I am a South person - born in the south of Poland, spend 10 years in the south of Italy - on a south part of Sicily and now living in the south of France... Please, don't get me wrong, but the south will be always different than north. No idea why - for somebody it's a good news, for somebody not. Personally I'm in love.
This weekend I'm in Marseille. South.
This city always makes me think about Palermo - a lot of commune things in a bad and in a good way. Lovely architecture but a bit abandoned, culture mix specific for huge harbour cities, chaos and great food. Will not talk about the problems but in some parts, they are similar as well. Anyway, Palermo will always have a huge space in my heart so I cannot not like Marseille.
On the road getting closer and closer and looking at how the vegetation and climate are changing. In the air, the smooth sea breeze with the algae aroma and salt. Feeling home.
You can really get lost in this small streets being totaly exhaused by the oriental aromas of the Marocan, Tunesian, Turkish, Libian and all the rest of small restaurants.
We find our place in Epicere l'Ideal - once you are there, you become not a client but a friend.
Lately we can observe a new fashion for "semplicity". The problem is that having a great product is not enought to just rise a price. I love a simple food but I also appreciate to see if somebody before put it on the plate had some idea. In this place people have a lot of ideas - simple meal but with a great balance of the spices makes from the simple thing a great plate.
No food without wine. Domaine Marc Delienne. That was a great choice for this hot day - chilled, fresh and fruity. Not filtred so in the last glass you can find some deposite full of colours and tannins - it was like "if you arrived till the last glass, now I will tell what is all about".
This wine is a blend of the different tanks - mainly the big wood cask of 30 Hl. The age of the Gamay vineyards between 40 and 80 years. The soil mostly sandy with the south-east exposition. fermentation in the concrete tanks without temperature control and only indigenous yeast.
Appelation Fleurie, vintage 2015.
Let it breathe after opening the bottle. No need decanting, just left a bottle open some 15 minutes. We had it in the pretty cool temperature as it was hot like in hell outside - I would drink it in 16 degrees.
This is a second great bottle which we had during a dinner in La Mercerie - one of the most interesting natural wine list and a very special place. Lately, I'm really into the Savoie wine - I don't know them very well so I drink all I can find :) Actually, I discovered it thanks to another great winemaker from Savoie - David Giachino. Anyway, let's turn back to Domaine Les 13 Lunes. What I find in Laureas cave was Apremont from 2017. This wine is made from 100% Jacquère.
I had also another Savoie wine... :) A big surprise.
Domaine Finot. Not far away from Domaine Les 13 Lunes. This bottle was made from Cugnète (Jacquère) variety. Macerated Jacquère was probably one of the best I had taste till now. I loved the acidity which was shyer than in the other wines replaced by the complexity thanks to the maceration. No info how long was a maceration, but enough to obtain a great wine. We had this bottle with a tasting menu what means that the taste and the texture of the meal were crazy different with each plate - this guy just fit everywhere, humble without aggressivity makes each meal even more complex and round. Wish to find it again!