The Omaha Metro
Event Report:
Burgundy vs. Pinot Noir at Au Courant
Upcoming Events.
Pinot Noir from Oregon
Written by Tom Murnan
What’s New
For our Burgundy vs. Pinot Noir event, we featured a lot of new world Pinot Noirs from Oregon. Pinot Noir (PN) is a fussy and difficult grape to grow. There are a lot of similarities between Oregon and Burgundy. Both are cool climate areas, but Oregon has the advantage of the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean. While not as good for Merlot or Cabernet, Oregon is best for PN because the coolness helps rein in Pinot’s tendency to race towards ripeness. Early ripening and high yield make PN loose flavor and color, where as a long growing season adds both. As far as soil is concerned, both areas are similar, but Burgundy has more limestone. The usual meme is that Burgundy and the Willamette Valley (WV) are on the same longitudinal parallel. However, they are close, but not exactly, on the same latitude Dijon is 47.322° while the WV is 44.934°. Two degrees is a pretty far distance apart. Both areas have a lot of nut bearing trees. The Côte de Nuits is named, not after “night” (nuit in French) but from the Latin “nutium,” or walnut. WV has hazelnut trees. In short, both areas are different. Allen Meadows, the American Burgundy expert who writes the online newsletter Burghound, says the two areas are different with some similarities. The wine making is different. For example, in the WV gets sugar maturity before phenolic maturity. Burgundy has had 1,000 years to get things right after making a lot of mistakes. We did have some top notch Oregon PN. We were fortunate enough to have two different bottlings of Beaux Frères, which was once owned by Robert Parker Jr. the wine critic and his brother in law Mile Etzel. Hailing from the Ribbon Ridge AVA, it is considered one of the best wineries in the WV. Ken Wright Cellars is a fantastic PN winemaker. We also had a PN from California’s Sonoma Coast, Joseph Phelps’ Freestone. California PN tend to be richer and riper than Burgundies or WV Pinots. Conclusion: the fickle grape is worthy of a lot more study. The next time you go to a wine store and wonder what you want to buy that day, try a PN.
“I took my 8 year old daughter to the office on ‘take your kid to work day’. But when we walked into the office she started to cry. As concerned staff gathered around I asked her what was wrong and she said: “Daddy, where are all the clowns you said you work with?”
Event Report: Burgundy vs. Pinot Noir at Au Courant
Written by Tom Murnan. Photos by Tom Murnan & Ron Policky
I always enjoy going to Au Courant Regional Restaurant. I give them my list of wines and they build a menu around them. Executive Chef Ben Maides still consults on building New European styled dishes using fresh ingredients to give us a true gourmet experience. In 2020, Ben was a Semi-Finalist in the James Beard Best Chef contest. Chef Anthony “Chovy” Caniglia does the day to day cooking. This was a joint event with the Omaha Branch.
After quaffing and sampling delicacies on the 5 foot Charcuterie plank, we sat down for a blind tasting. I took my daughter to the office on All the wines were Pinot Noir based half coming from Burgundy and half from Oregon. Everyone knew what wines they were, but not the order of serving. Our job was to identify which wines were from Burgundy and which from the USA. Out of 39 people (I excluded myself), only two of the ladies had perfect answers for all 4 wines. They even knew the names of the wines. Kudos to the Glorious Winners: Stacie Matz and Patti Hipple!
After the tasting, we began to enjoy the savory creativity of the Au Courant culinary team. We started with a Sourdough Blini of Trout Roe and Rillettes. Rillettes is a preservation
method similar to confit where meat is seasoned then submerged in fat and cooked slowly over the course of several hours. The meat is shredded and packed into sterile containers covered in fat. Our First Course was Chovy’s Egg, a staple of Au Courant, but there’s always a variant on what surrounds the perfectly cooked yolk which is not runny but also not hard. This time it was a slice of Brioche bread and Parmesan cheese. This was accompanied by a Roland Lavantureux Chablis 2022 from Omaha Wine Company. The Second Course was my favorite of the evening, Pork Pastrami, Giardiniera, Mustard Aioli and house made Potato Chip. Giardiniera is a medley of chopped vegetables, pickled, then marinated in olive oil. This was a surprisingly good match with the Joseph Phelps Freestone Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2019. The earthiness of the pork and saltiness of the chip was a triumph. The Third Course was another fabulous and imaginative course: Chinese Five Spice was added to a Chicken Ravioli and Ricotta cheese. Paired with a Burgundy Côte de Nuits Louis Latour Gevrey Chambertin 2012 and a Daniel Rion Aux Vignes Rondes 2017 it was heavenly. One perceptive diner, Joe Kafka, who just returned from Burgundy, pointed out that the Rion was not a Premier cru but a
simple village wine, a “Bourgogne.” Yes, we had a mis-marked wine in the inventory.
We still had three more courses to go. Personally, I thought all the courses were just the right amount of food. I was stuffed at the end. Fourth Course found us with Halibut with Golden Raisin, Bok Choy and Capers, which needed salt and was almost cooked too much. The Brocard Montée de Tonnerre Chablis 1er Cru 2020 from the Rare Wine Co. was a spot on match. Fifth was a Short Rib Dukkah, Smoked Beet and Pomegranate sauce. Dukka is chopped toasted nuts, sesame seeds, and ground cumin & coriander. This topped the beef. Another creative course, but not so spicy and pungent as to destroy the two wines, a Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2018 and Henri Gouges Nuites-StGeorges 2021. Dessert was Tarte Tatin with Apple, Pear and Caramel. A Château Doisy Verdrines Sauternes matched the sweetness and acidity of the apples to a “t.”
Many thanks to Chef ‘Chovy’ Caniglia and his culinary team, Sam Bloomer our Manager, and the wait staff who kept us right on time with spotless and attentive service.
2024 UPCOMING OMAHA METRO EVENTS
AUG 2024
There will be NO EVENT due to the large number of members attending the IWFS Swiss Alps, Palaces, Castles, and Custom Wine Tours (Rhine River Cruise) event.
SEP
BRUNCH
Talus Spirits & Sustenance 10914
Cumberland Dr, Papillion, NE 68046
Joint Couples event with for the Omaha and Omaha Metro Branches
Producers: Mike & Rhonda Wilke
HOSTING AN EVENT?
Let us know when, where and a little bit about what’s going on! We would love to include YOUR event on the calendar!
Email details to: iwfs.councilbluffs@yahoo.com