http://www.chakipet.com/les-hommes-aux-fourneaux-un-veritable-desastre/2/


The title " Les hommes aux fourneaux… Un véritable désastre ! " means :
" Men in kitchen... A real disaster ! "
The photo with the pasta is terrible !

Bernice: Ohh, you're incredible ! hi hi

If you like it very very sweet, only 2 white wines will be ok for you :

(1) Montbazillac :
http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_915183/pavillon-le-brie-monbazillac


(2) Sauternes :
http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_917007/ch-teau-bastor-lamontagne-sauternes-2005

http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_912628/ch-teau-la-tour-blanche-sauternes-2003-375ml

I already suggested you the one (remember : 9,49 $) but, for me, it's very very sweet.
But it you think that the Gewurztraminer isn't enough sweet, I think you will appreciate the Monbazillac.

I didn't speak about the Sauternes because it's a wine of my region, and here, it's less expensive.
On this site, I think that the price is very expensive.
I suggest it now, because we spoke about this in my family and an half thinks that the Monbazillac is more sweet, and the other half thinks that it's the Sauternes which is more sweet !

If you choose to buy the Sauternes, just know that more " dark " it is, more sweet it is and older it is, more sweet it is. In my example, the wine to 47,60 $ will be more sweet.
Me, for the same price, I prefer to drink Champagne.

Cheers !

Bernice: Oh great !
I think you won't be disappointed. My mother likes red and rosé wines and doesn't drink white wine, except this one she likes. My companion never drinks white wine, except wines from Alsace and he likes this one, and it's the same for me, so...
And now, I feel like buying some....

Bernice: Certainly. I don't see another explanation.

Bernice: In fact, it's odd : with some wines, the price is rather similar, on others, there's a big difference. I don't know why. This intrigues me.

Bernice: You're welcome.
It was interesting for me to see what you could buy in your country.

Bernice: No, you can drink french wines with a correct price. You know, me, in France, I don't drink too much expensive wines and they are very good.

I promised you to give you my selection. That's done.
I've looked at all the french wines and I've choosen good wines with correct prices (the prices I ususally pay), so I've eliminated the prices over 100 $.
Anyway, when you pay these prices, you always drink a good wine !

RED : 6,65 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_916014/paul-mas-cabernet-sauvignon
Wine from the South West of France, not very well known, because it's not an AOC but I've already drunk it and it's good.
You can be sure about the origin France because the area of the production is mentioned, see on the label : it's written : " indication géographique protégée " " pays d'oc " (it's the old french name).
The taste : aroma with soft fruits (strawberry, cherry), rather sweet (like the wines from the South of France).
Very good quality with regard to the price.

WHITE : 9,49 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_915183/pavillon-le-brie-monbazillac
Wine from the South West of France. I've already drunk it. Very good but too much sweet for me ! It's an AOC. Very good quality with regard to the price.
The taste : aroma with honey, peach.

WHITE : 16,95 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_901745/dopff-au-moulin-gewurztraminer
Wine from Alsace, in the North East of France. It's an AOC.
Wine very very sweet (because the grape harvest is very late, so the fruit gets more sugar) and mellow.
You drink it very easily (too easily ! ) and it's very alcoholic, so ..... pay attention ! -->
The taste : the rose, the litchi.
I'm not fond of white wines but I must admit that this one is absolutely delicious. It's my favourite.

WHITE : 28,50 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_917007/ch-teau-bastor-lamontagne-sauternes-2005
Wine from the South West of France. It's an AOC, it's written on the label : " appellation sauternes controlée ".
This wine is sweet but more dry than the 2 previous ones.
The taste : boxwood, blackcurrant, citrus fruits.
You'll drink a Gewurztraminer with a dessert but this one with a starter.

WHITE SPARKLING : 16,15 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_904451/dopff-au-moulin-cuv-e-julien-cremant-d-alsace
The taste is close to the taste of Champagne.
No comment : I prefer to pay more and drink Champagne. I hate these wines (sorry !).

CHAMPAGNE : 36,90 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_383979/champagne-duperrey-brut-ros
This Champagne is rather sweet but too expensive for me, if we look at the quality.
It's a " brut " which means " dry ".
I think that the price is high because it's a rosé.
French people don't drink many rosés (they prefer white Champagne) so it's more expensive.

CHAMPAGNE : 21,90 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_70561/mo-t-chandon-brut-imp-rial-200ml
Even if the price of this Champagne is lower than the other one, you're sure not to make a mistake with a Moët & Chandon. Always good !

CHAMPAGNE : 37,99 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_3100/mo-t-chandon-brut-imp-rial-375ml
No comment except one : the best of the best, with this last one :

CHAMPAGNE : 41,79 $ http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_907473/veuve-clicquot-yellow-label-brut-375ml
Here's my favorite but " brut " on the label means dry, less sweet. I drink it medium dry but I've not seen it like that in the shop.

About the ROSES : On the shop, there are good ones, but they aren't sweet, and you said that you prefer sweet, so I chose none in my selection.
This shop is interesting, I think that there's a large variety.
Only one bad thing : they sell Champagne on only 1 category : " brut " (dry) ; we don't find medium dry and soft ones. What a pity.

I hope that you'll drink one of these wines. Tell me if you do and give me your advice.

Bwild: I think it could be something that we rarely eat, as wild boar or pheasant. Many owners of wine castles, in my region, do hunting and they show their products during these days when they go hunting (hunting some wild boar essentially).

Bwild: Oh yes, me also ! After buying this wine, you don't have money anymore so as to buy the food which goes with the wine.

Bwild: Very good choice ! If you buy one, think to invite me for the meal !

Bernice: I've looked at it. There's a large choice of wines, but the prices are ..... (too much high for me !).
Example with the bottle that Bwild suggested : Château Cheval Blanc Saint-Émilion 1985
Here's your price : 349,99 $ see
and here's the price in France : about 105 Euros (= 136 $) see and it's on the net (less expensive in a wine cellar).
I look at them more and I give you my selection.
Here, I drink fine wines but I go to buy it in little castles and there are very good wines, less known, so the prices are lower.

Bernice: Oh, I didn't think that foreign people would be interested in drinking french wine !
Well, I hadn't thought to the taxs. I've looked at the conditions : it seems that if I give a invoice justifying that I've paid the TVA (a french tax that we have in our country), the addressee pays nothing else, but it's different depending on the country, and in some countries, it's forbidden to send wine. The problem is that, since a long time, I've very old and very good bottles in my cellar and I've no more bills for them. Anyway, if I buy wine here, the price will always cheaper than if you buy the same in your country. In the next days, I'm going to get more information at the post office.
It's difficult to give you names of wine : l'INAO (Institut National des Appellations d'Origine - is the French organization charged with regulating French agricultural products with Protected Designations of Origin, controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture) lists 3420 different wines in France.
Tell me before what kind of wine you like to drink : white, rosé, red ? and : do you like it : wooded, fruity, dry, strong ? Or else, do you want a list about the well knowned french wines ?

puupia: Yes, you're totally right. I spoke about Champagne because it was in the text UE had posted. But, in my post, I also spoke about " AOC " which is the term (in France) for the protected goods and my map shows all the names of wines from France with AOC : you speak about " Cognac " and you will see that this brandy is on the map, on the South West, in color green " Eaux de vie " (brandy).
In France, there are many protected goods, specially for food : cheese, meat, chicken, beef, culinary specialities, drinks, cakes, ham, etc....
I had already heard that Kobe beef was a very protected label. I've read this interesting text.

Bwild: For me, with chicken, we rather drink a rosé : my favorite is " Côtes de Provence " (in the South East - see on the map : http://www.mywineandcellar.com/Carte_vins_France.html) but a wine from Anjou (in the middle West) is the best choice.
With chicken, we drink a rosé or else a very light red wine. This is a classic answer.

But, in reality, it's not so easy to choose a wine.
You have, first, to consider what different wines will be drunk during the meal and you have to respect a logical order : the light wines first ; more you go forward in the meal, more the wines will be strong. It's inconceivable, for example, to drink 1st a thick red wine and 2nd a light rosé !! (we do like that in France but perhaps it's different in other countries ; I only speak about MY experience).
Then, I would allude to what Bernice said " it doesn't really matter what color wine...it is the taste that compliments the meal " . I mean that in a meal, there's not only one element - the wine - but it's a whole. We have to consider what we will eat. I give you an example with only one meat : chicken.
If you eat some chicken grilled, it's obvious that a red wine is better. But if you cook your chicken with crawfishes and lemon, inevitably, you'll drink a bottle of white wine (white wine with fishes and shellfishs).
Last, as it is a question of taste, you'll choose (of course) a wine that you like. For example, me, I rarely drink white wines because they aren't my favourite and I prefer wines more dried, less sweet. In the same way of doing, someone who lives in a region with wines, as me, will often choose a wine from this region if he eats a culinary speciality from this region : example : in the South West of France, we eat a speciality : " poulet basquaise " (chicken with tomatoes, sweet peppers, oil of olive, ....) , so we naturally drink with a wine from the region South West as a " Bergerac " rosé, or a " Côte de Duras " red.

To finish : ..... it doesn't matter at all !!!! specially for a wine lover as me !!!

ps : if you're ready to pay the postage and the packaging, I offer you and send you a bottle of french wine (white or rosé or red or Champagne). (and because you are a friend).

Bwild: I'm totally sure about what I said. Here, in France, there's a little " war " between winegrowers, specially in some regions as Champagne, Beaujolais, and Bordelais (region around Bordeaux where I live). You must know that the AOC covers a specific area, and, in some regions as mine, some winegrowers can't get the AOC although their vineyard is just beside (only 2 or 3 feet !!) another one with the AOC. The difference of taste is obvious for a expert, but not for a beginner. Even me, sometimes, I've difficulties to recognize the exact origin of a wine in a same area.
In France, your wine is named : " Vin de Californie " (Wine of California). I've already drinked some, and I really appreciated it and you must know that I'm very demanding with wine (I've a cellar with about between 50 and 100 different wines). Your wine from Californie is more sweet than our Champagne, but it's very nice. I'd say that this wine is more light in the taste.
You also must know that our Champagne is classified in 3 categories : " brut ", " sec " and " demi-sec " and your wine is so different that it can't be in none of these categories. In France, we would say that your wine is a " mousseux " (I could translate by : " sparkling wine ").
Many people speak about Champagne but, in reality, a lot of them have never drunk a real Champagne from this region. I'm sure that if I did a test with you : to drink some Champagne and another wine in 2 different glasses without name on the glasses, you would see a big difference.
Many people, too, don't know that a Champagne must be drunk in the 2 years following the bottling. After this period, the wine isn't " perfect ", the taste is different and the color of the wine becomes a little rose (difficult to see it with the eye) ; I did the test and I've kept a bottle of Champagne since 10 years and the wine is dark rose. It's funny : when I show the bottle to someone (and hide the name) everybody wonders what it is.
And about what was said before, I've a doubt about a Moët & Chandon and a Veuve Clicquot to 40 $ !!! Here, I don't often drink these ones : these are luxury champagnes, always sold in a casket so the prize is at least the double !
There's something shocking : here, in my region (Bordeaux) some people sell some french wine without AOC to foreign countries, and they say to foreigners that their wine is a very great wine from Bordeaux. They use the name of Bordeaux to as to raise the prize. I give you an example : where I live, a wine with AOC costs about between 20 to 25 Euros the bottle the 2nd year (then the prize raises very rapidly so here, we always buy it the 2nd year) and a wine without AOC is about 5 Euros the bottle. Well, you see people selling the bottles without AOC in other countries to around 30 to 40 Euros the bottle !!!! For me, It's shocking !!!

Universal Eyes: About what you said, there's something I'd like clarify :
You wrote : " in Alsace, Lucien Albrecht makes a rosé bubbly for about $19 that's the best non-Champagne pink sparkler we've had in some time ".
This is a nonsense.
Why ? Because, in France , fine wines have (it's an obligation) an " AOC " (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) which I could translate (I think) as : Controlled Origin Label. This AOC has the name of the region from where the wine is native, it's a guarantee. This AOC corresponds with very specific criterions : place, taste, color, thickness....etc of the wine.
So, when you say : " a non-champagne ", it's impossible : or else the wine is from the region Champagne, and the name of the wine is Champagne, or else it's not and, in this case, we can't use the name " Champagne " (forbidden with the law) ; there's no " non-champagne " ! It's Champagne or not.
Besides, a wine from Alsace can't absolutely be a Champagne, because these 2 regions aren't in the same place so the criterions of these wines are totally different !!!! See, this map from France which shows the location of the different french wines, and you'll see that the region Champagne is far from the region Alsace (on the top, on the right) : http://www.mywineandcellar.com/Carte_vins_France.html

Many people often name bubbly wines as " Champagne ". It's totally incorrect. The Champagne has a special taste and the process for the manufacture is totally different from the other wines (rosés, for example) : the barrels aren't made with oak, they ferment during a different length, the grape harvests aren't at the same period, etc....
Sorry to contradict you, but it's just as to clarify. I live in a region with wine (Bordelais) so I'm very sensitive about this subject. I think it can be interesting for people to learn more about this.