I am back in Istanbul and trying to post off a few item sitting in the Draft. I am so glad that I got to have a few hot near-summer days before leaving. Funnily and annoyingly, every time I went to Bordeaux, it was late fall to winter because that was only time I could take time off. I am in my heavy winter coat in all the French albums except the first time in Paris and Marseille.

This time we went to Le Porge, a smaller and quieter beach than Canon. Passing Chateau Picque Caillou and through a long stretch of road lined with pine trees, we arrived at the beach of white sand dunes covered with shrubs that reminds me of the scent of rosemary. Inhaling the distinctive mixture of scents, pine, rosemary, sea, sand, etc., I thought about the smells I get from Bordeaux wines. I think I’ve turned into a wine maniac, having immersed in wines for the past 5 months.

The sea was wild and a few surfers were having a ball while others were sunbathing in French style, that is, fully naked. Well, I am used to nude beaches from Sydney, but not at this degree of liberty. 🙂 Fully naked men and women walking in and out of the sea and lying on their back. Hmm…liberty~ horray!

And I thought this windscreen that everyone had was a great invention. It is a must for windy Bordeaux.

It was so lovely to get some vitamin D through photosynthesis. The following dish is not the one we had that day; we probably have gone out to eat after the lazy afternoon in the sun. I couldn’t fit this dish into any posts so I am doing my own assemblage of photos. 🙂

I adore parsnips – the fragrant and the taste. I am not a fan of potatoes – they are bland until something is done to them. Parsnips, on the other hand, are so full of taste on their own. I just love smelling them. It is a bit like sweet potatoes and, at the same time, a bit like bananas, which also go well with meat dishes.

I grill, bake and fry parsnips, or sometimes make creamy yellow curry with them or pureed soup. You can also slice them to make veggie crisps as an alternative to potato crisps. When it comes to root vegetables, I am more for swedes, celeriac, sweet potatoes, etc. If you want to peek at the collection of winter root vegetables, have a look at Food with a View.

To support the meat, I made sauteed leek with ginger and soy sauce. I usually use balsamic vinegar for leek, which is quite often a cliché recipe, so this time it was soy sauce and it went together well, I think 🙂

After the dinner, we took a stroll through the rue saint colombe and found another wine bar but at the sight of Enomatic machines, I turned back to leave but then decided to stay, considering late hours and also seeing Chateau Mangot 100% Merlot.

So I tried these three wines and tasting notes.

Chateau Mangot, St-Emillion 2005 – 100% Merlot  – ruby/ wet stone, sea breeze, smooth tannins, not so complex / medium finish.

Chateau Moulinet, Pomerol 2009 – purple rim/young fruity intense on the nose and taste / powerful, buttery, butterscotch/long finish, wow wine, 14.5 vol.%

Chateau Julia, Pauillac 2009 – dark ruby / fruity, white pepper, pronounced licorice, very round in mouth / long finish

The best of all was Moulinet for me and the conclusion is that Bordeaux 2009 vintages are very fruity and high in alcohol and I start to believe the claim that 2009 vintages are one of the best years, but are not yet fully convinced. My reason might be the same as The Iron Chevsky, and personally I’ve drunk better quality 2008s than 2009s, maybe because I don’t like warm fruity wines and think 2009s are overpriced. So the wines I brought over are mostly 2008 🙂  That is all for now.

Related articles

• Château Picque Caillou 2010 (eatwithmeistanbul.com)
• Max Bordeaux – Enomatic Wine Tasting (eatwithmeistanbul.com)
• French Wine Lovers, All Wine Lovers, Rejoice and Look for Cotes De Bordeaux on your Wine Label (manoavino.com)