Casablanca Party, A Night At Rick's |
Set: Our guests arrived through swirling fog of the Casablanca airport. We set up some "runway" lights and added fog machines and war surplus gas cans, netting and other WWII looking items.
Club Sommelier Craig offered these comments: Moroccan wines are predominantly red and dominated by Carignan grapes, with some Cinsaut and Grenache. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah varieties have been introduced, being responsible for some of the country’s best wines. The best regions are the high altitude vineyards Menkés-Fès and Berkane. The wines are pleasant when served chilled. Most of the wine is drinkable when it leaves the cellars of the winery but poor storge conditions inevitably spoil ALL wine in Morocco . Moroccans do drink wine – but the annual consumption is less than a quart. But the religiously sensitive official estimate is ZERO. So as there are not really any wines that anyone of us will find or like from Morocco … I will be recommending wines that have the same grapes as Moroccan Wines but from a country who can grow grapes AND enjoys drinking… FRANCE . The Cotes Du Rhone AOC is the generic appellation that covers the entire Rhone River region. The red wines are the most successful from this area. A minimum of 40% Grenache, plus Syrah and/or Mourvedre, with up to 30% in total of Carignan, Cinsault and some lesser grapes. These wines are well paired with Lamb" |