Home Sweeeeeet Home!!!
After a ridiculous flight from Paris to Houston, and then the short flight from Houston to San Antonio, Frenchie and I finally made it!! It has been a whole year since I have been home, and booooooy does it feel good! I was still full from the GIGANTIC Christmas Eve meal we had in France, but there was no way I was skipping out on my mom’s Christmas cooking… Mmmmmm!
My mom is also a Christmas-aholic and so the house turns into a Christmas Wonderland each December. I really doubt anyone in the nation has more decorations than she does. And she only puts up half the decorations she owns because she runs out of room. It was nice to walk into the house and see this:
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My mom has a formula for ornament placing, all ornaments are evenly spaced no matter which side you view the tree from. “YOU TOUCH IT, YOU DIE!” – Mom
My Dad loves BBQ’n, Roast’n, Grill’n … He is starting his own BBQ catering side business. Check out his blog MONZ BONZ BBQ and keep up with his BBQ gigs, and if you live close and need some Famous MONZ BONZ BBQ for your next party or event, contact him! And if you don’t live close, but still want some Famous MONZ BONZ BBQ, he is willing to travel =) Travel costs do apply, but the reputation you will have for the BBQ at your party will be priceless =)
He is scared of no Turkey!
The final dinner selection! Yummmmo!
And we paired this meal with a wine we brought from France…
It is a 2002 Auxey-Duresses, “Les Duresses” Premier Cru, from the Producer Jean-Claude Garnier. You can read about the wine festival where we picked up this amazing wine in one of my previous posts by clicking HERE. The producer I bought this wine from are the 5th and 6th videos in that post. Auxey-Duresses (the ‘x’ is pronounced as ‘s’) is a small village, population 300, located in a valley behind Meursault. This is still the Cote d’Or, with Meursault and Monthelie to the east and Saint-Romain to the west. In total there are 25 wine growers there. For some more reading on this appellation and also a spotlight on another wine producer I visited in the above link, visit Bergmans’ Bourgogne Interview with Estelle Prunier (also an amazing site to learn about Burgundy wines and wine producers, one of my favorites) or this article on the same site on Auxey-Duresses. Thanks Bergman for all your efforts and information!
We had been saving this wine for a special occasion and this was definitely a special occasion!!
I decided to decant this wine a little bit, they say not to decant a Pinot Noir due to the ‘delicate’ characteristics of this grape varietal, but when I tasted this wine I knew that is needed to breath a bit, and I didn’t think far enough ahead to let the wine breath naturally through the open bottle or in the glasses so I went for a quick fix.
On Decanting, From Wine Enthusiast:
Decanting is done for two reasons. 1) to aerate a young wine. 2) to catch sediment thrown by an older wine. You must decant Vintage Port, mature red Bordeaux, mature Barolo, older Shiraz and just about any red wine with more than five or six years of bottle age. One red wine that doesn’t require decanting is Pinot Noir because it does not throw sediment. To decant a young wine that has not yet thrown sediment, simply pour the wine slowly into a decanter and let sit. To decant an older win with sediment, pour slowly through a screened funnel, or through a funnel lined with cheesecloth or a paper coffee filter. You can hold the bottle up to a light or candle to see where the sediment is.
So, if you have a Pinot Noir that is a bit old, you should try and let the bottle sit open for a while, or even in the glasses, rather than in a decanter. But if you are in a bind, or in my case had a brain fart, using a decanter for a quick breather is not a vinous sin =)
Shot of the wine in the glass with a great Christmas background! This wine was a bit acidic and closed when I first opened it, but after letting it breath a bit, it had amazing earthy notes, a hint of some mushrooms, a back palate of ripe cherries, a slight mint action. Different flavors and smells appeared with each taste! Definitely a premier cru wine! Here is another entry where I tasted another burgundian premier cru and lightly explain this ranking system in Burgundy (grand cru, premier cru, village, regional).
NOW TIME FOR PRESENTS!! Here are the pictures from the french presents that Frenchie and I brought back for my family.
See the ravenous look in his eyes.
Loving my sister’s face here!
So there ya have it. Not as over the top as the French Christmas Eve dinner, but that is the beauty of differences in culture and family traditions. I am so blessed to have been able to celebrate both in France and Texas! I hope your holidays were filled with wonderful cultural/family festivities and of course GREAT wine and food!
I will see you back here on Vinously Speaking for MORE recaps on the wine I have been consuming on my State-Side trip!
Vinously Speaking & Vinously Yours,
The Ceci Sipper!
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