Wine News: November 7, 2011
Wine of the Week: Domaine de L’Olivier Chardonnay 2009
Good Chard under ten bucks is almost unheard of. This is one of them. And it’s a pretty good wine to serve before, if not with, the Thanksgiving meal.
Now if you’re a real fan of big, sweet, caramel-y, high alcohol Chardonnays you probably won’t be impressed. Because this is a crisp, virtually unoaked, almost Chablis-like wine, with citrus and pineapple aromas and flavors of lemon and a hint of vanilla.
This is not from Burgundy, of course; it’s from the Languedoc-Roussillon in the very southeast, bordering on the Mediterranean, and the wine is classified “Pays d’Oc”. That means, mainly, it’s good table wine from a fairly large region.
And it also is an amazingly good, remarkably inexpensive wine that tastes like it cost about two and a half times what you can buy it for. I just bought a case.
Wine of the Week: Banfi Chianti Classico 2008
For thirteen bucks, you really can’t do much better.
That’s my opinion, and it’s also the opinion of a bunch of wine Judges at the Ultimate Wine Challenge in NY City this past May. Normally I don’t put too much stock in wine contests, but this one I liked, especially as the tastings were blind and the top scorers were were then tasted by a whole different group of judges. And they put a lot of emphasis on affordable and value wines. This is certainly one of them.
Anyway, what a great food wine: medium bodied, with flavors of black and bing cherries, a hint of leather, nice acidity, and enough tannin to chew on but not overwhelm you. Most of this is Sangiovese, one of my favorite grapes, with a few percent of the other traditional Chianti grapes, too.
Right now, amazingly, it’s snowing outside in October, and this is a nice “comfort” wine at a great price.
Wine News August 8, 2011
Gewurztraminers from Long Island
Understanding American Viticulture Areas (AVAs)
A Primer on Wines from South Africa
Wine Pick: Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay
“Maine Classics” With Chefs Gaier and Frasier
Last night at the Ramscale penthouse in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, Arrows Restaurant Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier rolled out their new cookbook Maine Classics.
The Chefs, who took home the James Beard Award for Best Chefs of the Northeast last year, were in town to introduce New York’s food writers to the book and more importantly, to the food, which we tasted while looking out over the skyline with great views of the south tip of Manhattan, Hoboken, and Jersey City, with Lady Liberty and Staten Island off in the distance. I believe we were, in fact, looking out over the Hudson at the spot where “Sully” Sullenberger brought US Airways flight 1549 to a stop, saving his own and 154 other lives.
Anyway, it was a perfect evening. Paired in my case with Four Vines Naked Chardonnay (unoaked), guests enjoyed more than a dozen treats from the cookbook including lobster mac n’ cheese, grilled flank steak with mom’s sauce, poached oysters with creme and chervil, spicy lamb sausage, lobster salad with miner’s lettuce and chive mayonnaise, crab chowder with corn and celery, yukon gold potato and wild mushroom gratin, all finished off with apple-rhubarb crisp, whoopie pies, and honey-thyme and real mint (and I mean real) chocolate chip ice creams.
You can buy the book at Amazon and a whole lotta other places. Better yet, just hop in your car to Ogunquit, Maine and visit Arrows or their other signature restaurant, MC Perkins Cove, and taste some of the treats for yourself.
An Evening with Christian Moueix and Dominus
Christian Moueix
On April 25 I was privileged to enjoy an evening with Christian Moueix (“Moo-ecks”) of Petrus and Dominus fame, as a guest of Sherry-Lehman CEO Chris Adams. Monsieur Moueix hosted a tasting of his Dominus and Napanook wines, with paired cuisine from Manhattan’s Hotel Plaza Athenee.
I’ve been drinking his wines all my adult life and so I felt like I’d known Christian ever since I’d read Napa: The Story of an American Eden. In that book, one of my five favorite wine books, we hear about how Christian, who’d studied winemaking and viticulture at UC Davis, was first approached by Robert Mondavi who was in Bordeaux for the 1981 harvest, and had met with Christian and suggested that he consider expanding the Moueix family horizons beyond France. Those horizons alone were considerable; at they time they included the famed Chateau Petrus, and Chateaux La Grave, Magdelaine and Tratanoy.
Eventually, the ever-persuasive Mondavi got Christian to fly to California, where he literally set him up with two sisters of California wine royalty, Robin Daniel Lail and Marcia “Marky” Daniel Smith, the daughters of Napa pioneer John Daniel, the former owner of Napa’s Inglenook winery, the closest thing Napa’s ever had to a French chateau. John Daniel and his sister had become the sole owners of the winery in 1937 and is responsible for many then-unheard-of innovations such as vintage dating and labeling the bottles Napa Valley. Some very unhappy personal circumstances had forced John to sell Inglenook in 1964, but the historic Yountville vineyard Napanook wasn’t part of the deal, and most of it eventually passed on to Robin and Marky. Together they went into business with Christian to produce the luxury Dominus wines (first vintage 1983) from that vineyard, which they then jointly owned until 1995, when Christian became the sole owner. The Napanook wines are the second wines produced from the vineyard and began production in 1996.
At about 6 foot 3, Christian often towers above everyone else at a tasting, and he reeks of elegance and erudition. But aside from his thick accent he’s about as down to earth as they come, and our dinner was punctuated with laughter as he popped up only briefly from his table to introduce each wine, often with a self-deprecating line or joke.
A true gentleman farmer and a distinguished winemaker, it was a thrill to spend an evening with Christian and his lovely wife Cerise. Many thanks to Chris Adams and the fine folks at Sherry Lehman.
Now for the wines:
Certan de May 2008: Soft and reserved, with very little tannin. Average $85 retail.
Magdelaine 2008: A big, bold wine, dense in color, with big and chewy but not off-putting tannins. Wonderful. Average $75 retail.
Dominus 1996: A lovely perfumed wine but getting a little thin. Average $110 retail.
Dominus 2001: A perfectly balanced, wonderful food wine. In fact a nearly perfect wine. Average $105 retail.
Dominus 2006: Promising but still young and a little rough around the edges. Average $90 retail.
Dominus 2008: Lush and delicious, remarkably drinkable right now and sure to get better all the time. Average $155 retail.
Napanook 2008: Very earthy and lacks a bit in the mid-palate. Average $50 retail.
A Primer on Burgundy
I have to say it: France, and specifically Bourgogne, what we in the great USA call Burgundy, is where the world’s bestPinot 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 and least interesting Pinots and Chardonnays from other places – old world and new, oaked and unoaked, cool climate and hot climate, austere and crisp, or sweet, caramel-y, and in my view pretty much undrinkable—think Yellowtail. Or, actually, don’t. But seriously, I’ve tasted Pinots from New Zealand and Oregon that rival the best from Burgundy, and just this week I had a Chardonnay from Italy that I might have sworn was a Premier Cru from France.
But the fact remains that for a whole bunch of reasons, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay flourish better in Burgundy than anywhere else on earth and you’d be hard-pressed to challenge that. 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 magnificent, 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.
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 in which 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 determine what ends up in your glass, 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.
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 pursuits, 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 unfolded a scant 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 visited its destruction on 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 “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. That’s more than enough to fill up my cellar.
Anyway, 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 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 rub 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.
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 people like these, including a lot of Americans, so who the hell 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 plonk California jug wine such as Gallo I drank in college, that was 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: on my palate, 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.
Cork…or Screw (cap)?
People ask me all the time about screwcaps on wine.
Now, most people don’t think much about the science of wine; they just want to know one thing: can a bottle of wine with a screwcap be any good?
Simple answer? Yep. Lots of really good wines today are closed with a screwcap, including so-called super premium wines, which can fetch $100 a bottle or more. But I’d like to qualify what I’m saying with a few points.
First of all, the jury is out on whether or not screw caps will work effectively and enable some wines, particularly big, bold reds, to age in bottle for 10, 20, or even 30 years. We just don’t know, because screw caps haven’t been around that long and until recently, vendors were putting screwcaps mostly on whites that were meant to be drunk very young, typically within one to two years of release. That’s still the case, and in fact Australian and New Zealand wineries are putting screw caps on about 70% of their wines, the vast majority being fresh, crisp whites. However, more and more wineries are adopting screwcaps for their reds including some mid-priced and premium wines. While there aren’t too many “super premium” or luxury red wines being bottled under screwcap, there are some. In fact, the Plumpjack winery in Napa, founded by former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, was putting a $100 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon under screwcap several years ago.
The most obvious reason for using a screwcap is that there’s zero chance of the wine being “corked,” tainted with a compound called TCA that gives the wine a musty, nasty smell and taste, basically making it undrinkable. Conventional wisdom and the best statistics we can find tell us that 3% to 7% of all wines bottled with a traditional cork will be tainted by that cork.
Still, the cork industry has responded with improved ways to sanitizing corks to minimize TCA, as well as new closures, the most interesting in my view being the agglomerated cork. An agglomerated cork is kinda like particle board furniture: natural cork is ground up and then reassembled into a traditional cork shape using a binder along with tiny particles called microspheres. It looks a lot like a natural cork, although the ends are more rounded, and it maintains some but not all of the properties of cork. For example, natural cork has a bit more elasticity which is why it works so well in the bottle; it can be compressed by a bottling machine and then expand in the neck of the bottle to close the space. Agglomerated corks do this, but perhaps not quite as well.
I give a pretty thorough rundown on various types of wine closures in my FAQ section, which you might want to check out.
Perfect Pairing: Corn Fritters and off-dry Vouvray!
Over the Christmas holidays, I twice made fresh corn fritters and served them with pure maple syrup.
And – I accompanied them with a chilled Vouvray, Domaine le Peu de la Moriette J.C. Pichot 2008.
The pairing was a big hit both times!
Vouvray is a wine region in the Loire Valley in France, and its wines are typically made from 100% Chenin Blanc, although in that appellation a small amount of the Arbois grape is permitted but rarely used. Chenin Blanc isn’t too popular or well known in the US, and that’s too bad, as it makes a wonderful, silky and lush white wine. It’s also made very well in South Africa and sometimes referred to by its local name there, Steen.
Vouvrays can come in a variety of styles from dry to sweet, with off-dry and semi-sweet in between. This one is off-dry, and delivers up apricot, pear and fig flavors, with more than a hint of sweetness yet nicely balanced with just enough acid. It’s got a creamy, lively and nicely long finish.
Not that it matters much, but those of you who dig ratings will be happy to hear that Wine Spectator gives this vintage of J.C. Pichot 90 points, even though it’s only about $14-15. A great wine, a great value, and a great pairing, if I do say so myself.
Now for the simple and easy corn fritter recipe:
Beat 2 eggs. Mix in 2 cups flour, 2 cups creamed corn, 4 teaspoons baking power and a tablespoon or three of melted butter. Drop soup-spoon sized globs of the mixture into 350 degree oil, preferably in a deep fryer with a basket. The fritters will float to the surface; flip ‘em over so they are nicely browned on both sides, about 4-5 minutes.
Serve with pure maple syrup…and the Vouvray!!!
Wine of the Week: Marques de la Casa Concha 2008 Cabernet
Chilean wine has come a long, long way from the $3 plonk I drank in college.
This very good value bottle comes from Concha Y Toro, a winery run by people I’ve come to really appreciate. Concha is actually a huge operation with a slew of labels-including Casillero del Diablo, Don Melchor, Cono Sur, Terrunyo, and Los Robles-but they’re very focused on quality, and in many ways resemble a collection of boutique wineries rather than a major production house.
The 2008 Marques de la Casa Concha Cab is one of those wines that could easily have become an overripe, over-tannic, high-alcohol fruit bomb. Instead, it’s nicely structured and well balanced, just moderately powerful and lush enough. There’s a little mint and chocolate in there, reminiscent of a Mount Veeder (Napa), around a nice core of blackfruit. The 2008 vintage is about 92% Cab with a few percent Carmenere and 1% Petit Verdot.
This is a very satisfying wine that hints at a powerful California Cab but delivers a more restrained, nuanced and elegant experience. It’s got a great and moderately long finish, too.
It’s about $16-$20 just about everywhere. I’d say snap up a few bottles when you can find it.
Champagne Dreams With Chantal Bregeon-Gonet
Pierre and Chantal Gonet
As I write this I’m sipping a glass of Pine Ridge’s lovely 2009 Chenin Blanc/Viognier, which as IHOP might say is rutti tutti fresh and fruity. But make no mistake, this piece is about Champagne.
In October I 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 2.7 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 the buyer always knows what they’re getting. 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 lie 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 have an affinity for 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 for many things western, Champagnes 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, and I was privileged to be among them. Serendipitously, she chose my favorite restaurant in the City, 11 Madison Park, to hold court. Over three hours, with a little interruption for a three-course meal, we tasted all seven Gonet Champagnes.
Now, their promotional materials will tell you that their 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. 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 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 even when it’s used, it’s typically only a few 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 tasty.
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 balanced. 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 was 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 forego 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, a tiny bit yeasty, and vibrant citrusy 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
Wine News – October 25, 2010
Wine Recommendations
Classy Cline Cashmere! (California)
Can Feixes Blanc Seleccio 2009 (Spain)
Yealands Pinot Noir 2009 (New Zealand)
A Chat With Concha y Toro’s Marcelo Papa
Marcelo Papa
It’s not only a lot of fun but also a great learning experience when you get to sit down and talk with a winemaker (without his boss around). I had the pleasure of doing just that at a small, private tasting sponsored by Snooth, an online wine database and portal for consumers to find and purchase wine online.
The winemaker, Concha Y Toro’s Marcelo Papa, joined the company about 12 years ago with degrees in agriculture and winemaking, and a ton of experience at Viñedos Emiliana, a pioneer in organic winemaking in Chile (see my post here) and five years with that behemoth of the US wine industry Kendall-Jackson. He worked two harvests each year, one in California and the other at K-J’s Viña Calina in Chile, and took lessons learned in each place to the other.
Concha is part of a real renaissance in Chilean winemaking and produces out about a quarter of all wine from Chile. Rather than either low-end budget wines or ultra-premium luxury labels, Concha’s fixated on high quality at the midprice range, and it shows.
Initially Marcelo took over the best-selling line of Casillero del Diablo wines, and a year later added the prestige Marqués de Casa Concha label to his portfolio. Under Papa’s direction, Concha’s wines began earning industry accolades starting in 2002, on his home turf in the Chilean Wine Guide, and bit also in some top US industry pubs including Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast magazines. But as you know, I’m a lot less concerned with what the wine wags write in the wine rags than with authenticity, taste and craftsmanship.
Under Papa, Concha has recently created a new range of wines called Maycas del Limarí, from, appropriately enough, the Limarí wine region 250 miles north of Santiago. Sourcing fruit from five vineyards and more than 1000 acres, this region is much cooler, semi-arid and has great potential for white varieties including Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Here are the wines I tasted and my favorites:
WHITES
- Maycas del Limari Sauvignon Blanc (2008) – Favorite
- Maycas del Limari Chardonnay (2007) – Favorite
- Marques de Casa Concha Chardonnay (2007)
REDS
- Maycas del Limari Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) – Favorite
- Maycas del Limari Syrah (2006)
- Debut vintage: Marques de Casa Concha Carmenere (2007) – Favorite and just outstanding
- Marques de Casa Concha Merlot (2006)
- Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet (2007)
- Marques de Casa Concha Syrah (2007)
- Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada (2007) – Favorite
Wine-Flair Wine News – October 3, 2010
CONSUMER NEWS
Political Manipulation on Direct-to-Consumer Bill?
Study Says Natural Corks Used Increasingly
New York Wines Develop Their Own Identity
Chili vs. Argentina? It’s all Good!
WINERY AND INDUSTRY NEWS
Long Island Caps a Successful Harvest
California? The Harvest Goes Late
Oregon Winemakers Try New Strategies
Napa Meets Burgundy for…England?
WINE TASTING AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Good, Affordable White Burgundy
Sauvignon: Your “Go-To” White Wine
Winebow’s 2010 Vintner’s Harvest…Indeed
Every year the folks at Winebow put on a two-day show at Soho at the Skylight. Winebow, headquartered up the Garden State Parkway in Montvale, NJ is a major importer of fine Italian wines – among others – and also enjoys distribution rights in many parts of the US. In wine terms it’s a very large company with about 400 employees and a national sales force, and its Winebow Brands International brings in great stuff from Spain, Chile, Argentina and Portugal. Winebow also owns Click Wine Group based in Seattle, which handles 17 labels, the best-known among them Fat Bastard, whose Chardonnay seems to be increasingly popular.
Normally I don’t talk much about importers and distributors, but from a consumer standpoint it might be helpful to turn the bottle around and look on the back label. For imported wines, you’ll see who brings it into the US, and when you see the Winebow name (or Kermit Lynch, Banfi, or Palm Bay too) it should give you some comfort that these are well-vetted selections.
Now, a tasting of this size is a bit overwhelming, even for someone who enjoys tasting 100 wines before breakfast, as I’ve done on a couple occasions. Far as I can tell, about 300 wineries were represented and I’m certainly not going to go through the whole book to count the number of individual wines. Every year this is the biggest tasting I attend, and in three hours – which is about my limit – I only get to a fraction. But I do focus on labels I don’t know so that I can bring to light some lesser-known brands and wines that I liked and can recommend.
I’m not going to put in detailed tasting notes and since I don’t “rate” wines per se I’m just going to list those that struck a chord.
Let’s start with close to home at New York State’s Millbrook Winery. Producing for 25 years, Millbrook is under-appreciated or perhaps totally unappreciated for the quality of its wines. And for us New Jerseyites and New Yorkers, it’s just a 90 minute drive north of the city.
MILLBROOK WINERY (Hudson Valley, New York State)
- Cabernet Franc Proprietor’s Special Reserve 2007 – one of the best domestic Cab Francs I’ve tasted
- Pinot Noir 2008 – Nice and bright cherry flavors
- Chardonnay Unoaked 2009 – Just the way I like it
CHATEAU JULIEN WINE ESTATE (Carmel Valley, California)
- Chardonnay 2008 – Nice with lots of lemon notes
- Merlot 2008 – A Merlot of substance with a few percent Malbec for backbone
- Black Nova 2006 – 60% Zin and 40% Syrah – Unusual blend, spicy and peppery
CHAMISAL VINEYARDS (Napa Valley, California)
Chamisal Stainless Chardonnay
Chamisal is the second label of Napa Valley’s Pine Ridge, which produces one of my favorite whites, a mix of Viognier and Chenin Blanc.
- Stainless Chardonnay 2009 – Superb. This wine has an eye problem – it can’t ever see any oak, even with glasses. Lots of lemon and apple; best of all, no caramel-y sweetness.
- Estate Pinot Noir 2007
DECOY by DUCKHORN (Napa Valley, California)
Decoy used to bottle just one proprietary red wine and I think you could get it only at the winery. Today they’ve got a range of mostly reds, and a style that’s distinctive and different (and generally less expensive) from Duckhorn.
- Napa Valley Merlot 2008 – Lush and juicy fruit
- Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2008 – Nice, smoky (never mind why)
- Napa Valley Zinfandel 2008 – Full bodied but not over the top peppery
- Napa Valley Red Wine 2008 – Very restrained like a Bordeaux
GUNDLACH BUNDSCHU (Sonoma, California…sort of)
Gundlach sits at the intersection of Sonoma, Napa and their southern neighbor Carneros, which gets that nice cooling fog off San Pablo Bay. I’ve never been a fan but this year I tried two whites that I really enjoyed.
- Estate Chardonnay 2008
- Gewurztraminer 2009 – A lovely nose, nice and fresh
ROMBAUER VINEYARDS (Napa Valley, California)
Rombauer’s got about 300 acres – which is a lot – and is family owned and operated, which used to be the standard in Napa but has sadly changed a lot over the last decade.
- Chardonnay Carneros 2009 – Nice body but not too oaky, and showing the cooler-climate crispness of Carneros
- Merlot Carneros 2006 – This grape is growing on me, if not on Miles.
- Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 – A very nice wine from a mediocre year
- Zinfandel 2008 – Wonderful
BODEGA PIRINEOS (Aragon, Spain)
Pirineos Rosado
These are wonderful wines, many of which include juice from indigenous grapes that most of us have never heard of, such as Parraleta, a thin-skinned red. The winery’s only 17 years old but you’d never tell it.
- Mesache Blanco – 60% Macabeo and 40% Gewurztraminer. Crisp and refreshing but has body
- Mesache Rosado 2009 – Very cool Rose mix of Tempranillo, Garnacha (Grenache), and Moristel
- Parraleta 2006 – One of those unknown grapes. A great price for a juicy, easy-drinking red
- Marbore 2004 – One of the most delicious and unusual blends I’ve ever tasted – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo, Moristel and Parraleta. All five are fermented and aged seperately and then blended to the winemaker’s whim. He done good.
LIBRANDI (Calabira, Italy)
- Ciro Bianco DOC 2009 – 100% Greco Bianco. Crisp and Mineral
- Critone IGT 2009 – 90% Greco Bianco and 10% Chard. Unusual and delicious mix.
- Efeso Bianco IGT 2008 – 100% Greco Mantonico, a new grape for me. Lotsa almond and vanilla.
- Ciro Duca Sanfelice Riserva 2007 – Easy-drinking red from the Gaglioppo grape
- Magno Megonio IGT 2008 – Lot of licorice and pepper, from the Maglioppo grape
TASCA d’ALMERITA (Sicily)
I tried this label only because I’ve become fond of Nero d’Avola, a grape and a wine of the same name that is atypically delicious and very affordable – albeit hard to find – on the list in fine dining restaurants.
- Regaleali Rosso Nero d’Avola IGT 2007 – Lovely wine especially at this price point
- Lamuri Nero d’Avola IGT 2007 – More lush with blackberries and a little cinnamon
TENUTA la MARCHESA (Piedmont, Italy)
Here’s another case of my going just for the grape. In this case it’s Gavi, an underappreciated grape sometimes given “garbage” status by wine snobs. It’s anything but.
- Gavi DOCG White Label the Marquise – Nice and crisp but not Old Spice cold-slap-in-the-face
- Gavi la Marquise DOCG Gold Label – More complex and full-bodied
CHATEAU DE MONTFAUCON (Rhone, France)
- Viognier Vin de Pays d’Oc 2009 – A nice wine, especially at this price point. Most French Vionigers come from Condrieu and start at $60 retail. I imagine this one will go for under $15, and although it’s an unclassified “Vin de Pays” (and therefore labelled by the grape variety) it’s still a pretty nice expression of this wonderful, full-bodied and unctuous white.
- Comtesse Madeleine Cote du Rhone White 2009 – Another very affordable wine that mimics to some extent the white version of Chateauneuf du Pape (minus the white Grenache) that goes for many multiples more. 40% Viognier, 30% Marsanne, some Clairette and Picpoul blanc. And maybe some other stuff. I don’t know, I was too busy enjoying it.
- Baron Louis Cote de Rhone Red Vielle Vignes 2007 – Made from sixty to 94 year old vines of Grenache, Syrah, cinsault, Carignan, Counoise and Mourvedre. Rich and complex but not overpowering.
- Le Holdup Rhone Gang 2008 – This wine’s right out of Randy Graham’s playbook – clever name, more clever wine. Stange but delicious mix of Pinot Noir and Grenache. I recommend highly.
Comtesse Madeleine Cote du Rhone White
HARLAFTIS (Peloponnese, Greece)
I’ve not had much experience with Greek wines, and I wished I’d saved a little more time during the tasting for some of them. This particular winery produces wines from indigenous and international grapes. One thing I would say is that they need to use a little more imagination in naming their wines!
- Argilos 2007 – Deep ruby, earth and spice.
- Nemea 2008 – 100% Agiorgitiko, another first in grapes for me. A pleasant if unremarkable red that would be a good food wine.
- White 2009 – Yes, it is. A blend of Savatiano and Roditis (unfortunately named, sounds like an affliction). Fermented in stainless. A great aperitif wine.
- Chardonnay 2007 – Nice medium-bodied Chard that hits a nice midpoint between austere and oaky.
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