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French wine ambassadors hit Jakarta's food scene
Although it takes more than half a day to fly from France to Indonesia, some French winemakers have made the journey to meet their distributors and customers, however few there are
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Although it takes more than half a day to fly from France to Indonesia, some French winemakers have made the journey to meet their distributors and customers, however few there are.
"Wine in Jakarta is already a hit. In Bali it is just starting," said Bernard de Laage de Meux, director of development of Chateau Palmer.
Cassis Restaurant in Jakarta has prepared a new menu, or to be accurate, a recombination of dishes, to match the wine from the chateau.
"Generally people start from sweet white wine. Then they develop a taste for dry white wine before venturing to red wine," Bernard said, on how people get into wine drinking.
Writing about how a particular wine tastes is difficult and will always be a subjective task.
"The best way to communicate it is to share it. And drinking wine is never the same experience twice."
At the media luncheon recently, the red wines available from Chateau Palmer were the Alter Ego 2001, Alter Ego 2004, Chateau Palmer 1995, Chateau Palmer 1999, Chateau Palmer 2001 and Chateau Palmer 2002. The sweet white wine Chateau Doisy Daine 1990 came at the end of the luncheon to accompany the dessert.
The recommended releases for Palmer are the elegant Chateau Palmer 2001 and 2002. Both go down well with sumptuous European food and can change flavor some time after the bottles are opened. They can even taste a bit like liquor after the exuberant taste of red meat.
Bernard said winemakers in France had to be really precise in their approach to winemaking.
He added that terroir, the mix of climate and soil found in the area where a vine is grown, was not enough for winemakers to succeed. "We also have to try to build contacts with wine lovers," said Bernard, whose short Asian trip includes stops in Bali and Taiwan.
Luckily for us, the pairing of the Chateau Palmer wine and the luncheon menu at Cassis was a match made in heaven. The luncheon proved to be more than a two-hour session of swirling glasses.
The Alter Egos have a slightly different vinification without extracting too much of the tannin, Bernard said. The Alter Ego labels are reverse that of the vineyard's top line: The basic colors of gold and black are interchanged but the Palmer logo remains.
The Chateau Palmer red wines are elegant and medium-bodied with a gentle aftertaste. Its vintage wine, which can gain a liquor-like taste after some time on the table, makes the experience more interesting.
The Cassis menu consisted of quick-seared prawns and parmesan shavings in a light pumpkin bisque with a dash with balsamic, pan-seared foie gras in golden raisin sauce, ravioli of duck, apples, pine nuts and petit herb salad.
They served a slow-roasted veal rack with roasting jus, endive gratin, bouquetiere vegetables and truffled potatoes as the main course. The dessert was raspberry and watermelon granita with champagne and raspberry and white chocolate fondant with pistachios.
On another occasion, the winery of Paul Jaboulet Aine sent a representative to Jakarta to promote the winery and its finest labels.
Unlike Palmer, which comes from Bordeaux, Paul Jaboulet is a winery from the Rhone Valley in southern France.
"The difference of terroir between Bordeaux and Rhone is that Rhone's soil has much more variety. It has clay and stone. Rhone has sloping vineyards, so the wine has high acidity, stronger personality and more complexity," said export manager Christophe Brunet.
Paul Jaboulet's wine dinner was held at the Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta, in which two white and two red wines accompanied the special menu created by the Steak House kitchen team.
The white wines for the evening were Cotes du Rhone Parallele 45 Blanc 2007 and Crozes Hermitage Domaine Mule Blanche 2005.
The Domaine Mule Blanche is the runaway champion, with its yellowish color and its fresh floral bouquet. This wine, which has a subtle taste of cinnamon on the tongue, is highly recommended.
The red wines served were Cotes du Rhone Parallele 45 Red Grenache Syrah 2005 and the Crozes Hermitage Les Jales Syrah 2006. The latter of these is quite fantastic with its subtle hint of spices, although it is slightly less creamy on the nose.
Although the wine dinner consisted of Western meals, Brunet said the Paul Jaboulet wines could go extremely well with Asian and Indonesian food also.
