April Wine: Puzelat-Bonhomme Cheverny Rouge

A traditional coq au vin, a boozy tea and chicken with a side of social responsibility. Ask an Oenophile The Expert: Alex Thornley, manager of Tableau Bar Bistro in Coal Harbour The Dish: Coq au vin, $20 The Pairing: Puzelat-Bonhomme Cheverny Rouge, 2009, Loire, France, $64

A traditional coq au vin, a boozy tea and chicken with a side of social responsibility.

Ask an Oenophile

The Expert: Alex Thornley, manager of Tableau Bar Bistro in Coal Harbour
The Dish: Coq au vin, $20
The Pairing: Puzelat-Bonhomme Cheverny Rouge, 2009, Loire, France, $64

I’m a sucker for light, red French wines. So, instead of picking a classic pairing like a big, buttery Chardonnay or simple Pinot Noir to go with our chicken dish, coq au vin, I’ve chosen something a little bit funkier: Puzelat-Bonhomme’s Cheverny Rouge.

This dish is classic French comfort food. We caramelize the skin before braising and then we marinate the chicken for two days in red wine. It’s served with roasted pearl onions, sautéed mushrooms, carrots, green beans and our own honey-cured smoked bacon.

The wine is a joint venture by two cult winemakers in the Loire Valley: Thierry Puzelat and Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme. It’s a biodynamic wine that is an ode to Passe-tous-Grains wines, which is basically a blend of Gamay Noir and Pinot Noir. And it’s fun!

There is a lot of fruit – red licorice and candied cherry. But it’s also nice and warm with hints of cinnamon and earth. It flirts with a bit of gaminess as well. And it does exactly what we want it to do: it’s interesting and playful without overshadowing the dish.

The candied quality on the nose and the palate works really well with that sweet smoked bacon. And the cinnamon gingerbread-y nose is wonderful with the caramelized skin. If you like Pinot Noirs and lighter French reds, why not try something off the beaten path?

Drink Decoded

Victoria’s Fairmont Empress hotel has been host to afternoon tea since it opened in 1908 but few know that the iconic establishment offers a boozy version of its high tea as well, complete with scone and doily. Created for the Empress’s centenary, The Empress 1908 is a combination of 1.5 oz of tea-infused vodka (four bags of Empress Blend tea steeped in 26 oz of vodka), ¾ oz fresh lemon juice, ¾ oz simple syrup and ¾ oz of egg white shaken vigorously with ice and strained into a sugar-rimmed martini glass. $12, Fairmont Empress

Composting at Work

Just in time for Earth Day, we have a reason – beyond the tasty, modern French fare – to head to Trafalgars Bistro: green business practices. Through the installation of a GreenGood GG-50 composter, the bistro has eliminated 100 per cent of organic waste going to landfill. In collaboration with GreenGood Canada Enterprise Inc., Urban Impact and Inner City Farms, Lorne Tyczenski and Stephen Greenham, owners of Trafalgars and Sweet Obsession, have created a closed-loop system that sees an impressive 240 kilograms per week of composted organic waste from their establishments enhancing the health of soil in neighbourhood farms throughout Vancouver. The Abbotsford Baby Chicken stuffed with maitake mushroom duxelle and served with potato gnocchi, braised cippolini onions and jus gras ($25) is guaranteed to taste that much better, now with a side of social responsibility. Trafalgars | Sweet Obsession