Pinot Noir by Bruno Andreu paired with Beef Burgers and Spicy Wine Sauce*

Welcome to our last Wine Trust instalment – we have shown you rosé, white and now we are on the red Pinot Noir. If you’ve read the other reviews, you’ll know the wine has come from Bruno Andreu Vineyard in Languedoc region of France. They are producers of lovely wine and we have thoroughly enjoyed creating recipes with or to accompany the wines we have been asked to review. So read on for our final thoughts on these reasonably priced luxury wines.

Although I do enjoy the odd glass of wine occasionally, I always struggle to find wines I like/enjoy. But I have been so enthused to look at trying more wines in the future, as these three wines really have tasted great. It’s also been great thinking of new ways to incorporate or pair the wine with foods. My first review with the rosé was accompanied by the dish, my second incorporated it and in my third I made an accompaniment using the wine. Its been great fun drinking them and also cooking with some newly found/created recipes.

About the wine

The Cocqulicot Pinot Noir Wine by Bruno Andreu is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes which much like the white isn’t traditional of the region of this particular vineyard, and therefore can not be fully recognised – due to strict French wine Laws – as an Appellation Controlé Pinot Noir. This to me doesn’t affect the quality in anyway it just means that this grape should grow somewhere else, which I suppose may slightly change the taste of the grape and therefore make the wine taste slightly different, depending on which region it is grown.

Our recipe and wine pairing

The wine is red and is recommended to be drunk with grilled meats, so we thought what better way than with a grilled burger with some homemade sticky sauce using some of the wine! I prepared a kilo of meat for the burgers, as due to the fact I am feeding a family of five, you never quite know how hungry everyone will be, and as we tend not to eat anything else with the burger other than the bun, cheese and salad. You could have it with fries too if you like. If there are leftovers (which in this case there was!) I always make the rest into meatballs cook them and then pop them in the freezer.

The sauce I made was really a bit of a fluke! I quite often add in things to mayonnaise or ketchup to make them a little different but this time I thought I would add in some of the wine. It’s really almost a take on a Teriyaki style sauce – and we actually made it again the day after and used it with chicken it was so good. What’s interesting is you can still taste the wine, even though you cook it down with the sugar and other ingredients, but it has that zingy flavour. It all worked really well as a full dish with a big glass of the Pinot Noir on the side. Although this wine isn’t full in flavour like I would have expected in comparison to the other two wines. But it was still pleasant and easy to drink. I would recommend making sure this wine is well aired before drinking it and make sure its room temperature, as when it gets cold it tends to lose its flavour.

Recipe

The Burger
1kg of lean minced beef (or use Quorn if you prefer to keep it veggie)
1 medium red onion grated
2 heaped tsp of mixed herbs (of whichever you have in your store cupboard)
2 garlic cloves grated
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 slice of bread (I always use a crust) finely chopped or if you have a food processor just give it a blitz (I don’t and just rub it together between my fingers)
1 egg

Method

Mix it all together and divide into portions – this should make around 10 patties – or I did 6 and the rest into a batch of meatballs.

The Sticky Spicy Wine Sauce
2 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of Ketchup
6 tbsp of red wine
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of child flakes (more of less depending on how spicy you like it)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Put all the ingredients into a small pan.
Heat on medium and just stir once to incorporate the ingredients – then stop stirring and let it bubble for 4 minutes, once it is started to thicken lower the heat down to very low and then stir again. The mixture should be sticky and slightly thicker than ketchup.

Where to buy?

We were sent the wines by Wine Trust. They have a really good selection of wines from all over the world, although currently the wines we reviewed are not featured on their site, at the moment, we expect that the wines will be available very soon and will update our post accordingly. In the meantime we really think you should check out all the other wines they have on offer, as if they taste as good as these, you won’t be disappointed.

About Wine Trust

Wine Trust believes that drinking wine is a great way to spend time with friends, where you can relax together and either enjoy drinking alongside your meal or when chatting on an evening out. John Valentine the owner of Wine Trust, believes that many retailers don’t provide the service he provides in terms of the quality of wines he has available, at a cost that is also affordable. Equally, his focus is on providing people a good selection of wines at a reasonable price, means that there isn’t an endless selection available on their site – there is simply more focus on quality rather than quantity.

About Bruno Andreu

This vineyard that is located in an unbelievably picturesque part of the South of France has been in Bruno Andreu’s family for generations. He is a cultivator that takes a lot of pride in being sustainable in his land management and in the growing of the grapes, he also has a select few wines with Organic certification (including the two Cocliquot wines we have reviewed as part of these blog posts) which shows how important it is to the vineyard to produce natural and clean tasting wines. The wines we reviewed are not the only wines they produce therefore if you like them it might be worth checking out the others they have on offer.

Review by: Lex Ward

You may also want to read this:

DoubleTree Hotel’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Homemade Boulangerie Style French Baguette Recipe 

Cooking Made Easy – Beef Stew Recipe

*We were sent the wine in return for a feature. All opinions are our own.