To mark the passing of mitsommer, Swedes and their vassals/husbands etc. mark the occasion with much consumption of aquavit, crustaceans, and herring. I popped a 2016 de Nalys ‘blanc’ [CNDP] in a miscalculation. I’d pulled Kenji Alt Lopez recipe for sous vide lobster, and it sounded like it would pair with big fat, buttery white. I hardly ever drink white CNDPs, but I thought this might work. Bad call I was wrong…the wine is lean & taut and I should have gone with a viognier based wine instead.
I combined a couple Maine lobster tails with grated butter, fresh dill, and sea salt and cooked them at 140F for an hour and change with the precision cooker, while guzzling up a glass of the white. This blanc is non descript, showing the straw flavors of chenin blanc, even if it may not have any of that varietal in the blend. Light colored and bodied, despite the stated 14% abv.
On the bright side, it was my first time trying sous vide lobster…and it was awesome. I used all the leftover juice/butter/herb blend as the dipping sauce and it was incredibly moist/tasty. Depending on how I typically cook this (steaming/boiling/roasting etc.) normally lobster rotates between being tough, under done, or mushy. But wow, sous vide immersion cooking made it incredible! And this is something that does not need to be seared/roasted or anything, so it can be pried out of its shell and consumed right away, after dunking in the butter bath.
The next day we finished up the rest of de Nalys after a bike ride. It’s ok, kind of nutty, however I would not get it again. I’ve never liked white CNDPs but it seems like I need to drink a bottle every few years to reinforce that. No sediment, very light color, fairly innocuous. Maybe a C+ grade or so.