Friday's children...

Friday's children are loving and giving...

Catherine et Isabelle Orliac

Chateau la Bastide

47270 Clermont-Soubiran

+33 (0) 5 53 87 41 02

chateau.orliac@wanadoo.fr

photo: erik

Friday- Wine

Pig, Duck, Beef, Armagnac… the end of the work 'Week in Gascony' leads to Saturday’s market and later that evening to an FCI/all cooks/all out jammin’ in the French Kitchen. So in anticipation and to give ourselves a respite from the competition style eating we’ve been doing, I plan a day of leisurely swilling and sipping chez two friends of mine, 2 Sisters in Aquitaine. Isabelle and Catherine Orliac's Chateau la Bastide perches above my beloved Garonne River valley near Valance d'Agen. We came looking for good red wine for Saturday’s dinner, what we encountered was a deliciously dark “family secret.”

I first met Isabelle years ago high atop the Garonne vineyards tending delicately made Bordeaux-style wines in the Buzet appellation. Returning to her ancestral home to join her sister, Catherine, they delved deep into the Orliac Family coffers for photographs and artifacts to place in a charmingly personal ‘musee de vin’ on the property. What they discovered set off a historic romp through the annals of Bordeaux wines and resulted in the tell-tale gossip of great-great-great aïeul whose river boat sunk in a Garonne flood in the late 1700’s causing bankruptcy and problems for the talented winemaker. From his soon-to-be last home at Versailles, Louis the Sixteen himself pardoned Jean Orliac in the summer of 1780 allowing him to continue to trade and produce his goodly and medicinally prized wines. It is one of his recipes that inspired the newest Orliac venture, a red-fruit flavored aperitif wine, not-so sweet/not so strong, that is aptly called ‘le Secret de Famille’. Deep ruby, framboise-scented, tinted with tannins of green walnut and other woodsy flavors, it is my own personal newest favorite thing to drink!

Making wines based on the Cote de Bruilhois appellation standard- Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and the characteristic Tannat grapes, Catherine and Isabelle shared their other family wine making secrets with us on a pre-lunch visit. Care, attention, passion and pride marry the exceptional terroir of their 24 acre Roman site at Clermont-Soubiran. A love for the land that is bio-diverse and yields a forager’s delight of wild leeks and tulips, flowers and truffle oaks as well as carefully managed vines underscores a savvy and talented vintner’s nose. Dropping in during the middle of their working day, we are greeted by this fairy-tale pair of two sisters—one blonde and one dark, who conjure up magic on their limestone bluff somewhere in Aquitaine.

The FCI-Four departed with cases of a robust 2000, a softer 2002, and a 3-liter bag-in-a-box of the Family Secret. Saturday night’s dinner will be well lubricated and full of FCI gossip!
Stayed tuned for Saturday's feast as four FCI alumni prove that their can't be too many cooks in the French Kitchen.

Thursday- Armagnac

This is terroir on a plate. The deep golden ochre of a small patch of land down the hill from a stone building the same color called 'le Rey' is the quintessential definition of terroir. This is what makes armagnac--Armagnac. And this is what makes Guy Arrouy's spectacular armagnac a magical mouthful of honey-colored scents and flavors- the taste of Gascony.

On Day Four of the French Culinary Institute's "Week in Gascony", we drive the slow hills south into the Gers and into the heart of Armagnac production near Eauze. Here the Teneraze and the Bas-Armagnac regions nestle side by side producing both highly perfumed and full flavored eau-de-vies. Guy's land straddles the geological divide and so his output of both exceptional Cotes de Gascogne white wines and a bold and memorable brandy profit from this marriage. It's in the land, boys and girls.

Our 'tour' is in response to my love of this proud winemaker. Guy Arrouy knows I dote on his clean palate and fresh-mouthed wines. His Cote de Gascogne starts with a complex citrusy juice that he draws off the outside vats for us to taste. Sauvignon Blanc, picked and pressed yesterday, is sweet, fresh and hold the promise of a complex little wine. Next, we enter the stock room to taste last year's finished product- a Sauviginon/Colombard blend. But Guy's own pride is a 100% Gros Manseng wine that recalls the late harvest sweet wines of the Jurancon- this is a dry-finished Gascon cousin. With more patience than most American's allow, and only after we have sipped and swirled and swallowed approving the post-breakfast libation, do I dare reveal my dark ulterior motive. Dark as aged brandy, dark as a dimly lit cave, dark and smooth and soft as only a 36 year old armagnac can be.

By definition, brandy produced within the terroir-defined appellation is only called armagnac after ageing three years in oak barrels. When Guy invites us (ok, I begged) to enter the quiet unpretentious chai tucked behind a dozen large cement vats I began to whisper. This is hallowed ground; underscoring the resting spirits there is a zen-like attention to this private reserve. Don't show up and expect to buy any of this! Guy Arrouy only bottles on demand and the large 400 liter casks of resting 1970 and 1972 vintages continue to evolve in rustic tranquility.

With a long clear tube he siphons off generous tastes of his prized vintages. 1970."This is what they sell at Maxim's in Paris." 1982. "Someone in Washington imported this for a diplomat." 1990. "This is the last of what I make. The youngest but not too young." It is as delicious and seductive as only a 16 year-old farm girl can be. With a little bit of cajoling and a lot of gratitude, Guy finds an empty unmarked bottle and fills it by the siphoning tube. It is the color of deep caramel; the color of a slow-burning flame; the color of over 5000 sunsets that have warmed these stone walls cradling it's evolution. It smells of pruneaux- cooked plums and pear. It tastes of cocoa and vanilla and bay. It is smooth in the mouth leaving a lovely long souvenir in the mouth. It is Gascony in a bottle. This is a cook's brandy.

Thursday lunch at Chez Simone in Montreal-du-Gers finished with armagnac. Dinner back at the French Kitchen that night was splashed with armagnac- in sauces and used for deglazing pans. But the moment of glory came when we could sit around the vast round cask-bottom table sated from another day of discovery and good food. Passing the bottle of Guy Arrouy's 'Domaine de Rey' from hand to hand was the finishing taste of just another day in a Week in Gascony.

Thursday's Child. Guy Arrouy- distiller and wine maker

Domaine de Rey, Gondrin, Southwest France