Thank You for the Bordeaux! Plus the Cassoulet we Paired With It

 Welcome to the first wine post of the 2024 year!  I am so glad to be participating in a new arrangement for future wine posts.  In the past, I have written about wine each Friday of the month. Each Friday was dedicated to a different wine such as Italian Food Wine Travel, Wine Pairing Weekend, French Winophiles, and World Wine Travel.  As a blogger, this was often difficult for me to manage and so the administrators of each group decided to restructure a bit. Each group took 3 months of the year, alternating groups and posting on the second Saturday of the month.

I think I can manage this!

I do want to say thank you to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm who is hosting this very first event after restructuring.  Her post helped me see how to organize and hopefully stay organized.  I enjoy writing about wine and this year, wine posts were in my top 10 posts!

Our theme from the French Winophiles was to write about a French wine that was gifted to me, or that I wish I had gifted to me, or that I had gifted to others.

I received a bottle of Chateau Buisson-Redon Bordeaux 2019.  Since 1918, Château Buisson-Redon has belonged to the SEZE family that also owns Château Mayne-Vieil in the Fronsac AOC. The family has reconstituted the property after World War 1 and is particularly attached to the production of high-quality red wines. The vineyard is grassed, stripped on one side, and harvested green for better aeration of the bunches and to reduce the yield. The maceration takes place in thermoregulated vats. 15% aging in oak barrels.

This wine allows for a variety of foods to be paired with it and one of our favorite French dishes is the cassoulet.  On the nose and palette: Medium ruby red color.Aromas black fruit, cocoa, leather, earthy notes. Leather, black currant, chocolate, bell pepper, medium acidity, and tannins.

We have made Julia Child's cassoulet and found it so delicious.  We love to make it on a weekend and enjoy the cooking process.  For the weeknights, however, we like this easy cassoulet that comes together in about an hour.  We add the best bread we can find in the city to make this a decadent dish that we serve with our Bordeaux. 

Traditionally a cassoulet is a slow-cooked French casserole made with meat, bacon, and white beans. The original French dish has ingredients that are hard to source in the States, Moulard duck legs, duck fat, duck confit, mutton, goose, and garlic sausage.  Not to mention those delicious Tarbais beans!

• Camilla of Culinary Cam shares "A Red Blend from the Slopes of 'The Giant of Provence', Slow-Braised Venison Stew, and Merci".
• Terri of Our Good Life says "Thank You for the Bordeaux! Plus the cassoulet we paired with it". 
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is "Celebrating a New Wine Collaboration with a Bottle of Cahors gifted to me from Family visiting from France".
• Jeff of Food Wine Click tells "How to Gift a Wine for Your Wine Geek Friend".
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass tells of "A Gift to the Planet: Biodynamic Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley".
• Susannah of Avvinare is "Drinking Aged Bordeaux from Chateau La Mission Haut Brion". 
• Gwendolyn of Wine Predator is doing double duty with "Birthday Wishes, Gifts: Cassoulet with Cotes du Rhone from Domaine du Pegau, Maison Sinnae, Famille Ravoir" and "The Gift of Wine and A Gift of Wine: 2019 Famille Perrin Cotes du Rhone Reserve with Cassoulet"

We will be meeting on Saturday, January 13th, at 11 AM ET for a chat on Threads.net.  You will find our convo by searching #winophiles.  Please join us.