Hi there offseasoners! Due to business, laziness, travel to exotic locales like Edmonton, Nisku, Camrose, BFC and I will be splitting duties on Thursday nights.

I have a spreadsheet of what I talked about last year to not repeat myself for you. I am getting older and still like to smoke weed so I tend to get the forgetsies.

How’s life Litre?

Thanks for asking! It’s fucking cold as hell today’s high temp is -25 C (feels like -32). We also got over a foot of snow! Hooray! I wouldn’t leave but sadly I do have to drive down a hill to get to wee man’s school . You would think that these people have never seen snow or ice before. We get a climate phenomenon here known as a “Chinook” where we get warm air from the mountains and have unseasonably high temperatures. Knuckleheads start to feel that this is the norm. Thing is that we have no mountains to the north to protect us and up there are Chinese weather balloons and really cold air. We’re getting a blast of what we get 5 times a winter, but these people think we live in the tropics. I did see a blizzard warning for LA so that seems fun.

Enough bitching. What’s good?

Wine and food. That’s what’s good.

I love France. When it comes to wine and food those beret wearing surrender monkeys do it right. It can be as simple as stopping at a truck stop and having the plat du jour or completely lucking out and having a sublime experience.

Pre-marriage Mrs. Cola and I were in between games at Euro 2016 and decided to go to Ile de Noirmoutier France on the west coast. Neither of us had ever been and it was described as a beach town with great food. It rained the three days we were there….

However, the dinner where we lucked out was on French music day.

From wikipedia:  “Make music, Music Day” (based on a French play-on-words, “Faites de la musique, fête de la musique”). Every June 21^st, France houses more than 18 000 concerts with no less than 5 million amateur musicians and singers who bring together nearly 10 million spectators.”

Yes, this is a thing where all over France there are live performances and festivities commemorating French music etc. We had an absolutely amazing dinner at a table behind the stage as the proprietor was filling his building as much as he could. Four course country style meal with local wines and French music in a packed house was an unreal experience. Oysters from a farm just a village over!

The next day for brunch we went to a crepe spot on the water and ordered some Sauv Blanc from the Loire Valley right next door. The owner said that we just must have some local mussels with this wine. I’m not kidding when I tell you he walked down the pier, bought a basket, brought it back to his resto and then cooked it up for us. (We each had one)

Let’s get to the wine!

Today we’re going to look at the Loire region for two reasons. The first being that is where Ile de Noirmoutier is, and the second is that spring is coming and Loire Sauvignon blancs pair well with spring vegetables.

Loire is an Appellation Controlee region like Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Alsace, which means they are held to the highest standards for their product.

This region is mostly known for its white offerings as it’s pretty far north and doesn’t get the heat needed to produce the every day reds we are all used to. Their claim to fame are their Sauvignon blancs which are in my opinion the best in the world. Personally I find that the same grape from New Zealand is far too fruity for my tastes and I am done with fruit bombs. I find that Loire Sauvignon Blancs while still fruit forward have a good balance of earthiness to them due to terroir. You get a lot of stone fruit like peaches, apricots, even the sourness of a plum skin in tastings. Whereas in New Zealand you get passion fruit, goose berry, and lychee in a lot of the stuff that they export.

When in the wine store the label will not say Loire, or Sauvignon Blanc on it. As with all French DOC’s you have to look for sub region to find what you are looking for. Look for Sancerre, or Pouilly-Fume which are subregions that export to the world. Do not confuse Pouilly-Fume, and Pouilly Fuisse, they are two different regions and two different grapes.

This region is also starting to get notoriety for its Chenin Blancs both in still form and in sparkling as well. They say it was planted all over in the 15th century so these be some old vines. The chenin grape is really a switch hitter depending on the climate/soil/moisture. It can take on really fruity notes, but also can be grown to really reflect the minerality of the earth.

This grape is also used for dessert wines as it is affected by botrytis rot. The Noblest of rots! Basically it takes the moisture from the grape leaving a higher sugar concentrate left. This rot is what gives us the Sauternes from Bordeaux which I will get in to later this offseason.

Either of these grapes pairs well with seafood and spring time vegetables like asparagus. You can also pair Chenin Blanc’s with spicy Indian curries, or Szechuan stirfrys as they usually do not have that high of an alcohol content.

Remember with spicy foods you want a low alcohol white to pair. Think of a fire, and what happens when you throw alcohol on the fire? It gets hotter. So try to mitigate the overall heat by going with a light wine wine.

Sports tonight!

10 Ice football games, check local listings, or ask Scotchy as he gets all the channels.

Lots of NBA games too.

College Hoops;

21 Northwestern v Illinois (How is NW ranked??)

Pacific v 15 St. Mary’s, in the religion bowl.

4 UCLA v Not Mormon U

San Diego v 12 Gonzaga.

Have a good night all.