What could be more simple than a meal of bread, wine and cheese? Today my American blog friend Mike Powell on holiday in Paris, France posted a photo of his meal of whole grain baguette, raw milk goat cheese and bottle of 2019 Beaujolais Nouveau wine. I was slightly envious, then quickly moved to anticipation as I realised I could easily put together a copycat meal to enjoy at home in Tapanui, West Otago 🙂
So this evening we sat at our kitchen table with our Parisian-inspired meal. We’d started eating before I remembered I’d wanted to take a photo!
Tapanui, New Zealand. Cheese rolls made at our local Four Square, camembert cheese purchased at the Four Square, our favourite affordable red wine which we purchase from the pub down the road. It’s Australian: ‘yellow tail’ merlot 2018.
And here’s the photo from Paris that motivated our foray down the road for wine, bread and cheese. Copy of Mike Powell’s food photo:
— taken on the balcony of Mike’s holiday apartment
Link to Mikes original post: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé
If you have a few minutes to spare at his blog, Mike’s already published a number of posts from Paris so you might want to look around … he’s having a great time!
Text by Liz, Tapanui photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2019)
Exploring Colour 
Wow, I’m only catching up on this posting after my return from Paris. Who knew that I could help to spark a movement? It was so cool in Paris to buy crusty baguettes every day and sometimes twice a day; to walk by cheese stores with an unimaginable selection, including lots made with raw milk; and to be able to buy decent red wine for as little as $3 or $4 a bottle. For the record, at home I drink a fair amount of Yellow Tail wine myself, usually the Cabernet Sauvignon. (And as a special New Zealand note to Liz–during the entire Paris trip I wore merino wool socks, underwear, and shirts (long and short sleeve) and I am pretty sure the wool all came from New Zealand!)
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It’s very interesting for us to hear from the various comments that Yellow Tail is readily available over there and evidently well liked. Your post and my response sparked some interesting conversations! Glad to hear you’re supporting our wool industry Mike!
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I had never really heard about Merino Wool until I began preparing for my Paris trip. It is unlike what I traditionally think of as wool and it is pretty amazing. In fact, I also bought a pair of shoes recently made of New Zealand Merino Wool from a reall cool company called Allbirds.
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Very comfortable and warm, and not bulky 🙂
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Nice! A lovely meal any time!
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You might have started a new culinary movement, Liz. This might have to wait a day, as we have neither goat cheese nor camembert, but it’s only a pleasure deferred. 🙂
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Yellow tail merlot – even here in Canada, it’s a favourite!
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Well.. that came as a big surprise! Who’d have thought?
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🙂 Our liquor store has a number of wines from New Zealand as well… where I live, Prince Edward County, the vineyards need to bury the vines (or at least the bottom parts, where the flower buds are) to protect them from the cold. So labour intensive!
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Wow, challenging for vineyards where you are!
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BTW, nice touch with the Yellow Tail, Ellen’s favorite.
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Very nice, great idea but… no Eiffel Tower 😳
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The closest substitute we have is the town tree about 80m down the road from us. It’s decorated with glowing red and green lights through the foliage – the lights are quite large. This isn’t just a Christmas thing. Rather delightfully, the tree is lit up every evening through the year when the street lights come on.
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There you go, a tree with lights, a fine wine, and a tasty cheese. 😀😀. And no long flight…take that Mike Powell !!!
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Hahaha … so funny 😀
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I think my wife and I will copycat as well. But what blows my mind is this: with so many amazing NZ wines available, you choose Australian? Isn’t that enough to get you ejected from the country? 😉 If you are ever up Marlborough way, you must try Hans Herzog. Among the very best wines I’ve ever tasted, anywhere. Period. And Greystone, north of Waipara on SR 1, is amazing as well.
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I will add that these wines are not necessarily inexpensive. They are definitely special occasion wines.
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Actually I asked about a NZ merlot before buying this.. ‘Huntaway’ in the north island does a very nice merlot but its not in stock down the road. Thank you for your recommendations! We rarely drink white wine but a few years ago we both enjoyed some fine riesling which was produced by Two Paddocks in Central Otago (from actor Sam Neill’s property). His property is lovely by the way with wonderful gardens and landscape.
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Some very nice Pinot Noirs and other reds come from Graystone. It’s ironic that you don’t drink much white because some of the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world comes from New Zealand. But NZ Pinot Noirs are excellent. And other reds as well. And remember, this is a Californian talking.
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I’m happy to take your word for it but me and OH haven’t yet tasted a Pinot Noir that we like (in Central Otago that is). For an occasional white we’d go riesling, chardonnay or pinot gris. But we’re not seriously into wine 🙂
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Mmm, yum! 🙂
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Really nice spur-of-the-moment thing to do!
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Isn’t it great that you don’t always have to do a lot of preparation to have something enjoyable to eat. Hubby is vegetarian, so we’d be lost without cheese!
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Yes. So relaxing and enjoyable!
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