• Domaine de Beaurenard Rasteau Rouge 2016
  80% Grenache, 17% Syrah, 3% Mourvèdre
• Domaine Brussett Rasteau La Bastide Rogue 2017
  80% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre
• Domaine de Verquière Rasteau Rouge 2017
  70% Grenache 30% Syrah
• Cave de Rasteau La Domellière Rouge 2017
  70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Mourvède

MENU: Lamb Daube

Michel Blanc of Chateauneauf du Pape who we met in France at the Wine Tasting Championships suggested that we pair these wines with a beef or lamb Provençal daube. As I love lamb with Rhone blends like a GSM (grenache-syrah-mourvedre blend), going with lamb sounded like a winner to me.

But what in the world is DAUBE?

I researched a number of recipes as well as wikipedia to learn that “a daube is a French or  Provençal stew made with inexpensive beef braised^[2] in wine, vegetables, garlic, and herbes de Provence, and traditionally cooked in a daubière,^[1] a braising pan.^[3] A traditional daubière is a terracotta pot that resembles a pitcher, with a concave lid. Water is poured on the lid, which condenses the moisture inside, allowing for the long cooking required to tenderize lesser cuts of meat.”

Ingredients in addition to carrots, celery and onion that showed up in several recipes include olives, fennel, citrus peel, and bacon. I was also intrigued by recipes that called for juniper berries and baking spices but we didn’t go in that direction, preferring the fennel and bacon idea. Recipes mentioned marinating the meat overnight and cooking for many hours then serving it the following day to marry the flavors better. The amount of wine varied from one cup to one bottle, and while it was originally white wine especially with lamb, most recipes today call for red or even a bottle of rose. Daube is served on grits, parsnip puree, egg noodles and more.

Since we didn’t have several days but only a few hours, Sue adapted the recipe for the instant pot, and it came out so heavenly that I think it was one of my husband’s all time favorites. Remarkably, in all these years, we’ve never done a traditional stew although last spring we did a Navarin, which is a French spring stew type dish that we made in the instant pot and really enjoyed with French rhone wine.

As we typically do, we tasted each wine three times: alone, with charcuterie that included a triple creme brie, salamis, and goat cheese I brought back from France, plus brie and pate purchased from Sprouts. We tasted the wines in reverse order from how they are described below– from least expensive to most expensive.

Domaine Brussett Rasteau La Bastide Rogue 2017 SRP $21
80% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre

The Brussets combine traditional winemaking from their 1940s roots with new technologies. In addition to Rasteau, their 172 acres are in Gigondas, Cairanne, Côtes du Rhône, and Ventoux. The founder’s son Daniel and grandson Laurent create classic wines with modern techniques today.

Color: Pomegranate juice, pale fuchsia rim.

Nose: I loved the nose on this wine, rich perfume, carnations, a bit of musk, plum, violets, forest floor; the nose is so rich and lovely, as it opens up some mint shows through, and a bit of Thai curry.

Palate: This is a fuller bodied wine than the others we tasted. Plum, saline, bold acidity, nice sapidity; this wine makes you salivate!

Pairing: Once again, French wine with French cheese is so amazing! We loved this wine with our mountain goat milk cheese coated with herbs and it was really good with the cured sausage bites — we brought both back from France.

French wine, French food, so amazing!

With pate, it is as decadent as pumpkin pie. It brings out a custard like a mushroom custard quiche, on the finish it brings out so many baking spices in the wine it is like a pumpkin pie.

This wine loves the daube: It loves the lamb. It loves the root vegetables, the herbs and citrus as well as the olives. It’s a complex wine for a complex stew. Thank you Michel for recommending this meal to pair with the wines.

Domaine de Beaurenard Rasteau Rouge 2016 SRP $18
alc 15%; certified biodynamic;  80% Grenache, 17% Syrah, 3% Mourvèdre

Domaine de Verquière Rasteau Rouge 2016 SRP $16
70% Grenache 30% Syrah

Color: Somewhat translucent, ruby red with a light pink rim

Nose: Cherry, plum, cranberry, violet, rich earth, tobacco, leather. I thought it kind of smells like Christmas. evergreen, a little clove.

Palate: Dry, tart fruit, cranberry, minerals, long lingering finish. There is a lot of acidity on the palate, while you can sip it without food, it really yearns for food.

Pairing: Good with cured meats, and French cheeses, We felt it was best with a mild brie. Super fun with the citrus and the herbs in the daube. It also likes the rich root vegetables in the stew.

If you were going to have this wine at Thanksgiving, serve it with squash, potatoes, or other root vegetables.

Cave de Rasteau La Domellière Rouge 2017 SRP $15:
70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Mourvède

Cave de Rasteau was founded in 1925 making it one of the oldest cooperatives in the Southern Rhône Valley. Today it has 180 growers.

Color: Ruby red, blood red, platinum, clear rim, possibly the palest of pink.

Nose: Lots of French funk on the nose, pine sap, a bit of rhubarb, cherry cough drop. Very little fruit at first; it’s mostly just funky.

Palate: Sulphur, cherry fruit, a bit of black licorice, long lingering mineral finish. This wine hangs out for a long time.

Pairing: Pate brings out a lovely baking spice in the wine. we still had a bit of our French cheese left from our trip, and they harmonized so well with the wine. We would have never guessed that this was the same wine when it meets up with these cheeses, it takes on a whole new character. This wine loves the lamb in the daube,  and the citrus component in the daube plays off the wine really nicely. It also loves the thyme and rosemary in the stew.