Tag Archives: Le Paradou

Wine and food pairings 13: Crawfish etouffee

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Yes, I actually took a picture this time.

The Wine Curmudgeon pairs wine with some of his favorite recipes in this occasional feature. This edition: three wines with classic Cajun crawfish etouffee

Crawfish season is coming to a close in south Louisiana, which means it will be harder to find a a picnic table covered with boiled crawfish to salivate over. But isn’t part of the Wine Curmudgeon’s job to solve problems like that?

Hence, crawfish etouffee, which I actually prefer to a boil. Peeling crawfish has never been one of my best things, and etouffee is more wine friendly. Boiled crawfish is beer, and usually Budweiser. And not to worry if the idea of “etouffee” sounds intimidating. An etouffee is a simple stew – nothing more than a roux, some aromatics, and the crawfish. And please, no tomatoes.

Finding crawfish isn’t difficult, either. Use packaged, pre-cooked tails, which are more common than ever in supermarkets and the Internet. Just don’t buy imported crawfish tails, which are rubbery and have no taste. Sadly, these brands carry Cajun-sounding names like Bernard’s and Thibodeaux’s. So make sure to check the “product of” line on the package.

Click here to download or print a copy of the recipe. What wines to pair? Etoufee is rich, spicy, and wonderfully fishy, so many of the usual suspects won’t work:

• Le Paradou Viognier 2019 ($10, purchased, 12.5%). This French white features stone fruits, a bit of citrus, and some minerality. It’s not sweet, but wonderfully fruity. Imported by European Cellars

• Masciarelli Colline Teatine Rosato 2019 ($12, purchased, 13%): Fruity but dry (strawberries and cherries?), but not so crisp as to get in the way of the etouffee. Imported by Vintus

• Aplanta 2019 ($11, purchased, 13.5%): Well-made Portuguese red that offers value and varietal correctness. Fresh red fruit, a little Portuguese heaviness in the mouth, and mostly balanced. Needs food. Imported by Ole & Obrigador

Blog associate editor Churro contributed to this post.

More about wine and food pairings:
• Wine and food pairings 12: Hot dogs
• Wine and food pairings 11: Croque monsieur, turkey style
• Wine and food pairings 10: Lemon rosemary roasted turkey thighs

Slider photo: “Rome Elite Event: wine, food and nice people” by Yelp.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Wine of the week: Le Paradou Grenache 2017

Le ParadouThe Le Paradou Grenache displays quality and balance for $11

Grenache is the Wine Curmudgeon’s kind of grape. It can make great cheap wine, but it’s not always easy to work with and it isn’t especially popular as a varietal wine.

So how excited was I to see the Le Paradou Grenache ($11, purchased, 13.5%) on a virtual store shelf? Quite excited, as you can imagine. And the Le Paradou didn’t let me down.

This French red is labeled Vin de France, which means it’s not part of the appellation system. These wines are notoriously uneven in quality, but this one offers value for money. Most importantly, it doesn’t suffer from grenache’s flaws – too jammy, almost sweet, too ripe, and practically cloying.

Instead, the Le Paradou is surprisingly balanced – not so jammy, but dark; berry fruit that is almost not ripe; a little spice or black pepper, something missing from all those overworked grenaches; and even a tannin or two hiding in the back. How often does that happen in grenache?

In other words, simple but not stupid, and the kind of cheap wine we need more than ever.

Imported by European Wine Cellars