December with its holiday hustle and bustle does not leave much time or room for belabored culinary efforts.   Similarly, with the month’s increasingly chillier temperatures, warm comfort food beckons.   Yet, despite the harried schedules and the inclement weather outside, on a week night one still can find time to pause, pour a good glass of French inspired wine and pair it with something simple, yet dimensionally gourmet.

During the winter months, wine drinkers reach for their favorite hearty reds with a particular focus on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.   While each of these varietals pair exceptionally well with hearty comfort food, other varietals can also pair well and bring unexpected structure to the wine glass. 

Elyse Winery (“Elyse”), located in Napa Valley near Yountville, offers a red wine that is not common to most tasting rooms.   Elyse’s Le Corbeau is composed with 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah.   Grenache can typically be a very easy drinking red varietal, but given the fruit that Elyse uses and the caliber of its winemaking, Elyse’s Le Corbeau comes to the table with confidence, structure, delicious fruit, spice and an intoxicating bouquet.  The manner of how this wine is crafted is with the intent to emulate the winemaking style of the Chateuaneuf du Pape region of the Rhone Valley of France.   This fall Elyse rewarded the consuming public by releasing the long-awaited 2007 vintage of Le Corbeau.   As you will find on this site, two years ago I featured an aged vintage of this wine.   It drinks exceptionally well aged but if you are fortunate enough to find the 2007 vintage, you will find that it marvels your senses today.

Pouring the wine into the glass, beautiful dark ruby notes are apparent and become jeweled if sitting in the sun.   The nose is intoxicatingly enchanting offering aromas of raspberries, spice, pepper, plum and with a hint of floral violets.   As the palate experiences the 2007 Le Corbeau, it meets a bevy of changing and melding flavors of raspberries, citrus rind, vanilla, allspice, cinnamon and mace.  Sipping the 2007 Le Corbeau, it is clear that this is a glass of wine with which you intend to linger and contemplate.  

If a wine is complex or is a “thinker’s wine”, that does not mean that the home chef should be intimidated when it comes to pairing food.   It simply means that there are more components that can be flushed out with your paired ingredients and room to accentuate the texture of the wine.   Seeking to pair something regionally matched to the Rhone Valley style of Elyse’s 2007 Le Corbeau, this week the menu hosts:

• Roasted Mushroom Toasts with Poached Egg, Bacon and Chives

In California, mushrooms are a welcomed arrival as a result of recent rains.   Similarly chives and spring onions can thrive.   Combining mushrooms, shallots, garlic, lemon thyme, butter, olive oil in the oven to roast, a roasted mushroom casserole emerges ready to shine in this week’s pairing.  

Next thick slices of bakery bread are dipped in melted butter and olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, and placed in the oven to bake and slightly crisp.   The interior remains soft, while the exterior firms capable of holding a mushroom casserole on top and a goohey poached egg later.

Gently poached eggs and crumbled center-cut bacon are placed on top and garnished with freshly clipped chives from the garden.

Slicing into the egg, the yolk runs like clockwork, coating the remainder of the toast to help bind the ingredients together.

Grenache with its ripe lush fruit combines with the smokiness and deeper flavors of Syrah make a wine perfect for embracing flavors like the creamy nature of poached egg, savory mushrooms and the irresistible flavor of bacon.  The sauciness of fresh healthy chives clean the palate and the Grenache similarly eggs the ingredients on for more.

With a swallow, there is a burst of bacon, lingering roasted mushrooms or the seductive texture of poached egg.  After the bite is long gone, black pepper may linger and the Syrah in the wine steps forth to dance toe to toe.  In whole, the combination is delicious and worthy of daydreaming of farm fresh country eggs.

All in all, this is an outstanding way to enjoy a good glass of French-inspired red wine.