By: Finance Foodie
When I was banking on Wall Street, there was a strong culture of status flaunting – it was not unheard of to hear conversations such as, “last night when we were all celebrating with a bottle of Chateau Lafite….” on a regular basis. Although I can – and definitely do – appreciate an expensive bottle of red, I also believe that good wine can be found at a more reasonable price point. And now that the good times are at a halt and bonus have become almost non-existent, I think my fellow financiers should soon follow suit as well.
Enter Georges Duboeuf, founder of
Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, an affordable line of wines sold all over the world (PS it's the number one selling French wine in the US). Most people know him because he started the popularization and production of Beaujolais wines - most notably the
Beaujolais Nouveau, the colorful bottles of red wine launched each year during the third week in November. Mr. Duboeuf's business produces more than 30 million bottles of wine annually and at 70-some years old, Mr. Duboeuf is still running the show and traveling around the world to promote the appreciation of this beverage. I had the pleasure of having an intimate small group dinner with this extraordinary business man and winemaker, fittingly at one of the finest French restaurants in Boston,
L’espalier, to celebrate his 30 years of partnership with Deutsch Distribution Family.
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| Intense Wine Convo |
We started off the three course dinner with beautiful Nova Scotia halibut served with a warm Apple Street Farm new potato salad, pancetta, egg yolk and sweet corn puree. This dish was paired with a
Duboeuf Domaine Beranger Pouilly-Fuisse ($20). I thought the complexity of the almond essence and buttery aroma of the wine was brought out quite nicely by the also rather complex dish. The flaky yet tender halibut was cooked to perfection and by far the standout food item of the night.
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| Nova Scotia Halibut |
The next course was a light summer berry salad, goat’s milk cheese and nasturtium leaf puree, drizzled with a walnut vinaigrette. This course was paired with
Duboeuf’s Beaujolais-Villages ($10) and
Chiroubles ($14). It felt rather odd pairing bold red wines with a salad course, but the heartiness of the goat cheese actually went very well with the offerings. The berries in the salad were especially complementary to the black current, cherry and peach notes in the
Beaujolais-Villages.
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| Summer Berry Salad |
Our final course was a tender slow poached chicken with Italian truffles, swiss chard and smoked pommes puree. This course was paired with the
Morgon Jean-Ernest Descombes ($16) and
Chateau Des Capitans ($19). The halibut might have been number one, but the truffles in this dish were an extremely close second favorite of the night - the light nutty perfume of the mushroom was intoxicating - and paired very well with the spicy roasted coffee flavor of the
Chateau Des Capitans.
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| Poached Chicken |
What an elegant, exhilarating and exuberant evening filled with good wine, good food and good conversation! May there be another 30 years to come (and another celebration to follow!).
L’espalier
774 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02199
(617) 262-3023
www.lespalier.com
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