Wine Pairing Story (17)

On the hunt for roe deersReal-meat story
This man on the left will be crucial for this wine-pairing story...
I went out in the woods several weekends in a row recently with hunters I know in the Loire. Most of us like good meat and we sometimes forget that there's an animal behind it. On one hand there is the painful side of shooting an animal, and on the other side, there is the fact that the way this animal lived has a lot to do with the quality of its meat.
There's by the way some striking similarities with the natural-wines' peculiarities here, as brilliant food engineers haven't yet found the way to make the meat of animals having been mass-bred in industrial farms taste as good as the one of wild animals. There's a gap here for which mother Nature seems to resist by clinging to its secrets.
Hunting is both a sport and a way to eat now and then a meat with such a unique taste. Sensible souls can understandly balk at going after these peaceful animals and I myself felt sorry for this cute animal after the initial excitement of the hunting party. But on the other side there are plenty of them in the woods and it's a question of balance when humans take their toll on the gamey population.

Setting the dogs on the roe deers I came along on several occasions this season, sometimes I've been walking with the dog team, usually two hunters, sometimes with the shooters waiting at the edge of the woods. The hunters walking with the dogs dress in a bright jacquet and leave their gun behind. A wood has been selected in advance and the hunters have taken position around it after parking their cars in different places in the vicinity. They make sure that there's enough time left before beginning with the horn signal, so that the dogs can be positionned in the right place. When it's time, someone takes his horn to spread the message. The rules are that shooting is only allowed inside the time lapse between the starting signal and the end-of-the-game signal. They're usually pretty respectful of these rules, even if sometimes it means that they have to stand still when roe deers jump out of the woods in front of them a few seconds after the final horn signal has been made (sometimes they still shoot..).
the picture above show a scene when the dogs are let go, they're extremely excited : they've been stamping on each other in the cars waiting for the back door to open, they know what they're there for and they like it... Preparing to flush the woods This is the dog team and our job is to enter the wood with the dogs from one side and walk through it in line to flush out the deers, roe deers or wild boars who could hide in there. These dogs seem very small but they are trained professionals in this game : they go in zigzags through the woods looking for any scents that could hint to roe deers or other big animals. They're doing a very important job because the roe deers are very smart and don't jump out of their hiding as soon as they hear the hunters' voices and horns : If it weren't for the dogs that drive them out, they could stay put with a hunter walking only a few meters away, waiting with a lot of self-control that the danger passes away. The two men with the dogs walk across the woods also, keeping contact with the dogs by the voice, uttering strange sounds from time to time.
You know when the animals have been discovered by the dogs because they suddenly bark loudly as they run after the fleeing animal.
Here is a short video (2:36) on this combing-the-woods operation with the dogs. A gunner waiting at the edge of the wood The shooters have taken their assigned position along the wood. The different shooting spots have been chosen so as to minimize the risk of stray bullets and the rules are very strict in these hunting groups : the hunter must shoot only when the animal has left the wood, making sure that no other hunter is in the background as well as no house, and that there is no risk with the layout of the surroundings that a bullet could go too far. The gunners must stay at their spots and are supposed to move only when the end signal has been made with the horn. Two roe deers fleeing - hunter in the background This picture is not very sharp, it's a highly-cropped picture becauseI didn't have the right lens that day. But you can see these two roe deers fleeing the woods with a gunner positionned in the background and waiting for the right and safe shooting angle. I was myself embedded with another shooter at this precise moment. Several shots were fired on that instance but these two lucky ones went through unscathed. When the conditions were good for the shooters to intervene, the animals were a bit far and as they don't use scopes or laser pointer it's quite difficult. That's why the positioning of the shooters is crucial from what I understand, and the problem is also that you never know from where along the forest edge the animals are going to leave and run in the open. 15 hunters is not that many people to net a relatively large swath of woods and the animals have their chance.
These animals are amazingly beautiful when they run, they look so light and gracious, and their jumps are so long...
Several pics of a same roe deer running through a field During one of these hunting parties, I had taken position at a distance from other hunters (without disturbing their shooting windows though), and I had such a good view on this fleeing roe deer but all I had in my hands was a peaceful camera. Here again, this particular animal went through unharmed __ this time at least...
This roe deer is running through this field planted with I don't know what, maybe wheat, and it's like if they were running through their dining room here : these wild animals still come a lot in the fields and in the vineyards to eat crops and grapes, and I related a while ago how Didier Barrouillet had to fence the Clos-Roche-Blanche vineyards because the grapes being organic were particularly targeted by roe deers...But when there is no organic farming around, they just still eat all they can, even if probably with less pleasure... Roe deer down Another of these roe deers didn't make it. It fled the woods without problem at first but passed a hiding point where Jean Pierre was standing. He shot twice and the second one was on target. I was walking with one of the guys with the dogs at that time and we heard the horn signal, then the shots, and walked out of the woods to where it happened. Another horn signal was sent to stop the operation so that everyone could move safely.
We gathered around the animal, a young male roe-deer weighing maybe 18 kilograms, maybe a bit more. When the dogs reached it, they were excited and the hunters had to wave them aside or they would have teared it into pieces.
We had spotted this weekend and in a previous hunting party several much bigger animals but they were missed.
This roe deer was so cute that I was a bit sad when I saw this innocent-looking little thing but at least it didn't suffer. And most of us like meat and realize that meat doesn't come by miracle in our plates without some sort of suffering on the part of the animals. On the whole I think that hunting is less cruel for the animals than the slaughterhouses with their cold efficiency.
On the picture on left, see the plastic bangle (bracelet) tied to one of the legs of the animal. It is the law in France and these bracelets must be purchased in advance to the hunting syndicates before considering to hunt such or such animal. The color and cost of bracelets depend of the type of animal, and for example few bracelets are issued for large, adult deers and their prices are very high.The roe deer haunchNow I swear that I did all I could to refuse politely but Jean-Pierre, who shot this roe deer, generously offered me his part of the animal, the haunch, saying that he doesn't do that for the meat but appreciated that I take pictures and videos for them. That's such a gift, I really felt confused as I didn't do much in this story. But the good side is that thanks to Jean Pierre, there is this wine pairing story, and the rare chance to eat venison.
We all drove back to the hunters' communal building near the village for the apéritif (video), a kir. That's one of the high points of these hunting parties, a couple of kirs (Sauvignon mixed with blackcurrant) while exchanging about the hunting or simply chatting. That's something that people do more in the countryside than in towns, open a bottle or a bib and fill generous pours just to enjoy the moment.
Later in the afternoon (this hunting took place in the morning) the roe deer was cut into pieces, with one haunch going to the shooter (and ultimately landing in my hands, thank you Jean Pierre !) and the rest being drawn by lots between the other hunters (there was not enough pieces for each of them this time because of the small size of the animal) plus one piece set aside for the owner of the woods were the action took place. That's a nice thing too, because they're not obliged to do that but that's the way they do each time...
I brought back this splendid meat back in Paris, with the intention to make a beautiful, hearty winter dish with it. I looked feverishly at several possible ways to cook it, B. coming back late from work these days. I had all the cooking responsability here and was anxious not to fail...
First, I followed the indications of the hunters who helped cut the meat : the best, they said, was to leave the meat in the fridge a few days so that the contact with the air prepares the texture of the meat properly. So I waited maybe three days before working on this dish.The Rôti de Chevreuil...First, as you may see on the second picture above, I had made several incisions in the meat to put small slices of garlic, not too much to avoid changing the taste of the venison. I noticed then how tender this meat was. I had decided to cook it as a rôti, in our small electric oven. These Seb electric ovens are the Citroën 2 CV of the kitchen tools, they're extremely cheap, efficient, simple to use and last forever. Ours is an older model than the linked one, it is black and we've made already a good use of it. I prepared a bowl with a mix of olive oil and grapeseed oil and put some of it on the haunch before putting it uncovered in the oven. I first set the heat level at 8 (the maximum is 10) which is said to make a temperature of 240°, waited 5 minutes to let the oven heat up and put the meat for at least 40 minutes as I read somewhere on the web. I checked the meat from time to time and took it briefly out to put more oil on the meat. The oil allows a softer cooking. After several such oil addings, I just used the juice in the metal dish to oil the meat. I intuitively decided to cook it a bit longer than 40 minutes because the haunch seemed thick to me and the total times reached close to an hour. I was supposed to put a bit of Guérande salt toward the end of the cooking but forgot and it was OK also this way.A wine that can go with a refined venisonFor the other but samely-arduous part of this dinner, the wine pairing, I had chose two bottles from my cellar. I hesitated a moment as I wanted to try one of the Israeli wines that I brought back last may (I'm sure one of them would have made a good job here) but I opted at last for two bottles, one was a Cahors Chateau Eugénie, Cuvée Réservée des Tsars 2001, and the other a Fronsac Aux Caudelayres 2005 (by Paul Barre). The Cahors seemed to me particularly fit for this type of meat and its potatoe purée, with its tannic structure and its age. This particular Cahors is made from Malbec and a bit of Merlot, the 100% Malbec is a very tannic wine sometimes difficult to enjoy when young, but the Merlot made it rounder here. In the past, the tannicity of the almost-black Cahors wine allowed it to travel more easily than many other wines. That may be the reason why the Couture family who has been making Cahors wine in the Chateau Eugénie for 5 centuries could sell their wines to the Tsars of Russia as well as to the Kings of France and England. Cahors wines got their cult status in Russia long time ago but the style of wine veered somehow along the years from the original wine style as they began to make "Cahors" wine themselves, although it's always difficult to guess what the original Cahors tasted like then. The кагор wine (Kagor - Cahors in Russian) is, in Russia and in the neighboring countries, something very thick with lots of residual sugar (22-25 or more like you can read on this page in Russian). In Russia, the varieties used for this wine are Cabernet Sauvignon, Saperavi, Merlot, Matelas, Kakhétia, Morastel and other dark varieties.
Back to our roe deer and our "real" Cahors : first, this meat was utterly tender. Unlike the wild boar which is said to have, well, wilder aromas, the roe-deerb is more subtle and refined. The Cahors (we carafed it rapidly after having filled our glasses, the nose being a bit closed at the beginning) has a nice rusticity in the mouth with discreet aromas of jammy fruits, prune, a bit of dry figs maybe. Here are tasting notes in French by Le Rouge & le Blanc for the equivalent cuvée in 2003. The tannins are beautiful here, not astringent at all. After a few minutes in the glass and a few sips, the wine opens itself. Nice ampleness, the carafe helped certainly. B. considered that the Cahors overwhelmed a bit the meat, so the next day (with this size, we had venison every day of the week...) we opened the Fronsac Caudelayres 2005 which was indeed more in line with what the roe deer could handle, it was supple with the Merlot softening the Cabernet Sauvignon. Aromas of blackberry and other cooked small red fruits.Link to the video (not for sensible souls)I'm hooked on youtube... Not on my own videos, I watch them a couple of times and that's it, and this one makes me sorry, this poor roe deer lying on the ground. No, I'm (we're actually) hooked on music videos, and lately, B. and I can't get enough of Alela Diane. I discovered her a couple of months ago while listening to radio in the Loire, it was a live concert taking place somewhere in France and it was magic. So back in Paris I made a short research and youtube gave me plenty of her singing sessions, many of them recorded in France oddly, like here in this FNAC concert privé (with her father Tom Menig playing guitar), here with France 4 TV in Rennes (with lyrics about a rifle and too many heavy boots...), here at Le Cargo - Nantes (shot in an 11th-arrondissement Paris flat) and also here at Les Irockuptibles in Paris (in an office or a recording studio). She is really a great folk singer, we both can't have enough of her songs. Her voice, her beautiful and somehow sad melodies bring deep and powerful emotions...We watch for the next time she has concerts in France. You don't know what to offer for Christmas ? Buy her albums !
[Edit : Plus, I've just discovered that is is from Nevada City, very close from Oregon House and its outstanding winery Renaissance.... I really love this part of California...] ............So, my last video today is a bit more rough, the tough world we could say : It was made during one of these hunting parties, I was following the dog squad here in the woods to flush the gamey toward the shooters, there's shortly after the start a horn signal meaning that roe deers are being spotted, then you can hear two shots in the far and one of them happened to be on target. We walk to where the action took place.
Sensible persons may avoid watching this video even if this beautiful roe deer didn't suffer.All pics & videos were shot this autumn 2009

Comments

[Rick Rainey]

Brilliant job. I did not hunt for many years but my trips to the Loire and in particular a lunch with Francois Chidaine and a cold leg of venison from the previous nights harvest dinner finally pushed me over the edge. As you know in the U.S. hunters are viewed as cavemen like creatures with no regard for the pleasures of the table. I have set about changing that and often feed my friends venison I have harvested (sometimes with a bow) with a lovely bottle of Cab Franc and watch the light bulb go on as it all begins to make sense to them that this is how mother nature intended it - not wrapped in plastic under sterile lights in a supermarket. Great site - cheers from the Finger Lakes, NY, USA.

[ken Ross]

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Nouvelle Annee!