So much going on this weekend in the Food and Wine World. Yet, I look forward to relaxing at home over the next few days and soaking up some warm spring sunshine.
To start the weekend off right, I pulled a bottle of 2010 Domain Alain Normand Macon la Roche Vineuse out of our wine fridge (fancy wording for "fridge in the garage"). I highly recommend this easy drinking and bright fruited Chardonnay from Mâconnais - for under $20! Imported by Vintage59 and I think I picked this up at The Austin Wine Merchant a few weeks ago. Simply delicious alongside crisp crackers and fresh goat cheese (Redwood Hill Farm - our new neighbors at the Brack Mountain Wine Company winery).
An interesting story about the family from the Vintage59 website: Alain Normand is a grower in the Mâconnais who began his career by taking over an abandoned
vineyard with a métayage contract, a common agricultural practice in France whereby the landlord is
paid in wine. Today, Alain works the vineyards, makes the wine,
and sells off the landlord's portion to négociants. He keeps the finest for himself. His wife Sylvaine
handles the office work when she’s not handling the two children. Theirs is a typical family domaine operation.
Most importantly...
He farms according to the pragmatic principles of lutte raisonnée, or reasoned fight. He plows his vineyards
rather than using herbicides, and he doesn’t use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. In every way, his methods are the
antithesis of the cooperatives whose wines dominate the Mâcon trade.
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