It should come as no surprise that France has an entire holiday devoted to wine.
It’s true! While the French drink wine at most holidays (regardless of what’s being celebrated), the third Thursday of November is always dedicated to one wine in particular: Beaujolais nouveau, the primeur from the Beaujolais region. This wine is one of the youngest sold, a wine that is both produced and drunk in the same year, and this day has been designated as the first day it’s legal to sell.
It’s made with fruity Gamay grapes and often has a flavor ranging from strawberry jam to banana Runts… and by and large, it’s not deemed the best French wine.
Drinking Beaujolais nouveau, then, is usually more about having a party than about enjoying a gastronomic experience… or it was, until Authentic Parisian Tables.
These unique events uniting great food with great wine kicked off last Thursday. The concept is relatively simple: three fantastic Parisian establishments, several wines from small producers, and a convivial atmosphere. Food and wine experts are in attendance to offer information about the items being sampled, but at the end of the day, it’s more about meeting like-minded people than anything else.
The event started off with a fairly unique proposition: a white Beaujolais, which represents less than 10 percent of the total production of the region. A natural wine with a touch of effervescence, this Chardonnay was fruity and a bit barnyardy.
We enjoyed it alongside a few small tastes before moving to our second spot – and our second wine.
Like the first, this wine was a Beaujolais, but not a nouveau. Hailing from the area of Régnié, this wine came from Georges Descombes, one of the founding fathers of natural wine in France and in the Beaujolais specifically. With aromas of freshly crushed strawberries, it was my favorite of the night – and a great one to pair with three different dishes.
The first was my favorite pairing: a creamy chicken liver mousse with toasted bread and beet pickles.
The second was a delicate scallop carpaccio with just a touch of lime zest.
We finished with a decadent dish of handmade pasta with several different types of mushrooms, a mushroom cream sauce, and breadcrumbs.
It was time to move on to our third and final spot, where we sampled two wines: a Brouilly and our very first Beaujolais nouveau of the night! (While we’d been drinking Beaujolais all night, this was the first official primeur.) A natural wine with a lot of fruitiness, it was one of the better Beaujolais nouveaux I’ve ever tried, and it paired very nicely with the large assortment of dishes we sampled.
Saucisson sec.
House-made terrine.
The most gourmet onion rings you’ve ever seen (or tasted!)
Sea bream with apple and spinach.
Lobster with ginger emulsion.
A rainbow of radishes with two compound butters.
Roasted lamb – pull-apart tender and delicious.
And a cheese selection.
I’m excited for future Authentic Parisian Tables events in the future – the next one is slotted for January!