I went to the supermarket...

La chasse est arrive!

Ahhh, the many joys of autumn in the Swiss country side! The changing colors of the leaves, the harvest festivities, the crisp fresh air in the sunny morning... but, more importantly, the vendange (grape picking) and the game season! The vendange deserves a separate post, but let's explore the game experience...

Every year, around the end of September all village restaurants/inns  in the area (aka auberges) put up big billboards outside their doors  with the title of this blog entry. It is a call for all the locals and the passers-by to come in and enjoying the rich tastes of the season, game dishes being the main protagonist.

Here we have wild boar medallions, tenderly cooked, surrounded by all the goodness of the "terroir": mushrooms, onions, beetroot, grapes, slow-wine-cooked pear, berries, spetzli, chestnuts, Brussels sprouts et all. Hmm, all you need for a Thursday lunch.

Well ... almost all. Let's add a glass of local Pinot Noir from Chateau de Duillier, just across the road from the auberge.


Nothing spectacular about it. Just a good red wine, a bit light for the meal. The waiter agrees. He confidently says they have better wines to match the food, for example, a Gamaret from the same neighbour.  We don't want to spoil a full bottle, so we stick with our pinot noir.

The food is spectacular though, and the mix of textures and flavors reminds me that the tongue is one of our most complex sensing organ. The boar would require indeed a better fit. It's almost like seeking for the right tango partner, one that can unfold a story - long, rich, with many turns and bends. That Prado Rey that Joao talked about earlier would do the job much better.

This Rasteau (Cote du Rhone Villages) which I tried a few weeks ago in a wine bar downtown Geneva could be a good choice too, even better (in this circumstances only) than his Spanish cousin.

Prado Rey 2009 . Ribeira del Duero

Choose a couple of good friends, a lunch with big meat steaks a hand full of power questions on the table and you are now ready to endure on 4 bottles of this amazing wine!

Prado Rey is like Leonel Messi playing football, it will amaze you with dribbles of taste in your mouth, it will give you an aftertaste when you least expect and the smell, not like Messi I can tell you!!

You can drink 4 bottles with 2 friends (if you’re not driving after) it will still be there after you loose your senses!!

You will cry for more. And the price is just amazing, between 10 and 16 euros.

Some say that 2007 was their best year, I thought that 2009 was already exceptional.

For me this wine is like Leonel Messi. An amazing wine.

João