A friend and I just split the cost of a bottle of 2000 Chave Hermitage rouge. We got a pretty good deal since the label was stained. Very excited- I’ve never had a red Chave Hermitage. I had a blanc once, which was fantastic.
This friend in question is interested in wine, but doesn’t have a ton of experience. He’s never had any Hermitage wines. So I thought it would be cool to also open a white Hermitage, and I recently picked up 2003 Guigal Ex-Voto Blanc.
But what to serve? These wines seem pretty different! Is this a terrible idea?
The Nora Poullion cookbook has a recipe for sweet potato or yam soup (it is like a creamier vichyssoise) that goes very well with aged white hermitage.
I agree and I would add cassoulet. For white rhone blends I like roast chicken. We had a roast chicken the other night with '17 Progeny Trinity Blanc (Mt. Veeder grown white rhone blend) and it was awesome. I used to make chicken broth for soup (2-day process) using a Costco rotisserie chicken carcass (I know this is cheating) and I would add a little '06 Chave Blanc to the broth and drink the rest with the soup. Eventually we bought an Instant Pot and now my wife can make chicken soup in less than 2 hours that blows away my soup. Once again, I have been marginalized by technology.
One of the best wine/food combos I’ve had was Hermitage blanc with roast veal tenderloin in a sauce of leeks, fennel seeds, stock, wine and cream. Blanquette de veau would work but the former was way good.
I guess I would go for veal (entrecote perhaps) if you need to have something that goes with both. You could also get some milder yet tasty cheeses with the white, such as Rocamadour, Picodon or Rigotte de Condrieu.
Roast chicken. The ultimate equal opportunity employer.
But why not serve two courses? The wines will fight with each other more than a little if you try to go back and forth on a single dish, even if they both match the food.
If you’re not up for cooking two different courses, another option is simple hors d’oeuvres with the blanc and a red meat dish with the red. A slice of crostini or toasted baguette slice, topped with a little fig jam, then topped with a slice of soft cheese and prosciutto is supper easy and would go with the blanc.