Chignin

I went shopping yesterday and brought home a mixed case of wine, some new, some familiar, some to open immediately and two to put away for awhile.

The wine pictured here was in the open soon category, and dinner last night proved to be the perfect time. The wine is a Chignin from Savoie. In this case it was a 2006 Domaine Andre et Michel Quenard. My entire experience with wines of Savoie consists of Abymes, so this was an entirely new wine to me. The wine is 100% Jacquere.

After a very slight chill we poured a glass. Very neutral in color and best described as very pale straw. The nose was dry and smelled of Meyer lemons and grapefruit with an underlying hint of wet slate. The taste was not as dry as the nose, but it was the Meyer lemons and minerals that stood out. This wasn't a rich fruity wine by any means, the minerality was definitely its strong suit. It was light and bone dry except for just the slightest touch of sweetness at the very end. The wine was 11% alcohol by volume.

Dinner was an Alaskan cod fillet, laid on a bed of julienned leeks and carrots and covered with a garlic, lemon peel and thyme butter. Everything was enclosed in parchment paper and baked for fifteen minutes. The cod was delicious and there was just enough butter involved to ease the dryness in the wine. A good match, as neither the wine or the food was overly serious or complicated. They made each other better.