OUR GRANDMA'S RECIPES: WHICH WINES SHOULD YOU DRINK WITH THEM?

We all remember the homey comfort foods made by our grandmothers, you know these recipes copied time and time again, never matched but with a taste of childhood and a hint of nostalgia that fill our hearts with joy.  The only hitch is that we never know what wine to choose to pay tribrute to grandma's culinary tips. 

Here are three wine suggestions from our winemaker partners that go perfectly with three iconic recipes: pot-au-feu, veal blanquette and cassoulet. 1. A TANNIN-RICH RED WINE FOR POT-AU-FEU:  @Fotolia Pot-au-feu, is THE ultimate seasonal comfort food to be shared with your friends or family. Not only must it simmer for hours and fills your home with its amazing smells, but it mainly reminds us of our Sunday lunches with our grandparents. Made with beef, a large selection of vegetables (leeks, carrots, turnips, celery) and most importantly all kinds of herbs and spices (bouquet garni, pink peppercorns, cloves), this rich and exceptionally fragrant dish whose origins date back to the 13th Century, requires a wine of the same calibre. It is perfectly complimented with an expressive red wine from the Rhône Valley such as the Domaine du Serre des Vignes, les Grands Plans cuvée resulting from a superb collaboration between the Roux brothers, Vincent and Jérôme. This dense and silky wine with its lovely fruitiness on the palate and notably hints of cherry mixed with spices, will add a certain amount of freshness to your pot-au-feu. We recommend that you drink it slightly chilled, at around 15°C. Grandma's tip: Pot-au-feu is even better when prepared the day before!               2. A ROUND AND POWERFUL WHITE WINE FOR VEAL BLANQUETTE: @Fotolia Veal blanquette is a staple of French cuisine. It became popular at the beginning of the 19th Century and is made of tender pieces of veal, spring onions, button mushrooms, carrots and a famous creamy sauce, whose whiteness gives the dish its name of "blanquette". Who has never asked their grandmother to give them a tip on how to absolutely nail a fantastic white sauce? Choosing the wine is another issue. More often than not, we tend to go for a red wine. But, it is important to remember that the sauce is what determines the wine. The milk proteins in the blanquette's sauce do not go together well with the tannic texture of red wine. So we will choose a white wine with a beautiful acidity to enhance the creaminess of the sauce, such as Domaine du Chardonnay, an excellent Chablis Premier Cru.This Chablis variety is the result of the collaboration between three passionate wine growers: Etienne Boileau, William Nahan and Christian Simon. This wine with its supple and velvety taste goes together with blanquette exquisitely. Drink it between 10 and 11°C for added freshness. Grandma's tip: Parboil the blanquette in boiling water with a touch of vinegar.   3. A FULL-BODIED RED WINE FOR CASSOULET:  @Fotolia Cassoulet is a Languedoc institution, a tasty family dish that was cooked for the first time with broad beans during the Hundred Years War. In fact, it gets credit for the victory by Castelnaudary's besieged. This gourmet dish containing a large number of pieces of meat (pork shoulder, rack of lamb, duck or goose confit, etc.) with haricot beans, goes well with fairly full-bodied red wines with tannic structures. "Cassoulet without wine is like a priest without latin" wrote Pierres Desproges. So, all you need to do is make the right choice. We could easily go for a Languedoc wine native of the same terroir, but we have chosen a Cahors, voted "Best Malbec in the World" by Vinexpo in 2009, i.e. Domaine les Roques de Cana, Sanguis Christi cuvée.This cuvée produced on the Causse plateau in the Cahors vineyard was created out of the desire of 24 Cadurcian wine enthusiats to give their titles of nobility back to this wine and its terroir, which was extremely popular in the 18th Century. The powerful taste of this Cahors with its hints of spices and black fruit with silky tannins will contrast the fat of the confit.We recommend opening the bottle 3 hours before serving the wine so that the tannins mellow well.    Grandma's tip: Cassoulet is even better when you rub garlic around the bowl. So it's over to you now. Happy tasting!