Geeking out (again) at Terroir SF

It was a celebratory evening last Wednesday night, as my friend Paul was in town and decided to have an assortment of friends - mainly wine business types - meet at Terroir. This makes sense as Paul has been a vocal advocate of naturally made wines for at least the past several years (longer, perhaps?) Though a bit under the weather, Paul clearly was in his element, staring slack jawed at the selection of wines from the Jura, remarking excitedly about what a ridiculous list the three man crew at Terroir have assembled, and clearly happy to catch up with old friends and share some great bottles. Which, of course is what it's all about. And, as anyone who reads wine blogs should well know, it's also all about trying to remember these various bottles and inform the masses on what one thinks is good (and not). So, in rough order of consumption, here are some quick (and I do mean quick) TN's.

Gros Jean Cremant de Jura 2001 - super earthy and funky, not very fresh nor charming.

Luc Massy Dezaley Chemin de Fer Chasselas Grand Cru 2001- a repeat from a few weeks ago. Found it more delicate, pretty and floral this time around

2000 Movia Puro - Disgorged by yours truly. Tart bitter cherry, maybe a bit lambic like? 50% Pinot Nero, 50% Ribolla. Cool wine, my first puro experience.

2006 Chidaine Rose sparkler - Sweet, one-dimensional and not as good as my favorite bugey cerdons. My disdain for sparkling Chidaines continues....

Bruno Michel Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru - Fun, bright, somewhat simple BdB.

2004 Thierry Puzelat 'in KO we trust' Cot - pure cot deliciousness. Floral, dark fruited, intense, fresh.

2005 Courtois 'Racine'- Fairly bright, high toned berries with some SSF (that's 'sans soufre funk,' see here for a related post)

2005 Freres Grosjean Fumin (Valle d'aosta) - Dark, penetrating, not fresh and alpine until the finish. Slowly grew on me.

2000 Montborgeau Cuvee Speciale L'etoile - nutty, bright, great intensity, nuance and depth. WOTN!

2006 Dard et Ribot Crozes-Hermitage - sweet, smoky, savory.

Back from Calistoga and Sonoma

Sorry I took an unannounced vacation for a few days, there. Had some tasty food at Ubuntu, amazing cocktails at Cyrus, a dead bottle of '71 BV George de Latour and occasionally good food at Barn Diva. As far as winery visits, my family and I stuck with a few Napa classics - Storybook Mountain Vineyards and Schramsberg - and tasted through some solid wines at Unti in the Dry Creek Valley. Back this week with a rundown of some geek wines from another night at Terroir, perhaps a more detailed post on one or two elements from last weekend, and definitely another chapter from Spain: Rioja.

Have a terrific week...and thanks for reading.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention...

Tasted the 1999 Philiponnat Clos de Goisses. Very little to enjoy about this wine right now. Unless you like highly sulphurous, closed, single vineyard champagne. Clos de Goisses is supposed to be amongst the most long lived of champagnes, requiring every bit of 25 years before it starts to reveal its true character and pedigree. I don't have any other experience with the wine and this was only 1 oz. of a single bottle - but man, was it ever underwhelming.

It’s a champagne type of week

Funny thing, I basically drink no champagne for a few weeks, maybe a sparkling wine or two but that’s it. And then a week like this one, where we tasted a bunch of direct import champagnes at work, I enjoyed a bottle of Elisabeth Goutourbe with some sushi, and have plans to drink a few more bottles with my parents up in Calistoga this weekend. No, I’m not complaining, just observing my tendency to neglect champagne and then go on something of a binge.

Though we tasted quite a bit, the champagnes that stood out to me most were Bruno Michel’s. Juicy, succulent and seemingly impossible not to enjoy. In a self-imposed effort to limit the pimping of my wares, I’ll just put down a few TNs for Bruno Michel’s tasty champagnes. .

Bruno Michel Blanche Brut NV
Enamel and old oak fermented 50-50 blend of Chard and Meunier. Bright, clean white grapefruit with a drier finish than last year’s batch (which had some ’03 in the blend).

2000 Bruno Michel Clos Cuvee Clement Blanc de Noir
100% Meunier (70 year-old massale selection vines) from the 9 Arpents plot of their vineyard in Moussy. Fermented in oak. Nice Meuni damp forest floor aromas. Intense black cherry and that amazing ability of Meunier to stick to your palate and not go anywhere, while still showing loads of freshness. My wine of the day.

Bruno Michel Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs NV
Clean, bright citrus and sparkling Clementine tangerine, the type of intensity of flavors as well as delicacy that few (if any) wines deliver like good Blanc de Blancs champagne

UPDATE: Just wanted to dispense a bit more info about Mr. Michel (or Mr. Mayor - he is the mayor of Moussy). He is Jose Michel's son, so he learned from one of the best, and certainly one of the most successful champions of the Pinot Meunier grape. He farms organically. The blanc de blancs is actually from a single vineyard in the 1er cru village of Pierry, Les Brousses, from massale selections planted in 1964.

Television - Foxhole (live 1978)

While I'm not watching much Television, I certainly have been listening to a whole lot of Television in the past few weeks. On pandora, on itunes and even at Terroir, where Marquee Moon played start to finish, from 'See No Evil' to 'Torn Curtain.'

Here we have a really clean, tight performance, very different from the occasionally sloppy, meandering tracks on the live recording 'The Blowup.' I really like both; sometimes near perfection is great, and other times flaws are really enjoyable.

Pairing of the week - Artic Char and Bolognani Moscato Giallo

On Friday night I made some very simply prepared, delicious Arctic char, if I do say so myself. Characteristically I did not follow a recipe and will not go into much detail regarding its preparation; not much detail is needed.

To accompany the fish I drank a delicious, dry muscat - a 2006 Diego Bolognani Moscato Giallo (Trentino). The low alcohol, crisp flavors and exotic, floral-herbal aromatics of a good dry Muscat really set off the delicate herbal component of the char. Additionally, the wine's pure, focused, crisp yellow fruit also acts as a terrific foil to the meaty, rich, slightly strong flavor of the char. As a red wine possibility, and because I had a two day old bottle of Chinon to finish, I also tried a 2005 Bernard Baudry Chinon. A bit too rich for the dish, though it was great with the fried potatoes. Very nuanced, balanced, slightly rich Chinon with just enough freshness and finesse to keep it highly drinkable. Next time I'll have the same crispy potatoes and a skirt steak instead of fish.

Here's a recipe for the fish.

Ingredients:

1 lb arctic char or salmon
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
A few tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
One small branch of rosemary (enough to yield 2 tsp chopped rosemary)

Simply start with one pound of as fresh a piece of arctic char or salmon as you can find (I used a great piece from Avedano's). Cut it into three even pieces, add salt, pepper, the juice of one half a lemon, a small pour of olive oil (nothing too fancy needed since it's going on a hot grill or pan) and a couple teaspoons of rosemary. Thyme would be great too - I used rosemary so as to not over-harvest from my young thyme plant. Let the fish marinate for twenty or so minutes at room temperature and either grill outside or pan fry it inside on a lightly oiled pan. Cook until desired doneness - my preference is for the fish to retain its deep salmon color on the inside, which would be on the medium-rare side. Serve alongside some thin rounds of fried or baked russet potatoes and a green salad or vegetable.

Scene from 'Babylon'

Yes, now we're back in the saddle! I seriously need to track down a copy of this movie, Babylon. The above clip features members of Aswad and the great Mr. Linton Kwesi Johnson (LKJ for short). This strikes me as sort of a UK response to Rockers which I have featured in a few previous entries. Fiyah, bredren, pure fiyah dat!