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| 2019 Vintage: Brocard Sainte Claire Chablis Vieilles Vignes, Domaine De La Cornasse La Chablis, and Bernard Defaix Petit Chablis |
What can sound better than pure Chablis in spring? Pure wines, imaginatively and visually, allow us to relate to white or rose wines that are crystal clear and clean. Chablis, which has prominent minerality and acidity, are the Chardonnays that are uniquely produced in Chablis, France. 'Pure' and 'Chablis', when combined, symbolizes a clean-start, a relaunch, and simply leaving the old and weighty behind. Jill Barth from L'OCCASION invited the French #winophiles bloggers to sip Chablis this spring and, I'm going to share some seafood snacks that will pair well with the #PureChablis 2019 samples: Brocard Sainte Claire Chablis Vieilles Vignes, Domaine De La Cornasse La Chablis, and Bernard Defaix Petit Chablis.
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| Chablis and Seafood Snacks Board |
LOCATING CHABLIS
The Chablis wine region, which is famed around the world to produce unique Chardonnays, is in the northern part of the Burgundy region between Paris and Beaune, bordering the Champagne region in France.
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| Photo Credit: Pure Chablis |
There are four sub-appellations (AOCs), namely Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru in the wine region. Like all the regions of Burgundy, Chablis has a legally restrictive hierarchy that's driven by the quality of wines from the distinctive land and soil and scarcity of production. As a quick price reference point, a Chablis Grand Cru, the top-tier Chablis, retails for USD$65 or above, and a Premier Cru goes for around $45. A Petit Chablis or a Chablis averages $25 in retail.
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| Chablis Pyramid. Photo Credit: Pure Chablis |
PURE - PURITY
The Bernard Defaix Petit Chablis 2019 is produced on the flatter grounds with soils from the Upper Jurassic period (i.e., Kimmeridgean oil) for all their plots in Chablis. Their Petit Chablis is characterized by its purity, freshness, and minerality. The wine is aged in its natural lees for eight months in stainless steel tanks to preserve the purity and freshness before bottling in the Bernard Defaix Estate located in the village of Milly. Given the great structure, strength and thus cellaring potential, this Petit Chablis offers an excellent value for wines of this appellation.
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| Bernard Defaix Petit Chablis 2019 (SRP$28) and Seafood Snacks |
PURE - UNIQUE TERROIR
The Brocard Sainte Claire Chablis Vieilles Vignes 2019 continues to speak to the unique terroir of Chablis and is a true expression of the soil. The Brocard, which is located in village of Préhy, is built atop the Chablis' famed Kimmeridgian soil, which was formed through the sediment of the sea during the Jurassic era. The visible seashells in rocks and grounds of Chablis are a perfect testimonial why the Brocard Chablis has the typicity of structure, minerality, power and complexity. The cool climate of Chablis produces Chardonnays with more acidity and less-fruity flavor than any other Chardonnays produced in warmer climates.
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| Location, location, location - the soil memory in vines is the heart and soul of Chablis. Photo Credit: Pure Chablis |
The Brocard Sainte Claire Chablis is lemony and white flowers on the nose. It has velvety and plump texture, and fuller body. There are notes of buttery macadamia nuts, apricot, and a long and saline finish. This is a vibrant Chablis that can go further than seafood - maybe a roasted chicken or a shepherd's pie in pairings!
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| Brocard Sainte Claire Chablis 2019 (SRP$25) - Certified Organic |
PURE - RESILLIENCE
An unusual early spring frost with sub-zero temperate has devastated some of France's vineyards in Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhône Valley, Champagne, and southeast regions in April this year. To deal with the unpredictability and adversity brought by Mother Nature, the Chablis vineyards have lit thousands of small fire in canisters to warm up the air surrounding the grapes at night. Some growers have sprayed water in the vineyards in the morning, creating an icy coating like small igloos over the grapes, in hope of protecting the crops. Some damages to this year's harvest is likely, but the extent of it is still unknown. One thing for sure remains is the resilience to countermeasure and bounce back.
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| Small fire was lit in Chablis vineyards as measures to fight the unexpected early spring frost. Photo Credit: Pure Chablis |
PURE - EXPRESSIVENESS
Domaine de la Cornasse Chablis is an expressive wine that's rich and ripe with neutral oily and flower notes on the nose. As you are sipping the wine, the texture is weighty due to its slightly oily, and pronounced mineral and flint characters. The finish is long and saline, and has a lot of 'chews' to it.
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| Domaine De La Cornasse Chablis 2019 (SRP$25) |
SEAFOOD SNACKS
To enjoy Chablis, the many ready-to-eat seafood snacks have come to my mind. The acidity of Chablis cuts through the oily fish or oyster and complements the saline taste of all these treats. Putting a seafood snack board together is pretty effortless. I did go to a couple grocery stores to acquire the snacks.
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| Top left - right: smoky baby oysters, sardines in olive oil, inky calamares Bottom left - right: fried small fish with roasted peanut, roasted eels, and fried small croakers |
Another good news is that each snack costs around $3 to $4 so putting this snack board together to entertain crowds won't break the bank.
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| Seafood Snacks |
Let's see what we've got here:
- Roasted eels can be found in Asian grocery stores. It is roasted in rich Teriyaki sauce, sweet and salty but not too oily. One quick tip here...the eels are also perfect for making eel sushi at home.
- Sardines are one of my favorites to pair with the Chablis. They are lightly salty and have the strong fish taste to them, going particularly well with the lemony, green apple and seashell notes of all these Chablis.
- Smoked baby oysters are must-haves for the pairing as the smokiness brings out the 'fresh mushroom' element of a couple of these wines.
- Inky calamares are an unusual find when I visited the Asian grocery store. I bet you can find them in regular grocery store as well.
- The fried small croakers, found in Asian grocery stores, are super tasty with Chablis. Without much oil, the fish is crispy and seasoned with spicy salt.
- The small fried fish with roasted peanuts provide the nice crunchy texture to the board.
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| Fried small croakers (left) and fried small fish with roasted peanut and chili flakes (left) |
Disclosure: the wines in this post are samples. The ideas of the post are mine.
Check out other fellow #winophile bloggers' Chablis journey and find out what they pair the wines with...
- Camilla shares Learning About Chablis, A Compelling Label, and Gougères at Culinary Adventures with Camilla.
- Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen makes A Poke Quartet Paired with a Duo of Chablis.
- Jeff at Food Wine Click! will be Remembering a Walk in Chablis over Dinner.
- Linda at My Full Wine Glass is Keeping it Simple with #PureChablis.
- Chablis and Grilled Shrimp; Summertime must be near for Wendy at A Day In the Life On the Farm.
- Scallops with Pesto and Chablis are in the kitchen with David at Cooking Chat.
- Jane will be Tasting Chablis: Food and Wine Pairings over at Always Ravenous.
- Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles is Savoring Premier Cru Chablis as We Hope for Good News for the 2021 Chablis Vintage
- Nicole at the Somm’s Table is Cooking to the Wine: Aged Drouhin Vaudon Grand Cru Chablis with Sword Fish Sandwiches,
- Rupal the Syrah Queen explores The Elegance of Chablis – Pure Terroir, Pure Joy, Pure Chablis,
- The Sea in Chablis and the Tragedy of Premox is the topic at Wine Predator with Gwendolyn.
- Payal at Keep the Peas discusses The Singularity of Chablis.
- Host Jill on L'Occasion, gives the scoop on Here’s How I Know It’s Chablis.
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