By Bruce Neyers

Sunday 3rd November, 2024

Cabernet Sauvignon in the South of France – A different perspective

My first trip to France for Kermit Lynch was in early 1992. I’d been working as his national sales manager for six months, and while I thought I knew all there was to know about his wines, I had barely scratched the surface. Kermit arranged the trip to begin in Paris, then had me traveling east to Alsace, then south to the Languedoc, with stops along the way. It was two incredible weeks, and I spent the time mesmerized while learning. A former Phelps colleague, Ehren Jordan, was working in Cornas at the time, and agreed to be my driver and translator. I was recently remembering an especially odd experience near the end of trip when we were traveling through Provence. We spent Saturday night at the Hotel Nord Pinus in Arles, a legendary hideaway that for years housed celebrities from around the world. We became friendly with the manager, and after dinner, he offered to teach us about Pastis. I failed that course – I think — and was a little foggy the next morning. We left early for our first appointment in a small village northeast of Arles. I managed to get lost, and we detoured through the town. As we approached the extensive grounds of the local high school, I saw a Zebra. I pointed it out to Ehren, but he was occupied reading the map. I then spotted a camel. I was growing convinced that my recent encounter with that bottle of Pastis was to blame. Ehren remarked that he had found the right road, but at the same time asked me what that giraffe was doing there. We made a quick U-Turn, left that mysterious town, and soon found the winery. The owner looked at his watch, greeted us, then proceeded to show us around. We were soon joined by another visitor – his importer from Belgium, we learned – who asked us if we had come for the circus, as it began the day before. Mystery solved. Still, I haven’t had a glass of Pastis since. During that trip, I tasted several Provençal wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon. They were impressive, as were many from the Languedoc too. Those trips introduced me to the beauty of Cabernet Sauvignon from outside of Bordeaux, explaining perhaps my fondness for Cabernet Sauvignon from different parts of the Napa Valley. In 2017, we produced a second bottling of Cabernet Sauvignon at Neyers Winery. This newer Cuvée – labeled ‘Napa Valley’ as opposed to ‘Neyers Ranch’ — comes from the Oak Knoll AVA, just south of Stags Leap. We bought grapes from this region when I worked at Mayacamas and Joseph Phelps, and we were always pleased with the results. The soil is more gravel-loam than the basaltic rock soil in our Conn Valley ranch. The wine is high-toned, both elegant and expressive, with a lovely core of rich, complex fruit, like cassis and blackberry. I adore the long, exotic finish, and we enjoy it frequently as a change of pace to our home vineyard bottling. A couple of weeks tasting wines in France can change the way you look at a lot of things.

Chanterelle Pasta

Ingredients

• • ½ white onion finely chopped
  • ½ pound chanterelles cleaned and sliced, approximately 4 cups
  • 2 slices of pancetta about ¼-inch thick, cut into lardoons and sautéed until crisp
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup toasted breadcrumbs
  • 1 package of Orecchiette pasta or pasta of your choice
  • Diamond Chrystal Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until clear in color.
2. Add the chanterelles and continue cooking until the mushrooms are soft. Add the remaining olive oil as needed.
3. While the onions and mushrooms are cooking, sauté the lardoons of pancetta until crisp and set aside.
4. Following the directions on the package, cook the pasta until done.
5. Add the pasta to the hot mushroom and onion mixture.
6. Season with Diamond Chrystal Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
7. Add the cooked pancetta.
8. Serve the pasta dish and sprinkle toasted breadcrumbs on top of the pasta.