Dr Vino’s wine blog

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Last year, I was loving the serious 2005 Beaujolais from many of the ten “crus,” or sub-zones of the downtrodden region. I’ve tasted a few 2006s (and look forward to more) and wanted to highlight this excellent duo.

Marcel Lapierre, Morgon, 2006. $21 (find this wine) Importer: Kermit Lynch.
This beautiful wine comes from Marcel Lapierre, one of the qualitative leaders of the region known for a long period of barrel aging. This extended élévage, as it is known, provides the wine with complexity and the ability to better combat oxidation since Lapierre bottles without sulfur, an antioxidant commonly used for stabilizing the wines during shipping. This vintage is particularly succulent and Mrs. Vino had the good sense to demand that I buy more of the wine after her first sip. I happily obliged. The wine will make a good gift not only because of what’s inside but also because of the handsome presentation–along with the wax cap. I’m a sucker for wax caps.

IN the glass, the wine is light in color and actually tastes like a really superb gamay as opposed to many of the best Beaujolais that end up tasting like pinot noir (hey, I’m not complaining, just observing). But gamay has such alluring fruit, lively acidity and smooth tannins when done right that it is hard to refuse. The traditional food pairing is dried sausage but it’s really hard to go wrong since it is so food-friendly.

Of note, Marcel Lapierre is one of the qualitative leaders in the Beaujolais. Check out this excellent article from the Saveur archive on Lapierre and his damascene conversion at the hands of Jules Chauvet.

Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie, 2006. $20 (find this wine) Importer: Louis/Dressner
This wine is darker and more concentrated, a twist on the traditional reputations of the “masculine” Morgon and the “feminine” Fleurie appellations. The concentration does not sacrifice the overall tastiness and, although rich, the wine still has good acidity. I brought it to some friends’ house and they were rapturous in their praise. And to think I got it for only $16! I’ll definitely buy this one again–and look for the Cuvée Tardive, which is more age worthy. Yes, age-worthy Beaujolais! More on that in a future post.

You don’t have to have been long financials for most of 2008 to want a good bargain; great wines under $10 are always in demand, and increasingly hard to find. Here are two for weathering the financial downturn–and beating the summer heat.

Fonte da Serrana, Alentejo, Portugal, 2004. $5.99 (find this wine)
Alentejo is a hot, dry part of Southern Portugal that, when it comes to wine, traditionally has been more known for making closures–corks–rather than what goes in the bottle. But this wine will make them consider planting more vines. The alluring nose of dried herbs precedes the all-berry attack the attack, which, in turn, is followed by a surprising degree of bright acidity and gentle tannins. A GREAT summer quaffer. And our new house burrito wine. Day two it was still going strong and poured at fridge temp, marvelously refreshing on the deck. The blend is mostly Aragonez (a.k.a Tempranillo) and the indigenous Trincadeira.

Hugues Beaulieu, Picpoul de Pinet, Coteaux de Languedoc, 2006. $7.37 (find this wine)
Picpoul de Pinet is a blast of summer freshness that comes from a stone’s throw away from the Mediterranean. With a citrus zip of tart acidity, a light saline quality, this wine, from a cooperative producer, is refreshing to pair with 95 degrees–as an aperitif or with seafood. It’s easy to understand why Picpoul is known as the Muscadet of the south both for flavor profile as well as wallet-friendliness. I got this bottle from a sale that is now, sadly, over (bringing the price up to $8.99) but I will definitely get more for the dog days of summer.

SIPPED: Wine nationalism!
At the recent G8 Summit in the remote Hokkaido, wines from various of the countries (sorry, Russia and U.K.) were poured at the festivities, including: “Le Reve grand cru/La Seule Gloire champagne”; the Isojiman Junmai Daiginjo Nakadori sake; Louis Latour, Corton-Charlemagne 2005; Ridge California Monte Bello 1997 and Tokaji Esszencia 1999″ (Hungary–booyah! A non G8 country slips in.). The juxtaposition of the leaders’ banquets and global food shortages was not lost on The Independent. France won the vinous nationalism stakes with the most wines poured.

SPIT: Adolescent binge drinking!
France will debut it’s first ever anti binge drinking campaign on Friday. According to Decanter, it will run on TV, radio and in in movie theaters and “feature adolescents enjoying a ‘paradise-like universe’, which turns into a nightmare after they drink too much.” Whoa! Send in a clip if you see it.

SIPPED and SPIT: The St. Emilion classification!
Sweeping victory from the jaws of defeat (or, more likely, the other way around), the classification of St. Emilion producers that updates every ten years was thrown out by a judge last week–only to be reinstated on a temporary basis for three years by another authority later in the week. [Decanter]

SIPPED: summer all year!
Rosé surpasses white wine as the most popular in France. [Times.co.uk]

An $18 bubbly showdown! Well, it was and I didn’t even plan it. Some friends came over recently and we each had a bubbly ready to go. So what are wine lovers to do? Why, open them both, of course!

First up, from the Loire was Thierry Puzelat, naturalista wine maker who made it through to the quarterfinals in the Wine Madness tourney back in March. I was ready for Thierry to bring the shazam since I am a fan of his wines. But the cork on the Vin Pétillant de France Naturel Non-dosé released with a whimper rather than a bang. The mousse–the foamy part–was weak! This pétillant did not have the gas (literally) to keep it frothing! Upon tasting, it was more like cider than Champagne–that non-dosé stuff can be tough to make. A bummer! One person dumped her glass! (Ahem!) Puzelat, upended! Shades of Wine Madness all over again!

Then it was on to the Strohmeier…I mean come on, who’s ever heard of Strohmeier? They’re an Austrian producer founded in 1990, which is practically a New World time frame. And it’s not even from the esteemed Wachau–it’s from Styria! Some southern part of Austria that has produced, among other things, the Governator! And the grape in this Schilcher Sekt nonvintage–Blauer Wildbacher? Let’s get serious! Now to the pour: major mousse! Frothing all over the place. Bright pink effervescence in the glass! Now on to the taste. Oooh, it’s got hints of strawberry, it’s juicy, it’s got good acidity–in short, a delightful summer sipper on the deck! No glasses dumped on the geraniums! Strohmeier takes home the trophy in this spontaneous $18 bubbly showdown!

Find the Puzelat petillant
Find the Strohmeier Schilcher Sekt nonvintage

As the American dollar has come to resemble a peso, a zloty or another currency that needs an infusion of iron (or gold), Champagne producers may be heading for other countries that can actually pay full price for the stuff. To wit, from today’s NYT, comes word that champagne shipments have fallen six percent this year, the first decline since 2001. But it gets worse. To the tape:

“The euro is rising and the dollar is falling, and soon we’ll have a real structural problem if the cost of the grape keeps increasing every year,” said Ghislain de Montgolfier, the departing president of the Champagne maker Bollinger and leader of the Union of Champagne Houses, a trade industry group.

Within the elite world of Champagne makers, there is discreet debate about shifting strategies in the United States, including possibly reducing volumes or shipping bottles to other countries with stronger currencies.

Boizel Chanoine Champagne, for example, closed its subsidiary in New York. “The U.S. today is not our priority,” Céline Voide of Boizel said. “We prefer to concentrate on Europe and Asia.”

Don’t leave us! Take our fistful of dollars but don’t bid us farewell! Stay for the all brides and grooms out there and all those who need to christen boats. The rock stars, real estate moguls, and the hedge fund managers. And don’t forget us wine geeks. What are we going to put in our American flag encrusted champagne flutes? Key words for American bubbly enthusiasts in 2008 remain: prosecco, cremant d’alsace, cava, and sparkling wine.

Related: “Talking Champagne with Peter Liem of Wine & Spirits“

SPIT: freedom in Illinois!
Wine-loving residents of the Land of Lincoln now have fewer choices: It’s confusing, but in a law effective today, wineries (both out-of-state in-state) will have caps on the amount they can ship to Illinois and out-of-state retailers will be banned from shipping to the state. While it’s a sad day and you can chalk one up for special interests let’s just hope this legislative folly goes the way of the foie gras ban soon enough. [Chicago Tribune]

SPIT: freedom in France
Liberté takes a back seat in France too where wine ads are strictly controlled in France and Microsoft has taken the unusually cautious step of removing wine ads from their ad service (Google ads still include wine on the internets in France). If anyone is looking at this site in France, remember, ceci n’est pas une pub! [thepost.ie]

SIPPED: wine education
An inside look at wine education at the Sommelier Society of America. [NYT]

SPIT: jugs!
Almaden and Inglenook, two wines known for their big jugs, will now come in the lightweight bag-in-box format. It sounds like old wine in new wineskins but because of the volume involved it will contribute to reducing wine’s carbon footprint. [Bizjournals]

SIPPED: corks in space
Schramsberg winery reports that Navy Commander Kenneth Ham is flying with bottles of the bubbly on board the space shuttle Discovery! If only. But he is taking some corks and labels from the Napa sparkling wine producer on the flight with him.

SIPPED: Wine books
A review of three wine books today in the NYT Book Review section follows one by Eric Aismov from ten days ago to review the spring crop of wine books. And, yes, my reviews will follow soon before you head to the beach this summer!

RIP: Robert Mondavi, the American wine colossus, who died at 94. [SF Chron, NYT]

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Here’s a great lineup of red wines form Loire - three 2005s from Bernard Baudry and two vins de table (and thus, no vintage) wines from Puzelat. Hmm, sounds like a matchup from Wine Madness…So let’s throw in a Breton too to change things up…

First to the Baudry wines from Chinon: I tasted them first blind, in a lineup of Loire reds. The 2005 “domaine” (under $20; find this wine) is tight, concentrated and serious with a great balance of dark fruits, acidity and cab franc tannin. I poured it later to my NYU class where the reception was mixed but definitely favorable. It probably needs some cellar time…

The Baudry Les Grezeaux (find this wine) is another solid offering that, back in the blind tasting, had a great degree of seriousness and poise. But even better was the Le Clos Guillot (find this wine), a serious and age-worthy wine with great integration of the dark fruits, acidity, minerality and tannins.

The Puzelat “vin de table” wines (find these wines) are not allowed to state the vintage but they are probably 2006. They are easier drinking, with bright fruit and higher acidity and totally rewarding under $20 wines. Try with chevre.

The Catherine & Pierre Breton 2005 Chinon (find this wine) is also tasting great right now–so great, it’s one of those “there must be a hole in it because how else could it be empty so fast” kinda great.

The reason for these speed reviews today was at the suggestion of Garyvee, who holds the rotating chair for Wine Blogging Wednesday this month and picked the excellent theme. Since he is a video blogger, I’m not sure how he will do a customary round-up but you can always check the WBW site for the latest.

Also of note: Eric Asimov did his own Chinon shuffle recently.

SPIT: Wine tasting menus!
John and Dottie, WSJ wine columnists known for their sunny outlook, go negative on NYC wine pairing menus. Le Bernardin takes it the hardest. To the tape: “”Very little went right. The sommelier didn’t hear a word we said…Each white wine was served in the same kind of glass…not one of the seven wines we were served was poured from a full bottle…Most important to us, the pairings themselves were uninspired….We felt very much like we had been treated as hayseed tourists who ordered the tasting and wine-pairing menus only because we didn’t know how to pronounce the names of any of the dishes or wines.” Price: $280–for the wine only. And a parting shot on the phenom: “when we order the tasting menu, the restaurant puts us on its schedule, which is generally too rushed.” [WSJ]

SIPPED: Amazon swirls and sniffs
Move over Manuka honey: Amazon may soon sell wine along with its growing non-perishable grocery line according to the Financial Times today. This would be a welcome entrant into the brier patch of online wine retail. The more retailers, the merrier the wine consumer! The story has a mention of fellow wine blogger Tom Wark. [FT.com]

SIPPED: foreign owners in Bordeaux
Properties producing mid-range wines on the periphery of Bordeaux have been squeezed in recent years. But they may find relief from foreign buyers as evidenced by Haiyan Cheng, 28-year-old daughter of “vastly wealthy Chinese businessman,” Zuochang Cheng. She bought a property–a first for a Chinese buyer in the region–for $3 million and plans to renovate it and expand the vineyards. [NYT]

SPIT: Merlot (again), this time for headaches?
Merlot can’t get no lovin’. Malolactic fermentation may improve the taste of red wines but it also fills them with tyramines and histamines, which cause allergic reactions in many people. “Merlots seem to be particularly high,” UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry Richard Mathies said although his research is inconclusive. [Red orbit]

SIPPED: Amen to that!
Taking Communion may soon help Chilean farmers get a fair price for grapes. The clergy and parishioners at Manchester Cathedral evaluate the wine today for potential introduction as possibly the world’s first “Fairtrade” Communion wine. Seventy percent of the churches in the Diocese serve Fairtrade tea and coffee. [BBC]

SIPPED: Drink for causes, part II
“For each bottle of wine you purchase as futures from his Lookout Ridge Winery, [Sonoma vintner Gordon Holmes (and former Wall Street publisher)] donates a wheelchair in your name to one of the world’s 100 million needy people desperate for mobility.” Andy Erikson of Screaming Eagle fame is one of the winemakers. (find this wine) [Bloomberg]

French wine marketers have been rightfully pilloried for not knowing up from down in terms of marketing low- to mid-range wines. And now for something completely different: Wine for women. Roll the tape:

“We offer different wines to drink for a variety of occasions, whether it is a girls’ night out, individual tasting pleasure, a romantic dinner, after love making, or a business success.” [WineSight brochure via Decanter]

“After love making”? Zey are so French! Does a man need a separate bottle for such an occasion, a big zin?

And isn’t this deja-vu? Oh yes, Beringer rolled out “White Lie” a few years ago, which, mercifully, cannot be found now. And a magazine called Wine Adventure, marketed as “the first ever wine magazine for women,” barely lasted a year after its 2005 roll-out.

No matter. British retailer Marks & Spencer seem to think marketing to women will aid the sales of a pink port for “ladies.” Have your say about gendered wine products in the latest poll!

Related: “Mourvedre: the next big red?“

Have you ever tried a rare romorantin? The grape is a little off the beaten path. But that’s good.

From Cour-Cheverny in the Loire, the Francois Cazin, Le Petit Chambord 2005 is an attractive wine–excellent balance between acid, minerality, and subtle tropical fruits. Sort of splits the difference between chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc. It’s limited availability, as you might imagine since romorantin is hardly made by the tanker, but I found this bottle for $15 (find this wine).

Then I paired it with a piece of “cave aged gruyere” from Trader Joe’s. It was one of those wine-food pairings where you take a good wine and a good food and make a great pairing. A Ratatouille moment, if you will.

One question for you: is cave aged gruyere from Trader Joe’s really aged in a cave? (or just come guy’s basement?) What are the norms of production on that? The greatest cave aged cheese, Roquefort, doesn’t even bother mentioning that it was aged in a cave. So I’m suspicious…I want pictures of spelunking regulators! And while we’re talking terms, what’s up with “vendages manuelles” (hand harvests)?