Sunday School
Learn about and enjoy a different not-so-common wine, cheese and beer every Sunday—at incredibly low prices. School was never this delicious! Limit one each per guest at the Sunday School price. Please, no returns: if you try it, you buy it.
Syllabus for Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sunday's Wine
Often overshadowed by Bordeaux and Burgundy, the southwest France boasts some of the country’s most thought-provoking wines. Today’s dry red wine, made entirely from the indigenous Fer Servadou grape, is from the name-controlled region of Gaillac (“guy-yak”) just outside of Toulouse. Wine production here dates back to the first century AD, if not before. Floral, woodsy and spicy aromas characterize Fer Servadou, which is called Braucol locally. The Vieules family who produces this wine has been farming organically at Domaine Philémon since the early 1800s. Opaque purple in color, the “Croix d’Azal” is a funky, well-balanced wine with full tannins, dark red fruit flavors and a forest floor quality. Notes of spices like cinnamon and paprika make this medium-bodied wine an ideal choice for smoked or grilled dishes.
Sunday School Price $9 glass $5 glass
Sunday's Cheese
Nestled in central France, the remote region of Auvergne is arguably one of the world’s most important cheese-producing areas. Known for great skiing on the volcano-dotted landscape (which luckily haven’t erupted in about 6,000 years), Auvergne also boasts illustrious cheeses such as St. Nectaire, Fourme D’Ambert and today’s Saintalin. A hybrid between a washed rind and natural rind cheese, the pasteurized cow’s milk Santalin is washed early and left alone to develop a natural rind. This offers both pungent, funky, earthy aromas and notes of roasted nuts. Enjoy the earthy, mushroomy flavors of this cheese with a bold red wine.
Sunday School Price $ $4
Sunday's Beer
DE DOLLE OERBIER
It’s a mad, mad world. Today’s Belgian strong dark ale hails from the small village of Esen in West Flanders (not to be confused with Essen, near Antwerp). From a team of brothers, De Dolle Brouwers—literally meaning the “mad brewers”—this beer is quite adventurous. Starting super small-scale brewing in a copper wash kettle at home, the brothers created this fine Oerbier, which means original in Flanders. They then bought a defunct brewery to use as their current brewing facility, producing whimsical and inventive beers like the original we taste today. Quadruple-like in body and flavor, this beer has a little something funky going on thanks to the addition of Lactobacillus bacteria. As it ages in the bottle, the beer takes on somewhat of a wine-like quality. Pouring dark reddish brown, the beer opens with aromas of tart apples, molasses, and a malty spiciness. A delicate sweetness is dominant yet soft with a dark fruity finish. This delicious strong ale hides its high alcohol percentage well and is quite quaffable.
Sunday School Price $10 / 11.2 oz $5½ / 11.2 oz
Note: At Tria Wine Room, the Sunday School beer is a pint of the day’s cask-conditioned ale for about the price of a Bud Light.
