BLT and PdA

Without a doubt, the best matched food and wine pairing of the past few weeks was a delicious BLT from Bar Jules paired with the 2007 Clos Roche Blanche L'arpent Pineau d'Aunis. In typical pinot d'aunis fashion, this wine showed gorgeous wild strawberries with a hint of sichuan peppercorns, terrific acidity and very fine finishing tannins. Combined with the crisp, smoky, meaty BLT sandwich it simply could not be beat. It was a terrific Friday lunch. Thanks for bringing the bottle, Mr. Gerard.

The Stranglers: PEACHES (as performed by The Muppets)

Why has this song not yet been sampled?? Or has it been? Such a hard hitting, funky groove. If I were producing a sample based track right now, this would be the sample.

Oh, and the Muppets just tore it up here. Lots of respect to whomever put this one together!

My man Jo Landron is in effect mode. Domaine Bart too!

Obligatory ATCQ reference there, sorry I couldn't resist. Anyway, it is a very happy week when a new container of French wines, including such reliable, consistently good values as the Muscadets of Jo Landron and the Marsannays of Martin Bart, arrives at our warehouse. I haven't had the '06 Bart wines yet as I would like to wait several weeks for them to settle in and recover from their journey. However, I did recently drink a large portion of a bottle of Jo Landron's '07 Amphibolite, which is simply delicious. It is his one wine that is not aged sur lies for an extended period, and as such is not quite as mineral, compact, and intensely flavored as wines such as his Fief du Breils, Marc Ollivier's Clos de Briords, Guy Bossard's 'orthogneiss', and other more serious bottlings of Muscadet. It is, however, soft, pure, and incredibly tasty. Loads of gentle peach and melon rind flavor, with good length and an enormously high thirst quenching factor. Not one to forget about for a while, though. My last few bottles of '06, while enjoyable, are noticeably darker in color and, while gaining in weight, losing the pure, delicate fruit flavors that make this wine so attractive.

In these trying, uncertain financial times, I plan on drinking lots of Muscadet, even more than usual. It's good for you, invigorating and refreshing stuff. Having all but sworn off my credit cards after clearing my debt earlier in the year, I will pay for all of this Muscadet with cash or a debit card.

One re-evaluation and a Blog functionality update

THE CORRECTION

I recently re-tasted the Dressner Maupertuis gamay 'La Guillaume,' which I had tasted a few weeks ago and did not like. Tasting at a properly cool temperature and right after opening (as minimally sulphured and sans soufre wines really ought to be tasted) provided a much better wine, bright and tangy, earthy but not overly so. And definitely not poopy like my first experience with the wine. If you don't require your gamay to pack much mid-palate intensity or persistence, then give this wine a try. Hopefully, its subtle charm is lurking in a fine wine retailer near you.

THE UPDATE

You can now read up-to-date posts on google reader. Just go to the google page, click on the 'more' link, scroll down to click on 'reader' and add this blog. For all of you bloggers out there, the 'following' tool should also now be up-to-date. Thank you to everyone who pointed out this problem. It should now be fixed; please let me know if this is not the case.

In the process of trouble shooting I think that I may have deleted my current RSS feed list, so if you had been receiving these via email until recently, please go to the upper-right hand side of this page, enter your email and re-subscribe. Thanks.

And I'm out.

A taste of MOB from '83

Here is the second on what will be three Mission of Burma posts (the third will be the concert review of their September 27th show at The Independent in San Francisco). The video below is from the companion DVD to the re-issued Vs. album. For those of you not familiar with their history, Boston's Mission of Burma recorded two records, the Signals, Calls and Marches EP (1981) and Vs. (1982), and then called it quits primarily due to guitarist and vocalist Roger Miller's tinnitus. They have clearly influenced dozens of bands, from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Husker Du, to Fugazi, REM and Pearl Jam, who released their own record titled Vs as a tribute to Mission of Burma. Mission of Burma re-united in 2002 and have gone on to produce two solid, well received albums of new material. The clip below is the post-punk band showing their mid-tempo, melodic side.

Best $25 spent so far this year? Tickets to Mission of Burma

Last night I went to see Mission of Burma perform their seminal classic Vs. at The Independent, one of the better run, more intimate venues for live music in San Francisco. I hope to publish a full show review this week. Allow me to say though, that the show was phenomenal. Those guys really rocked it. Bass, drums, guitar, a few effects pedals, that's it. Oh yes, and the tape delay loop guy hidden offstage around the soundboard. Good shows entertain, great shows transport and lodge themselves in the memory. This show was great.

Royal Dessert Wine

Forget about Sauternes. SGN, no thanks. Eiswein, BA and TbA? Now we're getting closer, but not on my dime, thank you very much. Yesterday, I tasted through a terrific line-up of wines with Ben Howkins from the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Let's just say that the Russian tsars and assorted other monarchs of the day, who bought tokaji by the cart-load, knew their stuff. The combination of naturally high acidity, high residual sugar and moderate alcohol makes for a finely balanced elixir to finish a meal. While I do have a sweet tooth, I am generally not much of a dessert wine fan, mainly due to the excess of alcohol and lack of acid balance in many of them. After tasting through much of the current Royal Tokaji Wine Company line-up, though, I was reminded of how delicious these wines are.

The Royal Tokaji Company is a collaboration between wine writer/living legend Hugh Johnson, author and port authority Ben Howkins and winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers. The wines (with the exception of the dry furmint) are a blend of late harvested, naturally botrytized Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat.

Ben Howkins was on hand to guide customers and co-workers through the wines.

2006 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Furmint

A typically creamy peach and apricot Furmint nose leads to a fully dry wine, with yellow pitted fruit flavors, good richness and mouth-watering acidity. Nice soft texture as well. Persistent.

2003 Royal Tokaji Wine Company 5 Puttonyos

Orange and peach marmelade on the nose, with some honeyed botrytis notes. Candied orange flavors on the palate, more plush and lower acid than the terrific 2000 vintage of this wine (which I prefer slightly to this one) but the acidity is still apparent and remarkably in balance given the warm vintage conditions.

2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Betsek 6 Puttonyos

Now we are getting to the individual vineyard bottlings, which are site specific and contain higher amounts of residual sugar, due to the extra 'puttonyo,' or container of trampled, late harvested grapes. Betsek is the largest of their vineyards, located on a lower portion of the hills composed of a top layer of black volcanic soil. More creamy and complex aromas lead to a rich, sweeter and higher acidity wine (remember, while the higher number of puttonyos leads to more RS, the measurement of acidity often times goes up with these wines as well, so they don't necessarily seem a whole lot sweeter). The flavors bring to mind an intense, spicy reduced grapefruit syrup.

1999 Royal Tokaji Wine Company 'Nyulaszo'

One of my favorites of the line-up. According to Mr. Howkins, the nyulaszo vineyard contributes the most to the house style of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Another step up in aromatic intensity, with orange and toffee candy scents. Amazingly high acidity (I'd love to get the technical specs here, I'm going to guess at least 9g/liter) combined with ridiculous length and intensity. Apparently, this wine is often times a favorite amongst Burgundy fans. I can see why.

1999 Royal Tokaji Wine Company St Tomas

This wine is a return to a gentler and rounder profile. Historically, grapes from this vineyard have the highest amount of residual sugar compared to the company's other sites. Delicious, intense stone fruit jam with a bit less acidity on the palate.

1996 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Mezes Maly

There is a prominent reddish glint in this amber colored wine from what literally translates as the 'honey pot' vineyard. Wow, what a nose on this one! Hugely intense, volcanic spicy nose. Almost like horseradish. Hints of red fruits emerge as well. The palate is accordingly spicy, a bit cidery even. Hints of dried cranberry fruit. Extraordinarily well chiseled and defined. Amazing intensity, acidity and length. This is one of the most memorable wines I have ever tasted. Awesome.

1995 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Aszu Essencia

I was thinking that after the previous wine, it would take quite the wine to match the experience. Not that the aszu essencia was a downer, but man the Mezes Maly was a real game changer. The essencia is a blend of Nyulaszo and St Tomas fruit. 180g/l residual sugar. It surprisingly shows the most savory aromas, a blend of brown sugar sweetness and a good bit more maturity as well. Less of the orange/peach/apricot marmelade characteristics. On the palate the flavors are also extraordinarily concentrated with high acidity as well. The texture is butter soft and luxurious. Really compelling stuff, but tough to describe. Even tougher after the extraordinary mezes maly.

It was an incredible tasting, and a strong reminder of where my vinous sweet tooth resides: the hills of northeastern Hungary. Thanks to Mr. Ben Howkins, Wilson Daniels and our local distributor rep Greg Schuessler for sharing these amazing wines.