Purity of Purpose

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Ying Yang .jpgPurity of purpose is to be admired in all things. In the world of wine, two French wine regions, neither of which make particularly expensive wines, have clearly established themselves as producers of the most versatile and purely rewarding food wines made anywhere. Those regions are Muscadet for white wine and Beaujolais for red. Like a yin and yang wine symbol they both provide a harmonious whole that includes great balance, lively minerality and a palate presence the works on stealth - perhaps not dramatic at first, but by the second glass you are entranced and addicted. They both exhibit the primary requirement that makes a wine compelling. That is that the second glass is far more interesting than the first.

Like all wine regions, most of the wine produced in the Beaujolais region is boring commercial plonk. To make things worse, the region has been cursed by what should have been a blessing. Nouveau Beaujolais, a fun party wine for the winter after the vintage came to define the region, which is so much more. Certainly the amount of great Beaujolais produced is miniscule compared to the amount of industrial wine produced, but the same thing can be said for Napa, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chianti and every wine region of significance in the world. Unfortunately for Beaujolais, their worst wine also became their most famous. 

Yet, like in Muscadet, in Beaujolais there are small producers with outstanding vineyards and a burning passion who create great art that sparkles like stars bringing small points of brilliance to the vast empty darkness of the commercial universe of wine.

Recently two wines brought home this purity of purpose to me. These two Cru Beaujolais are so compelling to drink with a meal that they elevate any dining experience. Both of these wines I matched with a simple herb roasted chicken and the experience was food and wine matching nirvana.

These wines are imported by Kermit Lynch and should be purchased by the case for drinking over the next several years. Better yet, they are both under $25. What is most compelling about both of these wines is that with each sip the volume of pleasure is kicked up a notch and reaching the end of the bottle is a cause for sorrow.

2005 Morgon, Domaine Marcel Lapierre is a svelte beauty, shy at first, it opens into a brilliant balanced whole. A zesty, exotic blend of ripe black fruit and a tightrope of a backbone, that exudes a punchy silkiness and a haunting finish. The 2005 Moulin-a-Vent, Domaine Diochon is simply astounding  with a meal. Racy and elegant with a juicy minerality that is almost electric on the palate. A real marvel of harmony and balance.

Saturday Suppers at the Gelbers

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cornasvoge.jpgDinner invitations from Christopher and Teri Gelber are a cause for celebration. Teri is an extraordinary cook and co-author of many fine cookbooks including Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table  and  Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book: The Best Sandwiches Ever—from Thursday Nights at Campanile among others and Christopher is just as much of a wine geek as I am so a great culinary evening is guaranteed.

While Teri worked her wizardry in the kitchen we sipped on 1996 Argyle Willamette Valley Extended Tirage Brut, a stunning wine, which I recently wrote about, with olives and fresh roasted almonds. This lovely wine mingling with the aromas of Teri’s cooking put our taste buds into high alert for what was to come.

To match Teri’s luxurious lentil soup, which was followed by fragrant roasted chicken tossed with arucola and gigantic fresh croutons (that must have contained something addicting as I still crave them), Christopher selected two contrasting wines from the last decade.

Older California pinot noir can often be suspect, but this bottle of 1996 Williams Selyem Olivet Lane Pinot Noir was not one of the usual suspects. Despite its 15% alcohol this wine was surprisingly refined and balanced. Sure it had a bit of heat in the finish, but the layers of earthy complexity were more than rewarding enough to make up for it. This is a wine that has completed itself and should be consumed soon.

While the pinot noir was a delicate wine made in a big style, the next wine was just the opposite. The 1998 Alain Voge Cornas Vielles Vignes is as graceful, balanced and refined as a syrah can get. Richly earthy and meaty throughout and laced with a freshly crushed black pepper tang, this now fully mature wine has more grace than brawn and proves that syrah has far more to offer than simple raw power. Perhaps this wine is just past its peak, but what a peak it must have been for this is still an outstanding wine.

With an assortment of French, Oregon and Italian cheeses arrived a bottle of Château d’Arlay Red Macvin from France’s Jura region, which is produced from unfermented pinot noir juice blended with one third marc-brandy, much like Cognac’s Pineau de Charentes . The brandy is mellowed four years in cask and then the blend is aged for another year in old barrels. A deliciously unique drink that, while tasting a bit like a tawny-style Port, has its own distinct fruity sweetness combined with the warming sensation of the brandy. A more charming match with cheeses you will not find.

Sunday suppers at Lucques may be wonderful, but so are Saturday suppers at the Gelbers. 

 

 

You're Pulling My Cork

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wineclown.jpgIt’s a joke, right? The Wine Enthusiast selects 2004 DeLoach 30th Anniversary Pinot Noir number 1 at the pinnacle of its top 100 wines of the year list. If this wasn’t so ridiculous it would be painful. However, we can retain our sense of humor because no one actually cares what The Wine Enthusiast thinks. No harm, no foul.

“It’s a huge mouthful of cherry pie and cassis,” oozes The Wine Enthusiast in their tasting note on the DeLoach. It’s clear that whoever did these notes had never tasted pinot noir before or, perhaps thought they were blind tasting zinfandel.

Just in case you doubt the absurdity of this top 100 list, just look at the number 2 wine of the year - 2003 Chateau St. Jean Reserve Chardonnay. If your top wines of the year were DeLoach Pinot Noir and Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay you are not drinking enough (or way too much Drunk.) wine or you don’t know what you’re tasting - or both. 

Oddly enough, both of these wines are produced by big corporations with large advertising budgets, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. 

I subscribe to almost every wine publication I can think of, but I’m tired of tossing The Wine Enthusiast into the recycling unread and will not renew my subscription. There is just no reason to read what has become nothing more than a bad copy of The Wine Spectator.

The Wine Enthusiast has accomplished one thing. They make The Wine Spectator look good and that’s not an easy thing to do.

The American Wine Blog Awards

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wineblogawards.jpgTom Wark not only produces a fine wine blog, which is clearly the definitive source for reporting on anti-wine legislation throughout the country, he has become the dean of wine bloggers as our best promoter and spokesman. Tom has now launched The American Wine Blog Awards to recognize how powerful this new medium has become and to celebrate these new voices spread throughout the country. I invite you to visit Tom’s Fermentation Wine  Blog to nominate and then vote on your favorites in the following categories:

Best Wine Blog
Best Winery Blog
Best Wine Podcast or Video Blog
Best Graphics on a Wine Blog
Best Review Wine Blog
Best Single Subject Wine Blog
Best Wine Blog Writing

Gallo Hearty Burgundy - In With the In Crowd

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heartyburgundy.jpgFans of Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy are scouring the Internet and retailers to grab every bottle of what has become one of the world’s chicest wines. Demand has continued to force prices ever higher and crossing the $50.00 a bottle threshold seems to have only increased demand.

Now the darling of the celebrity circuit, Hearty Burgundy was recently splashed across the covers of all thedomperignon.jpg tabloids as Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears downed more than a few glasses at L.A.’s most exclusive night spot. In New York the paparazzi caught rapper P Diddy’s limousine well stocked with Hearty Burgundy for a night on the town. Famed actor George Clooney recently laid in a large supply at his villa on Italy’s Lake Como.

Fans are even more excited about Gallo’s plans to introduce a new prestige cuvée of Hearty Burgundy in a bottle designed by Ralph Lauren. The price is rumored to break the $300.oo per bottle mark and will be allocated to each market based on their purchases of other Gallo products.

Ridiculous, right? Everyone knows that the worlds finest wines are from small producers and very specific vineyards. Mass produced wines like Hearty Burgundy will never be among the world’s elite and were never intended to be. This is a rule that seems to apply to every wine region in the world but one - Champagne. The great pinot noir and chardonnay wines of Burgundy are defined down to the row. Often less than a few hundred cases are produced of the greatest wines. In a testament to their marketing skills, the Grande Marques of Champagne have turned the wine world on its head by convincing consumers that their mass produced brands are their finest wines. Indeed this is just as if Gallo had convinced us that Hearty Burgundy was California’s finest wine.

Consider this, some 2,000,000 bottles of Dom Perignon are produced. That’s almost 167,000 cases and this is supposed to be an elite wine? By the way, Gallo now makes about 200,000 cases of Hearty Burgundy.

I would not ague that Hearty Burgundy and Dom Perignon are on the same quality level, but Hearty Burgundy is a better value.  The stunning part of wines like Dom Perginon and other “name” Champagne is that their quality is as good as it is considering how much wine they make. 

Fortunately there are now many outstanding grower produced and bottled Champagnes available that reflect the same passion and terroir as Burgundy’s finest domaines as reported on in my previous post, Grower Fizz.  It is only in these Champagnes from small producers that you will find the same distinctive and diverse characteristics that have made Burgundy the most interesting of wine regions. That same range of personality and terroir is expressed in this new and growing category that is transforming the Champagne region from a homogenized blend into a region full of nuance and diversity.

Let’s raise a glass of fine grower bubbly and make a toast to the marketing acumen of the big Champagne firms. Its not easy or cheap to impress Paris and Brittany. Let’s let them drink Dom, I’ll take the grower fizz please.

Grappa Infused Berry Liqueur

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loring_small.jpg“TN: Peevish pinot: Loring 2004 Pinot Noir Brosseau (Chalone) – Red-black fruit, soupy and searingly alcoholic. More like a harsh, grappa-infused berry liqueur than wine, and not a particularly balanced one as well. The next day, however, the alcohol has calmed down somewhat…perhaps a nice sweet rum rather than grappa…which makes it a little less painful to drink. But it’s still profoundly imbalanced. (12/06)”

oenoLogic: TN: Peevish pinot

My tasting notes on big bruiser pinot noir I always felt were lacking the right descriptors, but thanks to Thor Iverson at oenoLogic, I finally know how to describe them!


 

 

Grower Fizz: too sexy for its flute

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clicquotpaintbox_large.jpgEverybody in the room quickly emptied their flutes when they saw the cork popped from the bottle with the yellow label. After all, what was better than Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Not that any of the other bottles of Champagne were bad, after all, what wine region in the world had a higher across-the-board quality than the Champagne region of France?

Unfortunately this New Year’s Eve Party was twenty-five years ago and the world of Champagne has changed. Perhaps no other wine reflects the decline in quality in big name Champagne as much as Veuve Clicquot, that has gone from being a richly flavored wine to a thin, flavorless beverage with fizz as its only character that is available in endless quantities that are piled high in grocery stores throughout the country. At prices pushing $40 a bottle, I can think of few worse wine deals. Big brand French Champagnes have become the worst values in the world of sparking wines. Few offer more than a vague aspirin flavor to accompany their famous bubbles. Better values and quality than big brand Champagne are to found in sparking wines from Spain, Italy, California, Oregon and Australia. Sure Krug, Salon and Bollinger still make great wines, but the big names like Clicquot, Mumm’s, Möet, Piper don’t. Following the lead of the perfume industry they invest more in marketing than character.

Oddly enough, while we have hit the dark ages for big brand Champagne, we now entering a new golden age for the  Champagne region that is now producing  many wines of greater individual character than any conceived by the Grande Marque Champagne houses. This grand new era for the Champagne region is the emergence of the récoltant manipulant (R.M.) or grower produced Champagne. There has been an explosion of producers bottling wine from their own vineyards and the myriad of styles and the quality of wine they are producing is nothing short of thrilling. None of these producers will be hosting  parties at expensive Manhattan discos or will become the status symbols for any rap artists, but if you care about the wine in the bottle more than the glossy ads - these are the wines for you.

The hard part is that because these producers are quite small, especially compared to the millions of cases produced by the big brands,  finding and learning about them takes a bit more effort. To get a list of recommendations of grower Champagnes not to be missed I knew there was only one place to go, so I wrote to Roberto Rogness, the wine director of Santa Monica’s Wine Expo. Wine Expo (2933 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica CA 90404 - 310-824-4428) is a store I have written about often for offering an incredible selection of terroir driven wines of great distinction. Wine Expo features two things: Italian wine and grower Champagnes. This combination makes it one of my favorite places on the planet. While the Field of Dreams for the baseball fan may be in Iowa, for the wine nut looking for real wines it’s in Santa Monica. The ever passionate Roberto (wineexpo@earthlink.net), whom I consider one of the few experts on this new generation of Champagne producers, replied to my request not with a list, but with a complete article about his current offerings of what he calls “grower’s fizz”. Loathe to edit Roberto’s list or his famed tasting notes, I present it to you here in its entirety. Please note that Roberto’s first comment to me was, “Hard to narrow it down but here are some real gems” gives you an idea of the extent of their selections. I have never tasted a wine recommended by Roberto that was not exciting to drink and assure you that you will find that energy in all of these recommendations.

“Grower Fizz” Recommendations from Roberto Rogness 

Champagne Andre Robert, Le Mesnil-Oger
A. Robert Cuvée Séduction Brut Grand Cru $46.99
Stunning! Bone dry with intense mineral and citrus notes, the Blanc de Blancs may be the perfect aperitif fizz and are sure to be a big hit with your guests. The Cuvée Séduction earns it name and then some
with big rich textures and flavors: 70% Chardonnay from Oger meets 30% Pinot Noir from Vertus, gets femented in small oak and emerges too sexy for its flute.
L. Aubry Fils, Jouy-les-Reims
One of our favorite additions to our list of super star Grower Champagne producers is really something special: not only do they still “draw inspiration from the characteristics of 18th century Champagnes” with super creamy mousse at slightly less pressure and an emphasis on aromatics drawn from the vineyards over yeastiness, they also are the ONLY producers in Champagne still growing the ancient and exotic varieties Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau which are still approved for the AOC but are virtually nonexistent today. And they take Rosé seriously. AND, they are great value for money!
L. Aubry Premier Cru Brut Tradition à Jouy-les-Reims $39.00
A VERY different sort of fizz made with 50% Meunier (a black grape with spicy, herbal, even pumpernickel notes), fattened up with older vintage Pinot Noir then frosted over with 25% ultra ripe Chardonnay. Responds well to hearty, full flavored food, improvise.
Cuvée Nicolas Francois Aubry Premier Cru Brut Sable Rosé 2000 à Jouy-les-Reims $76.00
We agree heartily with the importer’s assertion that “I love pink Champagne and sometimes even wonder how seductions ever proceed without it”. The Aubry brothers are VERY serious about their Rosés, producing two completely different cuvées. The NV is made with 60% Chardonnay for superb finesse and drinkability then given a firm kick in the ass by Pinot Noir left on the skins for color, heft, verve and flavors ranging from ripe peaches and blackberries through menthol and pine into a rich biscuity finish. Superb! The Sable is almost a Cremant (super smooth and lower in pressure) and is more delicate in flavor with citrus and spice notes.
L. Aubry “Le Nombre d’Or Campanae Veteres Vites” 1998 à Jouy-les-Reims $66.00
A wildly aromatic blend of Fromenteau (which is a clone of Pinot Gris / Grigio!), Arbanne and Petit Meslier, grapes you are ALLOWED to grow in Champagne but which no one wants to bother with any more. This truly dances to the beat of a different blocco and is incredible with pate or smoked fish starters.
L. Aubry Premier Cru Brut 1997 Aubry de Humbert à Jouy-les-Reims $73.00
Deeeeeply flavored, made from the heart of the cuvée and only disgorged after six years on the lees, this fairly explodes with complex secondary flavors of dried fruit, almonds, ginger, coffee and
even truffles. Very limited.

H. Billiot Brut Réserve Grand Cru à Ambonnay $48.00
H. Billiot Brut Rosé Grand Cru à Ambonnay $54.00
H. Billiot Brut 1998 Grand Cru à Ambonnay $61.00
H. Billiot Cuvée Laetitia Brut Grand Cru à Ambonnay $83.00
H. Billiot Cuvée Julie Brut Grand Cru à Ambonnay $79.99
Henri Billiot is to Champagne what Emidio Pepe is to Montepulciano or the late M. Reynaud was to Chateauneuf du Pape: The Keeper of the Secrets of the Temple of the Elders. His wines (even the NV Brut!) are 100% Grand Cru (mostly) Pinot Noir from ancient vines that are never filtered or put through malolactic fermentation and thus have an amazing verve and intensity that can either stop you in your tracks right now or age for decades. So you’d best stock up for both scenarios! Unlimited quality, extremely limited availability. Ranked by aficionados in France and Britain as an equal to Krug and Bollinger, these are jaw dropping, life-changing, show-stopping wines with amazing complexity. The Laetitia is named for his lovely daughter and contains the best of eight different vintages reaching back to 1983! Cuvée Julie is a new offering named for a granddaughter that spent 7 months in old oak for richness.

Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Sainte-Anne Brut à Merfy $39.00
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Sainte-Anne Brut à Merfy $25.99 375ml
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Sainte-Anne Brut à Merfy $96.99 MAGNUM
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Blanc de Blancs à Merfy $45.00
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Fiacre Taillet Brut à Merfy $66.00
WINE Magazine (a very serious British journal) ranked these wines among its “Best You Can Buy”, raving about “luscious, creamy, supple and sensual” flavors and textures and ranking the Cuvée Sainte-Anne NV first in a comprehensive tasting that included such famous but industrial labels as Dom Perignon. Huge, creamy, toasty wines, these are bold declarations of style made by a very confident husband and wife team who are obsessed with making WINE that also bubbles. The Fiacre (60% Chardonnay / 40% Pinot Noir, all from very old vines) is described by the importer as “the swankest Champagne I offer” and our buddy Tom Stevenson (the final authority amongst fizz scribes in the English language) extols its extraordinary “polish”. Flavors range from gunflint, white flowers and heather through super ripe white fruits all balanced on an incredibly refreshing spike of minerals and acidity.
To Quote Chrissy Hynde: This is SPECIAL: Guy de Chassey Brut Grand Cru 1996, Louvois $59.00
This blew our minds while dining with the importers at Josie on Pico one night: it smells EXACTLY like Rosé petals, tastes like green apples and white pears, is creamier than Sicilian gelato yet has a crisp, bone dry finish. Get some before Ali takes it all home….You work hard, you deserve the GOOD stuff. This can either clear some sushi off your palate tonight or age for twenty years, your call. Also don’t miss their base (but hardly basic!) bottling:

Pierre Gimonnet Brut Blanc de Blancs, Premier Cru Cuis $42.00
Pierre Gimonnet Brut Blanc de Blancs, Premier Cru Cuis $24.99 375ml
Pierre Gimonnet Gastronome 2000 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs, Cramant et Chouilly $47.00
Pierre Gimonnet Fleuron 1999 Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs, Cramant et Chouilly $53.00
P. Gimonnet Oenephile Extra-Brut 1er Cru Bl. de Blancs 1998, Cramant et Chouilly $54.00
Pierre Gimonnet Special Club 1998 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs, Cramant et Chouilly $62.00
These are wines worthy of consideration by the snootiest White Burgundy fan: 100% Chardonnay from vines ranging from 40 to 80 years in age producing intense reductive flavors of lanolin, flint, almonds and honey suspended in a hugely textured mouthfeel. The Cuvée Gastronome has a little lower pressure to make it more food friendly while The Extra Brut could be sparkling Corton Charlemagne, don’t chill it too much as it has a lot to say.

Bruno Gobillard Champagne Vieilles Vignes, Pierry $67.99
Bruno Gobillard Champagne Vieilles Vignes 1998, Pierry $142.00 MAGNUM
Just HOW good is this Champagne? Well, we were once having dinner with the importer and the agents of Camille Savese, Jose Dhondt and Raymond Boulard and were adamantly telling them “We have enough different Champagnes already, we CAN’T take any new ones this year!” but they poured this with the Blue Crab Spring Rolls and somehow we found ourselves DEMANDING that they give us the lion’s share of the mere 20 cases destined for the US. If you imagine an old fashioned cream soda made out of perfectly ripe pears, fragrant apple blossoms AND the pure minerality of the chalk beds underlying this famous suburb of Epernay you’d be on your way to getting your mind around this stuff. The incredibly fine mousse, and endless echoing finish will make a serious impact on your guests or any giftee. VERY limited
Jean Lallement et Fils Brut Grand Cru à Verzenay $45.00
Jean Lallement et Fils Brut Cuvée Réserve Grand Cru à Verzenay $57.00
These performed way “out of class” in several recent tastings and are very limited as M. Lallement has a mere 4.5 hectares of vineyards. The wines are fermented with natural ambient yeasts, are never filtered and are given so little dosage that the importer calls them “militantly dry, martial law in a glass, powerhouse Champagnes with fresh hay and mineral noses, there is nothing else remotely like them”. The DRIEST Champagnes we offer!

Jean Milan Brut Carte Blanche, Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Oger $42.00
Jean Milan Brut Speciale Selection, Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Oger $44.00
Jean-Charles Milan Cuvée de Réserve Brut Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Oger $54.00
Jean Milan Brut Cuvée Symphorine 1998, Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Oger $60.00
Jean Milan Brut Selection “Terres de Noel” Selection 2000, Grand Cru Oger $72.00
Jean Milan Charles de la Milaniere Rosé Grand Cru Ambonnay $62.00
Absolutely terroir—ist facsimiles of the chalky-pencil lead soil of Oger glazed with the deepest most complex fruit imaginable. The Carte Blanche is fluffy and frothy, “let’s have a drink” fizz while the Special Selection is much rier and more minerally. The Jean-Charles Réserve is fermented in oak for a creamier texture. The Terres di Noel and Cuvée Symphorine are made from separate plots of very old vines producing a ha-uuuuuuge mouthfeel that expands for literally minutes with buttery, toasty, “I didn’t know they made sparkling Montrachet” flavors and textures. The Rosé is made from fruit they vinify for friends with Grand Cru holdings in Ambonnay and is so rare
as to be nearly non-existent. And then there is this:
Jean Milan Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Sec “Tendresse”, Oger $47.99
Hey, you…yeah, YOU! Wanna get lucky? Then this is the one you want: rich, smooth, round, perfect with fresh strawberries, chocolate, a care package from Victoria’s Secret…use your imagination. Finally, a truly high quality off-dry (no, we’re actually going to say it: SWEET!) Champagne that’s the perfect thing with breakfast in bed, dessert, sunsets, fireplaces and long French kisses. A public service from your friends at WINE EXPO

Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru le Mesnil $102.00 MAGNUM
Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru le Mesnil $45.00
Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru le Mesnil $25.99 375ml
Pierre Peters Brut 1998 Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru le Mesnil $65.00
Pierre Peters Brut 1998 Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Special Grand Cru leMesnil $72.00
Pierre Peters Brut 1999 Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Special Grand Cru leMesnil $151.00 MAGNUM
We must defer to importer Terry Theise (who can spin prose that makes
even our stream of consciousness screeds look like The Wall Street Journal) who says: “The wines I’d tasted from several small growers in Mesnil had a certain distilled exquisiteness, as if the prettiest and finest essence of Chardonnay had been skimmed like sweet cream. But these wines were eye-poppingly vivid and distinct, impeccable and gleamingly firm, like diamonds.” Perhaps the single greatest artist working in Chardonnay based fizz, M. Peters’ wines are simply mindblowing: insanely complex crystalline encapsulations of both the unique terroir of Champagne’s greatest white wine vineyard and his fanatical attention to detailing every nuance of the fruit. Aside
from the wine, the packaging is some of the most elegant in Champagne, perfect for gifts.

Camille Savès Brut Carte Blanche Premier Cru à Bouzy $49.00
Camille Savès Brut Carte Blanche Premier Cru à Bouzy $27.99 375ml
Camille Savès Brut Grand Cru à Bouzy $60.00
Camille Savès Brut Grand Cru à Bouzy $147.00
As tired a cliché as it seems, these literally DANCE on your palate: they are the most physically active Champagnes we have ever encountered, powered by 100% Pinot Noir from Bouzy (the heart of the beast for Pinot Fizz).
Camille Saves Brut Millesime 2000 Grand Cru Bouzy en Magnum $147.00/ 1.5 liter
Wow! This will teleport you directly to the Oh! My! Gawd! Zone in one quick sip. Direct from the heart of the beast, Bouzy, a village in la Champagne producing perhaps the ripest and most complex Pinot Noir of
all the Grand Crus, this just melted our hearts on the first taste. VERY limited, worth it.

Varnier-Fanniere Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Avize $50.00
Varnier-Fanniere Cuvée Saint Denis Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Avize $56.00
Varnier-Fanniere Grand Vintage Brut 1997 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Avize $66.00
At a Champagne dinner our good friend Sang Yoon, a self confessed”champagne freak”, the proprietor of Santa Monica landmark Father’s Office and a way serious Chef besides (ex Spago, Chinois and Michael’s among others), was expounding on how these amazingly complex and minerally bubblies are “everything I look for in great Champagne”. That’s good enough for us, taste and believe….

Vilmart & Cie Cuvée Grand Cellier Brut à Rilly $59.99 BIODYNAMIC
Vilmart & Cie Cuvée Grand Cellier d’Or Brut à Rilly $67.99 BIODYNAMIC
Vilmart & Cie Coeur de Cuvée 1997 Brut à Rilly $110.00 BIODYNAMIC
Vilmart & Cie Cuvée Grand Cellier Rubis Brut Rosé à Rilly $95.00 BIODYNAMIC
Vilmart & Cie Cuvée Creation Brut 1997 à Rilly $100.00 BIODYNAMIC
Vilmart & Cie Coeur de Cuvée 1992 Brut à Rilly $225.00 MAGNUM BIODYNAMIC
Tom Stevenson’s standard reference to Champagne raves that “…the Vilmart range begins at brilliant and just keeps getting better.” The importer is “…absolutely certain that you will freak over these…drink them when they’re ready and great chambers won’t be able to contain your freaking!” The grapes are bio-dynamically cultivated, painstakingly selected at harvest then every drop is barrel fermented in the grand tradition of Krug and Bollinger with
stunning results and are every bit as age-worthy. The owner professes “we do wine first then we do Champagne”! The Coeur de Cuvée is the top of the line from a producer who has been heralded as making “one of the three greatest Champagnes of the last 25 years” by Stevenson (the other two were Krug). This intense wine is known amongst French collectors as “The Poor Man’s Kru g”.

Argyle Rocks

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argyleextended.jpgOregon’s Argyle Winery continues to provide not only the best values in premium sparking wine, but wines that compete with the world’s finest on a quality basis. However, this time they have outdone themselves on both counts. The 1996 Argyle Extended Tirage Willamette Valley Sparkling Wine is both a stunning sparkling wine and a stunning bargain at $50.

Tirage is the French Champagne term that refers to the time that the wine ages in contact with the lees (the dead yeast cells) in the bottle after the second fermentation that gives sparkling wines its bubbles. This is a process that can add great depth, complexity and texture to fine sparkling wines. “Can” is the operative word here as this is a slow process and the winemaker needs to age the wines for years to attain these attributes.

What makes this wine such a bargain, in addition to its quality, is that while most big brand French Champagnes selling for the same price have not a day more of aging on the lees than the minimum required fifteen months, the Argyle Extended Tirage has been aging on the lees for a full ten years.  Compare a bottle of this wine with big brand Champagne and be prepared to be stunned.

Champagne is no longer what it used to be. The rest of the world has finally not only caught, but surpassed the French. 

Made from 20% pinot noir and 80% chardonnay, this wine offers great freshness and a lively frothy creaminess from the chardonnay and a rich complexity from pinot noir and extended time on the lees. Unfortunately only 584 cases were produced.

Audrey Hepburn

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audrey_tiffanys.jpg

The only thing I could think of was Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: unbelievably beautiful and elegant in a simple black formal.

The inspiration for this vision was one sip of pinot noir perfection: 1992 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurene, graciously shared by Anne Amie Vineyards winemaker Ron Shea with us at dinner last Saturday night.

A fourteen-year-old Oregon pinot noir may seem a bit risky, but there were apparently no chances taken by DDO when they made this wine. Still vibrant, with clean fresh fruit aromas and flavors, this understated beauty soon opened into a graceful, elegant complexity whose layers teased and enticed all the senses. This kind of harmony and balance is what defines pinot noir at its most seductive.

When you taste the perfection this wine has acquired over time, you can’t help but be concerned about what will happen to the current generation of Oregon wines in the future as their fruit-forward, higher alcohol style will never produce the kind of complexity that this 1992 DDO attainted after fourteen years.

When you look at a picture of Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a movie made forty-five years ago, time has only enhanced her beauty. The same should go for fine pinot noir.

Chanterelle Bread Pudding

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Here in wine country we usually think of grapes when it comes to harvest season, but in Oregon it also means something else – mushrooms. Oregon is rich is earthy flavored things from pinot noir, truffles to mushrooms. Among the incredibly wide range of mushrooms available here, the chanterelle is among the finest and most sought after. This bread pudding works wonderfully as a main course or side dish in a more dramatic meal. A natural for pinot noir, but look for a wine driven more by earth than fruit.

The first time I made this it was a bit dry, so don’t be afraid to add more liquid if necessary. I thought it was better the second time around when it was more moist. 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups cleaned and sliced chanterelle mushrooms

1 medium diced onion

6 stalks sliced celery (thin but not too thin)

5 cloves garlic – minced

5 cups cubed, crusty rustic bread a day or two old

2 tablespoons minced fresh sage

2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 cups cream

1 cup milk

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in large sauté pan and sauté gently for two minutes; add celery and sauté for two more minutes. Add garlic and toss for one minute and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, bread cubes, chopped herbs, salt and pepper then mix in the mushroom mixture and set aside.

Butter a baking dish.

Wisk the cream, milk, eggs and egg yolks in a bowl. Pour the egg mixture into the bread mixture and mix gently, but completely.  Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and push down gently.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes, but do not overcook so as not to dry out the egg custard.

Serves 6 as a main course or 12 as a side dish.

La Gramière on Tour

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La Gramière Côtes du Rhône, the new wine from our favorite winemaker bloggers in the Rhône, Amy Lillard and Matt Kling, is on its inaugural world release tour. Pictured here, I show a bottle of  La Gramière  around Oregon’s Willamette Valley and our vineyards at Anne Amie. However much I want to try a bottle of their new wine, as it is unfined and unfiltered I will give it a month or so to adjust to its new surrounding here in Oregon. Natural wines like La Gramière, which are produced with as little intervention as possible, require patience on the part of the consumer as their natural harmony is disrupted by the stress of travel. Just like you are blasted by jet lag when you travel back-and-forth over long distances, natural wines need time and rest to show their best. When the time is right I will share my comments on their new wine. However, I will certainly not “review” it as this wine is a statement of passion shared with us by Amy and Matt and this is to be respected at all costs as something all to rare in winemaking today.

Welcome to Oregon La Gramière!

(you can welcome La Gramière to your house by calling importer Kermit Lynch at 510.524.1524 )

Bitter Barbera

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barbera_vignamartina_pic.jpgI love barbera from Piemonte: racy and bitter with a biting acidity that just sings with food. Therefore it was with great anticipation that I opened a bottle of 2004 Elio Grasso Barbera d’Alba Vigna Martina. On the stove was a pot of boiling water waiting for the fresh spaghetti I just picked up at Pastaworks and a simmering pot of a simple tomato sauce, while on the table awaited some aged Parmigiano Reggiano and a chunk of fresh bread from the excellent Red Fox Bakery. Needless to say I was salivating as I pulled the cork on the barbera. The first sip confused me; where was that barbera bite. I tasted again assuming that I had just missed it, but there was nothing there. This dark ruby wine was full of sweet soft fruit layered with warm vanilla - in other words it was a lot like a merlot. If you insist on all the wines you drink, no matter the variety, taste like merlot - this is the barbera for you. However, if you want a barbera you better look elsewhere. Soft is not what barbera is about.

Always in Motion

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First it started out forward and surprisingly pleasant.

Then it seemed complex and perfect with the meal.

Then it closed down and got tannic.

At first it tasted modern, by the next day it was traditional. 

What makes the best wines interesting is they are always in motion - each sip is a different etude.

Few wines can range more in personality from sip to sip than Barolo and the excellent 2001 Paolo Manzoni Barolo Serralunga fully lives up to that reputation.  While this is a producer that gives more than a tip of the hat to the modern school, here is a  wine that proves you can’t always pigeon hole a wine based only on barrels. In fact, Mazoni uses 500 L. barrels instead of 225 L.  barriques and the results from these larger barrels are very promising both in the Langhe and in Montalcino as many producers in both areas have abandoned small barrels for larger sizes.

Winemaking is an evolutionary process and it is good to see that in the tough world of survival of the fittest that there seems to be a return to terroir movement in winemaking regions throughout the globe.  The barrique craze of the 90’s seems to have lost to the process of natural selection and less intrusive winemaking techniques  are once again becoming the dominate species.

The Eddie Haskell of Wines

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“That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing, Mrs. Cleaver.” 

Leave It To Beaver’s Eddie Haskell was always ready with a empty compliment designed to cover his real character - or lack thereof.  Drinking the 2003 Opus One would be a familiar experience for June Cleaver as this wine well reflects the superficial personality of Haskell.

The 03 Opus is always at the ready with a charming compliment for your palate. Round, sweet tannins here, sweet plush oak there - everywhere your palate looks it’s greeted with oozing charm. However, politeness is the only defining character of this wine.  Behind its charming veneer is emptiness. Just when you think you’ve found something interesting it fades away into the sweet, round velvet of bland consumer correctness.

This is probably not a problem for most Opus drinkers who seek nothing beyond that initial charming compliment as it passes their lips without causing an undo interruption of their conversation, causing not another thought until the check arrives.

At $125+ a bottle, polite is not enough.

 

Kissing the Frogs

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froginglass.jpg• 2005 Petrus: $3000 a bottle
• 2003 Château Margaux: $460.00 a bottle
• 2002 Domaine de la Romanee Conti, La Tache: $1300 a bottle
• 2003 Pegau Châteaunuef du Pape, Cuvée de Capo: $500 a bottle.

Let’s face it, when we think of French wine, we think expensive, elegant, sophisticated and chic. They are the wines you drink at Daniel in Manhattan while wearing the latest from Paris. Unfortunately for the French, only a small percentage of the wines they make fall into this elite category, and the vast majority of the wines they make are unknown and ignored by American consumers.

The world’s most famous and expensive wines are French. French wines are the only wines truly sought after by collectors. While pretenders like Screaming Eagle cause feeding frenzies with American collectors, it’s only the elite French producers that really whip both American and international collectors into a lather.

Certainly no one would argue anymore that the French have a monopoly on great wine. While bruised a bit by the worldwide explosion of interesting, well-made wines, the elite French wine juggernaut rolls on. Evidence of this is the massive coverage of the futures offering of the acclaimed 2005 Bordeaux vintage, which has been a focus of the wine media for months. In fact, a good vintage in Bordeaux still has such an impact that those vintages become great vintages for all regions in the mind of the consumer; even those wine regions with weather, vines and geography that have nothing to do with Bordeaux bask in the reflected glory of great Bordeaux vintages.

As great and historically important as the most famous French wines are, the most exciting thing about French wine is not the bottles for those with trust funds and Ferraris, but the fact that the French are making the best wine values in the world. They simply cannot be beat in the under-$20 a bottle range for making wines that still offer character, personality, and, most of all terroir — that unique sense of place that makes a wine distinct and exciting to drink.

I’ll repeat that: the best wine values in the market today are almost all French. It’s not the new world that offers wine bargains: Australian wines should actually be singular not plural, as they’re all the same jammy syrup with different labels. California wine is personality-free industrial wine produced from the same UC Davis oak-chip recipe; South American wines are thin, flavorless and produced from hopelessly over-cropped vineyards. Only their European neighbors Italy and Spain offer the French any real competition in this under-$20 category.

Ironically, as good as the French (with a lot of help from the British) were at marketing their wines over the past centuries, today they don’t seem able to sell their way out of a brown paper bag. They’ve been blasted out of the value end of the wine market by a bunch of New World wines with cute animals on their labels and snappy names that are easy to remember. This is not to say the French are blameless for this situation — all that junky wine with varietal labels from the Languedoc that flooded the market in the ‘90s convinced a lot of consumers to look elsewhere for everyday wines.

The French Appellation Contrôlée (controlled place-name) system of wine regulations established the structure that allowed French wines to dominate the market for so many years. These regulations established minimum standards for how a wine was grown and made before it could be sold with a particular name. These names were based on place above all else. The variety was important and precisely controlled. For example, a red Burgundy must be 100% pinot noir, and a Sancerre must be 100% sauvignon blanc. You won’t see those names on the label, but their regulation is far more stringent than varietal labeling as used in the New World. For example, a winemaker in California has to use only 75% pinot noir to use the name. While the best California producers would never do that to their pampered pinot noir, you can bet few under $20 are not blended with other, less noble, varietals.

While I love this commitment to place and individual personality in winemaking, the plethora of wine names this has created made a marketing nightmare for the French. Should they give up and change over to naming a wine for the grapes instead of the land? I hope they don’t, and considering the French attitude about all things French I think the names will stay the same. This means that consumers who want to drink good wine at good prices will have to do some homework.

There are so many wonderful French wines out there — the Loire Valley alone is so packed with wine best-buys that to try to keep track of only them can seem daunting. Muscadet shines as the best white wine value in the world right now. Sancerre/Pouilly Fume neighbors Quincy and Menetou-Salon produce stunning, racy sauvignon blancs. The cabernet franc wines from Chinon and Bourgueil are incredibly fragrant and seductive. The list of values from throughout France is endless, with stunning wines coming from Beaujolais, the Rhône, Provence, Lanquedoc-Roussillon and the southwest. Many of these wines come from grapes you have never heard of, but should have — like tannat, manseng, cot, picpoul and poulsard.

Such an extensive list of new words and places can be more intimidating than inspirational, and can make that giant stacking of Yellow Tail at the grocery store look tempting. However, as a few importers are willing do to the work required to not only find such wines and then to hand-sell them bottle-by-bottle, instead of memorizing The Oxford Companion to Wine, just learning the names of these brave few is enough to begin rescuing your palate from the industrial wine that has lulled it into a nap. A quick poll of the patients at WineTherapy.com came up with a list of key importers to search out for French wine bargains:

• Louis/Dressner
• Kermit Lynch
• Weygandt/Metzler
• Neal Rosenthal
• Robert Chadderdon
• Charles Neal
You’ll find their names on the back label, which means all you have to do is pick up that bottle with the strange name and turn it around to see if it’s something worth trying. That’s not too much work, is it?

 

Originally published in The Daily Gullet at eGullet.com