Nº9
PAUL’S CHOICE. A DIFFERENT PRODUCT IN THE SPOTLIGHT EACH MONTH
Jean-Louis
This drives us wild! Sus Scrofa from Pardas. A smooth, fruity, biodynamical wine.
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From grape grower to wine farmer
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PAUL -Nº 9 - PARDAS
the natural growth of vegetative surface layers in the soil. No need to fertilize. In the Jean-Louis Herman takes us to Barcelona, year 2000 the manor is restored and the one of his favourite European cities. adjacent cemetery is purchased because Approximately one hour outside of this of its enormous potential for growth…”one metropolis, close to Sant Sadurní d’Anoia in man’s misfortune….” One year later they the region of Penedès, lies the Can Comas purchase the San Pere vineyard in order to estate. experiment with other grapes such as the international varieties Cabernet Sauvignon The owners of the Can Comas estate, and Xarel-lo. In 2004, they restore their Ramon Parera (oenologist) and Jordi Arnan cellars. Nowadays, all that hard work has (agricultural expert), own over 40 hectares balanced the vineyards, made the grapes of vineyard. Initially they grow grapes to reach full potential, and completed all the sell them, but in 1996 they start producing necessary infrastructure. The guys start biodynamic wine for their own bodega; bottling this year. Pardas. The estate spans the Riudebitlles Valley through which also flows a river. Natural wine Valley and river affect the humidity, wind Our ‘everyone’s friend’, Sus Scrofa, is made direction and different types of terroir of from 100 percent Sumoll. An ancient, the estate. After intensive climate studies forgotten regional grape. The biodynamic and grafting various grape types, they plant duo grows the grape in three places in their the first vines for their new project. From vineyard. On older vines from 1950 and on that moment onward they are continuously newer vines from 1999 and 2001. All grapes performing strict quality checks, adapting for the merely 10,800 produced bottles are their work methods, and producing beauti- handpicked. Pressing the grapes is done by ful wines! gravity instead of by heavy machinery. No yeast is added to the wine, allowing the ferPotential to grow and bloom mentation process to start naturally. Also, In addition, both men regard their vineyard the wine is not filtered or stabilised. By as an important aspect of the agricultuleaving out all the unnatural steps, a wine ral ecosystem of which they want to take is created which is as natural as possible. excellent care. For instance, the vineyards Nature is symbolised by a wild boar on the are not irrigated so that the seasons may etiquette and so is the name as sus scrofa express naturally. The soil is not ploughed, is Latin for wild boar. The animal roams the which prevents erosion and stimulates hills of Penedès in great numbers.
PAUL -Nº 9 - PARDAS
Sjef de Cock Onder de Linden Comfort food combined with comfort wine
to the Zeeland-Flanders cuisine serving traditional regional dishes. A success! Guests drive up from France all the way to Chef of restaurant Onder de Linden, Sjef Zuiddorpe for a plate of asparagus. de Cock, met Paul in his fathers’ bar. ‘As a Sjef chooses hare to go with the Pardas. young boy, Paul accompanied his father, Zeeland-Flanders polder hare to be exact. who participated in Flemish archery ‘Shot by my wife. Chantal is a huntress! behind the bar. Later he delivered wine, Because the hares in our polder have to run which many at the time still found somethrough clay and eat a lot of sugar beets, thing mysterious. My dad had one sweet their meat has a much darker colour and white wine and one rosé on his menu, sweeter taste than that of hares which live Chablis was a luxury. Thanks to Paul’s dad, on sandy soil. It is such a fine product that our bar had a wine menu very early on. He I feel they deserve their own regional quachose excellent wines to go with my dad’s lity label. We traditionally serve our game Flemish style asparagus which where a with apple in wine with foxberries, a poadelight not to be missed.’ ched pear, Belgian endive, wild mushrooms Sjef really gets to know Paul when the two and home-made potato croquettes with of them go on a wine trip to the Bordeaux. almonds. The saddle hare is prepared on At Chateaux Certan in Pomerol the host the carcass and served with a grand veneur asked who the youngest person in the comsauce with elderberry and white pepper. pany was and in which year this person The fruity Pardas completes the whole. was born. I was this person and I am born Comfort food combined with comfort wine.’ in 1961, which evidently turned out to be an absolutely fantastic wine year! The recipe can be found at: When Sjef opens Restaurant Onder de www.hermanwines.com Linden a few doors down from his father’s bar, Paul becomes his main wine supplier. The kitchen of Onder de Linden is devoted
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By Jean-Louis Herman
PARDAS, Sus Scrofa 2016 Tasting note: smooth beautifully struc-
tured fruity wine with round tannins. Serving temperature: lightly chilled, 16 degrees. Content: 75cl. 12.5% alcohol. Price: €11.20 per bottle, incl. VAT.
Everyone’s friend I’ll let you take one guess. What was served when I was born? Indeed, it was Champagne. After the cork was popped I loudly announced my presence to the world. Paul, my father, solved this with a pacifier dipped in champagne. This made Champagne my very first ever drink and to this day it remains my favourite aperitif. This will still be the case these upcoming holidays. Question is: what to serve after the bubbles? Our store is filled with wonderful choices, but I would like to introduce you to a new allrounder. The Spanish Sus Scrofa from Pardas from the Penedès. This biodynamic wine is made from Sumoll, a very local ‘forgotten’ grape. The Sus Scrofa is a smooth medium-bodied wine with a lot of fruit. A wine which actually suits every occasion. It is not too heavy when served at lunch, it is great when just having a drink, and a perfect match for the Christmas dinner. Yet it can also be enjoyed when having a drink at night next to the fireplace. How I managed to acquire this wisdom? Brought up with it? I wish it were that easy! Even though dad had my sister and myself gain a lot of practical experience, he is still lightyears ahead of us. I am trying to catch up by following multiple wine educations and have recently achieved the status of vinologist. I am currently continuing my studies at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) to get my international wine diploma. Not that a diploma proves that one knows all there is to know about wine, most certainly not; one has to completely submerge in the world of wine in order to get a grip on it. For me this submersion started as a teenager when I enjoyed working weekends in local Zeeland Flanders restaurants. One of these restaurants was Onder de Linden in Zuiddorpe where Sjef de Cock was also the actual Chef. For this edition of Paul, De Cock combines our ‘everyone’s friend’ Sus Scrofa with saddle of hare, which is also an excellent suggestion for the coming holidays!
WANTED! We are always looking for old, rare and special wines. Do not hesitate to contact us. We are curious to find out what you have in your basement.
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PAUL -Nº 9 - PARDAS
COLUMN UNVARNISHED
Wijnhandel Herman, Weststraat 6, 4571 HL AXEL, The Netherlands, info@hermanwines.nl, Tel. +31 (0) 115 561860
Recipe:
For 4 persons: 2 saddles of hare on the carcass, 500 g mixed mushrooms, 1 chopped garlic clove, 1 chopped shallot, 4 Belgian endive stalks, 1 glass of fresh orange juice, pepper and salt, 4 poached pears. For the apples: 4 small sweet apples, 5 dl red wine, 300 g fox berries, 150 g sugar, 2 tbsp. potato starch, 1 sprig of parsley. For the celeriac mash: 200 g celeriac, 5 dl milk, 50 g mashed potatoes, pepper and salt, nutmeg, knob of butter. For the carrot mash: 2 carrots, 50 g mashed potato, pepper and salt, knob of butter. For the sauce: 1 dl elderberry syrup, 3 dl game stock, white pepper and salt.
PAUL -NÂş 9 - PARDAS
Sjef de Cock Onder de Linden
Peel the small sweet apples, remove the cores, put them in a dish with the red wine and sprinkle some sugar on top. Put the dish away someplace warm (on the radiator) and leave them there for 4 hours, turn the apples, sprinkle some sugar on top and once again leave it to rest. Boil the foxberries with water and sugar and bind the whole using the potato starch. For the celeriac mash, boil the celeriac in milk until it is done and mash it in the blender, save a little of the cooking moisture to add some flavour to the mash. Mix the whole with the mashed potatoes and add pepper, salt and nutmeg for flavour. For the carrot mash, steam the carrots and mash them in the blender with the other ingredients. Clean the Belgian endive, bake them in some butter, sprinkle some sugar on top and caramelize them. Add the fresh orange juice and slowly let it simmer. Add pepper and salt for flavour. Season the carcasses with pepper and salt and bake them to a nice brown colour when the butter has turned brown. Place the carcasses in an oven dish and drizzle them with warm butter. Add elderberry syrup and game stock to the pan and season the sauce with the white pepper and some salt. Place the saddles of hare in a 180 °C oven for a short time. Gently push the saddles from the carcass using the back of a spoon and cut the portions. Stir-fry the mushrooms with the chopped shallot and the garlic clove. Serve the whole as shown in the photograph. Enjoy!
PAUL -Nº 9 - PARDAS
Saddle of hare “grand veneur”