In the streets of New York

I love NY. I love the energy, the streets, the crowd, the rude people, the yellow cabs. I could go on and on. The last few times we went there I could not stop thinking about Alicia Keys whispering in my ears (somehow I will ignore Jay-Z on that one): these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you....Let's hear it for New York.


Check it out. Totally worth it. Watch it till the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDYpqdHO0LI


What does it have to do with wine? I'm not sure Alicia Keys or Jay-Z drink wine, probably a few bottles of Cristal and Dom P but there's nothing you can't do in NY. And one thing you can certainly do is drinking a great bottle of 2004 Clos Rougeard, Les Poyeux. After an interesting cab ride to Brooklyn, we finally managed to get to Vinegar Hill House. In the middle of, well, pretty much nothing, this is a welcoming place with its rustic decor and food. Food was great and this Poyeux was a perfect match with our food. The Foucault brothers make 3 different reds: a generic (but complex) Saumur, the Poyeux and the famous Le Bourg.



This Poyeux needed quite some time to open up as it was really simple and monolithic for about an hour. Then what you expect from Clos Rougeard started to emerge: silky texture, wonderful fruit but more important that refreshing minerality. Nice violets notes as well along a hint of green as well. Overall a nice and enjoyable Poyeux. Light on its feet, probably for the mid term.
It gives you a total sense of place. New York? No, Saumur...

Scotch Garglers Blind Tasting: Nebbiolo

Well the title says it all: we gathered to taste, blind, a serie of Italian Nebbiolo.

The great nebbiolo is responsible for some of the greatest and most long lived wines in Italy.

Instead of restricting the tasting to Barolo/Barbaresco/Langhe we choosed to allow other wines than from Piemonte such as the ones coming from Valtellina (Lombardia) where nebbiolo is known as Chiavennasca (cooler place and wines are usually lighter with even more acidity).

Interestingly, no wines from the eastern part of Piemonte were present in the tasting. Here, known as spanna, nebbiolo is usally blended with some bonarda and/or vespolina. Of course, the most famous DOCs over here are Ghemme, Bramaterra and Gattinara (DOCG)

Tricky to work with, nebbiolo in Piemonte is always the first grape to bud and the last to ripen. Even though it is in Piemonte, its native home, that, at least in my opinion, it achieves its true greatness, nebbiolo still represents less than 5% of the region total production. It says a lot of about the efforts to limit the terroirs and places where nebbiolo is allowed to be grown. Talking about terroir, the grape has shown its best on calcareous marls, which with no surprise, is found in the Barolo and Barbaresco delimitations.


Because no evenings should start without a good Champagne, a Billecart Rose was due and fully did his job. Elegant, lively, med body, red berries with a touch of orange. Hint of nuttiness, great acidity, the wine is dancing. Beautiful rose.

Then, before the nebbiolo serie, 2 wines were tasted double blind.

Wine #1: very aromatic, showing some nice honey, fresh butter, quince notes along a touch of cedar. Also some oxidation notes. My guess was a 2002 Savennieres....well nice try but it was a 1996 Lopez de Heredia, Gravonia (110% Viura).

Wine #2: Tight, very tight with bright dark fruits with hint of cherry and garrigue notes. Even time in the decanter did not open it up. Did not have to guess the wine since it was mine: 2006 Tempier Bandol. A little too supple and less advanced at the same stage than his 2005 little brother.

Now on to the show!



Flight 1

2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe Nebbiolo

Quite plummy with some ripe strawberry and a touch of raspberry.
Very fruit forward, some heat with med tannins.
Not bad but pretty boring.
Never would have guessed nebbiolo.

2006 Rainoldi Valtellina Rosso di Valtellina

Very strange nose, almost yeasty (good call Gabor!). Very soft and velvety, prunes and red fruits with a bitter finish.
Taste somewhat manipulated.
I really did not like this wine.

2004 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis

Classic nose with coffee, leather, cherry and hint of vanilla. Nice fruit with also some blackberry pie notes. Huge tannic structure.
Powerful with a little heat on the finish. Good acidity.
Nice and definitely built to age.

Flight 2

2001 Stefano Farina Barolo

Very ripe nose showing some alcohol. Minty, cherry, leather.
Tannins are fairly agressive and this wine does not show any structure.
Also quite some heat on the finish. Lacks coherence.

2000 Giuseppe Contratto Barolo Tenuta Secolo Cerequio

Darker than most of the other wines from the tasting.
Oaky nose (which somewhat improves with air), polished and extracted but balanced.
Shows nice fruit behind the oak.
Still, for me, the oak is too much. Maybe in 10 years...

2005 De Forville Barbaresco

Nice earthy and smoky notes. Nice red fruits, touch of vanilla with high acidity.
Again cherry and strawberry on the palate, light with tannins which are a little dry.
An interesting and good wine.

Flight 3

1995 Sottimano Barbaresco Pajore Vigna Lunetta

Very very weird...the infamous Club Barolo (thanks to a cocaine like nose).
Vegetal, geraniums,eggplant with huge tannins.
Could not drink it. Flavors were to off putting.
Off bottle?

2005 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco

Ripe and sweet, red/blue fruits. Maybe a touch of VA. Not much going on, really forward.
I was shocked when it was revealed. Now I know this is youg but it lacks (at least this bottle did) structure to go the long way and is made in an early, accesible, ripe, supple style. This is not bad but...

Overall a pretty weak tasting. Poor showing for the majority of wines.
Also, it looks like a lot of producers try to round out the fierce tannins and high acidity of the grape, The results are wines with none or little sense of place.
During this tasting, a lot of times I told myself that, double blind, I would have not guessed nebbiolo. A sign of the times (or maybe I just suck at blind tasting!!!)?



Well we were not ready to stop here so a 1998 Quintarelli Amarone was opened. Boy ! What a great nose. Complex, powerful, aromatic but at the same time it was showing an ultimate elegance. Floral notes along licorice, raisins, dark/blue fruits. Also showing some ultra ripe strawberry. Everything blends perfectly.On the palate, this is pure velvet. 16.5%?? Well no way you can tell as this is insanely balanced. Finish lasts over a minute. A beautiful wine to enjoy on its own...or with some great cigars.

Talking about cigars, late into the night, an amazing Padrón 80 years anniversary and a very good Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 were a perfect match with the Quintarelli.

Scotch Garglers Blind tasting: Reds from Loire

Once again, we all gathered for another blind tasting session. This time: Reds from the Loire ! We were all excited but somehow the wines were a let down...Blame it on a root day!

The wines were served by appelation, blind.








CHINON

2002 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie

• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then

Almost opaque, dark cherry core and bright purple rim. Smoky, cold ashtray nose, hint of bell pepper. You can also sense the elevage but this mellow down with air. Med body, round with supple tannins that still needs a few more years, good structure, some nice cherry notes along some ripe raspberry.
Interesting finish on violets. This wine needs a few more years to gain in complexity and it certainly has a good enough structure and acidity to do it.

2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Danae

• 10-20 year old vines
• Calcareous clay (Millarge and Tuffeau)
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• 12 months in 500l barrels, 1/3 new
• Then 5 to 6 months in tanks

Overoaked, heavy. Are we really in Chinon?!

2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie

• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then

Just as the 2002, very dark cherry core. Eggplant, floral and cold tobacco, slightly jammy fruits in the background.
Med to full body, rather low acidity, some oak on the palate with again those tobacco, inky notes, blackberry.
A little modern.

2005 Domaine de la Noblaie "Les Chiens-Chien"
• 40- to 80-year-old vines
• Limestone and clay above
• Aged 12 months in 2 and 3 year old barrels
• For export only

Bright fruit on the nose, a little barnyard on the nose with a hint of chocolate. Dark ruby, grippy tannins, med body, a little modern and polished, I found this wine a little heavy on the palate and boring.
Disappointing.

2002 Olga Raffault Les Picasses

• Limestone
• 25 to 30 days maceration
• Elevage in 4000l to 5000l fut

Beautiful and elegant nose. Cassis leaf, violets with some red fruits. Balanced, med body with high acidity, nice violet on the palate. The finish is slightly green.
Austere but a pleasure to drink.

1996 Pierre Jacques Druet, Clos de Danzay

• Mix of young and old vines (100 year old)
• 18 to 24 months in barrels
• côteau clay-silico-limestone

Corked!

2006 Bernard Baudry, Les Granges

• Gravel and sand
• Vines planted in 1985-88
• 7 months in tanks

Barnyard on the nose, a touch of licorice (even though there's no oak), leather. Darker fruits on the palate than on the nose.
Not as good as the previous bottle.



BOURGUEIL

2007 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Bourgueil Cuvée Alouettes

• stainless steel,
• Silico-clay soil

Candied juicy red fruits on the nose, almost beaujolais like. A little enjoyable funk.
Grenadine, cranberry, balanced, a little more weight on the palate than the nose would suggest. Easy to drink but not very complex.
Nice little wine from sandy-clay soil.

2006 Domaine de la Butte, Le Haut de la Butte

• Limestone with silex
• 10 year old vines
• 25 hl/ha
• No cultures yeast, no chaptalisation
• Elevage in 6000l wooden cuve for 1/3 then the rest in 2 and 3 year old barrels.

Nice complex nose with a slightly smoky gravelly nose and minerality, fraise des bois and red berries (raspberry and cranberry) along some cassis. A little barnyardy at first, med body, med+ acidity, balanced with smooth tannins.
Easy and immensely pleasurable to drink.



SAUMUR CHAMPIGNY


2003 Clos Rougeard, Les Poyeux

• biodynamic
• 45 year old vines
• Mostly sandy soil
• Raised in 1 year old barrels

Very disappointing showing. The first few sips were really good with a very elegant and complex nose and with an amazing silky texture. But after 10mn, oak (??) started to be overwhelming (only one year old barrels are used, no new) and the wine didn't show any depth, or at least what you could expect from Clos Rougeard.
Go figure what happened here.


PIRATE WINE


2003 Reverie cabernet Franc, Diamond Mountain

This was the pirate in our Loire tasting and boy, everybody knew immediately this was not from the Loire.
Spices, cranberry and raisins, some oak. Full body, almost creamy in texture, low acidity, plummy with blackberry, coffee and vanilla.
I would summarize this wine in one word: BORING.
Finished in the sink. Yuk !





Overall a fun tasting with a lot of wines and surprises. My 1st experience with Domaine Les Chesnaies and I'm not sure what to think. Maybe a touch overdone for my taste. I need to revisit.

A poor showing for my Clos Rougeard..Oh well it happens ! That's the beauty of wine.


It was interesting to see how the winemaker touch is very important here. Even though some common characteristics were showing for each appelation, l'empreinte du vigneron was very obvious.

Scotch Garglers Blind Tasting: Gevrey-Chambertin

Our tasting group, the Scotch Garglers (explanation to follow this spring/summer), gathered to taste blind some Gevrey Chambertin. No particular order meaning village, 1er and grand cru were all mixed up.
It was interesting to see if we were going to be able to recognize the village from the 1er and Grand Cru.








2001 Domaine Arlaud Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes Cuvée Unique Vieilles Vignes

Brickish rim. Beautiful elegant nose with floral and mineral notes. Nice red fruits.
On the palate, also nice and pure red fruits with some herbs, licorice and smoky notes. Refreshing minerality.
Great wine drinking very well right now.

2004 Domaine Fourrier Griottes-Chambertin Vieille Vigne

Showed much more dark fruits than the other wines from the line up along ripe strawberry. Round, more body. The wine is ripe but somehow shows some green tannins.
Got better with time but this will be interesting to see how it is going to evolve.

2005 Mongeard-Mugneret Gevrey-Chambertin

Boy what a great nose! Complex, cherry, red fruits with mushroom and earthy notes. Superb texture with quite a long finish.
Became a little less interesting withair as it became flabby. But this was a stunning wine upon opening.

1996 Sylvie Esmonin (Michel et Fille) Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes

Very barnyardy, cheese rind nose but fruit hidden in the background. Drying finish with some metallic notes.
Recognized the Esmonin right away as I previously had it and, compared to the 97, it's always been a disappointment.

2003 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers

Strange peanut butter notes on the nose. Creamy, low acidity, grenadine and cherry. very forward with oak showing more with air.
A shock when it was revealed it was the Rousseau.
Even more stange that I tried it to make sure the bottle was ok before the tasting and it showed a purity and freshness that could not be found after.

2006 Drouhin-Laroze Gevrey-Chambertin

Bright fruits on the nose with some floral notes. Very tannic with an unpleasant drying finish.
Palate is less exhuberant than the nose and thin with a short, slightly green finish.
Overall I really did not like this wine.

2005 Louis Latour Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers

Shy nose not showing much at first. Red fruits and earthy notes. Not bad but undramatically drinkable.

2000 Domaine Pierre Gelin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze

A Rather modern nose with some heat on the finish. Smoky oak but with an interesting earthiness and iodine notes.
Enjoyable.

Conclusion

My favorites were:

1- Arlaud Combottes
2- Mongeard Mugneret
3 - Fourrier Griottes
4 - Gelin Beze
5 - Rousseau Cazetiers
6- Latour Cazetiers
7 - Esmonin VV
8 - Drouhin Laroze


A great tasting overall with a lot of surprises.
-The 1st one was the very 1st wine itself! We all though this was a Grand Cru and I was not expecting to see that finesse with Arlaud.
-The Fourrier was a little disapointing, especially giving I usually enjoy his wines a lot.
-The Mongeard Mugneret was just stunning! I though it was the Rousseau (as the Rousseau was one of my wines and I tasted it before). Well not at all ! EVen if the wine did not show as well 3h after being opened, I say Bravo!
-Talking about the Rousseau, I wonder if someone changed the wine after I uncorked it! Unrecognizable, what happened? well I don't know, that's why I may have to drink another 4379 burgundies to try to start understanding those wines...!
-The Gelin, rather "modern", was interesting and enjoyable. I thought it was a Grand Cru because of the pure and long finish.

Overall, the straight village, well showed as such except for the Mongeard of course. Otherwise, pretty much everyone was spot on on the level of the wines..
Aren't we good? :-)

A wine for your soul

Sometimes things happen where they should not...Here we are, in front of that bottle of Frappato from Arianna Occhipinti in Sicily.


We're talking, discussing, laughing, eating.. oh yeah and drinking this beautiful Frappato...This wine talks to me, moves me. It's pure, real and unfortunately, it's already gone.. Well after all, this is the destiny of great wines: to be shared and drunk.
So why this wine? Well to be honest I don't know. Is it the flavor profile? is it its purity? is it its freshness and balance? Hard to say because all the components blend perfectly together.

Made from young vines (8 years), this 2007 is superb. Floral and red berries, great acidity and balance, a slight touch of oak and a drinkability that would make Bud Light cries... (I have to admit it kills me to mention Budweiser here...!)

Grazie to the Occhipinti team !

An afternoon with Anselme Selosse

A reflexion on a visit to Anselme Selosse back this January.


AN AFTERNOON SPENT WITH THE MASTER: ANSELME SELOSSE - Avize (1/14/2010)

Thursday January 14th. 2.30 PM. After a snowy day in Champagne, the sun is shinning again. Shops are closed, no traffic, this is a quiet day in Avize…so quiet that I can hear my heart pounding: I’m finally going to meet Anselme Selosse. I read a lot about him, heard a lot and enjoyed his wines a lot as well…Am I going to be disappointed after such anticipation? Well….all I can say is WOW! The first thing you notice when you enter in the small office of the house is a bunch of books: “La philosophie du jardinier”, books on the Tao, on geology… Calling Anselme a winemaker would be wrong: he’s much more than that. Call him an artist, a philosopher, a poet…and oh yeah he also makes wine.
Spending 3 hours with him is hard to transcript. There is too much information and the exchange is constant. Anselme believes in letting the terroir speaks and intervene as little as possible in the vineyard. Each crus (Avize, Le Mesnil, Cramant, Oger, Ay, Ambonnay, Mareuil) , each parcelles (47), are unique and express themselves in a different way.
Least you can say he is not a big fan of biodynamic movement. He simply wants to let the soil do the work and want us to be able to taste the uniqueness of each sites in the bottle.
For Anselme, a wine is influenced by “l’inné et l’acquis” or if you want "nature versus nurture" or “skills versus knowledge”. L’inné for the wine is the soil, this is what he gets from the terroir. L’acquis is the vintage.
His wines are raised in barrels (like it was common to do before 1959 in Champagne) which are changing every year. Indeed the size and type of oak will depend on the millesime, on the peeps of the grapes etc... Then the juice goes into the cellar for up to 7.5 years.
After the tour of his new installations, the new press, and his cellar, Anselme looks at us and with a malicious tone asks us: “So, what are we trying today?” Oh oh…can I tell him let’s try all your wines! He loves to have you try some wines which are not released or experiments he made because this is Anselme: believe, respect and try. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t (like the noir de blanc (!) he tried to make).
We finally decide to try the 1999, 2002, Le Mesnil 2003, the rose and “il etait une fois”.

At the end of the tasting, I tell Anselme that I came to see him hoping to understand a little better his wines but really, I think I’m even more puzzled now than before. He smiles and says: “that was exactly what I’m trying to achieve”. Well said Mr Selosse and thank you for 3 hours that I will never forget.






2003 Jacques Selosse Champagne Blanc de Blancs Les Carelles

100% Chardonnay from the site called Les Carelles in Le Mesnil.
I'm not sure how this will be released.

Fantastic wine with some apricot, quince, cooked orchard fruits. A lot of acidity and a champagne with a huge density. Some nice honey notes on the palate completes a very complex and balanced wine.

1999 Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut

100% chardonnay from Avize.
Disgorged early feb 2009.
Boy oh boy ! Biggest champagne I have ever tasted but still balanced and fresh thanks to a strong minerality.
This wine already starts to show truffles and mushroom notes along with persimmon and grapefruit notes.
As Anselme was noting, un "vin sudiste" and ripe even though it was hard to tell this was 14.2%.
He tried to have a derogation form the INAO to not add any sugar after the 1st fermentation in the liqueur de tirage but this was rejected...
I would wait a few years to open this and this is a champagne which absolutely needs food !

2002 Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut

100% chardonnay from Avize.

Disgorged in front of us and will be released in 2012.
Hard to taste as this was just disgorged and no dosage yet. Anselme will decide in 2 years how to dose the wine.
As always not much bubbles but a gorgeous nose with a lot citrus fruits, orange notes. A refreshing light bitterness on the finish (think roots) and like many Selosse wine, a strong mineral backbone.
To my taste, this wine does not need any dosage at all but who knows in 2 years?
Anyway, a terrific champagne in the making and already very complex.

N.V. Jacques Selosse Champagne Rosé

For this rose, Anselme uses pinot from Egly-Ouriet.
This bottle was mainly using 2002 grapes.

I loved the nose with a nice minerality and small red fruits. Upon opening a touch of iodine, sea water. Somehow a delicate wine compared to the other Selosse.
The palate is a little less complex but this needs time in the glass.

N.V. Jacques Selosse Ratafia de Champagne il etait une fois

Ratafia de Champagne, 100% chardonnay.

For this sweet wine, Anselme uses 4 small barrels of chardonnay that he leaves outside for 6 years and then adds fine de champagne. 15% alcohol and close to 168g/l of sugar.
I just loved this juice. Orange, spices, raisins with a crazy long finish on walnuts.
Not heavy, not too sweet, nice balance.
A perfect example of how Selosse have fun and always tries to do different things.

It is really hard to understand Selosse champagne. Very vinous, not very bubbly. Rather big, oxidative style, you need to spend some time with it in the glass to appreciate.
It's always difficult to put words on the aromatics and flavors. You have to take those wines as a whole and go for it.
But you always have this freshness thanks to the strong minerality and whether you like Selosse or not, it never leaves you indifferent.

Thank you mr Selosse.