Shea

Alban Vineyards Patrina Syrah 2008

December 29, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Christmas is a time to open a few nice bottles and my second Christmas day wine was this Syrah from the legendary John Alban. While most of his wines are impossible to find and prohibitively expensive, this wine is merely difficult to find and is actually reasonably priced.

Alban grows his fruit in vineyards in the Edna Valley, which is south of Paso Robles. His sites get considerable cool wind influence from the sea, which intensifies his berries and reduces yields to miniscule levels. His rhone variety wines are amongst the absolute best in California.

Since 2007 Alban has started making this entry level Syrah from young vine estate fruit rather than purchased fruit. The difference shows. This is classically massive wine from the central coast, but there is something just too damn delicious about this Alban to complain. It certainly exemplifies the wine as cocktail criticism of California. But you know what? Sometimes you don’t want food with your wine and some of the old world wines higher in acid don’t fit the craving. This did. I loved it.

Excellent
$40 USD at K&L Wine

Filed Under: $40-$60, Californian Wine, Excellent, Syrah

Spotlight on Nebbiolo: Mauro Veglio “Castelletto” Barolo 2000

December 27, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Barolo. Every wine lover knows the fame of these wines, but few understand the intricacies. For good reason. These are expensive wines, hard to find, made in minute quantities and it is near impossible to find enough examples to put the various cru’s terroirs to comparative analysis.

But, Barolo is the heart of Nebbiolo. The wines are the most complex and indicative of terroir compared to Nebbiolo from any other region. They are also amongst the greatest wines in the world – an amazing achievement for such a small region that places it in the same echelon as Burgundy and the great regions of the Northern Rhone.

Though, as is almost now a cliche in Italy, there is still a division of ideology between the traditionalists and the modernists. Veglio is one of the latter.

The Crus of Barolo

Barolo terroir is a story of the great villages and crus in the Barolo zone. There are 11 villages and many crus within those vineyards. The most famous of the villages are La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d’Alba and Montforte d’Alba. It is the last of these that is the home of the vineyard that is the source of fruit for this wine.

The soils of Barolo tend to either be old or young, making wines of elegance or power, respectively. Castelletto, in Monteforte, generally has young soils producing powerful wines with strong tannins. As such, wine from this cru requires much more time in the bottle before opening than wines made from fruit of the crus with older soils. Modernists such as Veglio try to tame the powerful tannins of such vineyards by using french barriques which tend to smooth the wines out. As such, the 2000 is, unlike some of its compatriots, drinking very well right now.

The Wine

Aged entirely in French barriques, the Castelletto is made with mostly old vine material. Despite the barrique use, the wine has by now come out of its oaken shell and is quite elegant and delicious.

A nose of darker cherries, walnut skins and violets. There is crazy intensity on the nose and palate and with some air the wine shows its complex layering of flavour. This is still youthful wine and will continue to develop for 5-10 years, but is delicious right now with a good food pairing. A very well made Barolo just starting its journey into excitement.

This is not upper echelon Barolo, but it is extremely good, particularly at its price point.

Excellent
~$80 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, Italian Wine, Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo

My Favourite Wines of 2011, or the Greatest Wine Experiences of the Year!

December 23, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

In a year filled with travel to France, off the cuff trips to Portland and San Francisco , the first Natural Wine tasting in British Columbia and more than a few nice dinners with friends, the past 12 months may be the toughest yet to measure up my greatest wine experiences of the year. Thus, I’ve decided to mix in both experiences and wines and try to come up with something that includes both those amazing trips and some of my best domestic experiences.

I always look forward to writing this list each year because it reminds me of how spoiled and lucky I am, what a great group of friends I have and of the many wonderful people trying to make the wine industry in British Columbia work like a regularly functioning business sector. Kudos to all of them.

10. The “Home Vineyard” series of wines from Pyramid Valley Winery in New Zealand. Mike Weersing, the mind behind Pyramind Valley, may be insane. The vines may still be young. But this is probably some of the most exciting wine coming out of any New World wine region right now. For best new world wines, I had to decide between these wines or the Wind Gap Syrahs from Pax Mahl in California. The Pyramid Valley edged out Wind Gap simply because they seemed just that much more radical and were a total shock to me when I first drank them. For the record, I had the Earth Smoke Pinot Noir and the Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay. If any are left in the province, you can find them at Marquis Wine Cellars.

9. San Francisco Beer Week 2011. My infatuation with beer began around the same time as my love for wine. However, my budget as a student meant that I used to drink a lot more beer than wine. This trend has tipped back towards wine these days, but in the past 5 years I have witnessed Vancouver go from a beer backwater to an up and coming Portland. We still have a long way to go, though, as evidenced by my second time attending the San Francisco Beer Week, which is probably the best series of beer events in the world. While living in Berkeley I had a chance to try many of the USA’s top beers. This year’s trip down to SF in February saw me complete my quest to try all of the greatest beers in the world with a healthy dose of Russian River’s Pliny the Younger and Lost Abbey’s legendary Cable Car (a sour beer). The latter beer is only available at Toronado’s in SF and only during beer week. The former is largely considered to be the best IPA in the world and is released only on tap and only once a year. It was an epic end to a long journey.

8. The Wines of Etna, Sicily. This year I discovered that the grape Nerello Mascalese makes sophisticated, elegant and yet frutily delicious wines in the tiny Etna DOC in Sicily. Etna is a still active volcano and the vines are all grown in various volcanic soils. Many of the top producers (such as Passopisciaro) bottle individual crus and the differences are striking. In my opinion Etna is one of the most exciting regions in the world right now. Producers to try: Tenuta delle Terre Nere, Passopisciaro, Benanti, Cornelissen.

7. Emmanual Brochet Champagne “Le Mont Benoit” 1er Cru Brut: Discovered at a wonderful bottle shop in Lyon France and described to me as “Selosse but more consistent”, this stunning Champagne cost a mere 30 euros. No sulphur, grower champagne at a miniscule production level. A perfect example of what we’re missing over here in B.C. – a wide range of properly stored and reasonably priced grower Champagnes. Marquis is now one of the only places in town with a worthy selection. You won’t find this there, though. I’d say look for it the next time you’re in France, but that would make me sound like a douche.

6. Cune Vina Real Cosecha 1976: I was lucky enough to attend a few dinners at Rasoul’s (fanatical wine collector) place this year, and this wine was the pick of all those I tasted. It is amazing how well Rioja can age and how elegant, lithe and alive it can be after 34 years. A real treat and one of the oldest wines I’ve had.

5. Drinking wine poured by Jake at L’Abattoir. L’Abattoir has become my go to spot for wine in this city. Given our ridiculous licensing laws there are pretty much 0 wine bars. L’Abattoir (a restaurant) is my wine bar. With a wine program developed and championed by the ever-innovative Jake Skakun, you won’t find the likes of chilean merlot or argentinian malbec on this list. And, unlike most restaurants in B.C., B.C. wines are placed in reasonable numbers beside their international brethren rather than dominating the list. L’Abattoir is where you go to taste naturalist wine from top Beaujolais Cru producer Jean Foillard, a geeky little white from some small producer in the Languedoc, or if you feel like ponying up the cash, 10+ year old Barbarescos and other wine geek love. The wines also generally pair excellently with the food. Oh, and if you can get him talking, Jake exudes his enthusiasm for his wines and the discovery of ethically produced, innovative, challenging and ultimately delicious wines from around the world.

4. Tasting the Nichol Vineyard 2010 wines at the winery. I’ve long desired to get into B.C. wines, but have always found it a challenge when I can choose to drink some of the world’s most delicious wines for the same price. This summer, however, I enjoyed a fantastic tasting at Nichol Vineyard where I tasted their 2010 Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Syrah and found each to be excellently balanced, clean and refreshing and also very reasonably priced. These are really some of the best wines being made in Canada right now. Their new kegging program is killing it (yep, wine on tap) – try it out on tap at the Edible BC restaurant on Granville Island or grab a bottle at Kits Wine or Marquis Wine Cellars.

3. Mattieu Barret Billes Noirs Cornas 2004. Another wine I had in France. Sorry! But Barret’s Cornas was a revelation. Not only because it was the purest Syrah I’ve ever tasted, but also because Barret is a naturalist whose wines transcend the immediate pleasure of those wines’ texture and aroma to be a truly great wine, worthy of sitting in the Pantheon of the Northern Rhone’s best. Purchased in that same Lyon bottle shop.

2. Visiting Domaine Marcel Deiss. The highlight of my time in Alsace was spending 2 hours tasting and learning at Domaine Marcel Deiss. This was a complete experience from which I walked away with a completely different appreciation and comprehension of Alsatian wines. Deiss also happens to make some of the most stunning whites in all of France, and his Grand Cru wines are not only of the very best in Alsace, but can go toe to toe with many a great Burgundy for complexity. Deiss is a pioneer, championing a radical break from tradition in Alsace by, of all things, reengaging in the most traditional of French practices: labelling by vineyard site rather than variety. Deiss believes in coplantation and blends. He may be controversial, but one taste of his wines proves he is on to something. You can occassionally find some of his wines in Vancouver at Everything Wine and Kits Wine Cellar.

1. 3 Days in the Northern Rhone. If I split each of my experiences in the Northern Rhone apart, they would have dominated this list. As such, I will simply include them all in this omnibus item. It was an easy choice to put these three days at the top of my list. Walking the hills of Hermitage, tasting wine with and meeting all three generations of the Clape family in Cornas (post still to come), watching father and son at harvest side by side at Domaine Graillot, tasting Condrieu at the iconic Domaine Georges Vernay and eating dinner (with some fabulous wines) at the quirky wine-geek paradise Le Mangevins in Tain L’Hermitage were only the highlights. It helped that my hotel room overlooked the Rhone River and the vineyards of St. Joseph. The Northern Rhone has always held a special place in my heart, being the region that first got me seriously into wine. Perhaps it is for this reason that these are amongst my favourite wines of all. To be able not only to walk the vineyards and taste the wines in situ, but also to talk to and share a glass with the growers themselves, was without a doubt the best wine experience I’ve had to date.

Happy Holidays!

Filed Under: Features, Top Wines of 2011

Foradori Fontanasanta Nosiola 2009

December 20, 2011 By Shea 2 Comments

Every once and a while you come across a wine that is fully convincing. In my case, it was a frustrated march through three bottles of damaged wine (2 heat damaged high end Alsatian wines due to poor retail storage in BC and 1 corked wine from SF) that led me to the final destination of complete geekdom. That is, an amphora fermented white wine from northern Italy made from an ancient grape called Nosiola.

Perhaps it was the fact that this grape is almost nonexistent, or perhaps it was the confirmation that naturalist wine can be completely varietal, clean and of place, but this Foradori white was an utterly convincing drink. It is the kind of wine that has enticing, complex and unique floral aromatics and much tastiness. Despite its ‘amphora fermentation’ it is not an orange wine, and is entirely clean (speaking both of meticulous wine making and proper shipping conditions – unlike the majority of wine sold in BC). It is not an extremely complex wine, and yet it is also not a basic quaffer. In the end, it is the kind of wine that you could drink forever, which I think is the ultimate criterion for convincing wine.

Foradori is a fascinating producer who is most famous for Teroldego. You can find a great series of videos on the Dressner website (the US importer).

Very Good+ to Excellent
~$40 USD at Arlequin Wine Merchants in SF

Filed Under: $30-$40, Italian Wine, Nosiola, Very Good

Spotlight on Nebbiolo: Travaglini Gattinara Nebbiolo Riserva 2001

December 17, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Though most wine drinkers know Barolo and Barbaresco well, Piedmont includes several other regions in which Nebbiolo grows. Most of the wines grown elsewhere don’t have the complexity and concentration of the two great regions, but good wines can be found.

Gattinara is found in northern Piedmont, in the hills of Novara and Vercelli. Being a northern region, the wines made here tend to be lighter than Barolo and Barbaresco. Gattinara in particular tends to be fairly earthy in character, and I certainly felt that way about this 10 year old riserva.

The Acidic Soils of Gattinara

The soils of Gattinara are heavy with minerals and are known to be “porphyry” soils. This soil type tends to be higher in acid than others, which can give vibrant aromas but can also cause balance issues. Travaglini sets out to avoid these issues by using guyot training which reduces yields compared to traditional trellising in the region. Careful vineyard management ensures more even ripening and grape selection.

Travaglini combines some traditional techniques with its mostly modern approach – for example, using large slavonian oak botti for the first period of aging before moving the wine to barriques. I think they’ve managed the hybrid approach well and the barriques have not overburdened the magical scents of the Nebbiolo grape, which can’t be said for all ‘modernist’ producers.

An Earthy Wine At Peak

This wine is throwing decent sediment right now, as expected for its age. The nose suggested cherries, flowers and some secondary earthiness along with overall elegance.

The palate begins with promise: felt tip marker, bitter leaf, and nut skins. Quite a savory wine, but also nice length. The fruit is still alive right now, but it is on the verge of fading. The tannins are still somewhat aggressive and drying and I do not think this will improve. Food helps soften the impact of the tannin, and my experience so far with Nebbiolo suggests that these wines really should always be consumed with food.

In conclusion, this is a high quality lighter-bodied Nebbiolo that is not quite at the level of other Nebbiolo wines at this price point. It does speak of its terroir, however, and it demonstrates just how special Barolo and Barbaresco really are.

Very Good to Very Good+
$75 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Italian Wine, Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo, Very Good

Spotlight on Nebbiolo: Gianfranco Alessandria Langhe Nebbiolo 2008

December 15, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Nebbiolo makes an expensive wine. There are several reasons for this. Nebbiolo consitutes only about 6% of planted vines in Piedmont, so it is relatively scarce even in its home. Yields are generally low and prime planting land is expensive. Because Nebbiolo is so sensitive to climate, only a few particular sites make good wine – thus the entry price point goes up and up. Add to that the great prestige of Barolo and Barbaresco, and you have the perfect recipe for expensive wine.

This Nebbiolo from Gianfranco skirts some of the major price uppers by sticking to the general “Langhe” moniker. This means that the fruit either comes from regions outside the big boys in Barolo and Barbaresco or it is declassified fruit. What is really impressive, is that the quality of the fruit hits far above its entry-level (for Nebbiolo) price point.

On Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is an extremely tannic grape. It is difficult to turn into something accessible in its youth, but modern technology has started to move certain examples in this direction. Most wines would, however, be a shame to drink young. What is most impressive about Alessandria’s entry level wine is that it drinks so well even at this young age.

Unlike Sangiovese, the fruit quality of Nebbiolo is generally very good these days. Real challenges come in the cellar, however, and this is where the battle between traditionalists and modernists truly takes place. I will explore this topic in more detail in future posts; however, it is useful to note that most producers these days have eliminated the issues that led to bacterial infections and volatile acidity in the past. Thus the general quality of wine is quite consistent – the real trick is finding the values and the truly great.

Accessible, Delicious Nebbiolo

This Langhe Nebbiolo is made from 10 year old vines planted on south-east slopes in Monforte d’Alba. Only 3500 bottles are produced (under 300 cases).

The nose on this wine is clearly nebbiolo – classic bright cherry with nut skins. There is less expressivity and concentration compared to the big boys in Barolo and Barbaresco, but this is an extremely tasty wine.

The dense palate, with its firm and grippy tannins, loosens and opens with food. There is lots of dark cherry in this wine, which has a surprising density of fruit for its level. A wine with excellent concentration, structure and length. This is a super bargain for Nebbiolo and I’d call it slightly modernist but also restrained with the oak. In other words, quite a lovely amalgam of accessibility and traditional weight and tannin.

Very Good+ and Highly Recommended Value
$40 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $30-$40, Highly Recommended Values, Italian Wine, Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo, Very Good

Spotlight on Nebbiolo: Marchesi di Gresy Camp Gros Martinenga Barbaresco 2000

December 12, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Nebbiolo is a hard grape to access. Good Nebbiolo is found only in a tiny region of Italy (the Langhe), the price of entry is high and even some of the most entry level wines need at least several years of age before opening up (without saying anything of the 10 year minimum for higher quality examples). Yet, Nebbiolo produces perhaps the most intriguing wines in all of Italy.

These are intellectual wines, but they are also wines of ellegance. Some examples may reach the realm of the esoteric, but many skirt the line between intellectual intrigue and sensual pleasure. As with all of Italy, there is a battle going on between the modernists and the traditionalists. Both accept and adopt modern technology, but the extent to which they use it and the style of wine they seek to express differ dramatically. The question is: can both make good wines or, as with Sangiovese, will the traditionalists win out? It may be that, in the end, this dichotomy is too simple, but it is a good place to start.

Barbaresco

Barbaresco is one of the two famed regions in Piemonte (the other being, of course, Barolo) and is situated to the north and east of Alba. The Martinenga vineyard sits on a southwest facing ridge. This, along with the 2000 vintage, likely explains the sheer power of the fruit in this wine. Nonetheless, the calcareous soils of Barbaresco keep this wine more elegant than it would have been with a different base.

Expression with Age

This 11 year old Barbaresco is also a good place to start. 2000 was a superb year in the Langhe, but many of the wines are still incredibly dense and only starting to express themselves. This Barbaresco from the hybrid modernist/traditionalist Marchesi di Gresy, however, is in perfect form. Perhaps it is because of Barbaresco’s lesser need of age, but this wine is singing. It is also classically Nebbiolo, but also speaks much of the vintage, with its ripe, warm lush fruit. Gresy uses a combination of French Barriques and Slavonian Oak and you can taste this in the wine with its combination of forwardness and elegance.

One of the biggest changes in Nebbiolo between young and old is the openness and expressivity of the nose. The Camp Gros was explosive: dark cherries, prunes and flowers. On the palate this wine is elegant, slightly floral and suggestive of sweet pipe tobacco. An extremely long finish completes this truly beautiful wine. It is also delicious now, but will clearly hold up and soften a bit more with a few more years. I can think of no better way to start a Nebbiolo profile than with such a varietally expressive but incredibly drinkable wine.

Excellent to Excellent+
~$100 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, Italian Wine, Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo

Of Houses and Growers: A Holiday Champagne Tasting

December 11, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Some experiences in life are layered with such dense geometry that any attempt to gaze the essence of the thing is as light reflected through a prism. The singular focus is fractured and bent, the concentrated purity of voice is rendered multivalent.

Champagne is the most branded wine in the world. Perhaps it is apt to compare it to theatre, for it is certainly the most theatrical of wines. But, it is also a wine that is robed and masked and one that can be as opulent as the rococo or as bare and stripped down as Beckett. Maquillage. It is, in many ways, the only way in which most of the world has experienced Champagne.

Makeup is easily criticized as a flaw in wine, a distortion of the land and an attempt to please many by taking the safe, middle path. With Champagne, though, there are two sides to Maquillage.

The Spectacle and The Exposed

There is, first, Maquillage as spectacle. In Champagne, brand sells. The association with high living, from the world of the super rich business moguls to the hip hop star, drives most Champagne sales. Under the hood, you have dosage (the addition of sugar), which masks the acid of a wine, oak (which adds richness and volume), and extended lees aging. You also have the assemblage – the combining of fruit from all over Champagne and from several vintages in order to maintain a consistent style from year to year. And of course, you can’t forget sabering. This is the dominant model of Champagne and the one which most people know and understand.

Second, there is Maquillage as exposure. The greatest theatre presents its actors not as distractions or as illusions, but as reflections. The best way to the heart of a thing is round about. Exaggerate the unnoticed. Throw away the obvious. Invert.

There is this strange movement in wine education that focuses on “objective” analysis of wine. The greatest problem with this approach is that such an analysis is entirely possible. The notion that wine is purely subjective is but a product of politically correct relativism. Wine does have objective elements that we can detect and understand with our senses and intellect.

But the “objective” is not the answer. Formal methodologies fail to provide insight when adhered to too closely. At one level, everything can be objectively identical in “quality” – but that says nothing of the meaning of a wine. It fails to understand. Such methodology is akin to reading five poems side by side to determine which has the most superior use of language – an obviously ridiculous exercise.

Of course, the great advantage to an “objective” approach is that it provides an entry point. The “pleasures of comparison” Jancis Robinson calls it. And that, of course, must be true. We learn only from perspective, and as we learn, taste and compare, we build constellations of experience that allow us to, finally, sit back and appreciate.

It is only then that you can realize maquillage in its full dialectical form. It can provide pure sensual pleasure, as seems to be the focus in the majority of Champagne: dosage, oak, lees aging. The immediacy of spectacle. Represented in our tasting by Pol Roger, Billiot, Roederer and Villmart.

But maquillage can also expose the indigence of place in most Champagne. Thus comes a producer like Cedric Bouchard – a true rediscovery of how to paint the face of Champagne: zero dosage, no oak, biodynamic vineyards, always single vintage, grown in a disrespected region known as the Cote des Bar. This isn’t “purer” or “more real” Champagne. It is, rather, a use of maquillage as exposure, of challenging drinkers and pointing them towards something that almost no-one has experienced in Champagne – its terroir.

But you can’t pretend a producer like Bouchard isn’t using makeup. 0 dosage is a form of extremism – biodynamics an exaggeration. By minimizing what we have become so used to in Champagne, producers like Bouchard expose us to another side of the truth. This is why anyone truly into wine needs to find such producers.

House and Grower

Grower Champagne has only started to become relevant in the international market, which has until now always been entirely dominated by the big Champagne houses. The big mistake now being made is lumping all growers in the latter category of maquillage that I called exposure. It is simply not true that all growers have taken the risks necessary to ask different questions in Champagne. They may all profess to express place, but many, while making delicious good value wines, are only half taking up the challenge.

I think it is fairly clear that the majority of houses have completely ignored the other side of Champagne, but they are yet wines worthy of drink and spectacle, and some even come close to overcoming the spectacle by sheer magnitude: house style in a top cuvee can be exceeded by the sheer purity of raw material forming the base of the wine.

While the answers are not yet clear, to me it is the fact that more growers than houses are starting to take risks and expose one of the most complex geologies in all of France that makes grower Champagne the Champagne of the future. Does this mean they will dominate the market? No, not even close. What it does mean is that Champagne is on the threshold of something truly exciting, and we have only started gazing into the prism.

And Now to the Champagne

Last week I joined my regular tasting group and tasted through 11 champagnes in various themed flights, looking to detect that conflict between terroir and style; between grower and house; between oak, dosage and lees; between aged and not aged. It was an interesting tasting. All of the Champagnes were ‘good’, but I distance myself from most of the group’s willingness to drink any of these. For me, only a very few were wines worth seeking out. At the price of Champagne, if a wine isn’t worth seeking out, well, then why is it worth drinking? Everything was tasted blind in flights of three.

Louis Roederer Brut Premier (House): Apple and mineral. Higher dosage. Good length but seems sweetish to me. Richer, maybe malo but not overly leezy. 40% chard. Very Good. $68 at BCLDB.

Henriot Brut Souverain (House): medium sweet – rounder but shorter finish. Earthy. No oak. More post disgorgement aging. Seems a little awkward. 8g/l residual sugar. Very Good. $62 spec listed.

Vilmart & C Grand Cellier Brut Premier Cru (Grower): Green Apples. Seems sweet up front but finishes dry. Nice nose, but rich and tight on the palate. Long finish but acid relatively aggressive. More defined. 0 dosage. Some wood. Includes taille (second+ pressed juice) – 1er cru. North facing side of montagne de Reims. Chalk soil. 10 month foudres – 70 chard, 30 Pinot noir. Very Good. $70 at BCLDB.

Blanc de Blancs flight:

Perrot-Batteau & Filles Domaine de St. Leu Cuvee Helixe Blanc de Blancs (Grower): Chalky. Very good, but seems a little tight. Soft acid and excellent mouse and texture. Medium dosage. Some people found it thin but I thought it was delicious and perfect for food. 1er cru. Vertus. Very Good+. $50 USD from importer.

Jose Dhondt Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 2006 (Grower): Mushrooms, red apple. Candied lemon. Fresh but soft – richness is balanced. Malo. Finish could use more complexity, but probably just needs time to unwind. Lees and age obvious given the richness of the palate. This was stellar wine. Very Good+. $74 at Marquis Wine Cellars.

Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs 1999 (House): Tons of toasty biscuit and candied apple. Some might confuse this with oak, but that bready, biscuity richness in this wine comes from lees and age. There is no oak on this wine. There is delicious richness and wonderful mousse. Blind I thought this was a high end house like Gosset. 10.5g/l residual sugar. Delicious but does not speak of place. I would buy it purely for the spectacle of flavour it delivers, though. Very Good+. $86 at BCLDB.

Pinot Noir Dominant Flight:

Cedric Bouchard Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs Brut 2008 (Grower): All of Bouchard’s wines are single vintage, single vineyard. Earthy, minerals. Funky secondary and not that fruity but long fascinating rooty finish. Tons of minerality. some leesy richness. Very Good+ to Excellent. $95 at Kits Wine.

de Venoge Brut Blanc de Noirs (House): More open fruit. Orchard fruit but excellent quality. Secondary development. Again earthier and darker than any wine in the first two flights. Thicker weight. Sweeter spice. Very Good to Very Good+. 80% Pinot Noir. 4 years on lees. $75 spec listed.

H. Billiot Fils Vintage 2004 (Grower): Funkytown nose: mushrooms, candy and oak. Weird funkiness like the cellar. Higher dosage. Matured in wood. 0 malo. 80% Pinot Noir and 20% chard. I didn’t love it – which I found shocking as I usually love this producer. The oak is extremely prominent right now. Very Good. $95 at Kits Wine.

Rose Flight:

Paul Bara Brut Grand Rose (Grower): Nice fruit, clean and expressive. Good but not overly exciting. Good acid. Still rich but greater in your face acid. Blending 12% red wine in for the colour (i.e. this is not a saignee rose). From Bouzy. Starting to speak of place. Very Good. $60 at Marquis Wine.

Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose (House): Richer. Kind of boring. Strawberry. Blended rose. 100% Pinot Noir. At the price, can find superior rose. Very Good. $99 at BCLDB.

In conclusion, the best grower wines in my order of preference were the Cedric Bouchard, the Jose Dhondt and the Paul Bara. For the houses, in order of preference I enjoyed the Pol Roger, the de Venoge and then the Vilmart. Comparatively, the best grower champagnes beat out the best houses, but the house champanges stood up and surpassed a few of the weaker growers in terms of overall quality. I still think that the grower champagnes provided overall greater interest, but they have not quite separated themselves so starkly from the houses that they are the next coming in Champagne. In time, though, I have no doubt that this will change.

Filed Under: Features

Like Father Unlike Son: Harvest with Alain and Maxime Graillot

December 4, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Crozes-Hermitage is the great contrast to the famed regions of the Northern Rhone. Much of it lies on a plain with sandy clay soils, where many vines are machine harvested. There is variation in the northern villages, which have more granite soils and thus generally more serious wines. Nonetheless, the general image of Crozes-Hermitage is of quaffing wine of mediocre quality.

In the 1980’s Alain Graillot, previously a corporate suit working in agricultural exports, reformed the way in which wines on the southern plains of Crozes-Hermitage were made. He began whole cluster fermenting his wines, operating with minimal fertilizers and ultimately started to make wines with greater density, character and complexity than was the norm.

Alain’s son Maxime joined the team about a decade ago and is now making wine under his own label: Domaine de Lisses. Unlike his father, Maxime removes all stems before fermenting and aims for a simpler earlier drinking wine.

The contrast between the two styles of wine making is significant, but both provide quality at their price point. Both also provided considerable contrast to the other regions I visited in the Rhone and proved that a wine need not touch greatness in order to speak of place. The Graillots’ wines testify that the wines of Crozes-Hermitage are starting to come into their own.

Of Fathers, Sons and Contrasts in Crozes-Hermitage

Alain and Maxime Graillot are outgoing, engaging individuals who love to share their knowledge and passion. They kindly let me drop in during harvest and witness the chaos first hand.

The soils at the Domaine are clay and stone, with no sand, and the vineyards cover 22 hectares. Maxime’s project, on the other hand, works with purchased fruit as well as some land of his own, and much of the grapes used in his wines are grown in sand, making his wines far fruitier than his father’s, which retain more secondary, earthy and herbal characteristics.

The flurry of harvest was exciting to watch, especially comparing the approach of father to son. Maxime uses facilities built adjacent to the main Domaine and has increasingly expanded his production over the past 5 years, focusing mostly on the export market. Alain, on the other hand, is old school, having been one of the first (and still one of the only) to whole-cluster ferment his Syrah in Crozes. Both have an international mindset, but Alain’s approach is more inward looking and Maxime’s more outward.

Alain ferments his red wine whole cluster in concrete vats after a cool maceration, relying on natural yeasts and using no sulphur. Vinification generally takes 3 weeks. The red is then aged for a year in old oak casks. The main red is built for aging.

Maxime, in contrast, destems and pre-fermentation cools his grapes for 3-5 days. His vinification last 3 weeks and aging takes place in several year old old oak barrels purcahsed from DRC, Dujac and Arlot. The wines of Domaine de Lisses are more feminine than Alain’s and focus on being immediately accessible drinking wines.

The Wines

The 2009 Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage is made from old vines and tends towards a more vegetal, leafy mode of expression. It is a fairly muscular, structured wine for Crozes-Hermitage with considerable tannin and good length. Very Good+ to Excellent.

The 2009 Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage made by Maxime is, on the other hand, a zippy fruit driven wine, with a game and mineral underbelly. It is quite delicious and easy drinking classic sandy-soil syrah and a steal at 6.5 euros. Short cuvaison and short aging in 6 year old barrels. Very Good.

The 2009 Domaine de Lisses also from Maxime is his slightly more serious offering. It is an elegant wine, leaning more towards pretty aromatics and silky, lithe texture compared to the Domaine Graillot’s toughness and density. There is less minerality than the Domaine Graillot due to the sand vs. rock soils. This wine is all about focusing on immediate deliciousness and I think it succeeds. Maxime reports that in some older vintages it is difficult to determine whether this wine is old Syrah or old Pinot. 80% destemmed, 10% new oak, the rest in 2+ year old oak. It sees 3 months in tank and undergoes malo in the barrel. Very Good+.

Conclusion

The Graillots are both making excellent good-value Northern Rhone Syrah in two completely different styles. If you are looking for old-world wines with character, approachability and affordability I highly recommend the Crozes-Hermitages of Alain and Maxime Graillot.

Filed Under: Features, France 2011

Spotlight on Sangiovese: Mauro Vannucci Piaggia Carmignano Riserva 2003

November 27, 2011 By Shea 1 Comment

Sangiovese is la dolce vita of Italy. It is its soul and its face, its bravura and charm and easy loveability. Even the most traditional and profound wines are loveable like a puppy. You don’t need to think to be drawn into these wines, though they reward contemplation. If Nebbiolo is the ivory tower wine representing Italy’s great intellectual tradition, Sangiovese is its art: chiseled but beautiful, opulent but intricate, communal and yet individualistic.

Unlike other great grapes, such as Pinot Noir or Syrah, it is not difficult to isolate Sangiovese’s distinctive voice. Great Sangiovese is always bitter-sweet, always hovering between fruit and savor. But it is structured and robust, with a powerful constitution for oak (much unlike Pinot or Syrah). It is too easy to call Sangiovese Italy’s Cabernet Sauvignon, because great Sangiovese does not travel well. Only Italian vineyards make Sangiovese taste good, and only in recent decades have producers started to truly tap into its potential.

Over this spotlight I have learned that the basic contrast between traditional and modern Sangiovese misses the point. Great Sangiovese simply cannot be overripe or over-manipulated. This is a grape that can stand up to a lot, but in order to be amazing, it must be allowed to sit perfectly poised between over the top and restrained. It must be vinified cleanly, but it cannot be forced into internationalism (When’s the last time you’ve seen an Italian be anything other than Italian?). You may not love Sangiovese, but it is impossible to hate.

Great Sangiovese can also be found at all price points. This cannot be said for some of the world’s, or even Italy’s, other great grapes. Clearly the best wines are being made in Tuscany, but Umbria and Sardegna also represent.

Carmignano the Small and Mighty

This superb wine is from the tiny 300 hectare Carmignano DOCG west of Florence. A Florentine region to the core, this was one of the four original production zones created by the Medici family in 1716. Because these vineyards are fairly northerly, most of the wines from Carmignano are blended in order to soften some of the hard edges of cooler-climate Sangiovese. The DOCG rules only require 50% Sangiovese, allowing many other grapes into the blend.

Piaggia started making a Carmignano Riserva in 1991 and has since vastly improved quality, using guyot trained vines planted in clay soils. The wine sees 18-28 days maceration, is fermented and aged in French Barriques for 18 months, and is unfined and unfiltered. Made from 70% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot.

The Wine

The nose offers darker fruits of plum and black cherry along with some chocolate and spices from the oak, but also the classic bitter cherry of Sangiovese. This is a rich wine on the palate, but I think it maintains a good amount of traditional styling. The bitter cherry, herbs, and leather make this unmistakably Sangiovese driven. Without knowing if it was oaked, I figured that it probably was but that the oak had integrated very well (turns out I was right). This wine also has surprising clarity and balance for a 2003 and is, ultimately, quite an exceptional wine.

And that concludes the Spotlight on Sangiovese. Next up? Nebbiolo.

Excellent.
~$80 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Excellent, Italian Wine, Merlot, Sangiovese, Sangiovese