Thierry Puzelat & Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme – ‘Le Tel Quel’

With a label that depicts a dachehund with tail wagging and name that no English speaking person can pronounce, this wine has all sorts of names. Here are some of the names when the customers phone or email me after tasting the wine:

• “You know, the wine with a wiener dog”
• “The one with a funny label”
• “The T-Q” (my favourite so far. Sounds like a spy character.)
• “The one with no vintage”
• “The one with Blue Label”
• “The one with all the varietals except the kitchen sink”
• “The delicious, spicy wine that is made by that Puzelat guy”
• “Never mind, I am sending you the picture of bottle on my iPhone right now”

All those nicknames are welcome, of course.  And I think that is what Thierry Puzelat had in mind when he came-up with the wine.  In France, it is bottled under the name of ‘Le Pitit Tannique’.  Every year, Thierry Puzelat takes a barrel or two to the legendary wine shop Auge in Paris and bottles by hand for the customers, who line-up to buy them.

Thierry Puzelat is a gifted and serious vigneron, but he is always on the look out for fun.  Thierry Puzelat with his wine business partner Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme (hence the name of their winery ‘Puzelat-Bonhomme’) decided to have fun by sourcing organically grown grapes from the friends that Thierry and Pierre-Olivier have known for years.  By the way, Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme is just as gifted vigneron, who has been working in the Puzelat family’s domain LeClos du Tue-Boeuf for years.  The wine is a blend of (are you sitting down?) Grolleau, Gamay and Pineau d’Aunis.

‘Le Tel Quel’ is Vin de France because those funny Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée in Loire (whose members mostly consist of huge industrial wine producers) thinks that the traditionally grown Grolleau and Pineau d’Aunis should not be allowed in the AOC Touraine.   Until the 2010 vintage, under the Vin de France, the vintage was not allowed on the label.  I am not certain that Thierry Puzelat and Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme would ever label it with the vintage.  The latest shipment is the 2010 vintage.  The wine is produced in tiny amounts and it sells out every year based on the strength of the vigneron.  Be very picky about your vigneron, not the vintages.

All fun aside, the wine is one of the most compelling and DELICIOUS wines.  The wine even tastes better chilled.  Thierry and Pierre-Olivier serve the wine straight from the cellar temperature when I visit them.  The wine has that spicy taste with berry exuberance anchored by a touch of minerals.  With alcohol barely hitting 12.5%, the wine is very fresh. At our home, we have it with a wide range of dishes, such as roasted chicken, steaks, pasta, and even grilled salmon.  In an unexpected sort of way, Thierry Puzelat’s ‘Le Tel Quel’ has become our house wine.  And I am beginning to understand why those Parisians line-up to buy the wine at the wine shop Auge.

A Match Made in Heaven – Our Local Salmon & Loire Reds

Every year, I look forward to spring for many reasons.  One of which is our local spring salmon.  This is one of my favourite ways to cook spring salmon (serves two):

-          2 fillets of spring salmon with skin and ping bones removed.

-          1 TBS of grainy mustard

-          1 TBS of honey

-          1 TBS of finely diced shallots or green onion

-          1 TBS of chopped Italian parsley.

-          2 TBS of fresh squeezed lemon (about ½ of lemon)

-          Salt & pepper to taste.

-          5-6 TBS of olive oil.

Heat oven to 450 F.  You will need a 8 to10 inch pan that can go from the stove to oven (i.e. a pan with a metal handle). 

Mix the mustard, honey, shallots/green onion, parsley, and lemon and stir to make a sauce.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.  Use quality salt.  I buy grey sea salt, dry it out on a tray, and crush the salt in a mortar.

Salt and pepper the fillets both sides.  Heat the skillet pan to almost high.  Add the oil.  The oil should be smoking in the pan.  Tilting the pan to slide the oil to the bottom of pan and away from you.  Add the pieces of salmon, fillet side down (i.e. boned side down for presentation purposes only).  Cook for about 2 minutes until the fillets have a good brown crust.   Flip the fillets and cook for about a minute.  Spoon the sauce over the top of the salmon.  The dripping sauce over the fillets and onto the pan will spatter.  Transfer the pan into the preheated oven. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Buttered jasmine rice, spring potatoes or rice pilaf is a great side dish.

All light reds from cooler climate work well.  Beaujolais from a balanced year, such as 2008 and 2010 works well.  Auvergne Gamay grown on mountains, such as 'La Guillaume' or 'Les Pierre Noires' from Jean Maupertuis are also a superb match with the salmon.  Cheverny Rouge, which is a mixture of Pinot Noir and Gamay (in Burgundy, the equal version is ‘Passetoutgrain’) is ravishing. 

For me though, pure Gamay from Loire is a match made in heaven with our salmon dishes.  La Butte (100% Gamay) from Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf from the family domain of Thierry andJean-Marie Puzelat is awesome with the salmon dish.  La Butte, like all Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat’s wines, has intentional residual carbon dioxide – which occurs naturally during wine making process.  The carbon dioxide keeps the wine ALIVE and vibrant.  You can decant it, if you prefer, and the ‘pearly’ taste of carbon dioxide will be gone in about 10 minutes.  Thierry Puzelat serves his reds straight from the bottle with the ‘pearly’ feel intact and straight from his cellar at 10-12 C deg.  If you don’t have a cellar, placing the bottle in the fridge for about 30- 40 minutes or 10 minutes in a Champagne bucket with ice & water will do.  The cool temperature really brings out the freshness and perfume of the light reds.

The Charms of Cheverny Rouge

A good Cheverny Rouge is one of my favourite red wines.  Cheverny Rouge is a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. In Burgundy, the same blend is ‘Passetoutgrain’.  The equal version in Loire is Cheverny Rouge.  The prices of Cheverny Rouge, even from a top producer like Le Clos duTue-Boeuf and Puzelat-Bonhomme, remain very attractive.

The appellation of Cheverny is relatively small – no more than 500 hectares or so.   Thierry Puzelat, along with his older brother Jean-Marie, farms their family 7-hectare domain of Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf in a tiny village of Les Montils.

The above are two different cuvees of Cheverny Rouge.  The single vineyard ‘Rouillon’ is from a separate parcel.  To me, the 'Rouillon' has a touch more prettiness and elegance.  Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny Rouges have spectacular sour cherries, freshness, minerals and deliciousness that are hallmarks of their wines. Both cuvées  clock in at 11.5% alcohol! The cuvées spend about four to six months in neutral barrels and demi-muids (500 litre barrels) before being bottled without filtration.  The wine improves greatly in the cellar for about one to two years, if you can keep you hands off the bottles.

I like a good Cheverny Rouge because it is light in alcohol, pretty and versatile with a wide rage of dishes – grilled pork chops, roasted chicken, steak & frites, and even our local salmon.  Oh heck, the wine even tastes great with pizzas.  


For me though, there is something mystically mysterious about the Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat's Cheverny Rouges that have an emotional tug on me. I am not sure if I can put the emotional tug into words adequately.  The word charm comes close.

As a side item, Thierry Puzelat’s wife is an accomplished chef and she owns amazing restaurant L’Herbe Rouge in the village of Le Bourg à Valaire, which is located in the next village to Les Montils of Le Clos du-Tue Boeuf.  Pictured left is inside the L’Herbe Rouge. Having dined there, I can say L’Herbe Rouge is one of my favourite restaurants in France.  And that is quite the statement. Honest local cooking without the fuss.  Deliciousness of her cooking is only matched by her husband’s wines. I would like to imagine a restaurant like L’Herbe Rouge was common in the French countryside in the 1930’s and 1940’s before the main highways and byways diverted the traffic away from the small villages.  And that the village folks and tourists alike took quality time to take-in some honest cooking and relax.  The restaurant also has rooms available for rent.  As you can imagine, the wine list at the restaurant is awesome.  I can close my eyes, point, and be happy with the choice every single time.  In fact, I just close my eyes and I am transported to a piece of heaven in the tiny French village of Le Bourg à Valaire.

Doubt the Conventional. Taste the Exceptional.

I recently read an article about Lauren Hutton. Unbelievably, she was told to fix her gapped-teeth if she wanted a career in modelling.  I just read in New York Times T-Magazine about Lana Del Rey. Some criticize her looks because her lips are too voluptuous.  The recent T-Magazine also mentioned about Willem Dafoe, who was also seen in not-so-positive light about his rough face. Well, to me, Lauren’s teeth, Lana’s lips and Willem’s face are beauty in truth.  Doubt the conventional. Experience the exceptional.

I used to love Sauvignon Blanc from all places.  Then about ten years ago, I stopped drinking the varietal.  They started to taste just about the same. “This bottle is text-book Sauvignon Blanc” is the phrase I often heard.  When someone tells me a wine is textbook varietal, the wine should remain in textbooks.

Where is my Lauren’s gap-teeth in this bottle of Sauvignon Blanc? And who surgically thinned my Lana’s lips in my Sauvignon? And who smoothed out Willem’s rough face in this bottle of Sauvignon? Damn it!

I rediscovered the beauty in truth in Sauvignon Blanc (the French simply call it Sauvignon) when I visited, tasted and learned from Clos Roche Blanche, Noëlla Morantin, and Thierry Puzelat.

Sauvignons from Thierry Puzelat (Le Clos du Tue Boeuf), Clos Roche Blanche and Noëlla Morantin

“The wine is in true expression now than when it was first released”, spoke softly Didier of Clos Roche Blanche.  He was referring to the 2010 Sauvignon No. 2 as we tasted the various wines in the cellar during my January 2012 trip. Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon No. 2 is so singular. When tasted out of a barrel, the Sauvignon No. 2 is so energetic that I fear the wine is going to shatter the glass that I am holding.  The wine is like sucking mineral through a straw with a fruit that reminds of grapefruit. After about a year in bottle, the wine transforms not dissimilar to Chenin Blanc but not quite.  The fruit recalls quince.  The minerality remains. 

When I visited Noëlla Morantin, a marquee Sauvignon vigneronne, she had two different Sauvignons in the barrels/demi-muids.  Hers are released later when the youth of Sauvignons settles down to quince and minerality reflections.  Her Sauvignon ages gracefully.  Thierry Puzelat also makes Sauvignon wines and his is often blended with a portion of Menu Pineau and Fie Gris.  His Sauvignon based wines are full of energy and nervous tension. “Le P’Tit Blanc tastes better the next day after the bottle has been opened”, a local merchant told me recently.  And that sums up the freshness and energy in the Thierry Puzelat’s Sauvignon.

The majority of Sauvignon Blanc on the market today does not go through malolactic fermentation.  Since the majority of vineyards are industrially farmed and mechanically harvested (about 95% according to Art of Eating, September 2010 issue).  This mechanical harvest results in grapes to bleed before they arrive at the winery.  So, to prevent the bacterial spoilage, the juice is dosed with sulphur.  It kills the bacteria, which is required for the malolactic fermentation.  Thus by a default, the malolactic is prevented.  There are, of course, vignerons who cultivate organically and harvest by hand but intentionally block malolactic fermentation to achieve a certain style. 

Clos Roche Blanche, Noëlla Morantin and Thierry Puzelat all let their Sauvignon go through malolactic fermentation. “By nature, the Sauvignon wants to go through malo”, was a recurring theme when I visited them.  Clos Roche Blanche, Noëlla Morantin and Thierry Puzelat are making singular Sauvignons – all expressions of beauty in truth.  Doubt the conventional.  Drink the exceptional.

Les Caves Auge in Paris

In Paris, an unassuming wine shop in the 8^th Arr. has influence on wine lovers like no other.  The wine shop, like the majority of the vignerons that Auge represents, is simple and humbling that if you are not familiar with Auge, you may skip it without giving it too much thought. The website says in a small font ‘depuis’ (since) 1850 and not much else.

It is a wine shop that is absolutely clear on what it represents.  In terms of philosophy, Auge reminds me of another great wine shop - Chambers Street Wines.  Both wine shops are hugely successful.  


There is greatness and joy about a wine shop that is steered by the focused ideal of owners and not by the broad sense of general consumer.  Least to me, Auge has no interest in pleasing everyone.  If you love wines made by vignerons who give a shit, you will likely love Auge.  Auge is so jam packed with wines that, if it were in BC, a city would close it down by quoting some silly bylaw.  The photo is the inside Auge taken during my last trip.

I can spend hours in Auge.  If you are in Paris, it is a great place to spend some time.  And, say, you are looking for a special wine like Pierre Overnoy from Jura, ask sales staff. He or she may disappear down to a cellar and fetch a bottle for you - provided that you pass the unofficial sales staff's verbal wine test.  Or simply grab a bottle or two that you never heard of, buy a baguette sandwich, and dance down to the banks of Seine with a corkscrew and glasses.  And oh, you can have wine with a baguette sandwich in public places in Paris and not worry about a social disobedience ticket.  If weather is unfriendly, I usually go back to my hotel room – which is just as nice.  

Catherine & Pierre Breton Avis de Vin Fort & Trinch! - Two Wines Separated After Birth

“Brian, if you keep analyzing, I should not sell this wine to you,” Pierre announced quietly.  That was Pierre Breton as I kept re-tasting the Avis de Vin Fort with him at his domain during my initial buying trip. 

Like falling in love, my heart was committed before my mind was.  The wine was nothing like I have ever tasted.  It defied every category.  It was not red; it was not rosé.  Avis de Vin Fort does not want to be categorized or labelled.  "Once you label me; you negate me," as the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once penned.

Avis de vin Fort has only one purpose: PLEASURE!.  And I think that was Pierre’s point when he made the wise comment to me.  The more one analyzes, the more one gets disconnected from the pleasure of wines.

Avis de Vin Fort macerates for 5 days only.  Typically, most red is macerated for 3 to 4 weeks.  The wine has zero extraction and 100% personality.  Avis de Vin Fort is made from 100% cabernet franc.  So, the wine has a bit of bite.  Despite the fact that the wine is macerated for five days only, it spends about 4-5 months in neutral demi-muids (500 litre barrels). “Cabernet Franc needs some elévage”, Pierre told me. Below is a picture of Avis de Vin Fort (AVF) 2011 in a demi-muid when I visited Pierre and Catherine in January 2012.  The wine weighs in no more than 12% alcohol just about every year.  My family drinks Avis de Vin Fort well chilled and with anything from steak to roast chicken.   

Trinch! is Avis de Vin Fort’s sibling.  Both cuvees are from the same vineyard.  In fact, they both start the life in the same vat.  Except, the Avis de Vin Fort is bled off the vat after 5 days whereas Trinch! carries on with skin contact for additional couple of weeks or so.  Both wines accompany various bistro dishes well.

By the way, Avis de Vin Fort (meaning ‘strong wind warning’) is a play on words.  It is an ancient saying for sailors to take a cover and go to the safety of shore when there is a strong wind warning and drink strong wines.  The wine, of course, is light and refreshing.  Trinch! is a sound that is produced when glasses are clunk together as a gesture of celebration.   

Avis de Vin Fort and Trinch! - two siblings with equally distinctive personality. When I have a dinner party, I sometimes serve the Avis de Vin Fort and Trinch! together.  It always surprises me which bottle empties first. 

Louie, the Wild Mushroom Purveyor

“Yes, I like dried morels better, too”, mentions softly Louie.  Louie is one of my food heroes.  Often, and not always, Louie can be found at Granville Island on Thursdays.  Sometimes, his son stands-in for him because Louie is out in the forest foraging mushrooms.

Louie is my mushroom mentor during chanterelle & mushroom season in autumn, morel season during spring, and dried-mushroom season anytime.  During autumn, when the wild mushrooms are at most abundant, I simply buy whatever Louie suggests.  I sauté the mushrooms with some olive oil or butter with some shallots and devour them with toasted baguette or brioche.  Here is a recipe using Louie’s wonderful morels:

Fried Eggs with Morel Cream Sauce (serves 2)

• 10-12 dried morels (soak for about 10 minutes in least amount of boiling water as possible - about 1/4 cup of water).
• 4 free range eggs
• 3 Table spoon of butter
• 1 Table spoon of minced shallots
• 3-4 Table spoons of apple cider, red, or white vinegar
• ¼ cup of whipping cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Some chopped parsley

This is not breakfast.  First, pour your loved one and yourself a glass of wine.  Warm up the plates in the oven (around 150 F).  Place a frying pan on medium heat.  Add the butter. When the butter foams, crack eggs and fry them sunny-side up.  Remove the cooked eggs to the warmed plates.  Add the mined shallots and  sauté them for a minute or two.  Add the vinegar to the pan and cook until there is a very little vinegar left.  Add the juice from the soaked morels to the pan and careful to discard a tablespoon or so of the juice at the bottom of the bowl as it will contain some soil and/or impurities.  Increase the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes more until the liquid is reduced about half.  Reduce heat and add the cream and soaked morels.  Cook a couple of minutes.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Spoon over the sauce around the plates with eggs and serve with some crusty baguette.  Eh Voila.

Soak the dried morels or other mushrooms and try them in a risotto dish.  All mushroom dishes are wine friendly.  I often have the wine with Pinot Noir or Gamay based wines, such as Le Tel Quel, Cheverny or Pinot Noir from Thierry Puzelat(Puzelat-Bonhomme or his family estate of Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf) or LaBoudinerie or Mon Cher from Noëlla Morantin.  Life is good with Louie’s mushrooms.  Thank you Louie!