What's a little prep work for such a food-friendly wine?

Domaine Langlois-Château St-Florent Saumur 2004 has heady meandering aromas and a deep dark hue suggesting concentrated, heavily-extracted Cabernet Franc grapes. On the palate this wine is a bit tight and needs time in the decanter or better yet several hours uncorked in the fridge. The tannins will loosen and become supple over time and it was on the second day that this wine opened up.

THE WINE PREP

With time and chilling (serve anywhere below 16 degrees Celsius, I would say), this wine is winning. It is Cabernet Franc through and through: slightly weedy upon opening but that gives way to intense and profound fruit -- blackberries and black cherry. Plus an earthiness develops which lends a palatable herbal character to this wine. Quite a nice specimen if you like this kind of varietal.

THE FOOD PREP

I paired it with tourtiere and I would certainly serve it alongside similar food in the future. St-Florent Saumur from Langlois-Château stands up to the rich and pungent buttery pie crust of the meat pie. And it complements the rooty spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg that are found in flavouring to the beef and potato filling. Broccoli, seasoned heavily with ground savoury and sea salt makes a good and quick-to-fix side. Add a couple of grape tomatoes to the mix and your dinner plate is as full and as balanced as this well-made bottle of wine.

Just remember when you are preparing the food that this wine needs some preparation too. Decant it well in advance. You really can't do it too early. Once that's out of the way you can concentrate on your other prep work.

St-Hilaire-St-Florent, Maine & Loire, France. 13.5%