Sonoma Market: Connetable French Sardines D'Argent vintage 2007

[rworange]

I learned about aged , vintage sardines from Melanie Wong who wrote long ago " "Once they age, the flavors meld and become more complex, almost a non-fish thing, very nutty, deep, and enthralling. More links from Melanie

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/301342#1679719

I tried aging my own, but didn't see much difference. So it is cool to find the real thing in Sonoma. The can is so pretty too. The 2007 can is $9.98. Haven't tried them yet. I should have bought two so I could eat one immediately and let the other can age more.

The can reads "Cette boite d'exception fait partie d'une serie limitee. Tous les ans, je modifie son illustration"

If my high school French doesn't fail me that basically says the sardines are a limited edition and the illustration changes every year.

Sonoma Market has quite a nice sardine selection. They have a few types of Connetable French sardines. A few years ago the only way to get these was mail order and Melanie brought a can back from France for me.

Other sardines that I haven't seen elsewhere

- Conservas de Cambados

- John West skippers

They also have my favoirite sardine, Angelo Paroduci in olive oil or with chile

I resumed my sardine crawl recently which I left off at can 50

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/320712

Berkeley Bowl expanded its sardine selection, so I have been working my way through those. Also, it seems Crown Prince is abandoning the can in favor of the pouch I bought those at Walmart and they are still waiting to be opened.

[srr]

Do you know where I might be able to find "vintage" sardines in San Francisco? I have been buying and really enjoying the Bela brand sardines at Whole Foods. I am willing to spend some dough on the good stuff, I just haven't come across it.

[rworange]

I haven't been to SF much since I returned, so don't know. Hopefully some other chowhound will know. When I asked back in 2006 there weren't even regular French sardines in the Bay Area. I had to mail order them.

You might check this site out by a local Bay Area blogger who has actually eaten more types of sardines than me. Search on the word "vintage". I did a quick Goggle on that domain name, and there were some results, but I have to leave so I couldn't see if it was a general comment or review of vintage sardines that they found locally. Great site for anyone with an interest in sardines

http://www.sardinesociety.com/search/...

I was hesitant to pay $10 bucks for a can of sardines, but then given the rarity, I knew I'd regret it if I went back to Sonoma Market and they stopped carrying them. I'm kind of sorry I didn't pick up the other new to me cans of other sardines which were $6 - $8. I decided to wait for Christmas when I plan to buy a pickled herring brand I haven't seen elsewhere ... natural, wild, all that stuff. Yeah, should have bought the herring too ... would have been fabulous with the assertive beer bread from Model Bakery. ... but I just spent beaucoup bucks at Whole Spice restocking my spice supply. My cheap-o-meter was starting to buzz.

[rworange]

Andronico's in Berkeley is now selling Connetable sardines. They didn't have the vintage sardines though.

However, since Andronico's is buying from that company or importer, maybe you can ask the SF store to get you some of the vintage sardines as a special order.