Magic with no tricks

After our blind tasting on sauvignon blancs from all over the world, we all agreed that this grape became uninspiring and a commercial caricature with no depth, elegance or class. Only a handful winemakers can work with this grape and do magic (Cotat, Boulay etc..).
I was lucky enough to recently try one sauvignon blanc who gave me back some hope. When I drunk this bottle, I asked myself what is the trick behind to do such an amazing wine. Well, thing is there's no trick at all: no chemicals as the domain is organic, no sulfur at all (neither during fermentation and bottling), no additives. I told you: no tricks.
The wine is from Les Cailloux du Paradis and its winemaker Claude Courtois who has been working naturally for a very long time. He is located in Soings en Sologne, 150km east of Saumur.

This 2008 cuvée is called Quartz, a vin de France, made from old sauvignon blanc vines and most of them are franc de pied i.e. pre-phylloxera. The very obvious thing is that this does not taste like any other sauvignon blanc. The terroir and winemaker managed to sublime the grape here. This is ripe but has a tremendous acidity and showed pear and spices (the wine is vinified and raised in barrels) and finally the minerality takes over while it keeps evolving in your glass. Only 11.8% (!!!), this is a wine with no sulfur added, and needs time to blossom. Much, much better on day 2. The way the power, acidity and minerality are managed remind me of Francois Cotat.

Do yourself a favor, get out and grab a bottle and let the wine takes you away.

Laundry list

A short post to talk about a few wines, tasted double blind, just before our white Burgundy tasting.




2004 Domaine de Montbourgeau L'Etoile (Jura): Very well made and balanced Etoile. Mostly Chardonnay with a little dash of Savagnin.
Unmistakably Jura, elegant oxidation, some light curry and spicy notes with yellow apple. Nice even though this is a little simple.

2009 Michel Delhommeau Muscadet, Cuvée St. Vincent
Spicy mineral pear with citrus. Hint of orange and some exotic fruit. A touch of yeast. With air, the minerality fades and the exotic fruits become more apparent. Floral as well.
It's enjoyable but definitely ripe, especially for Muscadet.
None of the blind tasters recognised muscadet and some even went to Languedoc or CdP.....



2005 Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Marine: Upon opening, nose was all lemon butter milk. More energy on the palate with again lots of lemon. Round, showing a little bit of heat (although only 12.5%) and nutmeg.
The finish is a little flat.

1999 Fred Magnien, Chassagne Montrachet Les Morgeots (Rouge): well this is definitely ripe. The oak is still lingering, not totally integrated yet. It is definitely Burgundy but quite modern and I'm not a big fan of this ripeness and texture.

2008 Vincent Prunier Bourgogne rouge: Light cherry core. There's a caramel, nutty tone on the nose. Nice floral notes and red currant. Round with med- acidity. It's a little sweet on the palate with ripe strawberry. My guess was Oregon pinot. It's ok but a little overdone for my taste. People liked it much better than I did. Surely well made.


2000 Edmond Duclaux Côte-Rôtie: Very tight on the 1st night showing absolutely no Northern Rhone character. Then on the 2nd day, the nose was great: plenty of olives and floral notes with bell pepper and ham. The palate is slightly stewed though and the wine lacks finesse. With a little more freshness, this would have been much more enjoyable.
2005 Damien Laureau Anjou Clos Frémur: Almost opaque and viscous in the glass. A lot of violets and cassis with a touch of bell pepper. There's also a beam of raspberry fruit in this dark mix. Firm tannins. This is a massive wine. Almost like a raspberry liquor on the palate wrapping licorice an charcoal. Ripe. I liked it much more the 1st time I tried it. This time, it was too powerful. A big steak would help here for sure. But I think I like his Savennieres (which are awesome) much more.

Selosse and Huet: masters of their domain

To start my Bday dinner, my wife prepare some pasta dough and created some Lemon ravioli. This is a great dish and we needed 2 whites to go along. A friend brought the 1996 Huet Le Mont Sec and I opened a Selosse Initiale (disgorged nov 2007).


I was super excited to try an aged Huet as all the ones I had were only 2 to 4 years old. This turned out to be a great experience. The Huet showed a rich nose with honey, pumpkin, quince with hint of flint. Dry, borderline of having a touch of RS, the high acidity gives the wine plenty of energy in spite of its fatness. Lemony honey with the slightest hint of oxidation. What I loved was the Chenin character.

The Selosse, as always was a unique experience. This bottle was more oxidative than the last one I had. The nose was stunning and complex. The oak is so well used. You feel like drinking a white Burgundy (with a hint of Jura in this bottle !). There's a strong minerality associated with ripe fruits.

Both wines were perfect with the lemon raviolis. But even more interesting maybe was that the 2 wines showed similar characteristics: oxidative notes, richness, high acidity and minerality. I would not have thought about it before but the luck of drinking those 2 wines side by side opened my eyes.

I will always keep learning....

Sauvignon blanc is fucked up.....

Wow...It is said that you often learn more from your mistakes than from your victories. Well in our case, we learn more from the bad than from the good. Very interesting and disappointing as the same time.

We went through a pretty large blind tasting of 15 Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. 5 flights of 3 wines, totally blind...and boy our taste buds suffered.

2006 Paul Achs Sauvignon Blanc - Austria, Neusiedlersee
Some golden hues. Light kiwi notes with some citrus and hint of flint. Smoky palate with citrus finish. Wine really lacks acidity. With time, strawberry notes appear.
My guess was Aussie...hum....

2009 Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc Te Muna Road Vineyard - New Zealand, Martinborough
Started witn a pungent nose of banana candy. Settled down the next day with more floral, apple and spicy notes.
If the nose changed, the palate stays heavy because of its fatness. The citrus and grapefruit notes can not even help.
Guessed NZ.

2008 Francis Blanchet Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes - Pouilly-Fumé
Started with some weird savory notes. It then evolved to show more flint. But overall it stayed quite shy.
On the 1st day, the wine was barely drinkable as the acid was out of control. I thought the wine was totally acidified. On the 2nd day, it lost the acidity and became almost too flabby and round with modest citrus notes as well. The acidity on the attack still seems fake.
My 1st guess on the 1st day was Chile.
I really don't know what to think of that wine: one day it was way too acid and the next it was flabby.....Huh?

2006 Alois Gross Sauvignon Blanc Sulz - Austria, Südsteiermark
Very aggressive nose. Cat pee, liter box. Grapefruit and over sweet. Totally disliked the wine.
Guessed NZ.
2009 Pascal & Nicolas Reverdy Sancerre Terre de Maimbray - Sancerre
Light red fruits with a hint of mint. There's some acidity on the attack but the finish has no zip.
Boring.

2008 Henri Bourgeois Quincy Haute Victoire - Quincy
Some grapefruit and citrus notes on the nose. A touch grassy with some orange skin on the palate. Med acidity.
It's a balanced and well made wine but rather simple. Price should be $12 and not $25...
The acid gives away the country of origin.

2008 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand, Marlborough
Cat pea and green peas nose. Low acid, very soft and round, a little more lemon on the palate. Ripe with a sensation of residual sugar and licorice.
This is way too flabby and ripe for my taste.
Guessed NZ.

2009 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc - South Africa, Western Cape
Quite smoky nose with asparagus.
Lemon and grapefruit with light mineral notes and med acidity. A pleasant wine.
The smokiness leads you to South Africa here. This is actually pretty decent and enjoyable.

2007 Jean-Claude Châtelain Pouilly-Fumé Domaine de Saint-Laurent-L'Abbaye

Hint of honey, marzipan and butter on the nose...not what I would expect.
Some nice lemon and light mineral notes on the palate but on the finish the wine is completely falling apart like it was 10 years older...Go figure. Not a good wine based on this bottle.
In spite of those flaws, this has a Pouilly profile.

2008 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc - Napa Valley
Started very sulphury. Exotic fruit with a touch of mint with some alcohol.
It's harsh and painful to drink. Disgusting. Terrible.

2009 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva - Chile, Casablanca Valley
A little dirty on the nose with some cooked onions notes along with wet grass and lemon.
Ripe with an annoying sweetness sensation. Good thing is that the palate is not exploding with over the top varietal notes, only showing discreet fruit and a touch of grass but, as many, this is a tiring wine.
Guessed Chile because of the funkiness.

2007 Thomas & Fils Sancerre La Crele

Shy nose showing some mineral and light smoky notes. Good acid, the palate is also restrained, matching the nose with refreshing light bitter notes on the finish. Interesting cassis leaf notes.
A good wine to match with proper seafood.
Initial guess was Pouilly Fume because of the low fruit.

2008 Hewitson Sauvignon Blanc Lulu - Australia, Adelaide Hills
Totally fake nose, herbal candy like with nail polish. Big with again some herbal notes and taste way too sweet.
Guessed Aussie.

2009 François Chidaine Touraine Val de Loire Sauvignon - Touraine
Very varietal, grassy and a little harsh. Too ripe, spicy apple with grapefruit.
Overall the wine is too aggressive and ripe.
Guessed Cali SB !

2009 Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc - Russian River Valley
Creamy nose, peach custard. Licorice on the nose.
Sweet exotic fruit on the palate. Big. Lots of melon with coconut on the sweet finish.
Exactly what I don't like...This is a cocktail wine.

Man, we did have a bunch of crappy wine.

Two major flaws (at least for our group) were:

-SB became a caricature. Many producers are trying to emphasize the varietal side of the grape without attempting to capture any subtlety or finesse.

-The wines are way too SWEET for God's sake. I know many consumers will love this sweetness in those wines but man this is freaking tiring. You drink half a glass and your palate is shot.

Also, Adelaide Hills is a pretty cool region but the Hewitson was really candied. Why?

The Merry Edwards is adored by many people on wine boards and I believe was proclaimed as the best SB in America by Wine Spectator...hum...yeah...and next year I'm playing with the Red Wings on their 1st line.

The Mulderbosch was a pretty good surprise and overall the French SB were often more balanced and showed more acidity.

I think this tasting made me realise how hard, how difficult it is to make a good sauvignon blanc. Of course, this is personal and many people love many of the wines we tasted. Good for them and for the winemakers. Everybody has a different palate and will love different wines. But in my opinion this grape has became a tool for mass market wines, vinified in a way to please the crowd.

Maybe more than for any other grapes, I buy and drink only from a handful of producers: Francois Cotat, Edmond Vatan, Gerard Boulay, Alphonse Mellot and Pascal Cotat. To a lesser extent Claude Riffault and Gitton are also doing a good job.

What are your go to producers for SB?

Some "feels good" wines

We went back home for 3 days and he was great to be in sunny Paris. After having lunch with a good friend, I realised how I missed the French bistrots where you can eat some simple but delicious food along nice wines without having to pay $80 for the bottle.

So to go along the kidneys, we choosed a 2008 Domaine Richaud Cairanne. Marcel Richaud is a famous name in the Cotes du Rhone appelation. A few times his wines have been refused by the INAO because of a lack of tipicity. Hum....lack of tipicity? I think they're were just too good and different from many crappy CdR so the INAO had to refuse them. Anyway, Marcel Richaud is a fantastic winemaker respecting the terroir and grapes. Manual harvest, indigenous yeast, no acididification or chaptalisation...you get the picture. This 2008, while young (obviously) was perfect along the kidneys and entrecote. Totally open and showing very well. Floral and mineral on the nose with garrigue and licorice. Mainly dark fruits and earthy notes. It's already balanced and will only improve with time. The 14.5% are well integrated. You want to taste where the wine comes from and with the 1st sip you know you are in Provence.

Along the turbo for dinner, a superb 2008 Francois Cotat, Les Monts Damnes was sacrificed. I say sacrificed because Francois' wines needs 10 years. But boy, it's too hard to wait that long! As predicted, this was really tight. Wet rocks and cassis leaf. Powerful on the palate. Not much fruit right now but I love the acidity and light mineral notes. As usual it is never a disappointment with Francois!This needs to go to sleep for a few years.

Different register the next day with a Jérôme Prévost La Closerie Les Beguines (LC07) and a 1999 Clos Rougeard.

Jérôme Prévost started doing his champagnes in Selosse's cellar because of a lack of...cellar! His 1st vintage is 1998 as he was previously selling his grapes.
He harvests at a high degree of ripeness in order to avoid chaptalization and fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts in 450- to 600-liter oak barrels. While never a declared vintage champagne, he uses grapes from a single year and the code on the bottle (LCxx) indicates the millesime. The 2007 is a great extra brut. 100% pinot meunier from old vines, there's not really one fruit coming out but instead a complex array of aromas. Impeccable balance, it made me think of a white burgundy with a touch of cognac oak like.You can definitely see the Selosse influence here even though this champagne is not as vinous. Took a little time to open up. Might be a good idea to decant it for 20-30mn.

The Clos Rougeard was no surprise: it was just awesome. A little decanting was in order and this Clos Rougeard was in a soft spot. Intoxicating and complex nose with a touch of cedar, lots of tobacco, a touch of bell pepper. All that is backed up by a good and fresh fruit. Round, it shows more earthy notes on the palate with a long finish. The balance is where it should be with a nice acidity. It somehow reminded me a little bit of a Bordeaux with more acidity and earthy notes. Simply delicious and à point.

How can you not feel good after wines like this?!

Where is that chalkboard?

Temps are rising fast here in Chicago. Don't get too excited though, the way the weather goes here we might get some snow next week.


Anyway, enjoy the things while they last they say, so we decided to open a little Muscadet: 2004 Claude Branger, Terroir Les Gras Moutons (Domaine de La Haute Févrie).



Claude Branger is a member of Terra Vitis, an organization that sets guidelines for sustainable farming and monitors its members' practices to ensure quality control.
Unlike most growers he harvests by hand and ferments with native yeast.

Old vines (40-70) with a lot of granit, gneiss, this wine is pure chalk. If you could solidify it, you could write with chalk sticks..

Good fruits (think pear, lemon and green apple), almost full body by Muscadet standards, nice refreshing bitterness through floral notes, it finishes strong and is quite luscious. Interesting hazelnut note as well. Superb.
Now, where's that chalkboard?

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: 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.