Hope you're all staying warm.
C,
J
August 30, 2010
Freeing Muscadet From a Pigeonhole
By ERIC ASIMOV
THE subject today is Muscadet, so let.s dispense with the obvious right away: oysters. Most people, if they know one important thing about Muscadet, know that oysters are its natural partner.
True, true, true. Oysters and Muscadet are glorious together, the briny, mineral-laden quality of one enhancing the other. You could say the same thing, though, about Chablis, and about Sancerre, and if the issue may not be quite so cut and dried about blanc de blancs Champagne, who ever is going to complain about being saddled with oysters and blanc de blancs?
The truth about Muscadet is that its virtues extend well beyond oysters. Many seafood dishes would go well with Muscadet, as well as light poultry preparations and pasta dishes, too, if you are willing to break the ethnic boundaries that channel so many wine choices.
Apart from food pairings, Muscadet is just plain delicious, providing you are open to what it does best. Muscadet, like Chablis and Sancerre, is not a gobs-of-fruit sort of wine. Yes, one can often sense citrus qualities in Muscadet. But more often, it is a stony, mineral sensation . felt as much as tasted . along with herbal, saline and floral aromas that characterize Muscadet.
Texture, I think, is a vastly underrated quality in a wine, and texture is an essential quality of good Muscadet. It.s what impels you to take sip after sip, simply because it feels so good.
For all of Muscadet.s assets, the best of all might be its price. Given the high quality of the top Muscadets, made by dedicated small producers, they are insanely cheap, rarely more than $20 for current vintages, and often less than $15. Finding the good ones is the problem. A lot of mediocre bulk wines in the marketplace have contributed to Muscadet.s reputation, in some circles, as dull, anonymous and overly lean.
That.s why the wine panel is here, of course, to help identify the good ones. And in a tasting of 20 bottles of Muscadet from recent vintages, we found many wines we could happily recommend. Florence Fabricant and I were joined for the tasting by Pascaline Lepeltier, the wine director at Rouge Tomate on the East Side of Manhattan, and Byron Bates, a sommelier and consultant.
.Great to taste, great to drink, great to pair with food, at a great price,. said Pascaline, who, even if English is not her first language, showed an impressive grasp of sloganeering. She pretty much summed it up for all of us.
Muscadet is made on the western end of the Loire Valley from the melon grape, which can be rather thin and neutral. To give the wine added richness and texture, most good Muscadet producers allow the wine to rest for months on the lees, or sediment, that accumulate during fermentation. This process, indicated by the French .sur lie. on the label, softens the wine and gives it greater depth. It can also result in trapping a little carbon dioxide in the wine, which can give it a bit of sparkle.
Not content with the sur lie treatment, some producers are doing even more, fermenting their wine in barrels, or stirring the lees as the wine rests, in the manner of many chardonnay and white Burgundy estates. Apparently, these producers are not using new oak barrels, as we did not find a problem with oaky wines. So far, I would have to judge these experiments as successful.
Our favorite was the 2008 Andre-Michel Béeon, which was fresh and tangy, qualities we prize in young Muscadets, and had the rich texture and pronounced mineral flavors that characterized our favorites. At $14, it was also our best value.
Fifteen of the 20 bottles we tasted were from the 2009 vintage, and the remaining five were .08. Good Muscadet ages exceptionally well, sometimes taking on the kerosene flavor of older rieslings, and developing a surprising complexity. But unless you are buying from a store that specializes in Loire Valley wines, I.d be skeptical of bottles older than a couple of years. Chances are they.ve been sitting around in storage conditions that are less than the best.
Our No. 2 wine was the 2009 Châau des Fromenteaux Clos du Poyet from Famille Luneau, and in that mouthful Luneau is the most important word. Pierre Luneau-Papin is one of the region.s top growers and producers, and makes a half-dozen or so Muscadets under his own name, generally differentiated by vineyard or the type of soil in which the grapes were grown.
This wine comes from a property owned by Mr. Luneau-Papin.s daughter (hence the name Famille Luneau), but Mr. Luneau-Papin himself makes the wine, which we found rich, deep and precise.
His 2008 Pierre de la Grange, made under the Luneau-Papin name, also made our list at No. 8. This is his entry-level Muscadet, and is fresh and alive, though without the depth and nuances of the wines we rated higher. But really, just about any wine bearing his name is going to be very good.
I could say the same about Muscadets from Jo Landron.s Domaine de la Louvetrie and Marc Ollivier.s Domaine de la Péè. Each offers a range of bottlings, from the simple and cheap to the complex and slightly less cheap. The Landron Fief du Breil, our No. 3 wine, was lively and complex, with floral and apple flavors, while the Ollivier Gras Mouton was bright and richly textured, with flavors more on the herbal side.
These are among the most important names in Muscadet. One name not in our tasting, but well worth seeking out, is Domaine de L.Éu by Guy Bossard, who offers multiple bottlings based on soil types.
All of the Muscadets that made our list offer plenty of pleasure, and rarely more so than when served with, you guessed it, oysters. As undeniably fine a pairing as that is, I urge you not to typecast Muscadet in the limited role of oyster wine. Imagine if Bogie were only permitted to play gangsters, or if Clint Eastwood had been stuck in westerns. Fun, yes, but we.d have missed out on an awful lot. Give a wine a chance to grow.
Tasting Report: Good Buys Everywhere, Even at the Top
BEST VALUE
Andre-Michel Bréon, $14, *** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2008
Tangy, fresh, deep and long, with savory, heavily mineral flavors. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, Calif.)
Famille Luneau Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $19, ***
Châau des Fromenteaux Clos du Poyet Vieilles Vignes 2009
Rich, deep and precise with floral, mineral aromas and flavors. (Petit Pois, Moorestown, N.J.)
Jo Landron Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $20, *** Domaine de la Louvetrie Le Fief du Breil 2008
Fresh and lively with aromas and lingering flavors of flowers, minerals and apples. (Martin Scott Wines, Lake Success, N.Y.)
Marc Ollivier Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $17, ** ½ Domaine de la Péè Les Gras Mouton 2009
Bright, crisp and fresh with stony, herbal flavors and a rich texture. (Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, N.Y.)
Domaine de la Pinardiè, $14, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009
Floral, herbaceous and savory with a wonderfully inviting texture. (Baron Françs, New York)
Bonnet-Huteau Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $12, ** ½ CuvéLa Levraudiè 2009
Deep and well-balanced with bright, chalky aromas . smells like oyster shells. (Weygandt-Metzer, Unionville, Penn.)
Luc et Jéme Choblem Muscadet, $12, ** ½ Cô de Grandlieu Clos de la Séigerie 2009
Fresh and tart with steely citrus and mineral flavors. (Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, N.Y.)
Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $13, ** ½ Domaine Pierre de la Grange 2008
Meadow-fresh with tart citrus, floral and apple aromas and flavors. (Louis/Dressner Selections)
Domaine de l'Auriè, $9, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009
Floral and stony, with lingering flavors and an inviting texture. (Fruit of the Vines, Long Island City, N.Y.)
Châau la Noë$10, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009
Creamy and gentle, with soft aromas and flavors of herbs, flowers and minerals. (Nicolas Wines, Westport, Conn.)
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
"Chill it and kill it."! Not so fast.
C,
J
California nonvintage bubbly built to last
Jon BonnéSunday, August 29, 2010
Bottles of old nonvintage Roederer Estate Brut, a well-cr...
It's hard to talk about California sparkling wine without drawing comparisons to certain other regions, including a certain particular part of northern France.
Over time, the finest vintage examples of California fizz - Schrams- berg's J. Schram, Roederer Estate's Hermitage and lately Domaine Chandon's Etoile - have demonstrated the aging potential and durability to rival fine Champagne.
That's why it's easy to overlook how much work and quality goes into more simple bottles of nonvintage bubbles. These are wines made to compete in the marketplace, often under $20 and certainly under $30; they require winemaking at scale - large tanks and vast quantities of grapes.
Yet even most nonvintage California bubbly is still mostly based on a single vintage, often with a bit of reserve wine aged from previous years added to build extra complexity.
Most of these nonvintage efforts are made to vanish as soon as market shelves can clear them - "chill it and kill it," as one sparkling winemaker put it. But that doesn't quite do credit to the tremendous skill and effort, and often long aging, that goes into a wine that is around $20 on the shelf.
For counterpoint, I recently ran into 2007 Chronicle Winemaker to Watch Arnaud Weyrich of Roederer Estate, the Anderson Valley offshoot of Champagne Louis Roederer. The California outpost of Roederer is always fine-tuning their approach, as most sparkling houses are, and Weyrich had recently been experimenting in the cellar.
He was toting along a lineup of old bottles that had been open about a day - not the vintage wines that are known for their age potential, but nonvintage efforts from years past, marked with their year of production. He was curious how they had held up.
The answer: Astoundingly well. This doesn't help make the case for the many vintage bubbly efforts on the market, but it's a good lesson in why we should value the nonvintage bottles.
Mind you, these weren't unfinished wines sitting on their lees to get extra complexity. These were complete nonvintage wines, disgorged (the lees removed), given a final dosage of sweetness to balance the wine and bottled with a cork. Because the purpose of nonvintage sparkling wine is consistent flavor - in practice this rarely happens, but that's the theory - Weyrich called them "variations on the same tune."
The Roederer nonvintage made in 2002, disgorged in 2004 after two years aging, had as much precision and focused green apple flavors as the winery's vintage 2002 Hermitage, with hints of toffee and almond to show its slight age.
A bottle from 1996 was the ripe vintage of the lot, approachable in a rounder, more tender way and full of toast and coffee bean and toffee notes, signs of a bubbly in mid-evolution. A distinct creaminess made it seem about at the limit of age, but after 14 years that's no mean feat.
Back we moved, to a bottle from 1989, full of floral and ripe golden apple, hazelnut and toast. Here was a fully evolved wine, as evolved as all but the most austere Champagnes of equal age, but holding great acidity and showing distinct opulence (plus a slight taste of wood from about 17 years sitting on a cork).
A 1989 nonvintage Roséas even better, full of ripe butterscotch and dried roses. In both, the freshness was memorable.
Needless to say, these wines had the benefit of aging through the years in cool cellars in Philo - never moved or subjected to hot store shelves or months atop a kitchen counter. But considering that the price of most California nonvintage fizz has barely risen over the years - from perhaps the mid-teens two decades ago to the low $20s, it's a tribute both to the Champagne-style method, and to the talents of sparkling winemakers here, that such examples can endure.
I've been buying and saving magnums of nonvintage California brut for several years now, marking the date of purchase and aging them to make the wines just a bit more interesting. Weyrich's experiment adds evidence that the desire not to rush is rewarded. So feel free to keep those nonvintage bottles around (if well stored) for a while; the common wisdom may dictate drinking them quick, but these wines really are built to last - in California as well as in Champagne.
Jon Bonnés The Chronicle's wine editor. Find him at jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com or twitter.com/jbonne.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/29/FDIA1F2QTC.DTL
This article appeared on page K - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Fall colors have just begun on the south shore of Lake Superior.
Bring bug spray.
Cheers,
Jim
The Chronicle Recommends: Muscadet
Jon BonnéSunday, August 29, 2010
2009 Clos de la Chapelle Muscadet Sevre Et Maine Sur Lie ... 2009 Harmonie cuvee Muscadet Sevre Et Maine Sur Lie in Sa... 2008 Domaine Pierre de la Grange Muscadet Sevre Et Maine ... 2009 Domaine Du Haut Bourg Muscadet Cotes de Grandlieu Su... More...
Both because it's the time when San Franciscans finally get a dose of sunshine, and because September's arrival means full-bore oyster season, let's dwell for a moment on Muscadet, the Loire's minerally wonder wine.
How such a neutral grape as Melon de Bourgogne can become an expression of site and depth is a tribute to the soils and determination of the farmers of the Nantais.
Oysterwise, there are plenty of other options, of course. Sauvignon Blanc has been a rising star, though when we recently considered diving into the realms of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumés part of a larger Loire consideration, we realized that Sauvignon Blanc is, price-wise, in an odd place.
For Muscadet, 2009 is one of those wonder vintages, beautifully ripe, enough so to win over skeptics.
Top producers made dramatic and age-worthy bottles in 2009, words not generally attached to a wine often destined for a simple carafe. So these remain some of the best values in wine. Enjoy as you seek out a long-awaited dose of sun.
2009 Gilbert Chon Clos de la Chapelle Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie ($13): The Chon family has been working this part of the Loire since the early 1700s, and Gilbert Chon finds an unusual intensity in the Melon grape. So young it still has a bit of spritz, and a distinctly lemony, fresh profile, with more edge than leesy richness. Precision and a minerally, salty kick provide focus. Clean and stony, with ripeness from the vintage and a depth that evokes far more complex grapes. (Importer: Winewise)
2009 Herve & Nicolas Choblet Domaine du Haut Bourg Muscadet Cotes de Grandlieu Sur Lie ($15): Herve took over his family's property in 1993 in the lesser-known Grandlieu region, southwest of the Sevre et Maine area, with richer soils and often riper wines. A classic salty Muscadet, with peach-like ripeness toward the end and a firm, dark-stone mineral edge. More muscular and rich, with a gush of lemony acidity to finish. (Importer: Beaune Imports)
2009 Louis Metaireau Domaine du Grand Mouton Carte Noire Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie ($18): The Metaireaus have become major players in the region, with some 75 acres in vine. This classic effort from their Grand Mouton property opens with a distinct flintiness, more ripe flavors of pear and Meyer lemon, and a jasmine tea accent. Slightly later harvesting gives it a bit of extra weight, and just a bit more stuffing on the palate. (Importer: Martine's Wines)
2009 Michel Delhommeau Cuvee Harmonie Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie ($13): Michel and Nathalie Delhommeau get this cuvee from a single parcel of older vines grown on lava-based rock. A lean, steely profile, with its leesiness showing at the end amid a burst of ripe guava. The mineral notes are chalky and salty, and there's an immediate refreshment to it. (Importer: Jean-David Headrick Selections)
2007 Luneau-Papin Le L d'Or Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie ($24): Luneau-Papin often holds back its top-end L d'Or bottling, mostly because it is one of those Muscadets that can easily evolve and improve for a decade. Still showing a young leesy richness right now. Accents of lavender and sea salt mark a sort of pillowy, ethereal presence on the nose. But as it gets a bit of air, its full mineral-packed power comes into clear view. Will keep improving. (Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections)
2009 Marc Ollivier Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie ($14): The classic white bottling of Ollivier remains a benchmark for Muscadet. The ripeness on the nose shows off like salted apricots, with lavender, hay, citrus and a soapstone mineral quality. Ripe, focused and absolutely packed with mineral fulfillment. For even more depth, seek out Ollivier's Clos des Briords ($17) from 1930-era vines planted on schist; one of the best deals in white wine, it routinely improves over several years. (Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections)
Jon Bonnés The Chronicle's wine editor. E-mail him at jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/29/FDLN1F38B0.DTL
This article appeared on page K - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
