Dr Vino's wine blog

Grower champagnes pose a problem: they lack the flash. What they don’t lack is cash. So, why spend the same on an unheard of producer when you could buy one of the grandes marques? In a word: taste. In two words: wine geekdom.

I tasted through a half-dozen grower champagnes recently and really liked the ones from Larmandier-Bernier. The Blanc de Blanc Brut 1er Cru NV (find this wine, about $38) is very lively with a straw color, a fine bead, pleasant acidity reminscent of green apples, and lovely balance.

The Terre de Vertus bottling is slightly more and has the rare distinction among champagnes to be bottled without a dosage, the topping up that is done to most champagnes before the cork is placed in and they are moved out the cellar door. It has excellent purity and is crisp, dry and food friendly. It’s slightly more expensive so I’d opt for the other bottling.

Thanks to Sam at Becks and Posh for suggesting this theme for WBW!

tags: wine | WBW

What’s more important for consumers: the wine’s alcohol level or the SPF number in sunscreen for grapes?

Well, it’s not quite that bad. But the AP reports that one Napa winemaker is applying a “suncreen” to his grapes. Aaron Pott at Quintessa, who uses the organic plus plus method of vineyard management known as biodynamics, applies a “tea” to the grapes to prevent them from withering in the sun. The dilute tea includes algae to absorb UV rays and aloe vera for soothing. He says it will have washed off by the time the grapes are harvested.

Pott may put on the sunscreen, but does he give the grapes back rubs too?

AP story

tags: wine | sunblock

When I was in Paris last week, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Bertrand. You may know Bertrand from his great pictures of the independent wine makers of France. That’s how I knew him.

We met up at La Muse Vin, one of a growing number of “natural” wine bars, in the 11th arrondissement roughly between Republique and Bastille. It is a wine bar/restaurant that, unknown to us, converted fully to a restaurant at 8:30 (20h30, if you will) slightly before we got there. So we each ordered a plate from the chalkboard since that was the requirement in the intimate space. I had chilled pea soup with a yowza amount of spearmint in it.

When it came to the wine, our thoughts turned to the Loire not only because I am a fan of the wines in general, but also because Bertrand had just gotten back from a shoot in the Loire of Jean Pierre Robinot. Although Robinot only started his winery in 2002, he has been around wine for a lot longer, previously owning a wine bar in Paris and founding the insider wine publication Le Rouge et Le Blanc (whose name would no doubt make Stendhal chuckle). You can read all the details on Robinot and see photos on Bertrand’s blog.

Coincidentally, several of Robinot’s wines were on the wine list at La Muse Vin. Or perhaps I should say in the cold storage since one of the onwers was “the list.” Example bottles with prices painted on them are on display around the periphery of the restaurant and he walked us through a few until we settled on the Robinot, Lumière de Silex 2002 from the Jasnieres appellation

As the chenin blanc was decanted and chilled at the table, I couldn’t help but marvel at the rich, golden color. With aromas of honeysuckle, on the palate it had a crispness yet also a slight note of sweetness. Overall, the wine was so intense that I could feel it in the back of my cheekbones. I was sorry we didn’t decant it several hours earlier to see what more appeared to be locked inside.

Enter Alder. Well, he didn’t really enter La Muse Vin. But he did assign a write up of a Loire white for today’s edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday. Another fortunate coincidence.

La Muse Vin, 101, r Charonne, 75011 Paris – 01 40 09 93 05

In 1973 Paul Simon didn’t want his Kodachrome taken away. With Kodachrome almost relegated to the dustbin of history, there’s something else that deserves a place there (or worse) as well: styrofoam.

We talk a lot in the wine world about clever packaging but what we really need to be talking about is clever packing–environmentally responsible packing material that is.

Like hotels not washing your sheets and towels every day, this is an example where business profit-maximization and environmentalism are aligned. Hundreds of thousands of cases of wine have no doubt been shipped across the country in this Year I of direct shipping and many gift boxes are set to fly with the holidays approaching. Wineries and shops that ship directly to consumers would be well advised to consider other alternatives to Styrofoam.

MacArthur Beverages in Washington charges $12 for the shipping materials plus UPS rates to ship. Astor Wines in New York City by contrast charges only the UPS rates for out of the NYC orbit (delivery can be free in and around the city). What’s the difference?

Astor, which is developing their organic and biodynamic section, also has a “green” approach to shipping. They ship wine with cardboard inserts to cushion the bottles. While they may make sacrifices to other line items of their cash flow, I wouldn’t be surprised if a main savings was the fact that these shippers can be stacked efficiently (see photo), unlike Styrofoam, before they are boxed and shipped.

So, shippers: think green and ditch the Styrofoam (especially peanuts, which deserve a special place in Dante’s inferno). And wine buyers: the shipping container is not going to make or break your order but if possible, let the shipper know there are alternatives out there. And if you do end up with some Styrofoam, try to take it back to a store where they can re-use it.

Paul Simon already had is Kodachrome taken away. Now let’s banish Styrofoam too.