Another beer I tasted during my stay in France this past spring. I found this beer in the supermarket but it seemed to be a craft beer, which it is indeed, from a small family owned brewery and business in the northern tip of France, near Belgium, a region that has a long and reputable tradition of beer making. Their website : https://brasseriecastelain.com
This is what the French call a blonde beer as per the color, so it can be either a lager or an ale depending on the fermentation. Here it’s a lager as it is a low temperature fermentation. Most of the times it’s the case with those beers called blondes by the French. It’s also a « bière de garde » meaning a beer that is kept for fermenting a longer time, so it brings out malt flavors and is very rounded due to the longer fermentation time. That longer fermentation removes or smooths all the flaws due to the slower process. They also mention it’s brewed in a traditional way « brassée à l’ancienne » which is the way craft breweries usually brew their beers. 6.8% vol.
Beer Ch’ti Blonde Biere de Garde France
Golden leaning towards orange, clear, thin white foam.
Nose : malt and honey which is what expected from this bière de garde type of beer.
In mouth, finely sparkling, malt and honey as the main tastes, like for the nose.
This lager style beer is excellent with more oomph than a regular lager due to the bière de garde longer fermentation process, well rounded with very nice taste. Well done.
I have already reviewed a couple of Ca’ Momi wines ( you can read here : https://wineinamerica.wordpress.com/?s=ca+momi ) which are excellent wines from California Napa Valley for a more than decent price, when Napa wines tend to be on the pricey side usually. This is another generic red, the other one I reviewed was called Rosso di Ca’ Momi and I don’t know if they are the same wines and if they just changed the name. This one is called Rosso di Napa to emphasize that it’s from Napa Valley. The one called Rosso di Ca’ Momi was also wine from Napa Valley as per the counter label. So I don’t know of it’s a rebranding or not and I decided to try it anyway (I enjoyed the first one and their wines so far) specially for the price, $10 in my usual wine joint, Stirling Fine Wines in Stirling Central New Jersey.
Ca’ Momi Rosso di Napa Napa Valley Red Wine 2020
California, Napa Valley, 13.9% vol., vintage 2020. I don’t know what blend it is, as they don’t mention it on the counter label as opposed to the other Rosso. I tasted it in my Le Deux wine glasses.
Very dark red leaning towards black with a small deep red rim and irregular long legs.
Nose : very fruity, red and black fruits, such as blackcurrant and blackberry. Some green wood, varnish, fruit esters, a bit of animal fur at the end and some spices. A very pleasant nose.
In mouth : fruits, red and black fruits, blackcurrant, blackberry and a lot of vanilla, a hint of caramel. Very smooth and rounded, which makes it a good sipping wine. A slight bitterness in the middle mouth. All in all a very peasant wine (as all of Ca’ Momi wines I have tasted so far are) that can be served both as a sipping wine and as a companion for food. I will buy it again and have a couple of bottles at the ready in my wine rack for regular consumption with everyday meals and enjoyment, specially for the price.
After tasting I paired it with some spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan.
Ca’ Momi Rosso di Napa Napa Valley Red Wine 2020Ca’ Momi Rosso di Napa Napa Valley Red Wine 2020
Another beer from a local craft brewery, in France this time, called Brasserie du Comté which sells all their beers under the brand name Bière du Comté (Beer from the Comté). The Comté refers to the Comté of Nice, which encompassed the city of Nice and surroundings and which became part of France only in the late 19th Century through a controversial annexion at the time. During one of my previous trips to France, just before the pandemic, I have tasted all the offering sold under the Bière du Comté by the brewery but never published the reviews. That was back in summer 2019. This brewery is a small craft brewery from the Nice back country in the Valley of the Vésubie. The brewery used to be located in the small village of Saint Martin Vésubie which was hit hard by super storm Alex back on October 2nd, 2020. The brewery was destroyed by the storm and their fermentation tanks were even dragged by the force of the water down the valley on the Mediterranean shore some 50 kilometers (36 miles roughly) away !
Brewery destroyed by super storm Alex in October 2020Brewery destroyed by super storm Alex in October 2020fermentation tanks dragged down the valley to the Mediterranean sea 50 km away
Fast forward 2022, they brew again, thanks to other local craft breweries that share their fermentation tanks and facilities with them and in early September 2022 they had only one offering (brewed in those friendly breweries) a temporary beer that was the transition beer while waiting for their brewery to be rebuilt. This beer is what the French call a Blonde beer, which can roughly match some kind of lager (French go by the color of the beer which doesn’t really make sense as you can have dark lagers etc..) This temporary transition blonde beer is called Mounta Cala which in Nissart language (old dialect the people living in the Nice Comté spoke) means « up and down » and the name comes from the fact that they were brewing down the valley in Nice suburbs for their brewery set upper in the valley, some 50 kilometers away in the village of Saint Martin Vésubie and all the back and forth they had to do. Also the name applies when you hike and go up and down some trails that go up then down then up again and is a popular expression when hiking down in the French Riviera back country : my father would say about a hike that it was « mounta cala », up and down.
Beer Biere du Comte Mounta Cala Blonde Bio
I bought this beer in a retail store — a mountain and hiking gear store at that, something equivalent to REI here in the US, where my father and I buy all our mountain and hiking gear. I noticed it near the cashier and grabbed a couple of bottles in prevision of our hike (or rather for after our hike ) the following day. I was happy to see that the brewery had survived and that they were still actively brewing. Plus the name rang a bell of our family hikes the I was a kid, « up and down ».
Beer Biere du Comte Mounta Cala Blonde Bio
To the beer now :
This « blonde » beer, lager type I would say, is organic (bio in French) and is 5% vol.
In glass : yellow orange, matte and cloudy. Thin foam.
Nose : cereal, yeasts
In mouth : cereals, malt, soft on the palate, finely sparking, almost sweet (but not sugary) and bitter at the same time. This is very good and enjoyable. Finale is finely smoked and bitter caramel. The lasting taste in mouth is very cereal and malt.
Beer Biere du Comte Mounta Cala Blonde Bio
This is an excellent beer specially after a hike that proved a bit difficult on the way down (the path was eroded by the rain and storms and had not been maintained and required trekking poles to keep from sliding).
The video of the hike prior to this comforting beer that we enjoyed upon our return home, can be seen on my YouTube channel here, hike with my father in the beautiful Luceram forest :
Picpoul de Pinet Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Languedoc France 2021
Another white wine from France. Originally I wanted to find the Picpoul de Pinet that Lifevoyager recently reviewed on his blog Picpoul de Pinet La Chapelle du Bastion [read here : https://lifesvoyagercom.wordpress.com/2023/07/11/two-summertime-whites/ ] but I couldn’t find it in my neck of the woods that is Central New Jersey. While looking for it unsuccessfully, I finally stumbled across another Picpoul de Pinet that had a fair price (around $ 12) so I figured I might as well try it and hope to find the other one another time.
This wine is produced in Languedoc and has the official protected appellation AOP Languedoc and is also labelled as « grand vin du Languedoc ». Vintage 2021, 13% vol. $12.
Picpoul de Pinet Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Languedoc France 2021
Pale yellow in the glass
Nose : mineral essentially, crisp and fresh scent.
In mouth : mineral, stone flint, a bit watery, lemony. Citrus but mainly lemon. Some green fruits in middle mouth. Very pleasant and pairs well with seafood — that’s what we had for dinner, namely shrimps.
All in all a very pleasant fresh white wine, perfect for summer and seafood.
Untied Brewing Company Diamonds in my Chain New England India Pale Ale
Another new IPA that my local favorite brewery, Untied Brewing Company, released recently. This new one called Diamonds in my Chain, 6.9% vol, is a New England IPA after a couple of American IPA releases.
Untied Brewing Company Diamonds in my Chain New England India Pale Ale
Dark golden yellow, very cloudy, even opaque with medium yellowish foam.
Nose : very fruity, tropical fruits, mango mainly, very pleasant scent.
In mouth : soft, very pleasant, well rounded, a slight bitterness that’s melted with softness. Less fruity than the nose actually but more on the cereal side : cereals, oat, malt and some brown notes but subtle. Some roasted cereals almost like honey Graham crackers in the middle mouth.
A hint of vanilla or vanilla cream as a finale. Even the texture and the foam feel creamy. The foam is definitely more creamy looking and feeling in mouth than their other IPAs.
Another excellent IPA from Untied !
Untied Brewing Company Diamonds in my Chain New England India Pale Ale
Another prosecco widely available on this side of the Atlantic.
This one is Ruffino Prosecco, a Prosecco DOC and it’s extra dry. 11% vol. Non vintage. I don’t know the exact price of this one, I brought it back from New York City while moving my daughter out in July. They had it in their fridge (somebody brought it for a party) and wanted to throw it away as they would not drink it and her roommate didn’t want to move it. So I figured I’ll take it. I don’t like to throw away or waste foodstuff let alone wine. I have seen other bottles of Ruffino Prosecco sold for $14/15 here in New Jersey.
We popped it open for my younger son’s 25th birthday (how did that happen ? not so long ago he was my little 4 year-old…)
Prosecco Ruffino Prosecco DOC Extra Dry Italy
Very pale yellow, almost colorless. Finely sparkling with very fine bubbles.
Nose : green apple
In mouth, green apple and pear. Very green and very dry too.
To improve it, I had them drink it as a kir royal, a French cocktail where you put some fruit liquor (blackcurrant in the original recipe but any black or red fruit liquor will do, like raspberry or blackberry) in white wine : that’s the regular kir, when added to sparking wine, specially champagne it becomes a kir royal. Let’s say it was a semi-royal because it was prosecco and not champagne. As for us we use Teisseire syrup in lieu of liquor, the extra alcohol brings nothing to the table and I always have Teisseire syrup at the ready (childhood memories, for the Teisseire fruit syrups, not the kir of course). Monin or other brands are fine too, whatever you can put your hands on, as syrup is really a Frenchy French item and not widely available outside of France. I got mine on the amazon for a price higher than prosecco… when in France it’s a cheap item (3 to 4 euros max for the same bottle, maybe less).
The following year they had what seemed another white from Chateau Roubine that I didn’t recognize and we had it with our holiday meal, again with some foie gras from the Carlton in Cannes. It’s actually the same wine I had already reviewed the previous year in another vintage : they have changed the bottle and label design, that’s what I figured after the fact (when I looked at the pictures). I tasted this one during the holidays 2019 but never got to publish the review, sooner than later it was 2020 and we know what. But the other day while going through my notebooks I found the review and checked my blog only to see I had indeed a review of Chateau Roubine Cotes de Provence white. Soi figured I would publish this other review now to clear my notebook.
Here is the second review, for vintage 2018 this time, with the new bottle and new label. Côtes de Provence Blanc cru classé, I didn’t take note of the alcohol content but the previous one was 13.5% vol.
Côtes de Provence Château Roubine Cru Classé Premium White 2018 with my friend Marc in the background
Straw like yellow in the glass, almost fluorescent as opposed to the 2016 which was deep yellow leaning towards rose gold.
Nose : the nose is essentially mineral as opposed to the 2016 which was more honey and honeysuckle and very flowery.
In mouth : slightly fizzy, mineral like the nose, lemony and dry. This vintage is more on the lemon side and not honey at all as was the 2016 (it was its main taste for that 2016 vintage) but both vintages are very dry wines as per my notes for the previous one too.
As it was the holidays, we had the same appetizer, the foie gras from the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and that year too this Chateau Routine paired nicely with the mellowness of the foie gras, in opposition fashion with its dryness.
This wine is a solid white Cotes de Provence that you can buy with no hesitation. I don’t know if they export it but it is readily available in the French Riviera both at the wine store and supermarkets and it’s also served in restaurants.
Côtes de Provence Château Roubine Cru Classé Premium White 2018
Wine in America 