THE CULT WINE

LE VIN "CULTE"

I am not a wine "connaisseur", not in any real sense of the term, far from it. I don't swirl my glass, I don't sniff the cork knowingly, I don't make comments about a balance and complexity and all of that. I could not start a conversation about the body or the finish etc. with anything resembling a straight face; except maybe when it comes to nose since that's what I use, that and my loyal taste buds. And don't ask me anything about this note and that note; I may guess a bit of licorice here or something else there, maybe, but that's about all. What I CAN tell when I taste a good wine or even a great wine and maybe an exceptional wine, is that I like it and that I am very happy when my glass is refilled. My taste buds give me all the information I need.

Having confessed to all this at the risk of being qualified as totally unpolished at best, I must tell the tale of a wine we had in Montreal when I went up there 2 weeks ago.

A guest of my sister's was kind enough to bring a "cult wine" to dinner. (Sorry all you California wine lovers and all my compatriots from Bordeaux or else where, I had never heard the term). Our delightful guest has the privilege of owning a few bottles of a certain cult wine, it seems, and was generous enough to come bearing a bottle of Araujo Syrha that was DELICIOUS!!! My taste buds do not lie. My sister the connaisseur was "oohing" and "aahing", as was I, to the delight of our adorable guest, of course.

Despite it's 40 acres, the vineyard, in the Napa Valley of California, produces only 300 to 400 cases of this exceptional Syrha a year. Hence the rarity. Hence its qualifying as a Cult Wine: 

California Cult Wines

California cult wines refer to any of the California wines "typically but not exclusively Napa Valley Cabernets" for which collectors, investors and highly enthusiastic consumers will pay very high prices. The producers of such wines include Araujo (...)

These wines are generally very expensive and are limited production (often fewer than 600 cases per year) and and command several times their "release price" upon release." -wikipedia


So there you have it . I learned something new in Canada.
Oh, and the main dish was a SUPERB Poulet Basquaise à la Joëlle, my sister, who adds a few squares of chocolate to the sauce!
I'd call it a ...Cult Dish.

au revoir.