AT HOME WITH PATRICIA WELLS
COOKING IN PROVENCE:
SPECIAL TRUFFLE WEEK JANUARY 21 TO 25, 2008

MONDAY

7 pm: Welcome Truffle Dinner at Chanteduc

Langoustines with Truffles

Artichoke Soup with Parmesan and Truffles

Organic Chicken Roasted in the Bread Oven
Truffle Pasta with Truffle Cream
Just Spinach!
Local Seasonal Green Salad

Chaource Cow’s Milk Cheese Layered with Truffles
Homemade Organic Rye and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

Golden Almond-Pear Cake
Fresh Pear and Vanilla Sorbet

Champagne Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules
100% Pinot Noir

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
Château La Nerthe 2005
25% Bourboulenc, 25% Clairette, 25% Grenache Blanc, 25% Roussanne
Importer : Veuve Clicquot

Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge
Clos Chanteduc 2005
60% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Mourvédre and Cinsault
Importer : Eric Solomon

TUESDAY

9 am Meet at the Post Office in Vaison la Romaine
For a Tour of the Weekly Market

11 :30 am : Arrive at Chanteduc for
Cooking Class and Lunch

Topics : Handling Truffles;
Knives and Knife Sharpening; Kitchen Habits, Pot Sizes; Kitchen Organization and Design
Bouquet Garni; Mis en Place; Classic Vinaigrette; Salt

Toasted, Seasoned, Pumpkin Seeds

Truffle and Goat Cheese “Oreos”

Creamy Polenta with Black Truffles

Parmesan, Pine Nut, and Truffle Gratins with Seasonal Salad
Chez Peyrerol’s Epiphany Cake, Galette des Roi,
(Pâtisserie Peyrerol, 5 cours Henri Fabre, 84110 Vaison- la-Romaine
04 90 36 04 91)

Sablet Blanc
Domaine Santa Duc La Fournas 2005
Viognier, Bourboulenc, Clairette, and Grenache Blanc
Importer : Robert Kacher

Cotes du Rhône Quatre Terres
Domaine Santa Duc 2006
Importer : Robert Kacher

7 pm: Arrive Chanteduc
For Cooking Class and Preparation of Truffle Dinner

Topics: Smoking Techniques

Individual Truffles Wrapped in Parchment
and Roasted with Truffle Butter

Home-Smoked Salmon with Truffle Cream
Braised Baby Potatoes with Truffles
Lamb’s Lettuce Purée

Saint-Marcellin Cow’s Milk Cheese with Truffles
And Local Greens

Local Almond Cookies and
Sheep’s Milk Yogurt Sorbet

Châteauneuf-du- Pape Blanc
Domaine Pegau 2000
Importer : Dan Kravitz 703 347 3471

WEDNESDAY

10 am: Depart Chanteduc in Personal Cars
for Truffle Hunt and Truffle Cannery Visit
with Hervé Poron
at Plantin in Puymeras
www.plantin.com
Route de Nyons, 84110 Puymeras
04 90 46 41 44

US contact for truffles : chris@plantin.com
201 867 4590

12 :30 : Cooking Class and Lunch at Chanteduc :
Pumpkin Soup with Truffles
Walter’s Scrambled Eggs with Truffles
Local Green Salad and Local Cheeses
Lemon Zest Sorbet
Almond Macaroons

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2000
Pierre Usseglio
70% Grenache Blanc, 25% Clairette, 5% Bourboulenc
Importer: Alain Junguenet
7 pm : Cooking Class and Lunch at Chanteduc 

Truffled Pizza
Mushroom Soup with Truffles
Seared Duck Breast with
Lentil Ragout with Black Truffles
Swiss Chard Leaf Purée
Swiss Chard Rib Gratin with Parmesan and Pine Nuts

Lemon, Olive Oil, and Almond Sponge Cake
With Fresh Berry Sauce

Domaine de la Mordorée Lirac Reine de Bois Rouge 2000
In Magnums
33 % Grenache, 33% Mourvèdre, 33% Syrah
Importer : Kysela Père et Fils

THURSDAY

9:30 pm: Depart Chanteduc in Chauffeured Cars
For Private Wine Tasting
with Fabrice Langlois
Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Beaucastel.com

We tasted:

Coudelet de Beaucastel Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc 2006

Châteauneuf du Pape Château du Beaucastel Blanc 2006
80% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc, Picardin, Bourbelenc

Châteauneuf du Pape Château du Beaucastel Blanc Vieilles Vignes 2006
100% Roussanne (Sharon Stone’s favorite wine )

Coudelet de Beaucastel Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge 2001
30% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 20% Cinsault, aged in foudre
 a “wedding wine,” one that will equally please Grandma and Uncle Bob

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2005, 1988, 1974
30% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, 5% Cinsault, remaining 15% blend of Vaccarrese, Terret Noir, Muscardin, Clairette, Picpoul, Picardon, Bourboulenc, Roussanne

FAB PHRASES

Don’t smell the wine. Breathe it.

Minerality is the rivet in the Eiffel Tower.

Don’t only stick with wines that make your knowledge feel comfortable.

People should just respect the fact that rosé has a reason to be.

The more you learn about the sky, the more you look at it.

There are as many wines are there are stars.

An exceptional vintage means that the wine is there for you every time you pull a cork.

An exceptional wine always has something to give, something to tell.

Beauty is about imperfections. (Not defects.)

A great wine touches you in this order: your body, your heart, the label. If it is the other way around, you are just licking the label.

Terroir is the antithesis of standardization.

Terroir is the expression of a place through the flavor of the product.

My favorite chefs make me taste something I know well, but feel as though I am tasting it for the first time.

Wine with soul requires an effort: And you must face it with humility, curiosity, memory.

Coudelet is a wine that will please grandma and Uncle Bob at the same time.

A great wine is an available wine.

The Roussanne grape is a pain in the butt: It is fragile to rain, fragile to wind. It is the only grape that cannot withstand mediocrity.

White wine is pastry, red wine is cooking.

Food, wine, and love punctuate the best moments of our lives.

Standardization is there to make us comfortable.

It is not good because it is organic, it is organic because it is alive.

Like raising children, we raise our vines to be self-sufficient.

Consistency is not uniformity.

The final purpose of wine is food.

Burgundy is silk; Bordeaux is granite and diamonds; Chateauneuf du Pape is leather and fur.

I don’t smell wine, I breathe it.

When you taste wine you search for your senses.

When you drink wine, you search to lose your senses.

70% of a winemaker’s work is in the vineyards.

There are no rules, just principles.

The deeper the roots, the greater the wine’s minerality.

Wine should not hide a grape’s misery but lift a wine to beauty.

Beaucastel is not about wine making it is about grape growing.

Sediment is wine’s backpack.

A great wine leads you to an emotional reaction.

Wine is alive until it is dead.

Young wines for spring and summer when you taste the fruit

Old wines for fall and winter when you taste the roots

Grenache is Catholic

Mourvèdre is Huguenot

Wines taste like the names of the villages: Vacqueyras is dark, black, deep, and square. Gigondas is soft and round.

Gigondas wine tastes like a postcard from the village, all black cherries, licorice, rosemary, and thyme.

Greatness cannot be standardized.

The way the French are different from everyone else in the world is that they feel no guilt about pleasure.

Don’t judge a wine, appreciate it, and search for what it has to share.

Beaucastel wines need 20 years of age to achieve harmony. Hommage à Jacques Perrin achieves harmony in its first year.

Beaucastel is a couture house: The Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the couture, the Perrin line is the ready-to-wear, Vieille Ferme is the outlet.

We want our vines to be self-sufficient, to be able to survive all kinds of weather. So we only give them “a little snack” of fertilizer once a year. The rest of the time they have to fend for themselves.

Like humans, vines give the best of themselves after 20 years.

Beaucastel is 120 cm of stones. We scratch the dirt, we don’t plough it.

The French are not fat because they eat raw fat.

“It is much more difficult to be tender with something than to be powerful and strong.”

“Don’t have expectations, just have wishes.”

“Wine a postcard of a place: Enjoy the memories.”

“It tastes so good, your tongue will reach out and kiss your brain.”

“The French spiritualize the material and materialize the spiritual.”

“I had to de-sanctify that wine so we could taste it.”

“If you are an expert, you no longer have the right to make mistakes.”

“When you share food, you share love.”

“Oak should not be there as a simple aromatic packaging. Wine is not oak soup!”

“The first condition of a great wine is to be delicious.”

“Great wine and great food should not make you feel tired, but make you feel alive.”

“Principles are meant to be followed.
Rules are made to be broken.”

1 pm: Truffle Lunch at La Beaugravière in Mondragon
With Tina and Guy Jullien
Route N7, 84430 Mondragon
04 90 40 82 54 www.beaugraviere.com

MENU:

Crozes Hermitage Blanch A. Graillot 2006

Legumes du moment mijotes à la truffle noire écrasée, jus de legumes truffe

Lirac Domaine de la Mordorée blanc Reine des Bois 2006

Sole en épais filet truffée étuvée, beurre de truffes,
pousse d’epinard

Château de Fonsalette Cotes du Rhône blanc 2003

Petit risotto aux truffes noires coulis de truffes
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Château la Nerthe rouge 1998

Chausson de truffes et foie gras

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Château Rayas rouge 1996

Brie truffe

Château la Fonsalette Cotes du Rhône 100% Syrah 1985

Dinner Free

FRIDAY

10 am Arrive Chanteduc for Truffle Cooking Class
And Lunch Preparation

A Sip of Spicy Langoustine Broth with Truffles

Open-Faced Truffle Sandwiches

Gratinéed Oysters with Truffle Cream

Grilled Surprise : Flatiron Steak with Chanteduc Fresh Lemons
Onion Carbonara with Truffles
Winter Vegetable Ragout with Wild Mushrooms and Truffles

Lamb’s Lettuce Salad
Toasted Whole Wheat and Rye Bread
Forme d’Ambert Cow’s Milk Cheese
Cherries in Cherry Eau de Vie
40-year-old Port

Rosemary, Apple, and Dried Cranberry Galette
Buttermilk Sorbet

Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2003
82% Grenache, rest Syrah, Mourvèdre, Vacarres
In Double Magnum
Importer: Peter Weygandt

Quote of the Day:

“Don’t Cry Because It’s Over,
Smile Because It Happened”

Click Here for Adobe Acrobat Printable Truffle Class Schedule