This is the last Paris post! I hope you've been enjoying this series of travel posts from London and Paris as I have enjoyed reliving them. For this post, we'll look at O-Chateau, a wine bar that offers many different wine tastings at reasonable price points, and we'll also look at the fancy food shops that we visited around Le Madeleine.
It was our last full day in Paris. We spent the morning visiting l'Orangerie and Les Tuillleries, then made our way to O-Chateau for our wine & cheese tasting. I found the restaurant in both of my Paris guidebooks, and in both cases, it was THE thing to do to fully experience the different wines and cheeses available.
The restaurant itself is large, but cosy. The bar has several wines on tap instead of beers, and there are many bottles around the restaurant serving as decor. We had arrived quite a few minutes early, so we ended up waiting for a while before they ushered everyone downstairs into our tasting room. The room was GORGEOUS: a large wooden table in the middle of the room with chairs all around, wines lining the back wall, and platters of meats, cheeses and bread were being brought out and placed on the table. Next to each place setting was the wine list that we would be experiencing, along with the cheese pairings.
Our sommelier arrived, and had everyone introduce themselves and talk about their experiences with wine. Unfortunately, I was the first one up to speak, and couldn't think of a better starter to my wine experience other than "I like wine?", which prompted laughter from everyone around the table. With some prompting from our sommelier, I was able to elaborate a little more on the kinds of wine we tend to purchase and redeem myself somewhat. Hubby's answer was far more refined than mine. :)
The first pour we got to experience was real Champagne, which came from the Lancelot-Pienne region. It was paired with a very yummy Brie de Meaux (easily the BEST Brie I've ever tasted). I was surprised at how well the cheese went with the Champagne (mostly because I never knew that a cheese could even pair with Champagne). The pour was quite generous (basically a full serving for each wine that we experienced), so we were able to really enjoy it. While we were tasting the Champagne, our sommelier talked about how Champagne is made, from the grapes to the finished product. I was very sad to discover though that the whole monk story with Dom Perignon (where the old monk is Dom Perignon) is a legend that has not been fully confirmed.
Our second pour was a white from the village of Saumur in the Loire region. This was when our sommelier educated us on how to properly taste wine. He used one person as an example to demonstrate how "notes" are not actually real. Apparently, each person will taste something different when it comes to "notes"; one person might find it tastes like pear, another will say peach. It has to do with what the taster is familiar with in terms of food. We were educated on Look (clarity, brightness, color and the meniscus, and viscosity), Smell (first nose and second nose, which should be done after giving the wine a good swirl), Taste (first impression, balance, body, and aftertaste) and Balance (acidity/sweetness for whites, acidity/sweetness/tanins for reds). He had us go through this process for the three wines that followed. Now I know what to do prior to trying our wines! I quite enjoyed this particular white (though I've always been more partial to whites), and it went very well with our cheese pairing, Saint-Maure de Touraine.
The next two wines we were offered were reds. The first was from the village of Brouilly in the Beaujolais region. It was paired with a Tome d'Auvergne, an aged cheese that offset the the dryness of the wine. The second was from the district of Haut Medoc from the Bordeaux region. It is a blended wine, mostly Cabernet/Sauvignon (which happens to be one of my favorites). I quite enjoyed this wine; I tend to lean more towards the blended reds and this had so many layers of flavor going on. The cheese paired with it, a Comte, and the slight sweetness of the cheese paired well with the strong flavors of the Bordeaux.
Our final pour was a white, a dessert wine from the village of Monbazillac. Our sommelier had talked in length about how Monbazillac is famous for their sweet wines, but it still didn't prepare me for the overpowering sweetness of the wine! My face must've said it all, because one of the tasters across from me quipped "Sweet, huh?". It was much better once I had it with the cheese pairing, a Roquefort. After we all had our fill our food, we thanked our sommelier (who was just so enthusiastic and informative) and left. Overall? We had a fantastic experience at O-Chateau, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys wine and wants to know more about how to taste it and foods to pair it with.
After our tasting, we meandered over to Place de la Madeleine, where several food shops are found all around the block. Our first stop was Fauchon, which I can best describe as a fancy grocery shop. They had a bakery, a pastry shop, fresh seafood, a deli with meats as well as prepared foods, and several different packaged foods such as oils, mustards, jams, jellies and cookies. They have two locations; the first has the bakery, pastry shop, seafood, and deli. I picked up some fancy chicken salad eclairs from the deli as well as some fruit compote to pair with cheese from the deli, strawberry cake from the pastry shop and a brioche and pain au chocolat from the bakery. The second location housed mostly packaged foods, such as oils, mustards, jams, jellies and cookies, along with other little delights. I found a large bottle of white truffle oil, and hubby found a white wine mustard (which they offered for us to try; boy, those are strong mustards!). It was SO tempting to get more stuff (foie gras, fancy soups), but I didn't want to risk getting it confiscated when we got back to Canada.
We then headed over to Hediard. It was quite similar to Fauchon, but all in one location. It had a very old world feel to the whole store (which makes sense, seeing as it is one of the oldest food shops in Paris). Lots of large barrels of spices, lots of oils, a HUGE wine section, and many wonderful smells. One of my guidebooks highly recommended their fruit jellies, which you can buy in an array of different flavors. They even had some out to sample (raspberry and apple, both of which tasted like biting into the real thing!). I got four pear jellies, though it was tempting to get far more than that. I'm definitely wishing that I got more, because they're all gone now!
Next was my last visit to Laduree. :( I actually didn't know that there was a location here, so it was a good thing that we were able to go one more time. I think I ended up getting a total of 18 macarons from Laduree (one visit in London, two visits in Paris), and I managed to try pretty much every flavor they had available (minus the ones I wasn't interested in). I was able to get a fancy gift box for myself as well! I think my favorite was the strawberry marshmallow candy; it was just so different from the traditional flavors of pistachio, raspberry and lemon (though those were very yummy as well).
Our last stop was Maille, the French mustard company. In all of my guidebooks, it was highly recommended to go, as the shop stocks variants that you will not be able to find in other countries. Plus, you are able to sample the different mustard flavors available. :D You can even get different mustard flavors on tap, like beer! We got three different flavors: Espelette Pepper & Williams pear (the pepper gave a nice little kick and the pear gives a subtle sweetness), Raspberry cream & Basil (LOVE this one, the raspberry tastes so fresh on the palate) and Saint-Maure de Touraine & Sun-Dried Tomato (the cheese gives a nice smokiness to the mustard). Initially, we had it as a three-pack, but the hubby realized that it was cheaper to buy them individually. We still haven't opened any of the mustards, mostly because hubby can't decide which one to give the honor of being first to! At least we now have a few things to enjoy over the year that can rekindle our Parisian memories.
Here's the meal plan for the week. I'll be attempting two new recipes this week, hopefully they go well. :) Enjoy your Sunday and happy cooking all!
September 8-13th
Sunday: Meatballs in red bell pepper sauce, rice
Monday: Bourbon squash soup with Parmesan frico
Tuesday: Curried chicken salad sandwiches (new recipe)
Wednesday: Chili-Mac skillet (new recipe)
Thursday: Pineapple & pancetta pizza
Friday: Eggs in purgatory