Friday Night Bubbles
Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2008 Wine Tasting
Here is a Champagne I've seen on the shelves for months now, but at about $45 a bottle, not tasted. I mean, I can't taste evey Champagne that interests me, can I?
Over time, maybe I can (assuming I continue to do well in my poker game). The real limiting factor, actually, is whether or not the wines are imported to New York. Vazart-Coquart, for example, is available here and there, but I've only seen the entry level wine, the Brut Réserve Blanc de Blancs. What happens if you taste the entry level wine and love it, as I did, and might want to taste the vintage wines, or their Tête de Cuvée (top wine)?
Good luck. Grower Champagne is still making headway in the US market and when it comes to the Têtes de Cuvée, they can be difficult if not impossible to find in stores. At least the At least the Vazart-Coquart Brut Réserve is available. It's delicious.
NV Vazart-Coquart Brut Réserve Blanc de Blancs, $43, Becky Wasserman Champagne et Villages. Vazart-Coquart is in Chouilly in the Côte de Blancs, and their vines, as such, are almost all Chardonnay. This wine has a very focused nose of chalk, lemon cream, fresh bread, and some sort of spice, maybe caraway seed. The nose is narrow but very deep and expressive. The palate is delicate and well balanced. It starts with almost sappy lemon oil, then fresh baked biscuits on the mid-palate, and then comes a very mineral chalky finish. This is very satisfying to drink, with great depth of aroma and flavor. It is elegant and powerful, and just delicious.
If you know where to buy Vazart-Coquart's vintage and Tête de Cuvée, lemme know. Happy Friday night.
Natural Yeasts and Terroir
Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2008 Wine Tasting
Here is a quote from Philippe Pacalet, wine maker in Burgundy. Pacalet wrote an introduction to Jules Chauvet's "Etudes Scientifiques." Chauvet is thought of as the father of natural wine making in France, and Etudes Scientifiques is a collection of his studies and writings. This quote is lifted from an article on the Chambers Street Wines website. The whole essay is worth reading, but this quote particularly caught my attention:
The entire theme dedicated to indigenous yeasts is eloquent on this subject: to make a wine of terroir, one must utilize the biomass (yeasts, bacterias, funghi, microbial life) existing in this terroir. The quality of these native yeasts, that is to say their biodiversity, is essentially tied to this notion of terroir. The different types of yeasts which succeed each other in the course of the alcoholic fermentation are thus a “key” which reveals to us the vineyard’s unique characteristics and typicity.Makes sense, right?
Mark Vlossak makes wine at St Innocent, one of my favorite Oregon producers. Three out of every four years, as conditions allow, Mark uses no sulfur dioxide during fermentation. Sulfur dioxide suppresses the natural yeast strains, and he doesn't want to do that. He likes "the things that grow" without sulfur dioxide during fermentation, what they add to aroma and flavor. But Mark says that the natural yeasts at his disposal cannot ferment past 5 or 6% alcohol and often produce "stinky" by-products. Here is what he said when I asked him whether or not using natural yeasts is important to him:
There are no unnatural yeasts. All yeasts used to make wine are derived from indigenous cells. Just like vines are propagated from cuttings, sometimes from other places, yeasts are derived from cells. The real question is, are the yeasts a good match for the terroir and the wine you are trying to make.This also makes sense, right? If the natural yeasts cannot turn juice into wine, or do so but also contribute nasty aromas, then you have to supplement with other yeasts. The question is not whether or not the wines taste good, but do they express the terroir in the Dundee Hills or in whichever of St Innocent's plots we are talking about?
Greg Sandor of Bridge Urban Winery talks about how exciting it was for him to participate in an experiment at Cornell University in which 40 different yeasts were used to ferment the same grape juice, about tasting the results and determining which strain makes the best wine. I don't know if he brings that approach to making wines at Bridge, but if he did, would that render his North Fork of Long Island wines terroir-less?
Can wine express terroir without naturally occurring yeasts? Must you use only the naturally occurring yeasts, or can they be supplemented with industrial yeasts? There are people with very strong opinions on this issue. I am not one of them, as I just don't know enough about it.
But I will say this - insisting that nothing "unnatural" be added to wine might rule out a lot of wines in the terroir department, most Champagnes and many Burgundies, for example. Sugar, a human-made chemical no more or less natural than sulfur dioxide is added to Champagne in the dosage, and to some Burgundy wines if they are chaptalized. So do only non-dosage Champagnes and un-chaptalized Burgundies express terroir? I think you can shoot yourself in the foot trying to make hard and fast rules.
I gravitate towards the Pacalet way of thinking, which I see as akin to the Alice Waters way of cooking and eating. But I don't think of it as "correct" in a universal sense, something that everyone should do, like thou shalt not use unnatural yeasts or something.
For me wine is food, and I like to learn about the ingredients before buying it. Loading this information on a wine label is impractical, expensive, and unromantic. It would be great if there were some cost-effective way to gather and display this information so that interested consumers can go to one source before making purchases.
Wine Splurge Update
Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2008 Wine Tasting
Back in January I lamented my past wine splurge results. Many of you commented with excellent suggestions, some of which I wound up using for Splurge 2007. Yeah, just like the NY State legislature, my budget comes out later than it's supposed to. But the good news is that I had a little more to spend than the $400 that I originally planned on. More like $550.
In the end I decided to go with what I love, what I know will make me incredibly excited and happy on the day I open it. So I bought one magnum of 1979 Veuve-Clicquot La Grande Dame for $525 and there you have it.
What, I can't play games with you on April Fool's Day?
C'mon folks, I didn't buy that wine. I stuck with Burgundy and grower Champagne. I couldn't bring myself to splurge yet on Syrah or on Italian or German wines. I have to spend more time understanding the everyday versions before jumping into the major leagues. Very few people can successfully go from single A ball right to the majors.
So here is what I got, in order of price (most expensive to least) and your comments praising or lambasting me are most welcome:
2005 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Beaux Bruns
2005 Louis Boillot Pommard 1er Cru Les Fremiers
2005 Louis Boillot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Champonnets
2002 Jose Dhont Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Mes Vieille Vignes
2002 Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs
2000 Lassaigne Champagne Brut Nature Montgueux
1999 Billiot Champagne Grand Cru Brut
I'm pretty psyched, indeed. Now, who'd like to lay bets on how long I can keep my hands off of these beauties?
By The Glass - Oregon Pinot Edition
Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2008 Wine Tasting
In the past month or so I've tasted a few 2005's, some old familiar faces and some from producers that are pretty much new to me. Although there are problems with the wines in general (too sweet to my palate), on the whole I much prefer them to the 2004's we tasted during our recent Five Nights of Oregon Pinot festivities. And one of them was excellent by any standard.
They're calling 2005 a "classic" vintage in Oregon. If you haven't tried Oregon wine because you're a Burgundy lover, you might try something from 2005. Alcohol levels are on par with Burgundy at about 13%, there is very good acidity, and the wines are pretty well balanced. This is an Oregon vintage that can please Burgundy lovers. Fine - the wines are still very sweet, but it is what it is.
2005 Adelsheim Pinot Noir Quarter Mile Lane Vineyard, $44. The finest wine of this group, by a few lengths. This is why I got into Adelsheim in the first place. Unmistakably Oregon in the wild cherry cough syrup department, but there is much more going on here too. There is a great earthy mushroomy note on the nose, and the sweet wild cherry aspect is quite lovely. The flavors echo the nose, and the mid-palate expands to include slightly rusty minerals, the sweet cherries ride the acids all the way through to the finish, which is complex with herbal notes, and very persistent. This is delicious wine, no doubt about it. And at 13% alcohol, you can actually taste your food while drinking it. It improved on day 2, gaining both smoothness and complexity. This is the same price as an 05 village-level Burgundy and it offers at least that level of pleasure.
2005 St Innocent Pinot Noir White Rose Vineyard, $41. White Rose Vineyard is St Innocent's smallest lot. It's at an elevation of 820', pretty high up there for Oregon Pinot vineyards. This vineyard generally does well in hot years - St Innocent's White Rose Pinot was my favorite Oregon wine from the incredibly hot 2003 vintage. In 2005, not a terrible hot year, there were only 234 cases made of this wine. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did either the 2003 or the 04, this one was more simple. Certainly very pleasant - sweet red fruit flavors, lots of cherry cola, pretty good balance too and not too high in alcohol - 13.5%. It's just that there was little complexity, nothing to think about. Maybe it needed more time in the bottle, although I always drink White Rose a year or two from release and enjoy it.
2005 Cameron Pinot Noir Arley's Leap Vineyard, $28. I've tasted Cameron's wines before, but only once at home with dinner, and that was a solid four years ago. This is from a parcel of younger vines, and the wine is not meant for extended cellaring. On the nose this is brimming with dark cherries and there are also herbal hints, but there is some cherry cough syrup too, and it's a bit cloying. Beautifully ripe fruit though, and nicely balanced with acidity. Hard to put my finger on what, but there is something missing here, something preventing me from really sinking my teeth into this wine. It's kind of a one-hit-wonder. At only 12.5% alcohol, though, they've made a sweet and enjoyable young drinking Pinot that will not make you fail your breathalyser on the trip home.
2005 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir en Dessous Seven Springs, $26. Not sure why they don't just call this "Anden," as Anden is the vineyard that is en dessous (underneath) Seven Springs, but anyway...I like Evesham Wood so far, and I've tasted five or six wines, but never at home with dinner, so this was a first. Lots of cherry cola on the nose, verging on cough syrup, with hints of earth underneath. There is alcohol too on the nose, although it's only 13% according to the label. The palate is blueberry skins, vanilla, and a bit of prune. How do they make wine this sweet in an only moderately hot year, picking in early October? It's magic, I tell you. This is simple and pleasant, but it is not a style of Pinot that I prefer.
2002 Bethel Heights Flat Block Reserve, price unknown. Just for kicks, a more mature wine from Deetrane's cellar. My first ever taste of a Bethel Heights wine, and this is supposed to be their top cuvee. I thought this was in a great place for drinking, as some of the primary cherry fruit had receded and been joined by silky wet soil and iron minerality - a well balanced and elegant wine that left lovely mouth aromas of cherry and earth.
Friday Night Bubbles
Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2008 Wine Tasting
2006 Zucchi Lambrusco di Sorbara Rosato, $13, Selected Estates of Europe. I'm a Lambrusco fan, without question. I love cracking open a chilled bottle in warm weather, serving it with a plate of cured meats and cheese, surprising people with red sparkling wine. This one, sadly, was not so great.
We've had the regular Zucchi Lambrusco before and we really liked it - we enjoyed some on Thanksgiving last year. But this bottle, the Rosato version, was not as satisfying. A beautiful light purple color to be sure, but the nose was full of bubblegum candy (no like) and medicine (like). The overall effect was just odd, like drinking herbal grape BubbleYum. And the palate exactly echoed the nose, with no further nuance to lift it up. We saved half the bottle for day 2 (a dead give away that we weren't crazy about it), and nothing changed. I'm ready to hear that I got a bad bottle, because I know that many people love this wine. But I think it's just not my style.
It just didn't feel right to leave you with a so-so bottle on a Friday. So we opened another sparkling wine during the week.
Guy Bossard is an esteemed producer of still wines in the Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine appellation in the Loire Valley. Certified by Demeter, Bossard's vineyards are farmed biodynamically. I was psyched to see that he makes a sparkling wine too, although to be honest I haven't heard much about sparklers from Muscadet. Cider - yes. Bubblies made from Melon de Bourgogne...new to me. Do the other big-name Muscadet producers, like Olivier, Landron, or Luneau-Papin make sparkling wine also, but wine that is not exported?
Anyway, this wine was quite unusual, and we liked it. As you might imagine, this wine is all about minerals. NV Bossard-Thuaud Vin Mousseaux, $18. The nose was very chalky and airy, a very nice nose. But it didn't gain anything in complexity after the first three minutes open, even on day 2 (again, dead giveaway). The palate is intensely mineral, with bitter preserved lemon and green apple skin hints, and lingering mouth aromas of salty wet rocks.
Okay, not every bottle can be great. That's part of the fun. I hope your Friday night bubbles are a bit more satisfying than these were.
Two Great Values from the Loire Valley
Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2008 Wine Tasting
Even though the Euro commands more than one and a half dollars, there are serious and beautiful wines to be had from the Loire Valley for under $20. Cellar-worthy wines too.
Here are two very fine examples :
2005 Château d'Epiré Savennières Cuvée Spéciale
2006 Puzelat Touraine PN, $18, Louis/Dressner Imports. That's right, this is Pinot Noir, and it's delicious, AND it's $18. No, I'm not trying to trick you, I am absolutely serious. The o6 vintage says "PN" on the label, not Pinot Noir, by the way. This has a slightly funky nose of mushrooms and dried leaves, but also of red fruits and violets. A lovely palate of ripe fruit and earth with a bit of rusticity. The tannins have not been polished out of this wine, they are right there and gently providing all the structure you could want. There is a buzz of energy to this wine that makes it great on its own, but even better with food. You could do roast duck, any kind of game, and mushroom soup or risotto would be great too. If you can find this just buy whatever they have, you will not be disappointed. I would enjoy drinking this one over the next year.
Bridge Urban Winery & Tasting Room
Date: Sun, Mar 23, 2008 Wine Tasting
There is a winery located in Brooklyn. No kidding, there really is. They don't grow the grapes here, which I have to think is a good thing. They don't actually make the wine here either - they do that at a contract wine making facility in Mattituck, Long Island. But Bridge Urban Winery does have barrels and a steel tank and plans to make small lots of wine at their Brooklyn facility beginning in 2008.
Right now Bridge Winery is more of a wine bar, and it's a very good one. Owners Greg Sandor 
and Paul Wegimont have been in the Long Island wine world for some time now, and they've selected their favorites from the various New York wine regions to feature at the bar. In fact, it's only New York wine at this place. And since they're licensed as a winery, they can both serve wine and sell it retail. So you can pick up a bottle to bring home if you like what you taste.
Is it a stretch to serve only New York State wines at a wine bar? Definitely not. No one would say that these wines are all better than their counterparts from other places in the world. But they are interesting and well selected wines, and they're local. And a few of them are excellent by any standard. The wine geek will enjoy a
visit to Bridge, and so will a couple on a date, or a group of friends out for the evening, whether or not they are wine people. It's just a nice place - plain and simple. I would happily take the BrooklynLady there on a date.
You can choose from at least 15 wines by the glass, and the most expensive will run you about $6. That's right - $6 gets you a glass of sparkling wine by The Lenz or Wolffer or Wiemer, amongst the finest examples of New York sparkling wine. Or a glass of 2001 Old Vines Cabernet or Merlot, also by The Lenz. And those are the most expensive glasses. More fun, I think, is to get a flight of wines, three tastes for about $12. Not tiny little tastes either, 
but generous pours (4 oz, I think). There are many things to order if you feel like grazing while drinking your wine, from cheese plates (local) to charcuterie (imported from Italy) to panini.
I stopped by early on a Thursday afternoon and Greg and Paul were almost done tasting a lineup of Peconic Bay wines with wine maker Greg Gove. I horned in on that action, and I have to tell you - the 2001 Merlot (a blend really, including 25% Cabernet Sauvignon) was just delicious and interesting and completely graceful. Not sure which wines Greg and Paul eventually decided were right for Bridge's tasting room, but I hope that's one of them.
After that I was treated to a tasting of Bridge Vineyards
wines. My favorite was the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon, $19, with a great nose of slightly pruney cassis and loads of bright red currents. And since we're talking about Long Island, not California - this is 13% alcohol.
I really like this place - it's modern and it's got a great vibe, in a completely romantic setting a block away from the river in the shadows of the Williamsburg Bridge. And I like the owners Greg and Paul. They are passionate about local wine and food, but they're not dogmatic or preachy. They want you to enjoy yourself, and if you're interested, to learn something. If you live in NYC or if you're visiting and you're into wine, go hang out at Bridge for an evening - it's a sure thing, people.
Bridge Urban Winery & Tasting Room
20 Broadway
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-384-2800
Brooklynguy is a Finalist in the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards !
Date: Fri, Mar 21, 2008 Wine Tasting
Tom Wark at Fermentation hosts the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. I, Brooklynguy am nominated for an award as Best Wine Review Blog!
This is a great honor for me. It is bloggers and readers - you, who selected this blog to be nominated, and that means a lot to me - I sincerely thank you for it.
I think Vegas has the betting line right now at about 9 to 1 on me to win. Why such a long shot? Look who else is nominated - Bigger Than Your Head, 750 ML, and Good Wine Under $20, all great blogs with serious followings. And I've never been one to win a popularity contest. But like Ellen Page and Hal Holbrook did at the Oscars this year, I'm going to put on my best outfit and enjoy my strut down the red carpet, my time mingling with the stars. And who knows, maybe the big shots will split the vote and I'll pull off an upset, like Tilda Swinton did as Best Supporting Actress.
Thanks again for your participation in this blog, and for nominating me. Click here to vote.
Okay...back to wine. Scroll down for this week's Friday Night Bubbles.
Friday Night Bubbles
Date: Fri, Mar 21, 2008 Wine Tasting
It's easy to think that a non-vintage Champagne is going to taste just as you remember it. Especially if you spent your formative wine years drinking big-house wines like Perrier-Jouët and Veuve Cliquot. Those wines are built to taste the same year after year. Not the case with grower Champagne. As vintage quality and perhaps wine making practices vary, so does the wine.
I tasted Jean Lallement's Champagne for the first time in January of 2007 and I loved it. So I grabbed two bottles, one of which BrooklynLady and I greatly enjoyed at home sometime that February. I got another bottle a few months later when I saw it at a good price, but this last bottle was part of a more recent shipment - same label, but a new combination of grapes. Lallement sadly does not include the disgorgement date on the back label, and I didn't bother marking which wine was which. So when I opened one of them in May, and when we were disappointed with the wine, I figured it was the bottle from the new shipment.
Hard to know for sure, as it could have been bottle variation among the older wines that speaks for the lesser second bottle, and bottle age on the new shipment that accounts for the great wine on Friday. Why don't they just include the disgorgement dates, for crying out loud? Especially on these grower bottles - they're not going to be so old and stale in these small quantities. Anyway, we opened our last bottle on Friday night and we were really excited about the wine. Definitely the best of the three bottles, and so good that I have to take another shot at the current shipment and see what's what.
NV Jean Lallement Brut Grand Cru, $36 (new price is about $42) Terry Theise/Skurnik Imports. This Champagne is about 80% Pinot Noir, and 20% Chardonnay. The nose is so clean and fresh, with apple skins, sweet ginger cake, flowers, and chalky minerals. And it got better and better, really beautiful after an hour. The texture is silky smooth, very fine, with focused red fruits pushing all the way through to the finish, which is very persistent and leaves nuanced mouth aromas of orange peel, ginger, herbs, and bread. Great acidity and very pleasant underlying minerality. Just beautiful wine. I wish I knew whether or not I should buy this again, or wait for the next release. But I guess that's part of the fun with grower Champagne - things don't stay the same.
Jura Tasting
Date: Wed, Mar 19, 2008 Wine Tasting
Chambers Street Wines held a Jura tasting in the beginning of March. They poured a sparkling wine, four reds, five whites, and a dessert wine. What a perfect way to explore these unique wines without having to shell out the $18 - 75 it would cost to try the bottles myself.
I've had very little experience drinking these wines at home. My past includes exactly one Jura red (2002 Pierre Overnoy Arbois Pupillin - my notes say that I didn't like it) and a couple of Crémants - love 'em. But clearly you agree with me when I say that I am a newborn baby when it comes to these wines. And it's time for me to grow up.
So I will now reveal myself as an uncool wine person among the wine-geek set: as much as I wanted to like them, I just didn't like the reds, none of them. Not even a little bit. Alright, maybe the 2004 Puffeney Arbois Pinot Noir, $27, was okay, but I just don't see what all the fuss is about.
But the whites, now those were tasty and compelling. I liked them enough to bring two of them home to meet my family, and I will definitely explore them further.
You probably know this already, but there are a few particularly interesting things about Jura whites. For one, some of the most famous wines are made from a grape called Savagnin, found almost nowhere else. And the prevailing style of wine is known as sous -voile, or under the veil. Wine makers allow a layer of yeast to form on the surface of the wine and then do not top up the barrels as the wine evaporates. The aromas and flavors are oxidized, and are quite unusual. Eric Asimov's recent post on the Jura eloquently describes all of this, if you want more context.
Here are the wines we tasted:
NV Tissot Crémant du Jura, $19 - still delish, a former Friday Night Bubbles contestant.
Reds
2005 Puffeney Arbois Trousseau, $30.
2004 Tissot Arbois Poulsard, $18.
2004 Puffeney Arbois Pinot Noir, $27.
2005 Ganevat Pinot Noir, $30.
Whites 2004 Montbourgeau L'Etoile Blanc, $21 - tastes like sherry, but better than any sherry I've had. This one came home with us. This is Chardonnay, actually.
2006 Houillon Pupillon Chardonnay, $28 - nice, but didn't move me.
2002 Puffeney Arbois Savagnin, $29 - deeply nutty.
2002 Tissot Arbois Savagnin, $32 - this one moved me - old and oxidized and fresh and young and just delicious. We took a bottle home.
1998 Puffeney Arbois Vin Jaune, $75 - I wish I could tell you that this was mind-blowing, but it wasn't. Maybe that's because conventional wisdom says that Vin Jaune needs 15-20 years in the bottle to strut its stuff. Why couldn't they have opened a 1978 Puffeney Vin Jaune? A joke, people, a joke. If you had that bottle in your cellar, would you honestly open it for a bunch of nincompoops like me who have never even tasted a Vin Jaune? Pearls before swine. The 98 was certainly very good, but it was hard for me to imagine what happens in 20 years.
We drank the 2002 Tissot Arbois Savagnin the other night in classic fashion - with a good Compté cheese. And this time we had plenty of time to linger, to allow the wine to change in the glass, to feel it interacting with food, to enjoy it over the course of a few hours. It was just excellent. Unusual, not something I would want every week, but excellent and memorable. At the same time funky-sherry-nutty-oxidized and old smelling, but also completely fresh, pure, and youthful. Very bright energetic in the mouth. There some caramel type flavors that develop with time in the glass, and they complement the slightly bitter nuts. The acidity is definitely there, it tingles the sides of the tongue.
I'm not sure how to move forward in the Jura, but if it's going to involve Vin Jaune, I'm going to need a benefactor. Anyone want to be my Vin Jaune sugar daddy? And don't yell at me about the reds, I'll try again at some point.
Clear Creek Douglas Fir Eau de Vie
Date: Tue, Mar 18, 2008 Wine Tasting
This is Eau de Vie (water of life) made by infusing clear brandy with the springtime buds of the Douglas Fir pine tree. I heard of this for the first time on Eric Asimov's blog last summer. I had tried Clear Creek Eaux de Vie before, but I'd never even heard of Douglas fir.
Stephen McCarthy runs Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon. He makes labor-intensive brandies and liquors (and one whiskey) in the old-world style. He avoids adding sugar, colors, or f
lavors. If there is a problem with the crop of raspberries one year, for example, then there is no Raspberry Eau de Vie that year. McCarthy is an artisan and from what I've tasted, his brandies are delicious and worth every penny.
I'd been kind of passively looking for a bottle of Douglas Fir Eau de Vie (photo courtesy of Clear Creek's website) since reading about it in The Pour, but no one seemed to carry it. The other flavors, sure, but Douglas Fir - no dice. I was quite a happy Brooklynguy back in December when I saw a few bottles on the top of the very top shelf behind the register at Slope Cellars in Brooklyn. I've been enjoying it slowly, keeping it hidden in the secret compartment of our wooden bar (visible in the second photo in the link, the area between the two open compartments) so that only those who I deem worthy will get a taste. I keep other good stuff in there too - homemade raspberry and ginger vodkas, an original signed copy of the
Declaration of Independence, stuff like that. Anyway...
The Douglas Fir Eau de Vie just so good that it's hard to explain. The color is a gorgeous bright green, much easier to appreciate after reading on the website that no colors are added. The nose is the essence of the forest, but even more concentrated. Fresh pine, very bright and clean smelling. Strong, no doubt - this is 47.73% alcohol, but also smooth and delicate on the palate, with springtime freshness and green pine goodness, and something just a tiny bit soapy in the back. A small portion of this in a wine glass after a heavy meal - I cannot imagine a better digestif.
Sorry for the rather weak descriptions, but I have not other way to describe this to you - this stuff is Pacific coast spring in a bottle, and for only about $50 for 375 ml. And it lasts a long time, provided that you enjoy it every two weeks or so and hide it from your friends. Does your bar have a secret compartment?
Clear Creek Douglas Fir Eau de Vie
Date: Tue, Mar 18, 2008 Wine Tasting
This is Eau de Vie (water of life) made by infusing clear brandy with the springtime buds of the Douglas Fir pine tree. I heard of this for the first time on Eric Asimov's blog last summer. I had tried Clear Creek Eaux de Vie before, but I'd never even heard of Douglas fir.
Stephen McCarthy runs Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon. He makes labor-intensive brandies and liquors (and one whiskey) in the old-world style. He avoids adding sugar, colors, or flavors. If there is a problem with the crop of raspberries one year, for example, then there is no Raspberry Eau de Vie that year. McCarthy is an artisan and from what I've tasted, his brandies are delicious and worth every penny.
I'd been kind of passively looking for a bottle of Douglas Fir Eau de Vie (photo courtesy of Clear Creek's website) since reading about it in The Pour, but no one seemed to carry it. The other flavors, sure, but Douglas Fir - no dice. I was quite a happy Brooklynguy back in December when I saw a few bottles on the top of the very top shelf behind the register at Slope Cellars in Brooklyn. I've been enjoying it slowly, keeping it hidden in the secret compartment of our wooden bar (visible in the second photo in the link, the area between the two open compartments) so that only those who I deem worthy will get a taste. I keep other good stuff in there too - homemade raspberry and ginger vodkas, an original signed copy of the Declaration of Independence, stuff like that. Anyway...
The Douglas Fir Eau de Vie just so good that it's hard to explain. The color is a gorgeous bright green, much easier to appreciate after reading on the website that no colors are added. The nose is the essence of the forest, but even more concentrated. Fresh pine, very bright and clean smelling. Strong, no doubt - this is 47.73% alcohol, but also smooth and delicate on the palate, with springtime freshness and green pine goodness, and something just a tiny bit soapy in the back. A small portion of this in a wine glass after a heavy meal - I cannot imagine a better digestif.
Sorry for the rather weak descriptions, but I have not other way to describe this to you - this stuff is Pacific coast spring in a bottle, and for only about $50 for 375 ml. And it lasts a long time, provided that you enjoy it every two weeks or so and hide it from your friends. Does your bar have a secret compartment?
Gambero Rosso Tasting
Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2008 Wine Tasting
I wasn't going to write about this because I don't have much of anything nice to say. But I've been persuaded me to just do it anyway, to tell you what I thought.
First, though, I must remind you that I rarely, if ever, drink Italian wine. So it's not like I can place what I tasted amidst my many other tasting experiences and say something meaningful. And I've never even heard of most of the producers I tasted. That said, I know my palate well enough to be confident when I smell and taste wine, to be able to say whether or not I like it. And in the overwhelming majority of the cases at this tasting, Brooklynguy no like.
Also, the place was a total zoo. It's hard for me to imagine an environment that is less congruous with tasting wine. No room to stand at a table, clatter and racket that never stopped, all the senses distracted.
Here is what I did like:
2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva - in my tasting guide the only notes next to the wine say "Holy S%*}!" That's right, I still refuse to cuss on this blog even if I write cusswords in my wine notes. Anyway, this wine was light and delicate looking, but so very powerful. Nose of roses and road tar.
The other Barolos were too astringent to me, impossible to understand. Some one with experience tasting young Barolo and then again with age might have something to say about them, but I do not.
The only other reds that I really liked at the whole tasting were the 2004 Poliziano Nobile de Montepulciano Asinone and the 2003 Terre degli Svevi Aglianico del Vulture Serpara. The Montipulciani had a lovely nose of dark cherries and funky earth and seemed energetic in the mouth too, something thta I didn't find in these wines - to me they were heavy and dull, suffering under their own weight.
The whites were more to my liking, on the whole. I liked the 2006 Dario Raccaro Colio Tocai Friulano Vigna del Rolat. It had serious structure and nice flavors. I preferred the 2006 Eugenio Collavini Collio Bianco Broy and the same producer's 2006Sauvignon Blanc Fumat Doc Collio. I also liked the 2005 Cantina Terlano Sauvignon Quartz, a lively and energetic wine with good acidity and length, and pretty good balance for a wine of 14% alcohol.
The real surprise for me, though, was the sparkling wine. My favorite was the 1999 Cavalleri Franciacorta Collezione Esclusiva Brut, aged for 8 years on the lees. If you can't make rich and satisfying wine after 8 years on the lees, I don't know what to tell you. But this one had a really delicate floral nose that belied the richness. I would be very happy drinking this wine at home, no doubt. I have no idea about the retail price. I enjoyed the Ca' del Bosco sparklers too, but they were not anywhere near as profound. The 2003 Franciacorta Dosage Zero was lovely, and quite dry as you might expect, and the 2002 Franciacorta Saten was also very nice, both of them based on Chardonnay.
Here are some of the wines I tasted that I didn't like, so those of you who actually know something about Italian wine will get a sense of where I'm coming from:
2003 Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. - unrelenting.
2003 Monfalletto Barolo Enrico VI - like eating dry dust.
2003 Elio Grasso Barolo Ginestra V. Casa Maté - made me thirsty.
2005 Vistorta Friuli Grave Merlot Vistorta - should have a blank white lable with one word on it in black letters -"Red Wine." Fine, that's two words.
2000 Cav. G. B. Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. - Are all Amarones like this, impossibly heavy and pruny, and impossible to imagine as an accompaniment to food?
You get the idea - this stuff didn't make me want to toss my Chinon and delve into the Italian bottles. I imagine that the wines at this tasting represent a "Parkerized" view of Italian wine. Please feel free to weigh in here - I don't know what I'm talking about.
Friday Night Bubbles
Date: Fri, Mar 14, 2008 Wine Tasting
A few weeks ago in their comments on a Friday Night Bubbles post about Pinon Vouvray Brut, the distinguished triumvirate Marco, Marcus, and Michael recommended Crémant de Limoux. Limoux is in the Roussillon, inland and northwest of Corbi
They've been making sparkling wine in Limoux using essentially the Methode Champenoise since the mid 16th century, well in advance of the rise of Champagne as superstar. Apparently there are three types of sparkling wine made in Limoux - Blanquette de Limoux, Blanquette Méthode Ancestrale, and Crémant de Limoux. Mauzac is the grape traditionally used to make sparkling wine in Limoux, but Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc have become standard too. Blanquette Méthode Ancestrale is a wine made only using Mauzac and it supposedly resembles very good apple cider. Crémant de Limoux is less than 20 years old, and according to Jancis Robinson' s Oxford Companion, it's an appellation created to connote a more international style of wine. I guess that Blanquette de Limoux is somewhat rustic - I've never tried it.
BrooklynLady and I had a few friends over on Friday night and opened a bottle of
I figured that the wine would be better with food - the blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc and the Tendre designation (between dry and off-dry) just said "hors d'oeuvre" to me. We went with pheasant
Everyone dug the wine, it was ripe and tasty with great texture, and it went very well with the food. I liked the complexity of the nose, with apple, slightly honeyed spring water, and hints of yeasty bread with air time. The palate was less complex, and with none of the precision and cut of a Blanc de Blancs from Champagne, but this is not Champagne. It's good in its own way - fleshy and ripe, not as sweet as I was afraid it would be, given the Tendre designation, and eminently drinkable.