What to drink for the France-Poland match
Do you love football but don’t know which wines to enjoy while watching the French matches? Don’t worry! Vintage has some great advice to guide you through Euro Cup 2024. An exercise in “foodie/footie pairings”
Tuesday 25 June. Summer is finally here, the sun is shining and France is getting ready to face off with Poland in the latest group match for the Euro Cup 2024. Everyone is in high spirits and you decide to invite your friends over to watch the match. But you have a dilemma: which tactic should you use to tackle this decisive pairing? You go down into your cellar and, like Didier Deschamps at his blackboard, you hesitate over the quality of your offensive stride. After careful consideration, you opt for a nice play. A bottle of Château Coufran, guaranteed to enhance your evening. Tonight, France needs to win to qualify in the round of sixteen and you decide to support them in style by choosing this aptly named estate, pronounced like “coup franc”, meaning “free kick”, in French. You choose a 2016 vintage of this unforgettable Haut-Médoc wine. Just like the French team, your 2016 Coufran is characterised by wonderful maturity despite its youth, a solid structure and a lovely attack. That’s all it takes!
2016, a wonderful vintage. That year, France reached the final of the Euro Cup on home turf as the sun’s rays shone over the Gironde Estuary, giving Coufran roundness and smoothness on the palate. Your guests arrive and you take out the charcuterie platter. Tonight, you are going all out! You take out the pork belly sausage. After all, it takes guts to win a match and your Coufran has enough power to face any opponent. You barely have time to open the bottle and the match has already begun. Three minutes in and Les Bleus score an indirect free kick. You head straight for the Coufran to celebrate! You raise the glass to your lips while William Saliba gets the match off to a good start following a perfect serve by Antoine Griezmann. The French match is in full swing and so is your evening. Your guests relish your grilled sausages and glasses of red wine.
The second half begins. And you open another bottle of Coufran, since your guests defeated the first one. While uncorking it, you discuss Michel Platini’s magical free kicks. You savour your wine while Poland goes under. Olivier Giroud doubles the lead with a header on the hour mark. To celebrate, you shake things up by offering your guests new pairings. You’re a tease. Because this 2016 Coufran goes with everything, you have decided to make pierogi, delicious Polish dumplings filled with potato, onion and cheese. This tribute seems to cheer up Robert Lewandowski, the striker of the Biało-czerwoni (the White-Reds), who narrows the score. Two-one. The referee blows the final whistle and your friends finish their drinks. The Coufran was as wonderful as Roberto Carlos’s kick right into the net. See you in the round of sixteen for new adventures!
Arthur Jeanne
