Fontenay Abbey, Burgundy
I must say I was so scared by the shocking idea we read of yesterday, i.e. a state alcohol monopoly, that I feel the need to discuss booze again.
She wants a red but he wants a nice solid white, Pop reckons its just not Christmas without fizz and Nan has run out of beer and feels like trying something different. Seeking that perfect accompaniment for turkey (or goose, duck, quail, ham, stuffed chicken, swan or salmon coulibiac)?
Well look no further than another weird Aussie wine style - Sparkling Burgundy.
Well at least we used to call it Sparkling Burgundy, before we got involved in a series of export contradeals with the EU concerning oenological nomenclature. The Burgundians got their name back, so we had to figure out what to call it. Makers generally settle for the grape variety, so it is often now called Sparkling Shiraz, shiraz being the most commonly used variety for this distinctive wine. However other varieties are found, including cabernet, merlot, malbec, chambourcin and durif.
The wine goes back as early as 1881 but was, at first, a lighter rosé style wine. It was subsequently perfected into its current robust magnificence by Leon Edmond Mazure at Auldana, South Australia, around 1893.
Sparkling Burgundy was nearly killed off in the 1960s by the production of dreadful mass market Charmat process imitations like Cold Duck, which even had a brief international career as the el cheapo vino da seducto du jour, but fortunately it survived and is currently undergoing something of a renaissance.
The fruit is usually picked quite ripe, is fermented and, like Champagne, then undergoes a second bottle fermentation. It is then disgorged and liqueured to give a residual sweetness, packed full of ripe fruit flavours, berries, spice and pepper, developing complexity with age and gaining chocolate, leather and mushroom aromas with bottle age. The very best are built to go the distance, full flavoured, dark and well extracted with a high alcohol and a fine tannin grip.
Like Liqueur Muscat, it might be hard to find outside of Australia but is well worth seeking out. Peter Rumball’s is a good midrange drop, as are the Seppelt NV and Vintage. Wilson Hippocrene, Petersons Sparkling Chambourcin and the beefy Morris Sparkling Durif all provide different takes on the style. At the pinnacle are Charles Melton, E&E, the mighty Rockford Black Shiraz and the Seppelt Show Reserve wines. The Seppelt Shows are only released after optimal cellaring and long and successful show careers of up to 10 years or more. Some of the finest wines I have ever experienced have been vintages from the 60s, incredible at 30 years of age.
Like good champagne, it should not be over-chilled, all the more so the better and older the bottle. It is necessary in the Australian summer but cellar temperature would be fine for the Northern winter.
Teetotalers please look away; I say give your adolescents a taste at dinner if they want - remember responsible drinking starts at home (even if it does finish down the pub), and the association of drinking as something to be done with good company and food is one to be cultivated.
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple stained mouth;
That I might drink and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim.
John Keats - Ode to a Nightingale
The Cistercians, one of the most influential monastic orders of the middle ages, was founded in Burgundy at Citeaux in 1098 by Saint Robert, Abbot of Molesme. From the beginning there was an intimate association between the monks and wine. At Christmas 1098 the first vines given to the abbey by the Duke of Burgundy, Eudes I, were planted at Meursault. Cistercian monasteries dot the Burgundy landscape and Fontenay Abbey is one of the best preserved. The others include some of the biggest wine names of the region, like Clos-Vougeot and Clos de Tart.
Burgundy is also one of France's prime areas for the development of carols. Much of the carol activity in Burgundy came from the pen of Bernard de la Monnoye (1641-1728), the carol poet laureate of Burgundy. Several of his Christmas poems are still printed in the twentieth century
William Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader
One of La Monnoye’s carols, Patapan, is similar in theme but far superior to The Little Drummer Boy, which I must say is one of those carols I can’t stand. Here is another still performed today, you might know the version by Joan Baez.
The winter season of the year,
When to this world our Lord was born,
The ox and donkey, so they say,
Did keep his holy presence warm.
How many oxen and donkeys now
If they were there when first he came,
How many oxen and donkeys you know
At such a time would do the same?
And on that night it has been told
These humble beasts so rough and rude,
Throughout the night of holy birth
Drank no water, ate no food.
How many oxen and donkeys now
If they were there when first he came,
How many oxen and donkeys you know
At such a time would do the same?
As soon as to these humble beasts
Appeared our Lord, so mild and sweet,
With joy they knelt before his Grace
And gently kissed His tiny feet.
How many oxen and donkeys now
Dressed in ermine, silk and such,
How many oxen and donkeys you know
At such a time would do as much?
Tr. Oscar Brand
(music arranged and performed by Linda Barcan).