What I’ve been drankin’

Well I just returned from an overnight stay in Point Arena, Mendocino County, and unfortunately did not visit any wineries. Instead most of the time my girlfriend and I were at a wedding party, eating terrific, spicy homemade lamb sausage (aka merguez), venison prepared from a deer recently shot by the groom (yep, it was my first Northern California hippie style wedding), and a wonderful variety of fresh salads and vegetables: tomato and mozzarella, caponata, Israeli cous-cous and corn kernels, shredded beets and cabbage strands in a sweet and tangy dressing. There was cheap, highly chaptalized Cortese and Barbera, so I opted for some Scrimshaw Pilsner instead. Much better.

A few nights ago I tasted a few things at Terroir:

2007 Dashe McFadden Family Farms Potter Valley Zinfandel ‘L’enfant Terrible’– Approachable, juicy, well-behaved zin. Apparently this comes from a single 900 gallon barrel of zin, with very little added sulphur in its production. A bit ripe for my tastes (strange as it’s from fruit grown in the ‘cool’ climate Potter Valley – ok, it actually is really cool there from what I hear, certainly cooler than Napa or much of the Sonoma coast). Dashe zins have recently struck me as being good and ripe though.

2000 Ferret Pouilly Fuisse ‘Les Menetrieres’–
Fully mature, plus a little more maturity. Then again, I tasted from a bottle opened a few days earlier. If you’ve got it in your cellar, drink up this PF from the iconic, now defunct Cote Chalonnaise winery, lovingly depicted in Neil Rosenthal’s recent memoir.

2004 Raveneau Chablis ‘Les Forets’ 1er Cru
Clearly this is very good wine. Very clean, very focused. Very tight and very difficult to describe. Maybe this recently arrived to the shop? My first Raveneau experience. BRIGHT citrus and mineral. But it really seems tight and not too generous right now. I’d like to try it again, maybe even in another 6 months to see what happens.

Luc Massy Chasselas Dezaley Chemin de Fer Grand Cru 2001
My favorite wine of the evening – thanks again for the tastes, Guillhaume. 100% Chasselas from Switzerland (imagine that) labeled as Grand Cru. I would tell you more about the wine but it’s imported by Robert Chadderdon, who of course as everyone knows does not need to have a website or any information about his producers because – as everyone knows – they’re the best. Why offer more info, just buy the wine, and know that you’re getting the best. Anyway, the wine was fleshy, viscous, with some red apple and yellow stone fruit flavors, a touch of red banana, moderate acidity, and super intense minerality. A hint of white pepper as well. Gruner veltliner-like, just alpine style.

2000 Roagna Barbaresco ‘Paje’
Thank you to SFJoe, who was in the house and was generous to give me a taste of this soft, juicy, precocious Barbaresco. Dark fruit, cocoa powder, just a suggestion of secondary flavors; fun and genuinely approachable.

Recommended Reading

Fellow wine blogger David McDuff occasionally does a feature where he highlights several wine blogs that he feels are distinctive and worth reading. In fact this blog was featured in his west coast edition (thanks again, David). It is in that spirit that I wanted to share a few of my friends' blogs that I hope you will enjoy. Though they are mostly not wine related, they deal with topics that I know many of you enjoy - bicycles and liberal politics foremost amongst them.

Unearthed (appears on the Huffington Post)
Once a week my good friend and former bandmate Brendan DeMelle, along with Robert Kennedy Jr, report on news not covered, or merely given short shrift, in the mainstream media. One of this week's stories describes how Karl Rove failed to appear under subpoena to testify before the Judicial Committee regarding the firing of 6 US attorneys in 2006. According to Rove, "People talk about me a lot, and they don't see me very often." If you're critical of the press and can deal with reading sobering reports about the crazy shenanigans of certain politicians, lobbyists and corporations, then you ought to read this one weekly.

Stewart Bike Trip: Odessa or Bust!
Matt (aka Mateo) Stewart is one crazy guy. One crazy, smart, adventurous guy. One crazy, smart, adventurous guy going on an eastern european bike trip with his old man. The motives as I understand them are (in no particular order): exploring family roots, spending some quality time with his father and hopefully getting a book deal.

K&L Blog
OK, so I am sneaking in one wine blog and it happens to be on my employer's website. What can I say, I know where my bread is buttered, na mean? All kidding aside, we have recently started to post new content and I think it only fair to promote it here, as I re-post a few of my more accessible Old World Old School posts and mention this blog on the K&L site. Recently, my co-worker and friend David Driscoll wrote a fun profile of a terrific Bay Area Italian wine importer named Oliver McCrum, someone whose wines I have written about multiple times on these pages.

The Magnes Zionist
According to this blog's author, alias Jerry Haber, The Magnes Zionist represents 'self criticism from an Israeli, American and Orthodox Jewish perspective.' In other words, don't expect simplification of facts and the type of blind defense for Israel's actions that one often comes across, even in so-called liberal circles. Do expect an informed and interesting perspective from a brilliant philosopher and moralist, who, along with his family, has divided his time between the US and Israel for over thirty years now.

I do hope that you check the posts on some or all of these blogs. Hopefully they will add some variety to your weekly web reading and maybe you will have even found a new favorite.

Stay tuned for the Friday youtube....

Jura and Savoie Tasting

Monday night I went to a highly educational brown bag tasting of a few of the wines of the Savoie and Jura. As usual there were two flights - four whites and then four reds - and since we did not know what the theme would be (or if there was a specific theme) for the first flight, it was fun to guess what common thread might be looping its way through the wines.

First, a primer on the wines of the Jura and Savoie, since I realize that sometimes I skimp on background regional information. As an aside, as time allows and my mood dictates, I'd like to begin providing better context for the wines I describe here -- I mean, you can't taste wine in a vacuum, man. [For the bona fide wine cognoscenti and assorted other impatient readers who wants to get to the tasting notes, scroll down a bit and you will find them.]

Located due west of the Swiss border, the vineyards of the Jura extend north to south just a hair longer than the Cote d'Or, which would be about 30 miles. Not a large region, especially considering how much of it is covered by wooded areas, not vineyards. Not too far to the west lies the Saone River and then, Burgundy. The southernmost reaches of the most southerly part of Alsace, the Haut-Rhin, is about 100 miles to the northeast of the Jura. There are four appellations: L'Etoile, Chateau Chalone, Cotes du Jura and Arbois. Given the proximity to Burgundy, it is not surprising that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are grown. Savagnin is a regional specialty used for making the sherry-like vin jaune and sweet vin de paille, as well as occasionally being blended with Chardonnay to make a wine sous voile ('under a veil,' or 'flor,' tufts of yeast which protect the wine from fully oxidizing since the barrels are not topped off, in order to produce a delicious, slightly oxidative style). These sous voile wines are like blue cheese, you may not get them at first and then you'll either fall in love or still not get it. For reds, Poulsard is very light in color and sometimes deliciously earthy. Trousseau is blockier and a bit richer. The Cotes du Jura does champagne method sparklers, mainly from Chardonnay, and they do them very well.

Savoie lies in more mountainous terrain, to the southeast of the Jura and closer to the Swiss border. There is one basic overlying appellation: Vin de Savoie. Grapes most often used for white wine include Roussette, also known as Altesse, Jacquere, and Chasselas. Mondeuse (peppery, assertive) and gamay are common for reds. Bugey Cerdon is the delicious, slightly sweet, sparkling rose which many people have been enjoying of late.

Here were the wines of the evening, starting with whites:

2006 Frederic Giachino Vin de Savoie Abymes
Crisp flavors of apple and pear skins, with a creamy, slightly oxidative aspect. Not sous voile, just leesy and rounded. My initial guesses ranged from jurancon, to grenache blanc, though the subtle, crisp alpine aspect of this wine gives it away as neither. No one could call this one.

2006 JF Quenard Chignin Roussanne Vieilles Vignes
Deep golden color, with a roasted nut, honeyed aroma and full, dry flavors. I was convinced that we were dealing with Roussanne here. Not my favorite grape variety and I was accordingly quick to call out that I didn't like the wine. How did Roussanne make its way up from the northern Rhone, I wonder?

2003 Jacques Puffeney Melon Que Rouge Arbois
Spicy meyer lemon flavors with some mature notes. I was guessing cote chalonaise with bottle age, maybe '02 because the combination of acidity and richness was so appealing. This was my number '1,' even though I mistakenly suspected it to be Chardonnay and prepared myself for the embarrassment of picking a Chardonnay based wine that wasn't Chablis or Champagne to be my favorite of the flight.
2004 Domaine de Montbourgeau L'Etoile
Super mineral and earthy. Some white flowers. It was like a richer, Chard mid-palate influenced fino or manzanilla sherry. Good nutty finish. Whilte it's probably not going to end up as powerful and convincingly tasty as the 2002, I like this wine quite a bit.

REDS

2004 Jacques Puffeney Pinot Noir
Sour cherry and spice on the nose and palate. Great acidity, interesting iron ore minerality, and terrific elegance. I thought Poulsard, it turned out to be PN. You were right, Mark, well done. Mmm...this was my red of the night.

2005 Jacques Puffeney Trousseau Cuvee 'Le Berange'
A darker color, richer and more intense on the nose. A bit blocky and four-square on the palate with mixed berry fruit. Persistent though. Young wine. Kudos this time to Nadia, for calling trousseau - I know Martine would be proud!
2004 Jacques Puffeney Poulsard
A bit of a cooked quality to the cherry fruit aromas. Foresty on the palate. Lots of finesse and elegance on the finish. For some reason I was thinking Mondeuse, recalling a great bottle of Jura wine that at the time I remembered as Mondeuse but really was Poulsard. I posted on it nearly a year ago here.

2003 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Vieilles Vignes
Pinot Noir, Poulsard and Trousseau. Terrific building floral flavors on the palate, with a touch more elegance than the Poulsard. Some licorice on the finish. Again, I wanted to say it was Mondeuse.

So the reds turned out to be a Puffeney extravaganza - not a bad flight! We enjoyed the remaining wine with some amazing pan seared and oven finished chicken and potatoes (I learned that Gary used to be in the catering business and let me tell you, dude can cook). When will you be hosting your next PMW tasting, Gary?

As always, thanks to the gracious host and the entire group for staying on the ball, coordinating busy work and personal schedules and tasting wine together on a Monday night.

Jura State of Mind

Gary Roshke of the Bay Area based Jolivin Imports hosted a terrific Savoie and Jura tasting last night, the details of which will be published here a little later this week.

In the shop today we tasted a most interesting Canadian pinot noir, a 2007 bottle of Henry of Pellham from the Short Hills Bench region in Ontario. Who knows maybe it’s just because I had the wine last night, but it reminded me a lot of the 2004 Puffeney Pinot Noir. Very pretty wines, both.

Blogger is messing up (again) and I lost a bit more of this post, but it was kind of boring anyway so no big loss. More blogging later. I'm tired and frustrated with blogger, annoyed with my imac, pissed off at Comcast. They all suck. The only thing good coming out of this computer right now would be the 'Television' channel on Pandora. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Good night.

23 YEAR-OLD ROSSIGNOL HAUTE-COTE-DE-NUITS? YEAH I’LL TAKE ONE OF THOSE.

It is something of an insider’s (read: wine industry) secret that a certain long standing San Francisco restaurant, owned by a prominent out-of-town restaurateur with a list formulated by one of North America's 96 master sommeliers, has a burgundy list to die for, with stocks on wines that are virtually impossible to find elsewhere, at prices which reflect what they might have cost over a decade ago. So I ventured to this restaurant with my girlfriend after checking out the SFMOMA Frida Kahlo exhibit as well as some truly bizarre contemporary Chinese art. It was a perfect evening of geeking out: the lady on contemporary art and myself on Burgundy.

Since the idea was to get a bottle of something really unique, which would probably not be inexpensive, we decided to sit at the bar, forego ordering food, and make some dinner late night at home. The choice was difficult. ’95 de Montille Volnay ‘Champans,’ some older Raveneau, various 1er crus from all over. And I could go on – the point is that I have never seen as many varied vintages of burgundy on one list at such reasonable prices. Cost of entry will start at around $90, and goes as high as you want to take it. I went with a botte of '85 Philipe Rossignol Haut Cotes de Nuits and it was a gamble that worked itself out. Counting on the reputation of the producer (whom I mistakenly confused with Nicolas Rossignol, a great producer of Savigny-les-Beaunes), combined with the strength of the 1985 vintage in Burgundy, I figured that my chances were at least 50-50 that the wine would still have life and provide an interesting drinking experience. A beautiful, soft, medium ruby color, I held the glass up to my nose, breathed in the perfume, and knew that all would be well. Very delicate, cherry, floral, dark truffle and cocoa powder notes abounded on the nose. Flavors on the palate were at first mainly of sour cherry with a ton of mineral. While the flavor deepened to include umeboshi paste (made from super tart, salted Japanese plums), I couldn't help but notice the intense minerality and saltiness of this wine. Furthermore, the tannins were fine, but increasingly firm. It appeared as though the fruit were drying out, leaving acidity, tannins and saltiness in their wake. While the wine is clearly on its downward descent, it was amazing just to be able to taste a humble village burgundy with so much bottle age.

Drinking mature wines could become an expensive habit, I'll need to closely monitor my consumption.

Thanks to Luc for the tip about this mystery restaurant's bar and ridiculous burgundy list.

BOSTON - Long time (REPRISAL!)

In case you missed my earlier post, or were too lazy to click on the link, here is Boston in all of their long time, bearded, big haired, open satin jacket glory.

ROCK! YEAH!!!!!!!!!

Does a leaky capsule always indicate bad wine? A surprise from the SCM in '79

One of my favorite things about working where I do is that we buy lots of wine from private collections. The way it works is that we (rather, my co-worker Joe) will inspect a cellar's condition, check out the wares, and if there are wines of some perceived value in the marketplace that have been well stored, Joe will make an offer. As he will offer to buy entire collections, not just cherry pick the highly sought after stuff, there may be some '78 Amador zin mixed up with all of those nice '78 burgundies and napa cabs. We take it all in. Which means that every so often we come across some really interesting stuff on the shelves of the old and rare section in the shop. Sometimes, a few bottles are leakers, have low fills, and never make it to the shelf. I spied one such bottle whilst bullshitting with the great Joe Z yesterday, and asked his permission to open it. He obliged, I opened, and here's where it gets interesting....

The wine? A magnum of 1979 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Cabernet. Nearly 30 year-old wine produced from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Bates Ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. To be honest I don't recall the fill exactly, though it was at least upper shoulder (i.e. almost filling out the rounded part of the bottle, but not making its way into the narrow neck part). A decent fill for a bottle stored almost 30 years in a private cellar. However, the foil capsule and area below it was sticky with what was clearly wine which had leaked out of the bottle. Upon cutting the foil and catching a whiff of the cork, my hopes dwindled. It smelled very oxidized, port-like but sour. When I pulled the cork, or most of the cork (I needed to push down a crumbly portion into the bottle) I promptly poured a small amount into a glass. The color was still deep and did not suggest a wine well past its prime. On the nose there were notes of intense dark fruit, some spice, cedar; the wine was more than alive, it was alive, kicking, screaming, and begging for attention. When I tasted the wine, it had all the vibrancy, flavor intensity and freshness of a wine half its age. Loads of sweet dark fruits, hints of prune, and a strong cola aspect came across on the palate, which also still had some tannin structure. While the wine was not the most nuanced or complex, it certainly reminded me of a few things:

1.) Wine is sometimes as resilient as it is fragile
2.) CA Cabernet can pack a whole lot of richness and flavor, and still be under 13% alc
3.) Santa Cruz Mountain wines, when they're good, age every bit as well, and often better than, wines from Napa.

What a cool experience. I ended up pouring myself a glass to go with my lunch of leftover Bastille Day lentils and bread. After lunch I returned to the sales floor, one happy wine dude.

UPDATE: This very day, almost to the minute (ok, it was several hours earlier - David is apparently more of a morning person than I am, and he's on the east coast) David McDuff over at McDuff's Food and Wine Trail happened to post a TN on a bottle of '87 SCMV Cabernet. This just might be the most unusal wine blogging coincidence of the year.