful of vignerons who still give a shit.  The vignerons who farm in harmony with nature, who hand-harvest and who only stick to native yeasts.  Two of my favourites are Marc Ollivier of LaPépière and Jo Landron of Domaines Landron.  I can hug these guys! And I do every year by visiting them and thanking them for giving a shit.  Above is a picture of Jo Landron when I visited him January 2012.

A Canadian Mosaic Dinner - A Korean Dish That Actually Works with Wine!

I was born and raised in Korea.  So, I can declare that this dish actually works with a wine.  As much as I like Korean foods, they are full of peppers, vinegar and pickled-flavours.  Kimchi with Bordeaux or Riesling? I don’t think so. The flavours often fight with wines.  So, it is rare to find a Korean dish that tangos with a wine.  Here is my recipe (serves about 4 people).

• About 1 pound of flank steak
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ cup of dices onion
• 1 green onion
• 3 table spoon of quality soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
• 3 to 4 table spoon of brown sugar
• Dash of black pepper
• 1 or 2 pinch of course grey salt
• 1 cayenne pepper (optional)

First, pour yourself a glass of wine. Cut the flank steak into about 3 by 6 inch sizes.  Set the meat in a non-metal container large enough to hold the meet in one to two layers.  Place the rest of ingredients in a mortar or an electric mixer or blender.   Blend for a few seconds until the mixture is roughly smooth.  Pour the mixture into a bowl. Dip your finger into a mixture (in the bowl and not in the blender/mixer - for safety) and taste.  It should be somewhat salty, sweet and hot with a whiff of sesame seed oil fragrance. Adjust salt & sugar, if necessary.

Mix the marinade well with the meat.  Marinate the meat for 2 to 3 days in a refrigerator. Turn over the meat a couple of times.  The flank steak needs long marinating because it helps to tenderize the toughness of the cut – although it is one of the most flavourful cuts.  Fire-up your BBQ. Meanwhile, place a plate in the oven at 150F to warm and to rest the meat after it has been cooked. BBQ the meat to no more than medium rare.  Place the cooked meat on the plate and into the oven.  Turn the oven off and let the meat rest for about 20 minutes.  Slice against the grain about ¼ inch.  

Good with plain short grain or jasmine rice. Even delicious with baguette or roasted potatoes.  Serve with a salad.  Or how about a pasta dish and some stirred-fried vegetables with the meat.  I am in Canada after all, blessed with riches of ethnic foods – no need to stick to a formula, hey. 

The dish goes well with Cuvee Granit from Domaine de la Pepiere of Marc Ollivier or Crus (Descombes, Foillard or Pacalet). The spicy, sour-cherry Le Telquel from Puzelat-Bonhomme is a fine accompaniment.

The leftover meat makes a wicked sandwich.  Just splash some mayo, hot mustard and instantly-pickled onions (sliced onion with some salt, sugar and vinegar – mix & soak for about 1 hour or overnight).

     

Muscadet and BC Oysters

When autumn leaves start to fall, my foodie thoughts turn to oysters and Muscadet.  For the months that end with ‘R’, the oysters are in season.  They are most plump, juicy, and briny during those months.  Although I enjoy Muscadet from artisans throughout year, I appear to drink them more often during the autumn and winter months.


Of all the great places to purchase oysters, mussels or clams in our province, I often buy them at Lobster Man on Granville Island or you can write to this artisan oyster farmer and ask them the distributor of their treasures.  Shucking oysters takes some practice and, once you get it, you will have the skill for life - sort of riding a bicycle. 

The descriptor ‘artisan’ is an important factor when choosing a Muscadet because less than 5% of Muscadet is farmed organically and harvested by hand (according to Art of Eating Magazine, September 2010 issue).  A tried-and-true tradition that demands dedication.  The rest is industrially farmed with chemicals and machine- harvesters.  By the way, if you are a foodie and wine lover, I strongly recommend the magazine.  There is nothing else like it.

Joe Landron (DomainesLandron) and Marc Ollivier (La Pepiere) are two of a very few artisans remaining in Nantais – the region about 350 km southwest of Paris near the Atlantic coast where Muscadet is produced.  The grape varietal is Melon de Bourgogne.  For me, artisans simply mean organic farming, hand-harvesting, indigenous yeasts, and sur lie (aged on lees) for an extended time.  Extended sur-lie often gives extra roundedness and complexity.  You don’t have to be a wine expert to know the difference between an industrial plonk and artisanal Muscadet.  You’ll instinctively know the moment the wine touches your lips.

I remember the sommelier at the Le Comptoir in Paris when I dined there last autumn.  When asked for a recommendation for raw oysters, he said: “There may be greater wines than Muscadet but there are no greater wines than Muscadet with oysters, mussels or clams”.  The sommelier was humble and did not even mention the value.  His recommendation was the least expensive wine on the list.  Artisanal Muscadets are the greatest value of all French wines, which is just another reason why La Pepiere and Jo Landron Muscadets are my choices of white wines in my house.