It is surprising how much argument can be generated when discussing wine, after all we can only define five different taste sensations in our mouth (sweet, bitter, umani, salty and sour).
The reality is that our memory, environment, conditioning and even age play a massive part in what we like and what we don’t.
On this basis it could be thought off as foolish and even churlish, to try and tell a table of four what would best accompany their different dish choices and try and guess their particular bent.
At Brasserie Blanc we take a slightly different approach, why not simply ask the guest what sort of wines they like. No one is going to be frog marched to the door for wanting red with fish. Once the guest has expressed a preference, we simply point them towards the grapes that best express their taste.
I have been heard to say that the best way to quickly judge a restaurant is house wine, soup and toilets... soup because a good chef can easily produce a heavenly soup without too much stress, toilets because if they are clean the rest will be clean and finally the house wine because it represents the Patron’s dedication to finding a wine of quality and the lowest price possible for his or her guest. This is far harder than putting together a fine wine list where the wines are practically brand names.
It is this thought that prompted me to take things one step further. I decided that we go directly to France to get our wines, meet the people making it, see how and where they make, talk to them and build a relationship that will benefit not only the Brasseries, but our guests and the viniculteurs themselves. As you can imagine this is an arduous task, going from vineyard to vineyard tasting and assessing. But as your humble servant I was willing to sacrifice myself.
The result is that apart from our new world wines and the small vins fins list all our French wines are sourced direct in France and brought over. They come from a wide variety of people, from François the rugby playing winemaker in St Chinian (own label Dom. St Jean de Conques) to Catherine, James & Millie who left England to now give us the fantastic Domaine Begude from Limoux.