Cheap Charles Ellner and a little Thelonious

As I sit at my desk and recover from a dude's night out to the Leatherneck steakhouse and karaoke, a night which began with Old Overholt rye whisky, ended with corona, and had some awful private label cabernet, decent new york strip steak, creamed spinach, iceberg salad with bleu cheese crumble and irish coffee in between, I am thinking that a blog update is in order. Don't worry, I'm fine. Not 100%, but well enough to write about champagne.

Recently David D commented inquiring on a bottle of closeout champagne we had lying around from a recent cellar acquisition. It was champagne for $5.99 so I bought it. Ellner is a larger vineyard owner and negociant-manipulant (NM), owning 54 hectares of vineyards from the Aube in the south to the Montagne de Reims in the north, which supply 70% of the juice for their champagnes. This bottling, the Carte d'or, consists of 75% chard and 25% pinot noir. The PN dominated the aromas and flavors of the champagne, with lots of red fruit and buttermilk biscuity notes. After some time opening up, marzipan notes emerged on the nose as well. I'd be curious as to what vintages were included on this bottle and when it was disgorged, but since it was not Tarlant I could not find this information on the back label. I would guess '01 and '02 formed the basis of the blend, given the texture, decent acidity and depth of flavor. As for the disgorgement, maybe sometime in '05? All that is secondary to most folks out there, what really matters is that the champagne, while somewhat simple and direct, is certainly better than most grand marques' basic NV efforts. Not quite as interesting as many grower champagnes, but still a decent deal if it were to cost around $35 (no idea on pricing, I've yet to see this brand in the market).

Here's some Sunday Thelonious from 'Straight no Chaser.' Just like my Old Overholt, straight no chaser. This one's much more complex though, and probably more enjoyable for many of you out there.

Champagnes tasted and enjoyed recently

Most of these (with the exception of the Drappier, tasted at Terroir) are champagnes I sell at work. So I'm selling my own hooch here, but it's been a while since I've pitched the K&L wares. Sorry if you're not on the west coast and can't find many of these. If you're on the east coast, it probably only makes sense to ship if you mix a case, in which case it would be roughly $4 per bottle to ship via Fedex 3day.

Drappier Zero Dosage NV -

A really impressive blanc de noir here. Classy, pure cherry fruit with a fine structure, indeed. Intense, elegant, crystalline structured, and long finishing, this is one of the most enjoyable non-vintage champagnes I have drunk in the past few years.

De Meric Grand Reserve Sous Bois NV - $34.99

80% pinot noir from Ay, Mareuil-Sur-Ay and Mutigny, 15% chardonnay from Cramant, Avize and Oger and 5% meunier from Cumieres. It is vinified half in old oak barrels and half in stainless steel tanks. Clean berry fruits and a bit of challah bread dough on the nose lead to a very fruit driven palate. Very Pinot Noir. Length, purity and acidity are all nicely balanced.

Marguet Rose NV - $34.99

Light coppery pink color. Composed of 70% chardonnay and 30% pinot noir. Marguet is a small negoc house based in Ambonnay. The quality of Benoit Marguet's pinot noir really show here; there is a real Burgundian pinot noir savor to this champagne. It's red berry fruited, but also brawny and masculine - not a simply fruity, cheerful rose champagne. I quite like it and plan on buying some soon.

Louise Brison 'Cuvee Tendresse' Blanc des Blancs' 2001 - $59.99 on pre-arrival

A rather obscure producer working in the Aube (where Fleury is also based) who farms organically , this is one of several delicous champagnes I have tasted from Mr. Broulez. 100% chardonnay, matured in oak for a short time (5 months), without malolactic fermentation. Substantial, with nicely advanced, savory notes balanced by excellent acidity. Distinctive. Drinking great right now.

Louise Brison Cuvee Germain 2001 (1.5l)- $79.99 on pre-arrival

50% chard, 50% pinot noir. Creamy on the palate, with orange blossom notes and an unusual density. Also, a very nice decomposed marine organism (ok, I guess you could say 'chalk') minerality is underlying beneath all of the fruit. It tastes sort of pinot blanc-like, with bubbles.

Louise Brison Brut 2002 - $39.99

There is a similar richness, roundness and persistence here, though with more pronounced acidity. Tasted a second time, the acidity really jumped out even more so, in a good way. I like this quite a bit, it will probably be my house champagne for when the occasion calls for a good quality bubbly.

Leclerc Briant 'La Ravinne' NV - $41.99

Pascal Leclerc only makes single vineyard champagnes: the chalky 'les crayeres,' juicy, mineral and easy to drink 'Les chevres preuses,' the blanc des blancs 'la croisette,' an amazingly (and almost illegally) dark rose champagne named 'cuvee rubis' and this, his single vineyard pinot meunier. It might be my favorite of his wines which I have tasted. La Ravinne has a spicy nose, with a palate of pithy red grapefruit, showing great intensity and a refreshing bitter snap to the finish. Modern meunier here, but of a flavor profile I have not yet encountered with the grape.

Leclerc Briant Cuvee Divine 2001 - $39.99

This is composed of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir, blended from estate vineyards in the valley of the Marne villages Dizy, Cumieres, Damery and Hautvillers. I have tasted one older vintage of this wine ('89, I believe) and, while it aged well, I prefer this young wine from a much less heralded vintage. Very chablis like chalky minerality.

More champagne and other sparkling wine notes to come....

Natural wines, steel frame bikes, vinyl LP's

Discuss.

A coupla' bistro French reds and Peruvian chicken

You know, I noticed that hardly anyone is blogging about cool, vin naturel on their wine blogs (I mean seriously, get off the Napa cabs and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, wine bloggers). So, given the dearth of information on these hopelessly unfashionable, humble vin naturel, I thought I'd write up a few which a young upstart in the busniness named Joe Dressner imports. These are wines which I really enjoyed before and during dinner last night.

2007 Les vin contes Olivier Lemasson 'P'tit Rouquin' Gamay Touraine

French for 'carrot topped kid,' the p'tit rouqin is sourced from hand harvested gamay grown in clay and flint soils by several growers who farm organically within a 40 km radius in Touraine. Classical gamay vin naturel treatment here: no pigeage, carbonic maceration, only 2g/hectoliter sulphur added at bottling. And how does it taste? Delicious. Red cherries and goji berries on the noise, with a touch of earth, lead to a snappy red fruited and hibiscus inflected palate. There is a delicious minerality as well, one that at times stands out more than the understated fruit. This is definitely a mid to back palate and sides of the tongue wine. A chiseled, finishing wine. Streamlined, no baby fat, just perfect. Especially with roasted chicken and yuca (if you're in SF and have not yet done so, try Limon's on Van Ness btw 21st and 22nd). The Ptit Rouquin even held up to the spicy flavors of the various dipping sauces and a tangy cole slaw I made.

2006 Domaine de la Pepiere 'La Pepie' Cabernet Franc (1.5l)

This (and now that I mention it the wine above as well) were both opened the day before for a Loire tasting at the store. It's tasting much better than we first received the wine in a little over a year ago. Dark cherry fruit, showing a much more expansive and fleshed out mid-palate than when I had last tasted the wine. Some pretty cab franc floral notes towards the finish made it even tastier. Good, but not quite gamay good, with the chicken and yuca.

Reggae community rallies 'round Barack Obama

Fun little video from Cocoa Tea here. A no frills, two chord bubblin', fairly low budget production, but enjoyable all the same. Shout out to Cam who first emailed me this link.

Illadelph Blogger meet-up with the great David McDuff

Wine blogging. It may seem easy. You know, drink, form an impression, get up on your soap box and post something. Repeat. Well, blogging regularly - say 3 times a week as a minimum - actually is a real commitment. I read various wine blogs, but few of them ever keep me coming back as regularly as Mcduff's Food and Wine Trail. The combination of McDuff's crisp, professional writing, his thorough profiles of producers, region's and wines, and display of authority without coming across as arrogant or snobbish makes for what might be my favorite wine blog out there, or at least top 3. As David mentioned in his re-cap of our lunch together last week, we also have a good bit in common: we have spent significant time living in the Washington, DC area, we are both University of Maryland alums, we enjoy listening to an eclectic mix of music, particularly anything in a post-punk vein.

On my way home from New York City last week, I stopped in Philly and was picked up by Mr. McDuff at the train station. We then headed to one of the city's many BYO's for some lunch and wine which David brought with him. As some of you may know, the distribution and sale of wine in Pennsylvania is controlled by the state, which leads to a generally poor selection of wines which often times cost a lot more than they should. So a few upshots are that BYO restaurants are popular, and serious wine drinkers in Pennsylvania shop in New Jersey or Delaware - David, though he lives in the Philly metro area, actually works at a store in Wilmington, Delaware named Moore Brothers.

OK, on to the lunch and wine. We went to a Thai restaurant named Nan, which had a typical menu including pad thai, salmon with red curry (which I had and quite enjoyed), smoked duck (which David ordered, also very tasty) and one seriously out of place lunch entree of spaghetti with ricotta and broccoli. Hmmm...we started with a 2002 Ratzenberger Riesling Steeger St Jost Spatlese Trocken from the Mittelrhein. At first it showed the intense apricot kernel flavor and broad fruit which I generally associate with the Rheingau, but then the smoky blue slate minerality kicked in and grew increasingly present in the wine. Apparently the steeply sloping vineyard has provides some of the fruit for a Grosses Gewaches wine which Ratzinger also makes. It was a bit on the dry and strict side for a great pairing with most Thai dishes (especiall the curries), though it did go really well with some grilled squid salad. The second bottle David opened was a delicious 2004 Aldo Vajra 'Costa e Fossati' Dolcetto d'alba. It showed the cut and fine balance of '04 in Piedmont, with a real traditional structure. Very dry blackberry fruits, with some earthiness, cut white flowers and a real elegant, lighter weight (for Dolcetto) palate. The finishing tannins were really fine, like a cat's tongue - that sort of sensation on the palate. None of those coarse, puckery, wood tannins which marr many other Piedmontese wines these days - no surprise as this is a traditional winery (longer fermentation in large slavonian oak) and I do tend to prefer traditional wines. It was the best Dolcetto I have ever tasted, and just out of curiosity a few days later I saw an '05 Giuseppe Mascarello Dolcetto d'Alba in a new Baltimore shop named Swirl, cracked it open, and found that it was not nearly as refined and elegant. Granted, it's not as good a vintage and the Vajra has a year of bottle age on it, but I still don't think the Giuseppe Mascarello Dolcetto will be as good.

Sorry for the dolcetto tangent there. Anyway, back to the story at hand. McDuff knows his stuff, is a terrific guy, and it was a pleasure to finally meet him in person. Thanks for lunch, David, next time is on me.

This wine drinker is celebrating...Barack Obama is our next president!

I need just a brief moment for gravitas, here. Growing up, I remember discussing the prospect of a female or black president in the US - when would it happen? Would it be in our lifetime? Honestly, I did not believe it would, almost right up until Barack Obama announced his candidacy a few years ago. When that happened, and as he gained momentum, I came to believe that not only would we have an African American president in our lifetime, but it would be Barack Obama taking oath as the first black president in 2009. And sure enough, the polls have closed and that is what the news networks are telling us: Barack Obama is our next president. Obama won Ohio, he won Pennsylvania, he won Florida, he won Virginia (as some of you know it has been 45 years since a democratic candidate won VA). Well, the man is speaking right now, so I will keep it short and simply state that I am inspired as I hope that anyone reading this is equally inspired.

So, what to drink to savor and celebrate the moment? How about, while the champagne chills down, a glass of La Gitana manzanilla, bright, salty, and full of fruit, with uncommon depth and complexity. Then, when the champagne is nice and cold, crack it open. Perhaps it will be a bottle of Tarlant Brut Zero, a blend of 2005 and reserve wines, and of all three major champagne varieties. It is bone dry, poised, classy champagne, showing a serious character and lots of promise for the future, ready to usher in a new era in American history.