French Wine

Domaine Faury Saint Joseph Vielles Vignes 2008

January 31, 2012 By Shea Leave a Comment

This wine is the perfect example of what you should be able to buy in B.C. for $36. It is also an ideal exemplar of thinking more deeply about vintage and following your palate. 2008 is largely bandied in main stream media as a near write-off for the Northern Rhone, not dissimilar (though not quite as bad as) to 2002. Utter nonsense I say.

Trust Your Importer

Kermit Lynch is the great prophet of the Rhone valley in the United States, basically making a market where none existed before for wines like Auguste Clape and Vieux Telegraph.

Philippe Faury is a Lynchian wine-maker. That is, he has incredible attention to detail, respect for the soil and the environment but also pragmatism and a simple, measured clarity of methodology in both the vineyard and the cellar. Hand-picked, pipeage by foot, very gentle pumping over, all come together to make a seamless, consistent wine with great purity and expression. Aging is done in large 600l demi-muids and smaller 220l barrels.

Old Vines, Pure Fruit, and a Little Rant

The vines for this old vine St. Joseph were planted between 1937 and 1976 on a tiny .9ha plot. That means this wine is pretty hard to find, but it also means it is complex and deep even while the 2008 vintage gives it lightness and clarity. This is fresh syrah, made in an extremely classic style by one of St. Joseph’s best proponents, especially since its resurgence via Coursodon and Chave.

Pure aromas of pepper, stone, and crushed blackberries picked seconds ago from the bush. The ferral quality is tamed, but just present enough to make this wine breath the varietal purity of Syrah from the Northern Rhone, as only it can produce.

Of course, such delicacy and purity is only possible with proper shipping and storage conditions. Kermit Lynch guarantees both up until he sells it – something that you cannot be sure of with almost every single importer in B.C.

I am also skeptical that our wines need cost what they do, even with the absurd B.C. 123% tax rate as preliminary research and information has suggested to me that many importers add quite high markups to their wines (but at this point this is unsubstantiated and needs more research).

So, a beautiful Syrah drinking perfectly now or able to sit a few years. I see no reason to hold on to this, though and would love to do a vertical of these if at all possible. If you are down in Seattle or SF I highly recommend picking this up.

Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$36 at Esquin in Seattle

Filed Under: $30-$40, Excellent, French Wine, Highly Recommended Values, Syrah

Domaine Fouassier “Sur le Fort” Sancerre 2009

August 11, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Sancerre has the biggest name in the Loire but often produces the least interesting wines. I opt for Savennieres, Vouvray, Saumur and Muscadet far more often than the generally overpriced sauvignon blancs of Sancerre. Sometimes, however, a winery can come along that challenges these tendencies, and Domaine Fouassier does just that.

Of Soils and Deliciousness

Sancerre is famous for its three types of soils: white chalky soils, limestone and flint. Fouassier categorizes its wines by soil types, with white and brown labels representing grapes grown in two types of limestone soils and grey labels those in flint. The Fouassiers are one of the oldest families in Sancerre and have a large estate extending 53 hectares, which allows them a wide range of wines in various terroirs.

This is extremely expressive wine, but not in that big over the top style that commercial Sancerre is made in. This is minerally wine but also is full of tropical fruit and tang. These are big and expressive on the palate too, and include a nice fairly lengthy finish by Sauvignon Blanc standards. A great food wine and a great wine by itself, this is outstanding for the price and well worth picking up.

Very Good+ to Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$35 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars

Filed Under: $30-$40, French Wine, Highly Recommended Values, Sauvignon Blanc, Very Good

Champalou Cuvee Moelleuse Vouvray 2003

August 1, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Vouvray produces some of my favourite off-dry white wines of any region in the world. These vinous expressions are the pillowy counterpoint to the soaring wines of the Mosel. Equally deft at bringing together lightness, freshness and incredible depth, there is a much waxier quality than anything you’d find from the Rhine Valley and its offshoots.

This “sweet” Vouvray from the top producer Champalou is a perfect example of both top Vouvray and how the 2003 vintage produced some excellent sweet wines in the Loire despite the heat. In Vouvray the grapes saw some noble rot, which added to the wines’ voluptuous intensity even while the lower acid of the vintage perhaps took away from their famous ageability.

A Marshmallow Waterfall

With classic aromas of honey and peaches, this wine turns truly exciting upon drinking. Waxy, dense apricots, peaches and honey glide over the tongue like a marshmallow waterfall. The complexity and length show this to be a top notch wine, even though the acid is just barely at the right level and the wine very well may start declining sooner than expected. This is serious Chenin and is perfect with Thai food, pumpkin ravioli or anything with a hint of sweetness and spiciness.

Excellent
$50 at Liberty Wine Merchants

Filed Under: $40-$60, Chenin Blanc, Excellent, French Wine

Champagne Day: H. Billiot Cuvee Julie

July 1, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

A 5 Hectare grower estate on the limestone soils of Ambonnay, H. Billiot has become one of the leading grower producers of Champagne, with his top cuvees (The Julie and Laetitia) attracting a cult following.

Do You Like a Little Oak?

Billiot traditionally ferments entirely in enameled stainless steel tanks and the wines never undergo malolactic. However, Cuvee Julie sees several months in oak casks, which assists its chardonnay and pinot noir blend by adding depth and rich complexity. I have heard the top wines compared to Krug, which may be a reasonable comparison, though these are uniquely endowed with the mature fruit of Billiot’s top Ambonnay Grand Cru vineyards. It is the quality of the fruit that prevents this wine from becoming overwhelmed by oak, which in my opinion was superbly integrated.

The Tasting Note

A Champagne composed of very ripe fruit of exceptional quality. A wine of opulent fruit, red berries, cream, a touch of brioche and a mineral tinged and extremely long finish. A wine that successfully combines density and elegance in an extremely vinous package. This is hedonistic champagne that is perfectly balanced and is ultimately an incredible wine that kills pretty much any house champagne at this price. Built both to drink now and for aging.

Excellent+
$140 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Champagne, Excellent, French Wine

Champagne Day: Jean Milan Terre de Noel 2004 Blanc de Blancs

May 30, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Blanc de Blancs is wine geek Champagne. Lots of these wines are mineral driven and eschew the autolytic characteristics that so many people love with champagne (with exceptions, of course). But these are much more wines than ‘bubbly’, and the terroir transparency can be truly exceptional with the best examples.

New and Old

This single vineyard wine from 70 year old vines classified as Grand Cru offers an excellent view of what Jean Milan is capable of as a wine maker because there is so little stamp of wine making on the wine. For Champagne, which prides itself on the consistency of its house style (witness the Chefs du Cav of the greatest houses), wine making of this type is the new Champagne. But unlike some other regions, the new Champagne will not take over tradition, but is rather an alternative vision of the region. I often wonder why the competition between stylistic approaches to wine can often escalate into ideological debates about what wines are valid.

The greatness of wine is the multiplicity of voices. House champagne should, theoretically, be able to subsist side by side with growers, even if the two approaches create a tension in the region. I often find that tension is the cradle of inspiration and beauty, and I feel that embracing this tension is the best way for a region like Champagne to move forward.

Champagne as Wine

But enough philosophy, this is awesome champagne. Unlike much blanc de blancs, it is incredibly rich but also very savory. The mineral intensity is very high and there is an almost austere edge to the finish, especially upon first opening. This edge dissipates with air and the wine ultimately smooths out considerably.

A truly terroir driven wine that has a flavour profile unique unto itself. With the richness of a Champagne from Bouzy, but with the transparency and incredibly high acid of blanc de blancs, this is a magnificent Champagne that exhibits why so many wine geeks are so in love with grower blanc de blancs.

Excellent
~$105 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Champagne, Excellent, French Wine

Champagne Day: Pierre Peters Cuvee Reserve Grand Cru

May 7, 2011 By Shea 2 Comments

One of the biggest slaps in the face when it comes to cross border wine pricing is the simple reality that you can buy outstanding Champagne in the United States for $40-$60, which brings it down out of the super-luxury category and makes it possible to explore one of the world’s greatest wine regions. The abundance of grower champagne makes this journey even more exciting. Today’s Pierre Peters, which I picked up down in Portland, is one of the best growers for blanc de blancs Champagne.

The Chalky Vineyards of the Cote de Blancs

Peters makes this Champagne from a blend of several Grand Cru vineyards in the Cotes de Blancs, including Oger, Avize, Cramant, and the famous Le Mesnil Sur Oger. While all of these sites offer impressive quality fruit grown in the famous chalk based soils that provide both superb drainage and humidity that allow high quality grapes to grow in such a northerly region, it is Le Mesnil Sur Oger that steals the spotlight.

Les Mesnils sur Oger sits south of the village of Epernay and is one of the greatest Crus in the Cotes de Blancs (and home to Krug’s famous “Clos de Mesnil”). The vineyards here face south to southeast and tend to be located mid-slope, which guarantees good sun exposure, similar to what you’d find in the Cote d’Or. While some fruit from this Cru makes it into the Cuvee Reserve, it is Pierre Peters single vineyard and vintage designated “les Chetillons” Champagne that highlights this special terroir to its fullest. Of course, it is also extremely rare and costs twice as much as this wine!

One of Champagne’s Oldest Growers

Pierre Peters (formerly Camille Peters) was one of the first growers in Champagne to start bottling and selling wine under its own label, with its first vintage being far back in 1919. By 1944 Camille’s son Pierre had taken over and renamed the domaine, which has since increased production by increasing holdings and increased focus on foreign markets, which now comprise 65% of total sales by volume. The Domaine has maintained, and perhaps even improved, quality throughout this period of growth, which improves size is not always inversely correlated with quality.

Rich Precision

Made up mostly of wine from the 2007 vintage, this is in fact a blend of 15 different vintages in the classic blending style of Champagne. The nose is exceptionally vivacious and precise, with intense and refreshing minerality dominating the aromas. What makes this Champagne so special, however, is its impressive development across the palate, which proceeds like an inverted hourglass: a precise and focused entry leading into a round, silky and powerful mid palate that allows richer fruit flavours to come through and then ending on a clean, direct and extremely minerally finish as the wine drifts off with incredible focus. As for flavour, I noticed green apple, an almost in-your-face chalky minerality, and stone-laced lemon.

This is palate whetting stuff, goes down way too easily and is the perfect match for tempura, katsu and other fried Japanese foods or anything with sufficient richness to balance out the wine’s acidity. This Champagne is quite an outstanding effort and made with very high quality and ripe fruit, which is particularly impressive for an entry level cuvee. This is amongst my favourite styles of Champagne and I highly recommend buying some if you see it.

Excellent
$50 at Vinopolis Portland

Filed Under: $40-$60, Champagne, Excellent, French Wine

Spotlight on Alsace: Barmes-Beucher Hengst Grand Cru Riesling 2005

April 28, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

This is the final post in my Alsace series, ending on a contrast to yesterday’s exceptional offering from Zind-Humbrecht. For a wine made in the same soils as Zind-Humbrecht’s Clos Hauserer, Barmes-Beucher’s Hengst Riesling is of a completely different ilk. While the wine is minerally, it lacks acidity and doesn’t have the same level of balance as the ZH. This is strange given that the Barmes wine is far more restrained overall compared to the Clos Hauserer – but it goes to show that balance more than alcohol and ripeness is the key factor to great wine.

This comparison is all the more stark considering that both wines are from the same vintage. The flavours are similar to the ZH, with classic slight petrol and quinice, lime, minerals. However, the contrast comes, despite the decent aromatic expression, from a lack of lift and freshness. The palate is strange, perhaps flawed in some way and the flavours are extremely interesting, but the wine seems to be somewhat all over the place. It lacks real balance and finesse even as it offers an interesting flavour profile. The wine is quite minerally, almost chalky, with background lime and grapefruit. It’s tasty but I’m not sure it quite hits the mark at this price point.

$60 at Marquis
Very Good

Concluding Thoughts

Alsace has proven to be the source of many extremely tasty white wines, but consumers will be hard pressed to know what they are buying without learning about the style of individual producers. Wines range from steely dry to opulent and sweet and given the completely different expressions of competing producers making wine from the same vineyards it may be true that Alsace is currently as much style as it is terroir. Time may start to differentiate the terroirs more distinctly, but it seems to me that the stamp of a particular winemaker supersedes the soil. Nonetheless, it is clear that the best wines tend to be made in the Grand Crus, with some (good value) exceptions, and that the best grape is Riesling. There are a few interesting Pinot Gris also being made, but even in Alsace Gewurztraminer has a hard time becoming more than its goopy low acidity self. Even the G-wines of the best producers, which are undoubtedly good, do not measure up to those same producers’ Rieslings.

Alsace should be on the radar for most wine geeks as its wines fill a niche that very few others do. With the right pairing, these beauties can bring life and joy to simple moments, and that’s what great wine is all about.

Filed Under: $40-$60, Alsace, French Wine, Riesling, Very Good

Spotlight on Alsace: Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Hauserer Riesling 2005

April 27, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

That’s right, this spotlight is still putting along, but it is delicious putting. Zind-Humbrecht seems to elicit controversial feelings amongst my wine geek colleagues. Some find the wines hard to drink, though impressive. While I can understand this perspective with some of the wines, one simply cannot write off the greatness of ZH’s Rieslings, this being a stunning example.

Alsatian Clos

Clos Hauserer lies at the foot of the Hengst Grand Cru and has the same soil type of oligocene marl and limestone. The vines here are almost 40 years old and farmed biodynamically. Apparently the soils create a wine that is naturally high in malic acid, which is certainly noticeable on the cream and silk textured palate.

Truly Exceptional Riesling

This wine pours a very deep golden yellow for a riesling, with a viscosity observable just in the swirl. The aromas are classic petrol and grapefruit intensity with a nice chalky minerality.

This is a ‘wow’ wine. White peach, lemon, kiwi, very mineral density, incredible purity of fruit and very very deep and complex. This is huge, but in my opinion it is probably the best Riesling I’ve tasted from Alsace. You can’t write off ZH as just a producer of opulent wines as these also have real depth and savory minerality. They are also exceptionally expressive of terroir, with the Rieslings at the absolute peak. Full and complete on the palate, very round and balanced and as Jake once said ‘fucking impressive’.

Excellent+
$84 from Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Alsace, Excellent, French Wine, Riesling

Tasting Burgundy: Unity in Diversity

April 19, 2011 By Shea 4 Comments

Wine is always in some way polysemic – in that it can mean many different things to many different people – but there is probably no other region that unites and divides drinkers so dramatically as Burgundy. It unites in that everyone and anyone who is drawn to its ancient soils agrees that its magic lies in its multivalent personalities. It divides in that this multivalence carries over to any attempt to agree on the meaning of it all. It was in this spirit of divisive unity that I attended a recent dinner hosted by the generous Rasoul Salehi focused on the red Premier and Grand Cru wines of France’s most enigmatic wine region.

Burgundian Idolatry

Burgundy is as rife with eidolons as it is with idols. The greatest bottles can often come from unexpected places while the greatest names can often disappoint. Tasting these wines blind assists in unmasking the pretences with which we approach the storied names and reputations in wine. It was one of Sid Cross’ wines that fully expressed this principle of Burgundy at the tasting. The last wine of the tasting – a Domaine Thomas-Moillard Clos Vougeot 1990 – was also my favourite and a high point for many of the other tasters. The blind? Well, it was that Clos Vougeot is often an unexciting Grand Cru but that here, from a producer with no recognition within our group, it offered perhaps the most complete Burgundy experience of the entire tasting.

Burgundy’s Modernity

One of the most discussed preconceptions in the wine world as a whole is what constitutes traditional wine versus what constitutes modern wine. This can extend from wine growing practices to techniques in the cellar and the prevalence of particular flavours. Such it was that the wine I brought – the Dominique Laurent Clos des Mouches Premier Cru 2006 – stimulated comments and questions about the wine’s sweetness and use of oak while at the same time recognition of its quality, and by some tasters, recognition of its Burgundian backbone. This is just the sort of wine that divides palates while at the same time offering undeniable quality. Dominique Laurent uses considerable oak (often 200%) in his wines, but he also adds almost no sulphur, does not fine and hand bottles. He seeks out old vines and old clones (though he owns no vineyards of his own), making him one of the most unique Negociants in Burgundy.

Diverse but Delicious

While many will warn that it is easier to find a bad bottle of Burgundy than a good one, Burgundy’s diversity is also one of its strengths. At the tasting we experienced a range of wines from the forward and fruity Domaine Fourrier Morey St-Denis Clos Solon Vielle Vigne 2006 that Jake contributed, or the darkly fruited Bruno Clair Vosne-Romanee “Les Champs Perdrix” 1er Cru.

Bachelet’s Gevrey-Chambertin “les Corbeaux” 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes 2007 was a lean but stylish wine with amazing aromatics – both pretty and compelling. There was a beautiful spicyness that coupled with a mineral (chalky) density much appreciated by most of the tasters.

Surprises also came from the compellingly delicious Drouhin Beaune Premier Cru 2002 (a wine blended from several vineyards), that showed exceptional harmony and finesse unexpected for a blended vineyard wine from a Negociant.

Wine and Metaphor

Sometimes though reputation and history is based on reality and sometimes Grand Cru is, well, Grand Cru. The flight of two Clos de La Roche Grand Cru’s (a 1999 from Louis Remy and a 2001 from the renowned Armand Rousseau) were a huge step up from the previous wines in elegance, complexity, balance, depth, and most of all, that enigmatic joy that only the best Burgundies can produce. My notes for the Remy read: “has that amazing ‘something’ that you look for in a great Burgundy … There is something here that compels you to attend it”. For the Rousseau I noted “you look into the abyss of time when you drink this … serious authenticity of fruit.” With wines such as these Burgundy compels us to reach beyond the staid objective descriptors so many wine professionals are trained to use and into what seems far more appropriate for the task: metaphor. Of course, in the end, all wine tasting notes are metaphors for the experiences we cannot describe in language. It is the special uniquness of Burgundy that compels us to recognize this unbridgeable gap.

Several of these wines are available at Marquis. Otherwise much of the tasting consisted of bottles brought back from the United States.

Filed Under: French Wine, Pinot Noir, Tastings

A Tale of Two Roties: Francois Villard’s Le Gallet Blanc 2004 and 2005

April 5, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Francois Villard is a newcomer and a modernist in the Rhone Valley, and has been an exciting addition to the Northern Rhone. Villard is also one of the new breed of Northern Rhone producer that is happy establishing an open relationship with the United States, both respecting U.S. Rhone producers and brining his wines into the U.S. market aggressively. For some this sort of relationship with the U.S. can be both a blessing and a curse. It is great to get more exposure for the Northern Rhone and the potential for cooler climate Syrah in California and Washington; however, Parker and the U.S. critics’ influence on Syrah has been largely towards overextraction and high alcohol, two things that the Northern Rhone does not do well and that obscure its amazing terroir. Luckily Villard successfully combines modernism and a view to America with respect for tradition.

I’ve had and very much enjoyed Villard’s Condrieu’s before, which are quite opulent, though never over the top. These two reds, however, were much more elegant and suggested a growing sophistication in Villard’s approach.

The 2004 Le Gallet Blanc was the more immediately accessible of the two vintages, offering black fruits, olives, game and a good punch of rich extract but well integrated acidity. I thought it was easy to drink and showing really well right now. Very Good+. $75 ($45 on sale) at Marquis Wine Cellars.

The 2005 Le Gallet Blanc, however, showed how Villard is starting to craft truly elegant and age worthy wines. While you can drink this wine now, that would be a shame given its perfect aging potential. Some wines get a free pass by critics claiming that they need age but that are utterly unenjoyable in their youth and that don’t actually offer the balance to go the distance. The 2005 Gallet Blanc, on the other hand, clearly is very well balanced, has great fruit and even though the tannins are firm, they are ripe and destined to resolve amazingly well. This is an outstanding wine for cellaring and would be perfect to revisit in 5-10 years, depending on how much fruit you like. There are fantastic underlying characteristics of smoke, bramble, and fresh picante olives. The fruit is pure blackberry. Excellent $75 ($48 on sale) at Marquis Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, French Wine, Syrah, Very Good