Blend: Cot (Malbec), Cabernet Franc, and Grolleau
From: Touraine, Loire, France
Taste: A light and fun sparkling rosé. Creamy and fruity with notes of bright red currants and cranberries. A floral nose, slightly prickly, with a cinnamon baking spice finish. A touch of fresh baked brioche complexity.
Pairing: Sparkling rosé is a bit of a Swiss army knife when it comes to pairing; it can complement and contrast a wide variety of foods whether you’re at a five star restaurant or having a movie night at home. I would personally love this with chicken liver mousse, or mushroom pâte.
But, if you’re feeling fancy, one of my favorite luxuries that is surprisingly simple and way more cost effective to make at home, is gravlax. It’s basically a dry brined salmon with dill. This Gravlax with Caraway, Coriander, and Mustard-Dill Sauce recipe from Serious Eats breaks down this easy to make dry brine and once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with additional flavors. The mustard and dill sauce is amazing, but also totally optional.
About. Touraine, located around the town of Tours in the Loire, is known as ‘the garden of France’, a series of playgrounds for France’s pre-revolutionary aristocrats and now a Parisian’s weekend rural paradise. Its most famous wines are still reds from Bourgueil, Chinon, and St. Nicolas de Bourgueil, but also sparkling wines from dry to sweet. Wines labelled Touraine AOC come from a larger area, extending from Saumur in the west to Blois in the east, encompassing very varied soils which may include clay, sand, tuffeau, and gravel.
Located in the old outbuilding of a medieval castle that no longer exists, Domaine d’Orfeuilles was founded in 1947 by Paul Herivault. Now cultivated by Bernard Herviault and his son Arnaud, they make all efforts to maintain tradition in the cultivation of the vines and production of their wines.
Their sparkling wines are made in the traditional method, the same way that champagne is made, where secondary fermentation takes place within the bottle. Located on limestone hillsides, the vineyards benefit from south, southwest, and southeast exposures. Limestone clay soil with a high density of flint-stones provide the perfect grape-ripening conditions.
Vines are cultivated with sustainable farming practices to preserve the vineyard and the environment. The goal at Domaine d’Orfeuilles is to grow the best grapes using the least harmful methods of protection.
