A Trip to Chile…in Manhattan
At a lunch last week hosted by Cooking by the Book , I was reminded why I like Chilean wine so much. Or at least I was reminded that I like Chilean wine so much. And I was also reminded that wine and food “matching” (as wine writer Randy Caparoso likes to say instead of “pairing”) really can make a fun meal even more fun, interesting and delicious with just a little thought and effort.
Our host at at “Cooking’s” loft space in Lower Manhattan was Ruth Van Waerebeek, born in the medieval city of Ghent and originally known for her cookbook “Everybody Eats Well in Belgium.” Maybe, but Ruth has made her reputation with wine people in another place, 73oo miles to the southwest, in Chile where she’s the consulting chef and culinary advisor to the Concha y Toro wine group, the largest producer in the country. (I wrote about Concha here.) Ruth also runs a “Gastronomical Hotel,” Mapuyampay, a couple hours south of Santiago, where you can stay, take some cooking lessons, drink some wine, and generally just indulge yourself. I’m thinking about it.
Here’s the lineup of the food courses, and wine matchings from Concha y Toro:
The “Reception” wine was Casillero del Diablo Coastal White Blend 2011, 65% Chardonnay and the rest Moscato. This was actually my favorite wine of the day—a refreshing, easy drinking wine with a flavor of white melon, peaches, and honey and a slight hint of sweetness.
The first course was Cucumber rolls with Salmon Ceviche. It was served with Gran Reserva Serie Riberas, (Riverbank Series) Sauvignon Blanc 2012, a classic SB with that green pepper aroma, initial rush of bracing acidity and grapefruit flavor. The Ceviche was delicious, and wine was a nice complement, especially because it wasn’t overpowering as I find some from the South Pacific can be. Don’t get me wrong, those wines can be very refreshing and they have their place, but they’re very tough on food.
The third course was Parmesan Cheese Budini with litchis and a small herb salad. Frankly, before it was served I had no idea what a budini is, a very thick pudding, made with a starch. The accompanying wine was Marques de Casa Concha Chardonnay, a remarkably good wine that resembled a white Burgundy I had recently, and now can’t remember which. A great value at $23.
Course four was a Gorgonzola, walnut and pear tart, very flaky and rich. It was served with an equally rich Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada 2009, a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon wtih about 15% Syrah. The Syrah really adds fruit and aroma to this very well-balanced and full-bodied wine. It’s only about $15 retail. Get some.
The final course was grilled lamb brochettes with merquen adobo and Chilean-style mint salsa served on a bed of quinoa. Once again I had to look something(s) up—merquen—which is seasoning of ground smoked chilies with salt, ground coriander and cumin, and quinoa, a seed native to Chile that resembles a whole grain and is boiled and served like rice. The lamb was served with Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. I much preferred the other red to this one, which was a well-made, balanced Cab with no distinguishing characteristics.
All in all, a pretty outstanding match of wine and food, and a trip to Chile in downtown New York City.
Wine of the Week: Osprey’s Dominion Regina Maris Chardonnay NV
This delicious non-vintage Chardonnay is an outstanding value at $13 (at the winery, and as cheap as $9 in some stores) and one of the best wines you’ll find on Long Island’s North Fork. Great body, just enough oak, with flavors of apple and melon wrapped in light butter. As a non-vintage wine, it’s a combination of Chardonnays blended from a number of vintages.
I visited Osprey’s Dominion a couple weeks ago and was very impressed. Not all its wines were this good, but many were impressive—the Carmenere 2010, the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, and the Sauvignon Blanc 2011—and this one stood out as the best.
Wine-Flair Quiz: What Grapes are in Champagne?
Most Champagnes are made from among just three grapes-Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Some are made from just one of each. (There may be Champagnes made from just Pinot Meunier but I don’t know of any; many Champagnes are a mixture of juice from two or three.)
However, it’s a little-known fact that there are actually 7 grapes permitted in Champagne: the three above, as well as Pinot Gris (sometimes called Fromenteau), Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, and Arbane. And there are a few-very few-Champagne makers who actually do use these grapes, but their bottles are mostly sold on the French domestic market as far as I can tell.
Blanc de Blancs is white Champagne made from 100% Chardonnay. Blancs de Noirs is white Champagne made from Pinot Noir or rarely Pinot Meunier grapes, or often both. There’s little or no color from those red grapes, though, because the juice is gently pressed and then fermented with no skin contact. Sometimes you’ll see a slight hint of gray or pink in these wines.
Great Grapes You’ve Never Heard Of
So how’s that glass of Seyval Blanc I just poured you? What d’ya think of that Baco Noir? Care to purchase another bottle of Norton? It’s on special today only.”
You’ve probably never heard these words, unless, perhaps, you live in New York’s Hudson River Valley and you get out a bit. And if you want to expand your tastes and wine experience a bit, here’s a primer to get you started.
Seyval Blanc is a French-American hybrid that’s a little reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc, and can produce outstanding, crisp dry white wines as well as slightly sweet ones. When mixed with Chardonnay, as they do very well at Baldwin Vineyards with their Mist de Greco, or Clinton Vineyards where they do a 100% Seyval, it’s a nice change from the whites you probably drink frequently.
Baco Noir is another hybrid, this time a red, that produces a foxy, smoky varietal a bit like Charbono, another grape you may not know. Benmarl in upstate NY makes a great Baco as does Canada’s Henry of Pelham Family Estate, shown here.
Norton, which was introduced to the US in the 1830s by one Dr. Daniel N. Norton of Richmond, Virginia, is sometimes called “America’s True Grape.” They make very nice wine from Norton in New York, Virginia (Chrysalis Vineyards), Illinois, and especially in Missouri where it’s the popular state grape. Bet you didn’t even know that Missouri had a state grape! Try the Stone Hill Winery for this one, too.
And I’ll throw in a couple from across the pond, too.
Savagnin is a European white grape that can make an aromatic, sherry-like wine and is widely grown in the Jura region and often bottled as Vin Jaune or “yellow wine.” The nutty taste is unmistakable and makes a great aperitif before dinner in place of cocktails. Look for the place name of Arbois where it’s sometimes mixed with Chardonnay and gets a little closer to table wine.
Picpoul Blanc (Picpoul de Pinet) is a white grape and one of the few grown in France whose wine is named for itself rather than the place where it’s grown. Its name means “lip stinger” and it really is, with crisp citrus and floral flavors that go great with seafood.
So – expand your horizons and try some of these. Happy 2013!
Wine Ratings for the Holidays
Wine Rating and Review Systems
The major consumer wine publications, such as The Wine Advocate (Robert Parker), The Wine Spectator, The Wine Enthusiast, and Steve Tanzer (Food & Wine) all rate wines using a point system. Now that the holidays are upon us, and you may be shopping for wines using one or more of these systems, let’s look at them a little bit.
What do they mean?
Whatever you want them to mean…or nothing. You can pay as little or as much attention to them as you like, but keep in mind that they are entirely subjective; they generally reflect the views of one reviewer; and they all are kinda like the SAT – wines get points just for showing up and signing their names (varietals?). For example, two rating systems start at 50, one at 70, and another at 80, so the 100-point scale per se is somewhat, ah, pointless.
Of course, you can certainly learn how some of the best palates on earth feel about specific wines and vintages. So if you want to know what they like, and want to buy what they buy (or are often given, really) then follow them religiously, by all means.
An alternative, and much smarter in my view, is to talk to your local wine retailer. Tell them what your preferences are – red or white; light, medium or full-body. Let ‘em know what you’re planning to eat, too, so they can help you match and pair the wine with food. Given ‘em a price range, say, $10-$20, and if you have a preference for a grape, such as Zinfandel, or a region such as Italy, Spain or California.
If you still want an idea about wine ratings, here are the basics of the four best-known and most-used rating systems:
The Wine Advocate
96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase, and consume.
90-95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80-89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70-79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60-69: A below average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor, or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50-59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.
The Wine Spectator
95-100: Classic; a great wine
90-94: Outstanding; a wine of superior character and style
85-89: Very Good; a wine with special qualities
80-84: Good; a solid, well-make wine
70-79: Average; a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
60-69: Below average; drinkable but not recommended
50-59: Poor, undrinkable; not recommended
The Wine Enthusiast
98-100: Classic; The pinnacle of quality
94-97: Superb; A great achievement
90-93: Excellent; Highly Recommended
87-89: Very Good; Often good value; well recommended
83-86: Good; Suitable for everyday consumption; often good value
80-82: Acceptable; Can be employed in casual, less-critical circumstances
Steve Tanzer
95-100: Extraordinary
90-94: Outstanding
85-89: Very Good to Excellent
80-84: Good
75-79: Average
70-74: Below Average
<70: Avoid
Wines for Thanksgiving
It’s almost Thanksgiving eve, and you’re probably putting together your menu. And if you’re not…get on it! And no matter what you’re having, you’ll need some wines to go with the big meal.
Vouvray/Chenin Blanc: This is among the best wines in the world for Turkey. Vouvrays are Chenin Blanc-based wines from France, and come in a variety of styles, from dry to off-dry, semi-sweet and sweet. South Africa makes great Chenin Blancs, too: try Raats Family, Indaba or Cederberg. And Napa’s Pine Ridge makes a wonderful mixture of Chenin Blanc and Viognier that I recommend highly.Rose: If you’re having ham by any chance, try pairing it with Mulderbosch Rose, from South Africa, made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. And if you’re not, it’s a great aperitif wine! Montes Cherub from Chile or Corbieres Domaine Sainte-Eugenie from France. Domestically, try Sola Rosa from Napa Valley. Goes great with cranberries, stuffing, relishes, everything!
Gewurztraminer: This somewhat spicy white wine is a nice change from all those Chardonnays or Pinot Grigios you’re offered at dinner parties. Washington State’s Columbia Winery makes Gewurz, and California’s Fetzer Vineyards makes a nice off-dry version. Dependable, inexpensive “authentic” Alsatians come from France’s Trimbach or Hugel et Fils.
Pinot Noir: Lotsa folk say this is a great pairing with turkey – its bright cherry flavors and gentle tannins and acidity work well with Thanksgiving treats. Check out Chalone Vineyard Monterey, Bannock Brae from New Zealand or just about any Pinot from Willamette Valley in Oregon. From France, try Francois d’Allaines Bourgogne Rouge or Bouchard Pere et Fils.
Beaujolais: This underappreciated and unfairly-dissed wine is a great choice if you’re not a white drinker but still want wine with your bird. The Gamay grape makes easy-to-drink wines that are fruity but dry and go nicely with most things on the menu. You’ll likely find a good, reliable Beaujolais selection at your retailer including Georges Dubeouf and Louis Jadot. If you want to go up-market a bit, look for Chateau Thivin Cote de Brouilly or G. Duscombes/Morgon.
Wine of the Week: Banfi Chianti Superiore DOCG 2012
This Chianti, mostly from the Sangiovese grape, is a classified wine, and the DOCG means Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. That ought to mean something but it doesn’t mean all that much. Still, this is a very nice bottle of wine, especially for 11 bucks, which is about what you’ll pay of for it in most wine stores, though you can find it in places for as little as $9. A great value either way.
A nice ruby red color, this is a medium-bodied, easy-drinking wine that won’t bowl you over. But it’s got some tannin for structure, a little leathery, and fresh black cherry and plum flavors. What I noticed above everything else is that it’s nicely acidic and keeps your palate refreshed. It’s a great pairing for light Italian food.
The painting on the label, by the way, is Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Why she’d want to hold a weasel, I have no idea.
WBVXPXEAXZNY
Wine of the Week: Avante Mencia 2009
Spain grows great wines—Grenache and Carignane from Priorat, Tempranillo from Rioja and Ribero del Duero, and Albarino from Rias Biaxas to name a few.
But Mencia is a grape you’ve probably never tasted and maybe never even heard of. This 100% Mencia is from the large Castilla y Leon region, but you can find other excellent ones from the Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras Denominación de Origen appellations.
Aroma of violets and flavors of black cherry and black raspberry; a little smoky and peppery, fresh, bright and crisp, with a long finish. There’s tannin there, but this is a fruit wine with just enough oak influence.
Although the Mencia grape is native to Spain, and Mencia wines have been around a long time, because they’re almost unknown in the U.S. I think they’re somewhat of a “discovery” to American wine drinkers. But I also think Mencia is going to become the next great Spanish wine, so get out a little ahead of the pack and try some. This one’s about $14-17 and I’ve seen it on sale for $10-12. Really great stuff.
WBVXPXEAXZNY
Wine of the Week: Covey Run Gewürztraminer 2010
This off-dry, which naturally means slightly sweet, white wine is the perfect pairing for spicy food and Asian food. And of course spicy Asian food (not all of it is). It goes great with Indian and Thai food, and lo and behold, they’re Asian.
It’s pronounced “guh-vertz-trah-meen-er” by the way.
It’s got enough acidity to balance the sweetness, despite being known as a grape that lacks acidity. It’s got honey, melon, and pear flavors and a really lovely floral nose. Two glasses made an OK meal at P.F. Chang into an absolutely wonderful lunch. Need I say more?
Covey Run is in Washington State’s Columbia Valley, but there are many excellent wines (Trimbach, and Hugel & Fils to name two) from Alsace, that region in far east France along the border with Germany and Switzerland. There are also some other nice domestic Gewurz-es: Chateau St. Michelle, Hogue, and Fetzer.
This wine is an amazing value, too, in the $8-9 range. Buy a 6-pack or a case if you can find the 2010, as this wine is meant to be consumed when it’s young.
Rose Wine Food Pairing
Rosé wine—mostly dry wine, that is—pairs great with a wide range of food. In fact it’s one of the best pairing wines there is. Rosé wine is a “bridge” between red and white wine, and don’t think “plonk” or White Zinfandel; Rosés can be sophisticated and fairly expensive, frankly, such as Domaines Ott, which Sherry-Lehmann in Manhattan calls the “gold standard” and sells for about forty bucks a bottle. Wines with just a hint of sweetness can be great pairs, because let’s face it, a lot of the food we eat has a little sweetness to it: BBQ sauce on ribs, tomato sauce on pasta, and glaze for Asian foods. Rosés are great for all these.
BTW, Rosés from Spain and South America are typically referred to as Rosado, and many of them tend to be darker and fuller-bodied.
Rosés are generally not made by adding red wine to white, by the way. I’ll steal from another column on my own blog and give you a little explanation here. Most Rosés begin life just like red wines; red grapes are de-stemmed, crushed and then placed in a fermenter. But instead of spending two or three weeks with the grapes skins in contact with the juice as red wines are, the skins are removed after a brief period, a few hours to maybe a couple days depending on the type of grape and the style the winemaker’s going for. This relatively brief skin contact allows just enough color to turn the wine pink (or salmon, orange or coral). It also adds a tiny bit of tannin, and some complexity.
Another method is to just drain off some of the juice from a red wine during its very early stages of fermentation, then place it into own fermenter and finish the process. The process is called saignée (“to bleed”).
Pairing before a meal
Before a meal, try pairing with charcuterie—prepared and cured meats such as sausages, salami, pate, prosciutto, etc. It is perfect with Tapas.
Rosé also goes great with a number of cheeses, especially mild ones. But frankly, for me it works with almost all cheese, though some will call me a heretic for saying that.
Baba gannoush and hummus go nicely, as do olives, peanuts, sardines and anchovies, cold shrimp, and cold vegetables with dipping sauces. Most chips with dips work well, and as you’ll see, if the dip is especially spicy, go with a more full-bodied style.
Casual Dining
Hamburgers are great pairings, as are hot dogs, BBQ chicken, most Mexican food, grilled sausages, egg dishes, most grilled or smoked white fish, rice, baked ham, cold chicken and tuna salads, green salads, quiche, salade Niçoise, stews, and beef, chicken and pork sandwiches. Work well with all but the most full-bodied or fiery tomato sauces. Doesn’t work with creamy sauces.
Also goes well with a variety of fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, and melons/cantaloupes.
Fine Dining
Rosé wine is excellent with lobster, veal, Indian food, paella and foods with saffron, Szechuan food, and Thai food. With the spicy Asian dishes, try the darker and fuller bodied styles.
Champagne Dreams With Chantal Bregeon-Gonet
Pierre and Chantal Gonet
As I write this I’m sipping a glass of Pine Ridge’s 2009 Chenin Blanc/Viognier. But make no mistake, this piece is about Champagne.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Chantal Bregeon-Gonet, who with her brother Pierre Gonet run the Champagne House Philippe Gonet. This house specializes in Blanc de Blancs made entirely from Chardonnay, and their annual production is only about 200,000 bottles or about 17,000 cases.
That may sound like a lot of wine, but to give you a reference point, one of the “Grand Marques” – Moet et Chandon – produces about 26 million bottles, or 2.2 million cases each year. You probably already know and have tasted wines from one of these big producers – other names include Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, Perrier-Jouet, Krug and Pol Roger. Most of their wines are non-vintage; that is, they’re a blend of wines, typically from many different vineyards across Champagne, and from two or more years. Why? Well, they’re designed to taste the same year over year, so that you always know what you’ll be drinking. That’s not always true, but that’s the idea. And this consistency, supported by some rather expensive marketing, is supposed to make you become exclusively a “Krug (or Veuve or Taittinger or whatever) drinker.” But that’s up to you.
The Gonets are seventh generation family producers in Le Mesnil sur Oger, a commune (village) in the Marne department (something like a county or parish) in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northeastern France. Their wines are classified as Grand Cru, considered the best in Champagne, and their vineyards are bordered by vineyards of the much larger Krug and Salon houses. But here it’s the village where the vineyards are and not the vineyard itself that determines the classification, unlike the vineyard itself which reigns in Burgundy and the Chateau in Bordeaux. There are 17 villages in Champagne that are classified Grand Cru, and “Le Mesnil” as it’s typically abbreviated was elevated to that status in 1985.
Anyway, Chantal and Pierre took over the business after their father’s unexpected death in 1990; Pierre makes the wine and Chantal travels the world, literally, marketing and selling it. Interestingly, she sells a lot in Asia, especially Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, which seem to love small houses and grower Champagnes as opposed to the Grands Marques. I suspect, too, that she’s seeing a lot of interest in mainland China as that country continues its enormous development and economic growth, which includes a thirst everything western, Champagne certainly among them.
Chantal was able to stop in New York recently to introduce her wines to a handful of NY- and NJ-based writers. Happily, she chose an iconic restaurant in the City, 11 Madison Park, to host us. Over three hours, with a little interruption for a three-course meal, we tasted all seven Gonet Champagnes.
Now, her promotional materials will tell you that Gonet wines are listed in the Guide Hachette des Vins, La Revue du Vin de France and Decanter, that they’re recognized by the world’s best sommeliers and on the wine lists of some of the world’s best restaurants, etc. etc. That’s all true, but mostly irrelevant. What’s important is that I liked them – some, certainly, more than others – and whether or not you would, this is a Champagne house worth hearing about.
Blanc de Blancs literally means, “white wine from white grapes.” It’s an important distinction, as many Champagnes and sparkling wines (wines made in the Methode Champenoise style) are made from a combination of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. There’s also a style called Blanc de Noirs, white wine made from just Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, which are red grapes. The Meunier (pronounced Mun-yay) is a somewhat obscure grape outside Champagne and when it’s used, it’s typically only a couple percent.
And let’s take a moment to remember how “white” Champagne is made from 100% Chardonnay. It starts out as ordinary “still” wine – the juice is squeezed from grapes and placed in a big vat called a fermenter. Some yeast is added, which turns the grape sugars to alcohol and creates carbon dioxide, which is allowed to escape, and some heat too, actually. The product of that process is the “base” wine. If we bottle that up at the end of this process, we merely have…Chardonnay.
But we don’t. Instead, we fill heavier, thicker Champagne bottles with that wine, but leave a little space in the neck. Then we add a little solution of sweet, unfermented grape juice and a tiny bit more yeast. The yeast goes to town on the sugar once again, but this time the bottle is capped, so the Carbon Dioxide can’t escape. Those bottles sit around for awhile, and instead of being bored or watching Oprah (is there a difference?), the yeast continues to interact with the wine even after it’s done producing alcohol, making it more complex and interesting. When the winemaker says it’s time, the yeast is collected in the neck of the bottle and shot out, leaving crystal clear wine with all that carbon dioxide dissolved into it. The wine is now really, really, dry so to take the edge off, a little more sweet grape juice called the “dosage” is added, and then it’s corked and a wire cage is added to keep that good stuff securely in the bottle. And when you open the bottle (really, really try not to pop the cork) and pour that scrumptious wine into a flute, the dissolved carbon dioxide bubbles to the surface, making the wine as lovely to look at as it is to taste.
Now for the wines.
The Champagne Gonet Lineup
The Champagne Gonet Lineup
As we walked into the lovely upstairs private dining room at 11 Madison, we were handed a flute of the Gonet 2002 Magnum – nicely acidic but rich and balance. Throughout the afternoon, this wine continued to get rave reviews from the group and many requests for refills. Sadly, this was a library wine from Gonet’s cellars and not available elsewhere.
The first wine served with the appetizer course of risotto with mushrooms was the non-vintage Champagne Philippe Gonet Brut Reserve. This wine is the odd man out for Gonet, with red grapes amounting for the majority of the juice, Pinot Noir (60%) and Pinot Meunier (10%), and Chard only 30%. Still, it’s a Blanc, and to me the fruitiest and richest of the range as you might imagine.
The next offering was the Roy Soleil Champagne Gonet, also a 100% Chard, non-vintage wine. I called it the “un-Champagne” as it was much softer and rounder, with about a third of it seeing some oak. It was absolutely the perfect wine with 11 Madison’s lobster entree and I’d say this is a near-perfect food wine.
Next in the lineup was a vintage wine, Champagne Gonet Brut 2005. Bottled in March of ’06, the grapes came from a single area of the Gonet’s vineyards. Although this wine sees no oak, I found it rich yet zesty, with a prominent nose and a lot of fast bubbles.
The non-vintage Champagne Gonet Rose Brut was delicious, complex with the slightly different mouth-feel you’d expect from a wine that’s 85% Chard and 15% Pinot noir. A lovely copper color, the strawberry aroma and flavors were nicely integrated and not overpowering, and more subtle than Roses made in the Saignee method.
Surprisingly, my least favorite wine was the Confidentialle Edition Champagne Philippe Gonet Belemnita 2004 (Latin name of the chalky soil in which Champagne grapes are grown), yet it’s the most expensive of the house. Only about 4000 bottles were made and placed in this distinctive bottle with long, sloping shoulders and a blunt bottom. At about a buck-fifty, I’d say forget it and instead buy 3 of 4 bottles of Gonet’s other offerings!
Gonet Extra Brut 3210
Gonet Extra-Brut 3210
My favorite, for simple reasons, was the Gonet Extra-Brut 3210. This style Champagne is somewhat hard to find, and its austerity and crispness is off-putting to many. Not me.
Remember what I said above – that to take the edge off the bone-dry wine, the dosage is added? Well in Extra Brut, it isn’t: no dosage. The label “3210″ which means 3 years of aging, 2 terroirs, 1 grape variety, and 0 dosage.
The typical review of this wine will say “break out the oysters.” I say just enjoy this all by itself! Nice mousse (foam), a tiny bit yeasty, and vibrant citrus-y notes – Lemon and grapefruit – come through.
This is one of the 5 best aperitif wines I’ve ever tasted. Fabulous.
And Finally…Eight Questions for Chantal!
What is your biggest market (country) and best selling label?
My biggest market is France (50%) then Belgium (12%), and best selling label is Champagne Philippe Gonet Brut Reserve. It’s the easiest champagne, a classic blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Meunier and the best value. But I prefer to push the Champagne Philippe Gonet Blanc de Blancs Brut because it is our signature, my favorite and 100% from our vineyards.
How much has your business grown in Asia over the last few years? Are you selling into Mainland China as well as HK, and what’s your growth there? Do you sell into South Korea?
I started to prospect in Asia when I was living in Singapore from 1997 to 2000. I first worked with Japan, which is still our biggest market in Asia (8%) then I really did a great job in Singapore—now 2%. My importers in Hong Kong and Beijing are both distributors and doing wine education, which is good because they organize lots of tastings with their students and that’s how our customers recognize the quality of Gonet, which is not a big name but most of the timer “bigger in quality.” I’ve worked in HK since that time but in China proper only for 3 years. Our growth there is slow but every year we reinforce our position. We sell also to South Korea to Duty free shops, and in Malaysia and India. We export to 20 countries!
How important is the USA in your plans? Are you targeting a specific segment of the American wine consumer?
USA is a strategic market because all the notes from wine critics, wine journalists and bloggers are very influential not only for the US market but also for the rest of the world. I am targeting especially the head sommeliers in top restaurants. I am sure we have excellent quality and above all with the Blanc de Blancs, all of them have the top terroir of Champagne region: the Chardonnay from Le Mesnil sur Oger. It is really a great soil and as long as you have Mesnil terroir in your Champagne the taste is different, especially the finish which as always is a remarkable, citrus-y taste that you cannot miss at the tasting. Then I think our Champagnes are also for real Champagne lovers who really appreciate the top Blanc de Blancs. But we have a large range that can also suit to anyone with the Brut Reserve.
What’s your biggest challenge in differentiating Gonet from the Grands Marques?
I will never have the budget to compete with the big names – but I’m sure that I can beat at the tasting! And surely in term of price. And I am travelling personally; this is probably a plus for the sommelier to meet me and be directly in contact with the producer.
You’re not precisely a negociant but not a strictly speaking a grower Champagne producer either? How do you describe Gonet?
We buy the equivalent of 5 hectares of Pinot Noir which is 25% of our production and those Pinots go only in the Brut Reserve. We could say that we are between growers and negociant. But we could be in a special category to be created: a boutique Champagne house and a family business. For our 5 different Blanc de Blancs, we grow the grapes which come from our own vineyards and we buy part of the Pinot of our Brut Reserve. My brother and I definitely think like growers because you can make a good champagne only if you get the top quality grapes. Each of our bottles is like a kid who you really believe in. We do not have the passion for marketing as much as for caring for our vineyards and making wine, and being proud of presenting our own “kids”.
You focus on Blanc de Blancs. Is that a historical aspect of your house? Why?
Personally I drink only Blanc de Blancs, my parents and my grandparents did so. Our palate is oriented for Blanc de Blancs. Historically until the 5th generation (my grandparents) the family had only Chardonnay vineyards. My father married a lady from the Vallee de la Marne who owned land in the appellation Champagne, exactly in La Chapelle Monthodon and Le Breuil, and my father planted those areas with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. That is when we started the cuvee Brut Reserve, in 1972. It became the biggest item because it is probably the cheapest and the fruitier. We created in 2001 the cuvee Roy Soleil because my brother wanted to play with the Chardonnays from Le Mesnil and the barrels from Burgundy. In 2002 we started our first, top Belemnita Vintage. More recently in 2009, we created the Extra-Brut 3210 to focus on a very pure style like we love.
Tell me about your Rose. It’s certainly a departure from a Blanc de Blancs!
Our Rose is made of 15% Pinot Noir red wine from Vertus, next to Le Mesnil, and 85% of Chardonnay from Le Mesnil. My brother (the winemaker) wanted to make red wine because he studied in Burgundy and loved to make reds. Then we blend red and white wines just before the bottling. Our rose is really expressing our style, delicate and slightly fruity with a long finish like a pure Chardonnay.
Where in the NYC/NJ area can people get your wines? This is very important!!!
Manhattan: Garnet Wines & Liquors, and Brooklyn, Heights Chateau
Bubbles For Summer
Champagne isn’t only for New Year’s Eve, weddings of people you love and funerals of people you didn’t. Here’s a quote from Lily Bollinger of the famous producer family of the same name, which perfectly captures all the reasons you should drink it:
You probably already know or at least have heard of the big “marques” - Champagnes made in the millions of bottles annually, such as Veuve Cliquot, Moet & Chandon (and it’s pronounced “mwet,” not “mo-way”), Taittinger, Perrier-Jouet, Krug and Pol Roger. Most of these are non-vintage; that is, they are a blend of wines, typically from many different vineyards across Champagne, and from two or more years. Why? Well, they’re designed to taste the same year over year, so that you always knows what you’re getting. That’s not always true, but that’s the idea. And this consistency, supported by sometimes pretty expensive marketing, is supposed to make you become exclusively a “Krug (or whatever) drinker.” But that’s up to you.
My view? Champagne can be great stuff for a Tuesday night when you’re feeling a little down, or just because, well, it’s Tuesday night!
To help you appreciate Champagne I could write a few pages on how it’s made, about its different styles and relative levels of sweetness, and how some brands are known for toast, others for spice, some for body and richness, and others for a kind of steely austerity. I’ll do that in the future, but for now here’s a quick explanation of what’s in that bottle, and a short glossary that will help you makes sense of what’s on your wine retailer’s shelf.
The Grapes
Most Champagnes are made from three grapes-Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Some are made from just one of each (there may be Champagnes made from just Pinot Meunier but I don’t know of any; many Champagnes are a mixture of juice from two or three. See the glossary below.) However, it’s a little-known fact that there are actually 7 grapes permitted in Champagne: the three above, as well as Pinot Gris (sometimes called Fromenteau), Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, and Arbane. And there are a few Champagne makers who actually do use these grapes, but their bottles are mostly sold on the French domestic market as far as I can tell.
Why the Bubbles?
Let’s take a “white” Champagne made from 100% Chardonnay. It starts out as ordinary “still” wine – the juice is squeezed from grapes and placed in a big vat, some yeast is added, and the yeast turns the grape sugars to alcohol – oh, and creates some carbon dioxide, which is ultimately allowed to escape. That’s called the base wine. If we bottle that up at the end of this process, we have…just plain Chardonnay.
But we don’t. Instead, we fill the bottles with that wine, but leave a little space in the neck. Then we add a little solution of sweet, unfermented grape juice and a tiny bit more yeast. The yeast goes to town on the sugar once again, but this time the bottle is capped, so the Carbon Dioxide can’t escape. Those bottles sit around for awhile, and instead of being bored or watching Oprah, the yeast is busy interacting with the wine and making it more complex and interesting.
What could be nicer?
Here’s your glossary. Have a great Autumn, and I really hope you’ll include some Champagne or other sparkling wines in it! If you’re looking for a California wine, look no further than Schramsberg, in my view the best of some very good American sparkling wines.
Blanc de Blancs is white Champagne made from 100% Chardonnay.
Blancs de Noirs is white Champagne made from Pinot Noir and sometime Pinot Meunier grapes. There’s little or no color from those red grapes, though, because the juice is gently pressed and then fermented with no skin contact. Sometimes you’ll see a slight hint of gray or pink in these wines.
Champagne Effect is the heady, romantic feel you get when drinking this great stuff, and there’s a very scientific, non-romantic reason for it.
Methode Champenoise. A term that describes the way Champagne is made, which was generally applied in the past – and found on bottles of – sparkling wine made in places other than the Champagne region of France. The Champenois (people who live and work there) didn’t like anyone else using this term, either, so you’ll usually see “Methode Traditionelle” on the label of those bottles today.
Rose Champagne is a pinkish-colored sparking wine made in one of two ways – either some red wine, generally Pinot Noir is added to white Champagne, or less typically, the skins of some pressed Pinot Noir and/or Pino Meunier are left with the juice to extract just a bit of color and flavor.
Sparkling Wine is wine typically made in the style of Champagne, but not from grapes grown there. Some producers such as California’s Korbel refer to their wine as Champagne but it can’t be, by definition. And recent agreements that the US is part of will make it illegal for US producers to call their wine Champagne in the future. So, for example, the house of Moet & Chandon produces Champagne in France, but its US operation produces “California Sparkling Wine” in Napa under the label Chandon.
Vintage Champagne means that the wine was made from grapes from one or more vineyards but from a single year’s harvest. Vintage Champagnes don’t happen every year, but only in years when the winemakers think the crop is excellent, and then the vintage is formally “declared.”
A Primer on Burgundy: The Best Pinot and Chardonnay
I do believe this: France, and specifically Bourgogne, what we in the great USA call Burgundy, is where the world’s best Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays are grown. And I say “grown” because Burgundy is all about the vineyard rather than the chateau or winery.
Not to say that there aren’t some excellent Pinots and Chardonnays from other places – old world and new, oaked and unoaked, cool climate and hot climate, austere and crisp. Of course, there are also sweet, caramel-y, and in my view pretty much undrinkable wines from those places, too. Think Yellowtail, or, actually, don’t.
Seriously, I’ve tasted Pinots from New Zealand and Oregon that rival the best from Burgundy, and recently I had a Chardonnay from Italy that I might have sworn was a Premier Cru from France. But for a whole bunch of reasons, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay just seem to grow better in Burgundy than just about anywhere else on earth. Incidentally, several other grapes are at home in Burgundy including Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Aligote—a totally under-appreciated white grape that has some similarities to Chardonnay—and last but not least, Gamay, the great grape of Beaujolais.
Now you could spend a lifetime learning about all the vineyards in Burgundy. You could memorize all 33 Grands Crus and win a wine-trivia contest, and you could read the 821 pages of Clive Coates’s The Wines of Burgundy and learn far more than you wanted to know about this almost perfect wine-growing place. I’m about a third of the way through it and frankly it’s more like a career than a book. But maybe you just want to know a little bit.
A Reign of Terroir
What you might find more interesting if you care about any of this, beyond just how good these wines taste, is the idea of terroir. This is the somewhat mystical concept which holds that the wine is a result of the soil, subsoil, temperature, rainfall, elevation, drainage, sun exposure and hours of sunlight, density and orientation of the vines, wind, cover crop, and a bunch of other things related to the vineyard, far more than anything the winemaker does. Nowhere in the wine world more than Burgundy is the idea of terroir held so absolutely, regardless of whether any of it can be proved. And I don’t think it can. Yet I believe in the idea.
A Brief History of Burgundy
For hundreds of years leading up to the French Revolution, the great vineyards of Burgundy were owned by the nobility and the Catholic Church, who leased them out through a chain of proprietors down to the tenant farmer who actually maintained the land and the vines, and grew the grapes. While the nobility is long gone and the Church has invested in other things, this fragmented owner/operator system still exists.
The first Burgundy chateau we know of was built by monks from Citeau in the year 1115. And as far back as 1395, a focus on quality was formally established through an ordinance published by Duc Philip “the Bold.” Twenty years later, King Charles VI set the original boundaries of the Burgundy wine-producing area.
In 1720, the merchant company Champy was founded…and is still in business today. And as the French Revolution came 60 years later, vineyards owned and operated by the Catholic church were confiscated and auctioned off, setting the stage for today’s Burgundy where even tiny vineyards often have multiple owners. In 1861, Beaune’s Agricultural Committee issued the first classification of Burgundy wines of the Côte d’Or.
In 1875, the nasty little louse Phylloxera began destroying the vines in Burgundy, and in return, huge vineyard areas were eventually torn out and replanted. On the eve of WWII, Morey-Saint-Denis became the first Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) in Bourgogne; on the eve of D-Day, the “Premier Cru” category was created in the region. In 1975, Burgundy’s version of Champagne called “Cremant de Bourgone” was granted AOC status, and just five years ago, Bourgogne Tonnerre became the region’s 100th appellation.
Understanding the Classifications
Burgundy is composed of five distinct regions, from north to south: Chablis, Cote d’Or (Cote de Beaune in the north and Cotes de Nuits in the south), Cote Chalonnaise, Maconnais and Beaujolais. The Cote d’Or alone has 28 different wine-producing villages called communes, with a total of 20,000 acres or 8100 hectares of vineyards. The entire region has about 72,000 acres of vineyards, and produces about 200 million bottles of wine a year.
The classifications in Burgundy do have a certain logic to them, but they’re still a pain in the ass, and they’re far different from the Bordeaux ones. The important thing here is the vineyard and village where the grapes are grown, rather than the Chateau (winery) as in Bordeaux.
The top classification is Grand Cru— there are 33 Grand Cru Appellations representing about only 1.5% of the wines produced here —and they’re named by the single vineyard alone. If you’ve spent some time in the Burgundy section of a wine store, some of these names might ring a bell: Bâtard-Montrachet, Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Échezeaux, Montrachet, Musigny, Richebourg, and Romanée-Conti. Each Grand Cru wine really is its own Appellation.
The second tier is ironically named Premier Cru or “first growth”, sometimes abbreviated 1er Cru. These also represent great terroir and about 10% of Burgundy’s production. In an interesting twist, a few 1er Cru wines will actually take grapes from more that one named vineyard, and then they’ll keep the Premier Cru designation but name the wine for the village only. But they’ll always say “Appellation Premier Cru Controlee.”
Tier 3 are true Village wines, about 37% of all Burgundies, and the grapes for these wines are sourced from vineyards within a single village or commune…and that’s what they’ll say, the village name; for example, “Appellation Nuits-St. George Controlee.” The thing here is that the vineyards themselves have to be classified at the village level or better.
Bringing up the rear, but by no means bottom-feeders, are wines from the 23 Regional AOCs, making up about 52% of all Burgundies. Make no mistake, the wines from regional appellations can be superb and command pretty big prices. These will be labeled by the broad region alone, such as Appellation Bourgogne Controllee, or by a smaller sub-region such as Cote de Beaune. Regional wines can also have the name of the grape on the label, and this is the only level in Burgundy where this is permitted.
The Wines: Chardonnay
Chardonnay is far too often grown in hot-climate areas all over the world, allowed to overripen, and then turned into high-alcohol, over-oaked, sweet caramel bombs. I know that some people like these, including a lot of Americans, so who am I to say they shouldn’t drink them…just because I won’t?
But since we’re on the subject of White Burgundies, I want to mention that while there are a lot of lousy ones from here, there are also the world’s best, with names on the bottles that you’ve probably heard of such as Chassagne, Meursault and Puligny. The finest are rich without being sweet, with enough oak to balance their acidity and bring out the honey, nutty, vanillin and toasty flavors that make this wine, well, the best white wine on earth.
As an aside I want to give a shout-out to Chablis, and no I don’t mean the crappy, sweet and watery California jug wine I drank in college, made from French Colombard grapes. Although it’s considered the northernmost part of the Burgundy region, Chablis is actually about 70 miles northwest of the top end of the Cote d’Or. Its chalky soil (similar to the soil of Champagne), relatively cool climate, and restrained style of winemaking produces wines that are often described as austere or flinty. What they are for sure is about the purest “expression” of Chardonnay.
The Wines: Pinot Noir
The merits of Burgundian Pinot Noirs are probably discussed and debated among wine lovers more than any other grape, wine or wine region. People that love them don’t think anything else comes close, and they’ll give you the reasons: they’re elegant, perfumed, silky, subtle, nuanced, and glorious! Notoriously thin-skinned, Pinots are lighter in color and lower in perceptible tannin than almost any other red wines, and deliver up a lush bouquet of summer fruit: to me, red cherries, strawberries and raspberries. As they age they gain spiciness and complexity that they clearly lack in youth, and contrary to a lot of conventional wisdom Red Burgundies can age for a very long time, at least those from good terroirs in the best vintages.
Hollywood & Wine: Wine Movies!
Movies about wine are relatively few, and good ones are as rare as a 1961 Hermitage La Chapelle. Here’s an overview of a couple worth seeing, and some educational ones, too.
Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock, which was independently released in the United States in August of ’08, is available on video. The movie is supposed to tell at least part of the story of “The Judgment of Paris,” that game-changing event in 1976 when a Chardonnay from Napa’s Chateau Montelena and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars beat some of the top French wines.
In a blind taste test. In Paris. With some of France’s top wine experts as judges.
Mon Dieu!
Problem is, lots of stuff shown in the movie just isn’t true. Steven Spurrier’s wine shop, the Academy du Vin, wasn’t struggling at all but was a fairly successful business, teaching classes and catering to English and American expatriates living in France. There are a lot of made up characters, too – you know those composite people that Hollywood loves to invent when the real ones aren’t compelling enough. And let’s not forget the gratuitous beauties that pop up: Eliza Dushku as a local tavern owner and Rachel Taylor as a cellar rat/intern and love interest. There’s a lot of unnecessary drama that detracts from the real story – a classic underdog tale and one that is ultimately satisfying, even if we know all along who’s going to win.
And there’s one huge hole in the movie: Warren Winniarski, the proprietor of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, is entirely left out along with his award-winning Cabernet. So is his winemaker at the time, Mike Grgich, one of the first employees of the Robert Mondavi winery and today the proprietor of his own, famous, and award-winning winery.
Oh, rent the movie anyway. The scenery is gorgeous, the American wines actually did win, the French were really pissed off, and this single event helped launch the modern and very successful American wine business.
Sideways
You probably know by now that the biggest wine movie in memory – actually a thinly disguised buddy movie – is 2005′s Sideways. To be sure, there were a few glaring errors in the movie with respect to wine; for example, in a fit of panicked snobbery, Miles stands outside a restaurant and declares that he won’t under any circumstances drink any fu**ing Merlot, and if anyone orders any, well, he’ll leave. And at one winery he whines that he’s not a fan of Cabernet Franc even when it’s made well. Yet later in the movie he raves about one of his prized possessions, a Chateau Cheval Blanc, made with…Cab Franc and Merlot, of course.
Aside from the fact that Sideways is a much better movie in general than Bottle Shock, it’s a much better wine movie, too. You’ve probably seen it, but if you haven’t, go to your nearest Red Box and rent the movie. And without giving anything away, all I can tell you is to look forward to the brief soliloquy of Virginia Madsen’s character, Maya, as she describes in delicate, heartfelt, and almost heartbreaking terms the creation and evolution of a single bottle of wine and all the lives it touches along the way.
Mondovino
Another movie, both fascinating and educational, is 2006′s Mondovino, a documentary that tries pretty hard, maybe too hard, to pull back the curtain and expose the ugly underbelly of the global wine business. Its point isn’t too hard to figure out: a handful of huge wine and spirit conglomerates is slowly but surely taking control of large and small wineries round the world. They’re homogenizing winemaking so that we’ll all be drinking the same thing one way or another in just a few years. And we’ll like it, because that’s what we’re being told to like.
A few of the world’s wind notables emerge as clear villains here, among them wine critic Robert Parker. And more particularly, Michel Rolland, “the flying Frenchman” who consults to about 100 wineries worldwide including many in France, the United States and South America. It’s interesting that Rolland denies that he tells his clients to “micro-oxygenate” their wines, but about 12 minutes into the movie he is seen and heard doing precisely that. Director Jonathan Nossiter, an established filmmaker and sommelier, seems to include Robert Mondavi in his gang of bad guys, ironically based on Mondavi’s attempted joint venture in Italy which failed, and his prominence as the leading spokesman for the powerful American wine industry until his death.
The movie rambles a bit, a lot actually, and at 165 minutes it’s way too long and lacks, well, editing. The camerawork is really crap, too – I could do better on rollerblades with a camcorder after a magnum of Champagne. And if you think Parker is the man and Rolland is, uh, the other man, then you won’t like what you see and hear.
But if you’re concerned about the direction that the wine world may be taking, slip this in your DVD player and spend a couple hours seeing how sausage, er, wine is made. Curiously, I couldn’t find a trailer for this movie anywhere on the Internet except in French, not even on the filmmaker’s own website where it says “coming soon.”
Educational Movies
Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course
Jancis Robinson’s wine course is a pretty worthwhile investment in time – about five hours – and money, under 20 bucks.
The two-disc set walks you through winemaking techniques and wines made from the so-called “great grapes” including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Riesling, and Pinot Noir. Best of all, Jancis takes you to countries where these wines are made, giving you gorgeous views of the vineyards and interesting chats with owners and winemakers. It’s interesting that Jancis is able to translate wine concepts and terms in ordinary language, and yet you see how she’s a bit arrogant and condescending when she’s talking to the people who actually make the wine.
In any event, though, I don’t think you can find a better introductory video wine course at any price. Naturally it’s available from Amazon.com but you can also find it in the larger bookstores and video outlets that stock cultural and educational videos.
The Secrets of Wine
This course, on the other hand, is a single disc with a scant 60 minute running time. I won’t tell you that you can’t learn anything from this course, but unless you know absolutely nothing about wine, you won’t learn very much. I’d skip it. By the way, any book or video that promises to reveal “secrets” probably isn’t worth your time or money – after all, if they’re really secrets they won’t be on video, will they?
Get Real Wine Series: Napa and Sonoma Harvest
This 2005 video on a single disc is actually pretty interesting although the production values are lousy and, like Mondovino, it could use some editing and polish. It was produced by a guy named Eric Gerardi from Dayton, Ohio, which piqued my interest since that’s my old stomping ground and there aren’t a whole lot of wine-savvy people in southwestern Ohio.
Gerardi visits and interviewers winemakers from Benzinger Family Vineyards, Steltzner Vineyards and Markham, and speaks with chef and author Cindy Pawlcyn, the owner of Mustard’s Grill in Napa where I’ve eaten a dozen times. Despite the amateurish quality, in about an hour and 15 minutes you get a nice picture of winemaking in Napa and Sonoma – along with a healthy dose of self-promotion by the winemakers.
I don’t think this video sold too well, and as a result it’s a bit hard to find, but it’s certainly worth about the 15 bucks it will cost you.
Great Wine Books for Summer Reading!!
One of the ways I’ve learned about wine, oddly enough, is to read wine books. And here are some great book for Summer Reading.
Of course you can read lots of technical books – on home winemaking, wine courses such as Jancis Robinson’s, or tasting books such as Hugh Johnson’s. And for those who get into wine geekery like me, there are books such as Clive Coates’ The Wines of Burgundy, or Vino Italiano – The Regional Wines of Italy, that can take weeks to read and are more appropriate for people studying for their MW rather than casual wine drinkers and even dedicated tasters.
For my money and yours, though, I recommend that you have some fun while you learn, and for that reason I’m going to recommend three, all narratives, without boring statistics about the number of grand cru vineyards in Burgundy, how many clones of Chardonnay there are, or how long it takes to apply extra toast to a brand-new French oak barrel.
Now, I write about Robert Parker pretty often. He’s a force in the wine industry, to be sure, and called the single most influential wine writer alive. But I think of him more as a wine “rater” than a writer, and I just don’t buy the notion that you can reduce the quality and pleasure of any particular wine to a specific number with mathematical certainty. For that reason, I was eager to get my copy of Alice Fiering’s 2008 book, The Battle for Wine or Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, and plunge into it.
I gotta tell you, I had a little bit of trouble with the premise to begin with. The truth is that I don’t think Alice has saved the world from Parkerization, the idea that wine writer Robert Parker has overly and to many people, undeservedly influenced what kind of wine people like and therefore what they buy. To me, her title, like a lot of the book, is too clever by half. In fact, throughout the book, she laments the fact that winemakers around the world hold their noses to Robert Parker’s grindstone, praying that the so-called “Emperor of wine” will grant their wines a 92 rating or above, because that magic number pretty much assures a wine commercial success. To get his attention as well as those ratings, says Fiering, these winemakers use technology to excess, grossly over-oak, focused absurdly on color, and just generally make a mockery of the “natural” winemaking practices used by their grandfathers. In the bargain, she says, many if not most wines have lost their nuance and finesse and amount to little more than syrupy-sweet plonk, one wine indistinguishable from another. She clearly believes this and makes her case over a couple hundred pages…fair enough. But I suppose in an effort to make her book charming and “full-bodied,” Fiering insists on telling us intimate personal details along the way, especially around her love life and the many men who find their way into and out of her journey from New York to wherever. Worse still, she gives them each a pet name (“Owl Man”) as she does a half-dozen female friends who often accompany her on trips to this symposium or that wine region. Such stuff weighs down the book in much the same way Ms. Fiering says modern winemakers weigh down their juice with alcohol, tannin, oak and sweetness.
Still, big parts of the book are a lot of fun – they read like a travel log and give you those rich and interesting back stories about why wines are made the way they are, and what those winemakers are thinking. There are some insights here, and it’s an easy-reading page turner. There’s a little discussion about organic and biodynamic winemaking, but it’s hard to tell whether she’s applauding or making fun of the grape farmer who harvests according to phases of the moon and plants a ram’s horn filled with cow dung in a corner of his vineyard. When all is said and done, my only real complaint is this: she has the opportunity on several occasions to just tell Mr. Parker what she really thinks: that he’s done huge damage in a quest to get winemakers to produce wines that appeal solely to his palate. But each time she approaches the line, Ms. Fiering backs off under one pretext or another — not wanting to hurt the great man’s feelings, or provoke him to walk away from the interview. If this is saving us, we ain’t saved.
By contrast, Adventures on the Wine Route – A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France, is pure pleasure: personal but not uncomfortably intimate, written with equal or even greater conviction but with no sign of a chip on his shoulder by Kermit Lynch, a pioneering wine importer who just happens to be a great narrator.
Like Fiering, Lynch is passionate about artisanal wines, but he makes his case more by talking about who is making them rather than who’s not. And his view that “Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull” runs through his chapters and paragraphs, which are by turns funny, absurd, colorful, quirky, and sometimes all at once. I think he’s equally unhappy about the power of ratings as the gold standard for wine consumers, oddly enough given that he’s an importer and a commercially successful one at that. As you might expect, he raves about a great many wines on which his own fortunes turn, and in this sense he’s certainly not a disinterested critic like Alice Fiering.
Nonetheless, if you really want to get a feel for how the art and craft of wine works in Europe, run out and buy this book. You can read a lot about Bordeaux and Burgundy elsewhere, but you won’t often find these kinds of stories about winemaking and wine styles of the Loire Valley, the Languedoc, Provence, Chablis, or Beaujolais for that matter. And if you really like the culture of wine and not just the taste of it (or the buzz you get from it) this book will enrich both your mind and your spirit.
From a little closer to home in California’s Sonoma Valley comes A Very Good Year, a truly inside look at winemaking by Mike Weiss. Originally a series in The San Francisco Chronicle where Weiss was a staff writer, this narrative tracks the 2002 vintage of Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc) as it goes from vine to glass, from the field and crush pad to a white-linen restaurant table in Manhattan. Along the way we meet the wealthy owner and his muse, the winemaker and his lieutenants, the vineyard manager, the head of sales and marketing and his sales minions. Most poignantly we meet the ordinary field workers, one a tragic character who takes his own life in Mexico after the 2002 harvest.
Into these personal stories are interwoven professional jealousies, seemingly creative decisions based mainly on accounting spreadsheets, the false ostentation of California wine culture, and the real power of some wine writers that would make the personalities in Falcon Crest blush like a dry rose.
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