Roncier Burgundy; Pork Loin with Herbs de Provence and Roasted Squash

Roncier, Pinot Noir, Tramier & Fils, Negociants, France, non-vintage; 12.5%; $9.99 Whole Foods; September, 2008.

By all accounts, some of the best wine in the world is Burgundy. The red stuff. This wine has been grown for literally centuries, in the area that has been found to best produce it. That area, unfortunately, is very small. It also produces the best when the quantities grown are intentionally limited. The number of bottles available is relatively very small. Finding Burgundy at this price is difficult to comprehend. So, how come? A negociant is a bottler, not a grower. He buys wine from growers and does his own thing.

The story on Tramier is that he buys wine left over from other bottlers. Say that you are the wine maker at a major house, and you determine the blend you want, say 40% from one plot, 33% from another, and so on. But the plots in question do not produce in the same percentages that you want to blend, so you have wine left over. You sell it to Tramier. Tramier also has a wine maker, who makes do with what he can find. Yet, he also has a repetition to maintain, even at $10 a bottle. He cannot look for real consistency from batch, but he can make it drinkable.

The bottle I had was. The color is a deep, dark red with brown overtones. Do not worry about the brown, unless a wine is completely brown. It is then vinegar. Many aged, wonderful wines may have brown tones to them. The nose is good, definitely red and inviting. It is particularly useful to taste the wine when first opened. At first the Roncier tasted very flat. After a good half-hour, the wine opened up enourmously.

We had the Roncier with a salad of romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, and a mustard vinaigrette, roasted squash with olive oil and Herbs de Provence, and a tender, mouthwatering pork loin, butterflied and grilled (on our stove), with olive oil, seasoning, and Herbs de Provence. The wine went well with the meal, including t he salad. It blended with the squash surprisingly nicely, although the tannins were more noticeable, and it highlighted the squashiness. It kind of stood beside the pork, but softer and more gracefully. I can’t say that it added much to the port, but it held its own, and did not detract. Sometimes that is all you can ask of a cheap wine. I was happy to have it with the meal. Brigette regarded the meal as a test, not having prepared the squash or the pork that way before. The meal was good enough to have had with a very good pinot. But I am happy with the wine as it was.