Bonjour French Market Friends,
Here at the tip of Africa, our cheese stock finally cleared customs and all the favourite cheeses are in the shop. Whilst we do everything to ensure the continuous supply of all our cheese, sometimes we encounter delays which are outside of our control, I do apologise for any of you that were looking for your favourites in the last couple of weeks.
In the shop today are Brie with Truffle cream, Vacherousse, fresh goat’s cheese crottins, Morbier and Comte from the Jura, Reblochon and Tomme from the Savoie, Emmental from the Vosges, Camemberts and Pont l’Eveque from Normandie, Brie from Meaux, Munster from Alsace, aged Le Gruyere and Appenzeller from Switzerland and many more. I love it when our shelves are packed to the brim!
This week I had the honour to be invited to the most unique and exclusive wine tasting lunch given by my clients Sus
anne and Ferdinand, Graf von Thun-und-Hohenstein, who were presenting their Domaine de Comte de Thun wines for the first time in the South African market. Ferdinand told us how they bought the beautiful old Chateau des Fraussailles with vineyards on the Plateau
Cordais, in the Gaillac region, the IGP region is Cotes de Tarn. The main varietals are Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Shiraz. The closest city is Toulouse in the southwest of France. Gaillac is one of the oldest French wine producing regions, dating back to Roman times. Whilst the regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy are clever at marketing their wines, this ancient Gaillac wine region produces wines of great quality and Comte de Thun has some great Cru wines.
The famous Italian oenologist Dr 
Riccardo Cotarella teamed up with Ferdinand and they worked on the vineyards surrounding the Chateau, producing some excellent vintage wines and bringing back rebuilding the recognition of the great quality wines from this ancient wine growing region. The presentation of the wine is elegant and unique with the Graf du Thun’s coat of arms emblazoned on the bottle. 
Our pairing lunch was created by Chef Harald of L’Aubergine and guests included top chefs Franck Dangereux and Liam Tomlin. We tasted several of their stunning Cru wines and I will be stocking some in the shop, you can also order online with me. I will write more about each wine in following newsletters. We are planning a private wine tasting event for my clients later in October.
This week I suggest start with the Comte de Thun Pinot Noir 2015, I found it subtle and rounded, it paired well with Harald’s creation of thin slices of Tomme de Chevre, white Aubergine, aubergine caviar, mizuna, avocado and blood sorrel.
For Mother’s Day celebration on this Sunday I decided to share a recipe for a lemon and vanilla cheesecake that does not require any baking, just mixing. It is one of my earliest recipes that I used to make regularly as it is fairly foolproof. I have adapted it by
using vanilla seeds from Madagascar, instead of essence, as I now have this beautiful flavoured ingredient in my shop and I added lemon zest as I enjoy the taste. The idea of decorating with fresh berries and edible flowers is easily accessible now through our local Woolies shop.
I recommend pairing this delicious cheesecake with a Grand Cru Blanc de 
Blanc created by Le Mesnil. This Champagne is solely made with grapes grown in the vineyards of Le Mesnil sur Oger which are classified as Grand Cru (the vineyard is graded top of the range). It is a world class pure chardonnay champagne with great finesse. The aroma is delicate with hints of white flowers. There is lingering flavour of citrus which I believe makes it the perfect pairing with the citrus zest in the cake. When the champagne is poured, the bubbles are fine and they last a long time.
Wishing all the Mums out there a very Happy Mother’s Day – I hope it will be full of lots of treats and bottles of Champagne.
Regards,
Suzanne and The French Market Team