I don't recall if i posted the Part 1 previously. Nothing under $42 so probably not.
C,
J
What does an AVA designation really mean?
By Dave McIntyre, Published: April 17
First of two parts
on California pinot noir
When you buy an American wine, do you pay attention to the geographic description on the label? Most people probably don.t, as long as the word .California. is in there somewhere.
In Europe, place is paramount. That geographic label is called an .appellation,. formalized in 20th-century France as .appellation d.origine controllee. or AOC. The legal tag was designed as a guard against fraud: cheap plonk passed off as more reputable and expensive wines. But the concept lies in the realization that certain areas and vineyards produce superior wines. The smaller and more precise the designation, the closer the connection to the wine.s terroir, and of course, the wines become more rare and expensive.
Recommended Sonoma Coast wines
In the United States, the .American Viticultural Area. (AVA) designation is based more on, well, politics and marketing. AVAs often seem to have no rhyme or reason except for their marketing value, which is questionable.
Take the Sonoma Coast, for example. That AVA covers about 750 square miles stretching from Marin County in the south to Mendocino in the north, and includes the Russian River Valley and parts of the Sonoma Valley and Carneros AVAs; essentially, any part of Sonoma County known for producing chardonnay or pinot noir. If there.s an .appellation. justification to the wide-ranging AVA, it.s the coastal influence that moderates temperatures and helps preserve acidity in the wines.
The problem is, the coastal influence varies throughout Sonoma County. Up north, on remote hillsides near Cazadero or the small town of Annapolis approaching the Mendocino County line, is an area known informally as the .extreme Sonoma Coast.. Here the first Western explorers were Russians, not Spaniards. Vineyards sprawl along steep slopes where the biggest threat to grapes is not mildew but wild boar. These vineyards are accessible only by driving the Pacific Coast Highway, up switchback curves along roads frequently washed out by storms.
This is where the San Andreas Fault arcs toward the Pacific, having churned up a melange of soil types millenniums ago. And it is where you.ll find Hirsch Vineyards, producing stellar pinot noir grown on 45-degree slopes just two miles from the ocean. Within sight across the San Andreas, but about a 20-minute roundabout drive away, is Flowers Vineyard and Winery and its Camp Meeting Ridge Vineyard, another source of stunning pinot noir.
These vineyards lie above the fog line, with exposure to the sun and its warmth. Should they really be in the same AVA as vineyards farther south in the Petaluma Gap or Carneros, where fog regularly shrouds the vines? The AVA is so disrespected that several wineries closer to the Pacific have formed a group they call the .West Sonoma Coast Vintners.. Efforts are underway to carve smaller AVAs out of the Sonoma Coast.
A small part of the .extreme coast. was granted appellation status last fall as Fort Ross-Seaview, but some wineries, at least, are not rushing to adopt the new address.
.We haven.t decided yet, but I think within a few years we will have the Fort Ross-Seaview designation on our labels,. says Jasmine Hirsch, of Hirsch Vineyards. .I strongly believe that the more specific we can be about where the wine comes from, the better it is for the consumer..
Other wineries, including Flowers, are more hesitant. .We feel that consumers know us as a Sonoma Coast winery,. says winemaker Darrin Low. .Instead of promoting the appellation, we want to promote the vineyard..
So for now, .Sonoma Coast. leaves much to explore, but the name itself is not a guide. The best wines are exclusive and expensive, often found on finer restaurant wine lists. But they are worth seeking out as some of the best pinot noir California has to offer.
Recommended Sonoma Coast wines
Next week: A group of vintners is trying to strike a different direction in style.
McIntyre blogs at www.dmwineline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dmwine.
Pinot noir in balance the ultimate goal
By Dave McIntyre, Published: April 24
Second of two parts on California pinot noirs
Listen to wine lovers talk about their favorite drink and you will soon hear the word .balance.. Some are so enthusiastic about balance, they might as well be discussing their favorite sports teams.
A group of California winemakers called In Pursuit of Balance is leading the movement back to elegance with regard to pinot noir and chardonnay, two wines that are rather easily knocked out of whack by heavy handling in the winery. The group was started last year by Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards, a leading pinot producer on the extreme northern Sonoma Coast, and Rajat Parr, wine director for the Michael Mina Group of restaurants, including Bourbon Steak in the District. Parr refuses to sell pinot or chardonnay in excess of 14 percent alcohol at his RN74 restaurants.
California pinot noir recommendations
.Our intention is to promote and celebrate pinot noirs of elegance, balance, non-manipulation and site specificity,. Hirsch wrote in an e-mail interview. .For the most part, these are not wines that attack your mouth with big fruit flavors and oak. They are more subtle wines that are exciting for their finesse and complexity. So they perhaps require a bit more from the wine drinker, but ultimately I believe that this approach to pinot noir is the most rewarding..
So far, consumers are responding. In Pursuit of Balance held standing-room-only tastings in the past few weeks in San Francisco and New York. But what is balance in a wine, and why are so many people debating it?
Balance refers to the relationship among wine.s four main elements: fruit, acidity, alcohol and tannin. If one or more of these dominates the others, the wine is unbalanced. If a wine.s tartness makes you pucker, it has too much acidity; if it tastes dull and flabby, not enough. If a good, healthy sniff singes your nostrils and the wine burns on your palate, the alcohol is out of balance and the wine is .hot.. But the discussion is more than a description of negative attributes. With the four elements in harmony, the wine maintains balance and often displays an undercurrent of energy that stimulates the palate. An oenological umami, if you will.
Balance is inherently subjective. We can.t measure it by the alcohol level, pH and total acidity, even if all that information is on the label. I might feel a wine is balanced delicately on the tip of a corkscrew, while you might find it clumsy. Our sense of balance reflects our preferences in wine styles.
And that.s why .balance. is a code word. Its adherents are reacting against a style of wine that has become popular and even dominant over the past two decades, especially in California wine. The style emphasizes lush fruit (.fruit-forward.), power and body (high alcohol) and opulence (lavish oak, increasing a wine.s tannins). It is frequently blamed on wine writers who give high point scores to such wines, but it.s not that simple. Changing viticultural practices played a role, as did an emphasis on .physiological ripeness. of grapes, the idea that ripeness and the all-important question of when to harvest depend not simply on sugar levels but also on the color of the seeds and the suppleness of the skin. That led vintners to delay harvest for additional .hang time. on the vine, and as a result, sugar . and alcohol . levels increased. Besides, Americans like big, sweet drinks.
The new emphasis on balance is an attempt to ratchet back some of those characteristics, especially alcohol levels, and produce wines with a more classic flavor profile. The pendulum of style is swinging back their way, creating an equilibrium of flavor. I certainly welcome that, as California pinot noir has unfortunately followed the path merlot trod before it: wild acceptance followed by overproduced, manipulated, clumsy wines.
It.s time to restore balance.
California pinot noir recommendations
McIntyre blogs at www.dmwineline. com. Follow him on Twitter: @dmwine.
Recommended Sonoma Coast wines
By . D.M., Published: April 17
Pinot noir from the Sonoma Coast is almost always expensive and hard to find. Most of these wines are sold primarily to restaurants; they are worth searching and splurging for when dining out, as examples of what this California region can accomplish with pinot noir.
Recommendations
...Exceptional ...Excellent..Very Good
Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
Hirsch Vineyards .San Andreas. Pinot Noir 2009
...
Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County, Calif., $65
>From the .extreme. Sonoma Coast, this San Andreas bottling comes from vines David Hirsch has planted on steep slopes across 72 acres in the Fort Ross-Seaview area. The wine is bold and ripe, yet elegant and mineral, with a long, haunting finish that lingers like a scent on a sea breeze.
Winebow in the District, J.W. Sieg in Virginia and Maryland: Available in the District at Ace Beverage; on the list at Adour, Bourbon Steak, Brasserie Beck, Charlie Palmer Steak, Citronelle, CityZen, Equinox, Proof, Rasika, the Source. Available in Maryland at Finewine.com in Gaithersburg; on the list at Volt in Frederick, Wit & Wisdom in Baltimore. Available in Virginia at Arrowine in Arlington, J. Emerson Fine Wines & Cheese in Richmond, Oakton Wine Shop, Out of Site Wines in Vienna, the Vineyard in McLean, Vino Market in Midlothian; on the list at the Ashby Inn in Paris, Brabo and Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Wild Ginger in Midlothian.
Flowers .Andreen-Gale. Pinot Noir 2007
...
Sonoma Coast, $65
Spicier and more voluptuous than the Hirsch (a factor of age perhaps), this cuvee from Flowers was made totally from grapes grown in its estate vineyards in what is now the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA. In subsequent vintages, the winery has focused on single-vineyard bottlings.
Republic National: Available in the District at Dean & DeLuca, Paul.s of Chevy Chase.
La Follette .Sangiacomo Vineyard. Pinot Noir 2009
...
Sonoma Coast, $45
Here.s a beauty from the Sangiacomo Vineyard in the Petaluma Gap area. (The Sangiacomo family is well known in Sonoma County and has a larger vineyard in Carneros.) Other bottlings to look for include Manchester Ridge, which is in Mendocino County but shares characteristics with the extreme Sonoma Coast, and DuNah Vineyard in the Russian River Valley.
Elite: Available in the District at Cork & Fork, Dean & Deluca, MacArthur Beverages; on the list at 1789. Available in Maryland at Crush Winehouse in Annapolis; on the list at Volt in Frederick. Available in Virginia at Arrowine in Arlington; on the list at 2941 in Falls Church.
Sojourn Pinot Noir 2009
..1 / 2
Sonoma Coast, $42
This wine hails primarily from the lower Sonoma Coast, in the Petaluma Gap area. It features darker fruit flavors (blackberry instead of raspberry and cranberry) and more foresty earth than the stony minerality from the northern coastal vineyards.
Bacchus: Available in the District at Dean & DeLuca, Paul.s of Chevy Chase; on the list at Proof. Available in Maryland at Corridor Wine & Spirits in Laurel, Montgomery County Liquor Store in Potomac.
Recommendations
Published: April 24
Recommendations
...Exceptional ...Excellent..Very Good
Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
Here are some California pinot noirs that embody the spirit of In Pursuit of Balance. Not all of these wineries are members of the group; these are my selections of wines available around Washington that embody the spirit of the movement toward elegance and balance.
Copain Wines .Tous Ensemble. Pinot Noir 2009
...
Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, Calif., $30
Winemaker Wells Guthrie has become a poster child of elegance and restraint in pinot noir. He crafts wines that say a lot without shouting, including this delightful pinot.
J.W. Sieg: Available in the District at Calvert Woodley; on the list at Art & Soul, BLT Steak, Bourbon Steak, Jack Rose. Available in Maryland at Wine Source in Baltimore; on the list at Volt in Frederick. Available in Virginia at Aldie Peddler, Grape + Bean in Alexandria, Market Street Wineshop in Charlottesville, Salute! Wine Market in Winchester; on the list at Ray.s: the Steaks in Arlington.
Cobb Wines .Emmaline Ann Vineyard. Pinot Noir 2008
...
Sonoma Coast, Calif., $73
Only 370 cases of this pinot were produced. Rich with dark fruit flavors, it packs a lot of flavor for a wine that clocks in at a modest 13.1 percent alcohol in an age when many pinots are more than 14.5 percent. Ross Cobb is also the winemaker at Hirsch Vineyards, and has made wine at Flowers, so he knows the Sonoma Coast region.
Potomac Selections: Available in the District at Cork & Fork; on the list at Bourbon Steak. In Maryland, on the list at Volt in Frederick.
Domaine Eden Pinot Noir 2009
..1 / 2
Santa Cruz Mountains, Calif., $35
Sleek and lively, this wine doesn.t want to quit with its berry and cherry flavors and an undercurrent of earth, nicely balanced at 13.5 percent alcohol.
Constantine: Available in the District at Georgetown Wine & Spirits; on the list at BLT Steak. Available in Maryland at Wells Discount Liquors in Baltimore; on the list at 8407 Kitchen Bar in Silver Spring, Ruth.s Chris Steakhouse in Pikesville, Pure Wine Cafe in Ellicott City.
Ojai Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009
..1 / 2
Santa Barbara County, Calif., $33
Adam Tolmach.s wines are distressingly hard to find, and I say that because they are so consistently good. His 2009 Santa Barbara County pinot noir hails mostly from the Santa Maria Valley, including some fruit from the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard. This is aromatic with dark fruit scents and flavors (blackberry) and an appealing savory herbal note to give it complexity.
Country Vintner: Available in the District at Local Vine Cellar. Available in Virginia at Arrowine in Arlington.
Castle Rock Winery .California Cuvee. Pinot Noir 2009
.1 / 2
California, $13
Castle Rock wines are not in the same league with the others in the In Pursuit of Balance movement because they are not small-production, terroir-driven wines. However, this California Cuvee has three advantages: it is easier to find, it is affordable, and, at 13.6 percent, it is modest in alcohol . a trait it shares with its elevated counterparts. Nothing deep here, just plain, tasty pinot.
Winebow in the District, LVDH Vignobles in Maryland, Robins Cellars in Virginia: Available in the District at Ace Beverage, Bell Wine & Spirits, Boston Wine & Spirits, Cairo Wine & Liquor; Capitol Fine Wines & Spirits, Connecticut Avenue Wine & Liquor, D.Vines, De Vinos, Lion.s Fine Wine & Spirits, Magruder.s, Morris Miller Wine & Liquor, Paul.s of Chevy Chase, Pearson.s, Rodman.s, S&R Liquors, Safeway locations on L Street and MacArthur Boulevard, Van Ness Wine and Liquors, Wine Specialist. Available in Maryland at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits, Bin 201 Wine Sellers, Mills Fine Wine and Spirits, and Wine Cellars in Annapolis; Bin 604 Wine Sellers, Wells Discount Liquors and Wine Source in Baltimore; Montgomery Plaza Liquors in Catonsville; Decanter Fine Wines in Columbia; Mt. Airy Liquors; Pine Orchard Wine in Ellicott City; State Line Liquors in Elkton; Ye Old Spirit Shop in Frederick. Available in Virginia at the Aldie Peddler, Arrowine and Westover Market in Arlington, Total Wine & More locations in Chantilly and McLean, Whole Foods Market in Falls Church and Vienna, Wine Cabinet in Reston; on the list at American Cafe in Herndon, Extra Virgin and Portabellos in Arlington, Union Street Public House in Alexandria.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Monday, April 16, 2012
Chef Goff Heading a Restaurant—For a Short Time
*By Jason Ross*
[image: Chef Goff Heading a Restaurant—For a Short
Time]<http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Blogs/Twin-Cities-Taste/April-2012/Ch…>
Chef Ken Goff will be cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary
School<http://www.chefs.edu/minneapolis-st-paul>’s
restaurant, Technique<http://www.techniquerestaurant.com/locations/minneapolis.html>,
for the next five weeks. Do not miss the chance to try his food.
In 2005, Goff left his position at the Dakota Jazz
Club<http://dakotacooks.com/>after 20 years and started teaching the
next generation of chefs as a
culinary instructor at Le Cordon Bleu–coincidentally, just a few months
before I started teaching there myself. Since that time, he has taught just
about every class the school has to offer. Now, he’s teaching and cooking
in the school’s student-staffed restaurant until May 16.
Chef Goff has an illustrious past. In 1995, I was a line cook at D’Amico
Cucina <http://www.damico.com/>, the flagship restaurant for the growing
D’Amico restaurant group in Minneapolis. I worked on the garde manger
station (that’s a fancy way of saying I made salads), which was one step
above prep cook and a mere two steps above plongeur (that’s a fancy way of
saying dishwasher). Meanwhile, Ken Goff was already one of our region’s
most influential chefs. In 1985, he opened the Dakota, as its executive
chef, and by ’95 had long since been highlighted in the *New York Times*, *Los
Angeles Times*, *Gourmet*, and numerous other national publications, as a
leader of the Midwest dining scene.
He and a few other pioneering local chefs, like Lucia Watson of
Lucia’s<http://www.lucias.com/>,
and Brenda Langton of Spoonriver <http://spoonriver.com/>, laid the
groundwork for our current Twin Cities dining scene. Their menus were
amongst the first in Minnesota to specialize in local and seasonal foods.
Goff was quoted in the *Los Angeles Times* saying, “we don’t swim here in
January, and we don’t eat strawberries then either.” Signature dishes like
Brie and apple soup and turkey potpie with yam sauce formed a menu the *New
York Times* called “familiar with a twist.”
For Goff, ideas in cooking always matter. When teaching, he quotes
Escoffier’s culinary compendium, *Le Guide Culinaire*, like it’s scripture,
and speaks to students about it as if he and Escoffier were intimate
friends, telling them, “Escoffier knew cooking would change, he knew we
would have to adjust.”
He built a restaurant with ideas and rules in mind at the Dakota. As the
club showcased a Minnesota jazz scene, he showcased Minnesota ingredients
and was quoted in the *Great Chef *series saying, “I want the restaurant to
reflect what the people in this region like to eat. That is what regional
means to me.” He established relationships with farmers and was one the
first chefs here to see the benefit of our local bounty.
Thanks to people like Ken Goff, who celebrated Midwestern cuisine for its
own sake, we enjoy a dining scene now recognized on a national level,
garnering our state 16 James Beard cooking award nominations this year.
If you like our local dining community, then come check out a chef who
helped put us on the map. When you do, tell him Jason sent you, or better
yet, scoot down the hall to my class and say “hi.”
**
*Technique Restaurant*
*Technique gives students real world experience with paying customers.
Students work in all aspects of the restaurant’s operations. They cook,
wait tables, answer phones, and help develop daily menu specials. They
serve a three-course meal focused on seasonal ingredients and highlight
cooking technique as a way to showcase the students' education and learned
skills. The restaurant sits at the far corner of the school’s Mendota
Heights campus.*
*Technique Restaurant*
1315 Mendota Heights Road, Mendota Heights
Seating from 5:30-7 p.m.
Tuesday-Friday
Reservations recommended
651-286-2400
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2012 in
Permalink<http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Blogs/Twin-Cities-Taste/April-2012/Ch…>
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Sonoma Coast is a sweet spot for Syrah
Jon Bonnéunday, April 8, 2012
One of the great overlooked facts about Syrah: Historically, even in its motherland, this grape has made truly great wine in only a very, very small portion of the world - essentially a 50-mile stretch along the Rhone River.
That isn't to get into a debate whether it belongs in California; certainly it does. But it's a variety that seems to fully express itself in fewer places than you might imagine, an actor that only plays on a very particular stage.
To find a spot where it can use the full timbre of its voice is a great achievement.
After our most recent tasting of Syrah from Sonoma County, mostly from within its coastal appellation, I'd argue that the Sonoma Coast is a gorgeously good match of grape and place. (So is Bennett Valley, as per a couple of excellent non-coast wines in the lineup.)
I say this as Syrah struggles through yet another identity crisis - arguably overplanted in California and continually under-enjoyed.
But our look at a couple dozen wines from the 2009 and 2010 vintages, both on the cooler side, was a case study in the aromatic power of Syrah - and affirmation that 2010, in particular, offered a great push toward the nuanced end of the pendulum of California style.
For all the discussion of its robustness, Syrah seems to show its most compelling side in truly marginal areas, where it struggles well into the season (late October, early November). It's no surprise that many spots in Sonoma's coastal areas fit that description; it's no surprise that Sonoma's coast is often deemed Pinot Noir territory, as the two grapes cohabitate far better than you might guess ( sfg.ly/HiJJJg).
But our tasting wandered across the Sonoma map, which may be a hint that the cooler vintages (or less willingness to lead grapes into the dramatically ripe realm) provide a road map for Syrah's redemption from purgatory on the dusty wine shelf.
The Sonoma Coast, in wine terms, stretches across half the county - including not only the true coastal stretches but also the full corridor of the Petaluma Gap, where the wind lashes in from the ocean at Bodega Bay and makes its way toward San Pablo Bay.
That wraps in the Lakeville area between Petaluma and Sonoma, which remains a lesser-known sweet spot for Syrah. If Lakeville is a comfortable spot for the grape, there are edgier realms, like Clary Ranch in the Middle Two Rock Valley, toward the western end of the Petaluma Gap, where viticulture is virtually an extreme sport.
These are not easy places to grow this particular grape. But great wine is never easy.
And perhaps great Syrah shouldn't be easy. Increasingly, the Sonoma Coast is proving that - and making the case for the true greatness of this grape in California.
Tasting notes: sonoma coast syrah
2009 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah ($36, 12.6% alcohol):
Pax Mahle set out a stellar Syrah lineup in 2009. This blend of three of Mahle's valued sites - Majik, Armagh and Nellessen - fermented all with whole grape clusters and no new oak, shows the power of the cuvee. Intensely aromatic. Peat moss, kalamata olive, ground pepper and dark mineral all factor in, plus savory-edged plum and tart berry fruit. So lean in its demeanor, but texturally brilliant in its dense (though not hard-edged) structure.
2010 Arnot Roberts Clary Ranch Sonoma Coast Syrah ($40, 12.2%):
Clary Ranch is always the most polemical wine made by Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts. No different in 2010, which yielded a stellar range of Syrahs by these two. Clary is always a razor dance with ripeness, and this shows an ethereal, almost stark, quality. Layer upon layer of scents: green and Szechuan peppercorn, green olive pit, brine and a deep mineral note to round out wild blueberry and plum fruit. Savory and remarkably powerful. While it's more confrontational than the fennel-tinged Griffin's Lair Vineyard Syrah ($55, 12.5%), it also aims - and hits - higher.
2010 Sandler Connell Vineyard Bennett Valley Syrah ($20, 11.6%):
Winemaker Ed Kurtzman (August West) gets this Syrah fruit from this otherwise Pinot-focused site off Santa Rosa's Grange Road. It shows the nuanced possibilities in Bennett Valley. Impressively lean and full of distinct white pepper and sandalwood aromas, plus wild blueberry fruit and a minerally, chewy side.
2009 Waxwing Cellars Sonoma Coast Syrah ($25, 14.5%):
Veteran winemaker Scott Sisemore tapped fruit from the Flocchini vineyard in the Petaluma Gap for his own San Carlos label. It shows the best of Syrah's tangy, funky side, accented with intense pepper spice and a stylish, sweet plum fruit that balances its deep savory character. Deeply expressive.
2009 Baker Lane Sonoma Coast Cuvee Sonoma Coast Syrah ($28, 14.1%):
Stephen Singer blended his Sebastopol estate fruit with a neighbor's grapes for this affordable, early-drinking bottle, full of pretty sage and peppercorn highlights, and a mellower licorice and blackberry counterpoint.
2009 Landmark Steel Plow Sonoma Valley Syrah ($32, 14.3%):
Winemaker Greg Stach keeps showing this Kenwood label's growing talents in the Rhone-inspired world. This latest Steel Plow, from the Kivelstadt vineyard near Sonoma Mountain, is opulent and dark in its nature, full of black pepper, charred meat, a touch of brown spice and India ink.
2009 Anthill Farms Peters Vineyard Sonoma Coast Syrah ($35, 13.5%):
The team at Anthill turned out an intense Syrah lineup in 2009, but the Peters - a wine that seems to have mood swings - is stellar when you catch it in the right moment. Subtle, with accents of sage, citrus leaf, juniper and black olive. But there's a velvety texture and lots of blue fruit that matches its tannic backbone. A masterful effort, and perhaps a bit more approachable right now than its Campbell Ranch ($30, 13.9%) counterpart.
2009 Peay La Bruma Sonoma Coast Syrah ($47, 13.4%):
There's great stylishness in the Peays' cellar-worthy 2009 wines. Grown on their Annapolis estate, where struggle with the fog is a constant, the Bruma is slightly more approachable right now, with winemaker Vanessa Wong evoking a subtle sandalwood accent in the deft use of oak. Clear blue fruit matches its rich earthy scents, all framed by powerful mineral energy on the palate.
Panelists: Jon BonnéChronicle wine editor; Sarah Elliott, wine director, Commonwealth.
Jon Bonnés The San Francisco Chronicle's wine editor. Twitter: @jbonne. jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/08/FDBS1NU3KK.DTL
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
>From the SFG Chronicle
Revisiting the 1999 Cabernets
Posted on 04/17/2012 at 12:10 pm by Jon Bonnéin California, Napa, Wine
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Dunn, far right and the sole non-magnum of the bunch, holds its own in a pretty tony crowd. (Photo: The Chronicle)
For California Cabernet, 1999 was a curious, transitional vintage. A cooler year that yielded somewhat small crops, it was . depending on your view . either a chance to make stoic wines that would thrive with age, or hard wines that showed little of the generosity and plushness of the ripe 1997s.
I always sided with the first view. So when .99 gets a squint from those who find it (or found it) too firm in its ways to give into the the hedonism-bomb school of Cabernet, I just scratch my head. Is this not the point of Cabernet?
As it turned out, I had a few chances in the past week to taste California Cabernet from 1999, mostly at Pebble Beach Food & Wine, where I moderated a panel looking at 1999 wines from both Bordeaux and California (paired with cheese) and at a retrospective of Caymus Special Selection, in which Chuck Wagner took us through highlights dating back to 1990. These were particularly useful as I get ready for our tasting of the 2009 Napa Cabernets, a vintage that has some affinity with .99 in its cooler weather and potentially more nuanced flavors.
What stood out for me was the 1999 Dunn Vineyards from Howell Mountain; although the 1999 Caymus Special Selection certainly held its own.
(Two others fell back a bit: a 1999 Harlan Estate that struck me as signaling the path to deep extraction and heft that was under way in Napa by 1999, and a 1999 Abreu that was polished but less distinctive than I expected. They might have suffered from being shown next to a 1999 Chateau Latour that was still shedding its baby fat. On the other hand, they outpaced two Right Bank rarities, Valandraud and la Mondotte, that to me did little to make a case for the timelessness of the Bordeaux garagistes.)
What worked
The Dunn is, of course, an outlier here. Randy Dunn.s wines are unapologetically tannic; no different with the .99, although its freshness and the integration of the tannins were perfect to me . as someone who likes and defends Dunn.s style of wine. The Special Selection was an even more curious specimen; it was, by Wagner.s own description, one of the last vintages of his earlier style of winemaking, with less ripeness and more of what he termed a .European. style. I found it channeling little of Europe and far more the classic tones of Napa, with freshness and deep graphite accents compared to the Caymuses of the 2000s, when young-vine ripeness was all. (But even Wagner found himself compelled by a 1990 that was leaner and aromatically driven than his later fare.)
To these I.d add a few other recent data points, like a 1999 Spottswoode opened at the end of last year . dense and packed with black fruit and tobacco aromas, and barely seeming ready to drink.
My takeaway? I.d argue that the end of the .90s caught the brunt of that transitional stage in California Cabernet. There was deep extraction and alcohol for some, but there was also a vintage that promoted fresher fruit flavors and cellarworthy structure. It followed on one that rewarded over-the-top ripeness (1997) and one (1998) that punished nearly everyone with a struggle to ripen. The three were all reinforcement for those who wanted to bulk themselves up.
It.s why vintages like 1999 are of my favorite sort. They don.t quite make themselves clear until the wines have had a bit of time to mature. But at their best, they show just how great wines get better with time.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Bubbles, are you back in town?
April 16, 2012
Wines and Beers, by the Slice
By ERIC ASIMOV
I KNOW what you are thinking: What could possibly be said that.s new about wine and pizza? There.s nothing to it. Just pick some fresh Italian red wine, not too expensive, like Barbera d.Alba or Dolcetto di Dogliani, and be done with it.
So allow me to suggest something else entirely: Champagne.
Yes, Champagne. If it seems like overreaching to pair elegant Champagne with humble pizza, perhaps that.s because we underestimate pizza.
First, we must get over thinking of pizza as just a fast food. Of course, too many pizzas are made of poor industrial ingredients, rushed in a sodden cardboard box to your door. What goes with those pizzas? A burning sensation on the roof of your mouth.
But good pizza, that.s an entirely different issue. Fine ingredients like pure flour, San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, sea salt, fresh basil and great olive oil can result in near perfection. A good pizza margherita, made just with those ingredients, is a platonic ideal, elegant in its simplicity. Why not with Champagne?
If you don.t believe me, try it. I would choose a good nonvintage Champagne, something sturdier than a blanc de blancs, something with some oomph to it, like, say, a Bollinger Special Cuvé which will echo and amplify the savory, sweet and yeasty flavors of the pizza. The excellent wine list at Franny.s in Brooklyn offers a roséhampagne from Billecart-Salmon, which I think would go terrifically with a plain pizza.
The fact is, pizza is one of those rare foods with such versatility it can be enjoyed with an enormous assortment of different beverages. Sure, some things will clash, or deaden pizza, like very oaky wines with little acidity. But most pairings, including Champagne, work well. It.s a joy to experiment and make your own discoveries.
Alas, what should generally be a relaxed process of selecting a beverage can sometimes be weighed down by over-analyzing pairings. Obsessively specific suggestions and hard-and-fast rules might be right for the highest-end restaurants, but not for casual home dining.
It.s not just the food-and-wine pairers who are inhibiting. Who hasn.t encountered a well-meaning busybody who considers it a duty to inform you, just as you.re deciding what wine to order with your pizza margherita, that Italians themselves prefer to drink beer with pizza?
Really? And in the United States people don.t drink beer with pizza? Beer and pizza, together, are one of life.s pleasures. But Americans drink wine with pizza, too. Besides, Italians don.t choose only beer. They like Coca-Cola with pizza. In fact, if I can speak generally about a people of diverse tastes, Italians essentially consider any beverage with bubbles as a good match with pizza, which brings me back to Champagne.
Champagne should no longer be consigned to the black-tie visions of its marketers. Sure, it can be urbane, but Champagne is also racy, earthy and as casual as you want it to be. The only argument against Champagne with pizza might be its cost.
If that.s a factor, the bubbles in the glass need not be Champenois. Gragnano, an effervescent red from Campania, is a great pizza wine. Don Antonio by Starita, which recently opened in Clinton, serves a delicious Gragnano from Grotte del Sole by the carafe. Good, earthy Lambrusco would also go beautifully, as would myriad other bubblies.
Beer is a great complement to pizza, it goes without saying, as long as it.s a gulpable beer and not a contemplative brew so powerful it must be slowly sipped. A pizza beer ought to be fresh, lively and bitter with a pleasingly tart tanginess. This leaves plenty of room for experimentation. Pilsners are a great if obvious choice, but if you want something a little more esoteric, Belgian lambic beers and the wider genre of sour beers will go brilliantly. But it.s important not to over-think. If you prefer an India pale ale or a stout, why not? Anything with bubbles.
With wines, most people reflexively reach for a red with pizza, but don.t dismiss whites, especially dry whites with lively acidity. Those from Campania, the home territory of pizza, are superb even if the grapes are unfamiliar, like a falanghina or a Fiano di Avellino. Try Soave or even a good, dry riesling. Come to think of it, next time I have a pizza, I may try a Vouvray.
I don.t mean to say whites are better than reds with pizza; not at all. They.re just another satisfying option. Reds will always be the go-to pizza wine, but don.t worry too much about the perfect match. I remember a magazine article a few years ago suggesting that the choice of a wine depended on the toppings: pinot noir with a mushroom pizza, primitivo with pepperoni, barbera with fresh tomatoes, and so on. Please.
The other day I had a California pinot noir that was delicious with a plain Neapolitan pie, though not a mushroom was to be found. It was a 2005 Clos Saron from the Texas Hill Road Vineyard in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. What made the wine so good with the pizza? It was dry, fresh, lively and its acidity carried the flavor of the wine through the rich cheese and sharp-sweet tomato flavors. Had the wine been another style (oaky, say, or oozing with powerful fruit flavors), it would have been neutralized by the pizza, mushrooms or not.
Of course, Italian reds are tried and true: Those fresh barberas, dolcettos and sangioveses will be great, but don.t ignore the up-and-coming reds from Sicily, like frappatos, Cerasuolos di Vittoria and nerello mascaleses from Mount Etna. By all means, consider aglianicos from Campania and Basilicata and the many lively reds from all corners of the boot, whether Valpolicella from the Veneto or Savuto from Calabria.
But why stop in Italy? Beaujolais and Cô du Rhôfill the bill, as would a zesty Austrian zweigelt, and many others.
Though pizza is generally inexpensive and thought to be casual, the wines need not be the same. Charles Scicolone, a wine consultant, loves to drink great old Barolos with great pizza margheritas, as well as Champagne. And why not?
.I think people really underrate pizza because there is so much terrible pizza,. he said. .If you.re going to get good pizza, why not drink better wine with it?.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
(The New York Times, 3-30-12; copyright 2012 The New York Times)
By Eric Pfanner
COURGIS, FRANCE This hamlet in the hills of northern Burgundy hardly looks
like the wellspring of a winemaking revival.
On a damp Monday morning in March, only the distant rattle of a tractor
breaks the silence. A suspicious pair of eyes monitors a visiting cars
progress down the Grande Rue Nicolas Droin; in these parts, even the dogs
can pick out Paris license plates.
But Courgis (population 260) is home to two of the most forward-thinking
producers of Chablis, whose vineyards surround Courgis and several
neighboring villages. Thomas Pico, of Domaine Pattes Loup, and Alice and
Olivier de Moor, of their eponymous winery, are making Chablis of startling
quality, using natural, ecologically friendly methods that many of their
peers long ago abandoned.
Innovation is not always good for wine, especially when vineyard work is
replaced with laboratory science. This is what happened during an earlier
leap forward in Chablis, in the second half of the previous century.
>From 1945, when there were less than 500 hectares of Chablis vines, the
vineyard area expanded tenfold by the end of the century. Growth was fueled
by demand in export markets, where the name of Chablis, like that of its
near neighbor Champagne, became a catch-all term in this case for dry
white wine of any origin.
Trade agreements and legal action have mostly ended these practices, though
it is still possible to stumble across absurdities like California Blush
Chablis. Talk about fake wine.
Yet some of the damage to the image and the terroir of Chablis was
self-inflicted. In order to meet international demand, the growers embraced
the use of herbicides, pesticides and grape-picking machines with a fervor
rarely seen in other French wine regions. Production soared but quality
often suffered.
In my grandparents time everyone harvested by hand, Mr. Pico said. Now
everyone finishes at five and is in front of the television by eight. A way
of life has disappeared.
Not entirely. Chablis is home to another pair of producers, Jean-Marie
Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat, who have long been critics favorites. Their
wines are old-school icons, but unless you have considerable patience you
might struggle to understand what the fuss is about or even to find them.
More consistently appealing, I think, are the wines of another
long-established Chablis estate, William Fèvre. This is perhaps the greatest
landowner in Chablis, with vines in all seven of the appellations grand-cru
vineyards. Tasting Fèvres Les Clos from a good year is a memorable
experience.
Chablis can do the classics. What it seemed to lack until recently, however,
was a certain type of hip new producer, like those who have reinvigorated
other French wine regions, among them the Loire Valley, the Rhône Valley and
the heartland of Burgundy the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune, about
an hours drive south of Chablis. In these areas, upstarts or outsiders have
been making wine that sometimes challenges the powers that be and prompts
everyone to question long-held assumptions.
Enter Mr. Pico and the de Moors. Along with a few other up-and-coming
producers based elsewhere in the region, including Patrick Piuze, a
French-Canadian, and several outfits with local roots, including Domaines
Oudin, Domaine Servin and Gilbert Picq, they have brought a fresh spirit to
Chablis.
Mr. Pico is not exactly an outsider; his father, too, is a vigneron. After
studying oenology and working with producers in the Côte de Beaune, he
decided to set up a separate winemaking operation, using some of the
vineyards from the family estate. His first vintage was 2006.
Mr. Pico switched to organic cultivation, then went a step further with the
application of biodynamic principles, under which growers try to create a
healthy ecosystem for the vines helping them to help themselves. He
harvests by hand, which is still an anomaly in Chablis.
I could earn a lot more money if I did mechanical harvesting, if I used
pesticides and herbicides, Mr. Pico said. I could even take a vacation.
But I like my work.
While the benefits of biodynamics are sometimes disputed, those of another
so-called natural winemaking method that Mr. Pico has adopted seem clear: a
reduction in the use of sulfur dioxide, a headache-inducing preservative.
While some sulfur dioxide is found in most wines, including many that are
organic, Mr. Pico says he adds only a fraction of the amount in supermarket
wines, which need heavy doses to remain shelf-stable for many months or
years.
That means his wines might be more fragile than your typical Chablis. They
are definitely less standardized. When tasting a range of his wines, from
several vintages, I noticed considerable variation, from the elegant,
sharply focused 2010s to the almost plush 2009s to the slightly rough-hewn,
almost tannic 2008s.
Mr. Pico may be his own toughest critic, reproaching himself for one wine,
his 2010 Côte de Jouan premier cru, that he called too Beaunois that is,
too much like the whites of the Côte de Beaune, which are generally bigger,
richer and oakier than Chablis. Yet all the wines showed common elements,
including a striking purity and a disarming openness.
The northern location of Chablis means the growing season is long and cool,
allowing a complex range of flavors to develop, while preserving freshness.
An unusual feature of the soil, the presence of fossilized seashells from
what was once a seabed, provides Chablis with its signature salinity. There
is something about Chablis perhaps it is the peaty complexity of the wine,
perhaps the bleakness of the winter landscapes that evokes the smell of
country pubs in Ireland.
In the hands of talented growers like Mr. Pico, Chablis lives up to its
reputation as one of the noblest expressions of the chardonnay grape
variety. All the clichés tightrope walker, razors edge, laserlike
intensity that critics employ to describe its tense balance between racy
acidity and earthy substance seem apt.
Unfortunately, Chablis sometimes strikes a different balance, managing to be
both indistinctly boring and shrilly acidic at the same time.
People say acidity is the key to Chablis, Mr. de Moor said. I agree, but
it has to be the right acidity, a ripe acidity.
His wines, while more introverted than those of Mr. Pico, also have the
right acidity, a melts-in-your-mouth kind that makes the wines hugely
appealing and drinkable.
Ripe fruit and low vineyard yields are part of the reason, Mr. de Moor said.
Like Mr. Pico, he eschews industrial methods, espousing the virtues of
biodynamics.
In some ways, his success is more surprising than that of Mr. Pico. While
Mr. de Moor is from the region, there is no history of winemaking in the
family. There are no premiers crus or grands crus in the De Moor vineyard
holdings only ordinary Chablis, along with other, humbler nearby
appellations.
Mr. de Moor is an artist who illustrates the labels on his bottles, and his
approach to winemaking is iconoclastic. At the moment, he is in a dispute
with the appellation authorities over the varietal composition of Chablis,
currently fixed at 100 percent chardonnay.
Mr. de Moor wants to experiment with the addition of other varieties, like
pinot gris. With global warming, chardonnay has sometimes ripened too early
in vintages like 2011 or 2007, for example to develop the signature
Chablis complexity, he said. Im not saying its the right solution,
necessarily, but its worth trying, he said.
Mr. de Moor, who has been making wine for a few years longer than Mr. Pico,
says he doesnt want to be seen as a rebel.
In the beginning, we were going against the stream, against everything that
had been done here, he said. But now we have been accepted. What we are
doing is not sectarianism. Its what consumers want, so that they can buy
wine with greater security and conviction.
Those who have lived through the 70's, 80's and 90's will probably enjoy
this video, "A Brief History of Merlot" from Gundlach-Bundschu:
http://youtu.be/6efO9ReiKQM
The NYTimes is cutting the number of free articles from 20 to 10 next month,
so this may be the last from Asimov et al for a while.
Cheers,
Jim
>From 1982, Glasses More Than Full
By ERIC ASIMOV
ATLANTA
ANTICIPATION was keen as 16 of us took our seats around a long table in the lovely art-filled, 39th-floor apartment of Mark Taylor, a longtime Bordeaux drinker and collector here. The six wineglasses before each of us were already filled, the fragrances rising and mingling. Outside on this chilly March Sunday, a strong wind howled and the building itself hummed and vibrated like a giant tuning fork. I preferred to think it was a sign of high expectations.
What wine lover wouldn.t be thrilled with the extraordinary opportunity to taste 18 bottles from the celebrated 1982 Bordeaux vintage, including all five first growths and other rare and expensive selections? After all, the wines were now 30 years old, fully mature and, theoretically at least, in their prime. Eighteen in one sitting? Any one might be the thrill of the year.
It was an opportunity to taste history. The Bordeaux annals are replete with great vintages. Just in the last half of the 20th century, I might also cite 1990, .89, .85, .70, .66, .61, .59 and .53. Yet 1982 was not just great but historic. One could easily make the case that the modern age of wine began with the 1982 vintage, or at least with the reception of the .82s. The wines themselves represent the end of the old era.
The .82 vintage is most famously associated with the rise of the American critic Robert M. Parker Jr., who was still working as a lawyer while in his spare time producing a newsletter, The Wine Advocate. The story of the vintage is often told as if Mr. Parker stood alone to exalt it against a legion of naysayers, but the fact is that with a few exceptions, most critics at the time acclaimed the wines. The difference was in how Mr. Parker praised them.
Not for Mr. Parker was the cautious hedging and equivocating of the typical wine critic. His praise was clear, certain and unqualified, and he urged his readers to buy all they could in wine futures, the Bordeaux system in which you pay now for wine that will be delivered in a year or two, gambling that prices will go up and availability down. The result was feverish excitement and a frenzied market that reached beyond professionals and connoisseurs to a new group of buyers in it for the curiosity, status and investment possibilities.
Simultaneously, the Bordeaux business itself was changing. Back then, many leading chateaus were still owned by families rather than by the corporations and wealthy individuals who dominate Bordeaux today. The business was far less glorified than it is now, and after several difficult decades and a sharp increase in French inheritance taxes, many families sold off their holdings.
New ownership and the brisk sales of the .82s brought an infusion of cash into Bordeaux, inaugurating an evolution over the next 20 years into the modern Bordeaux of today. The 1982 Bordeaux were rich, ripe, opulent wines, reflecting the year.s long, hot and dry growing season. The popularity of the wines understandably gave producers an incentive to want to make similar wines in the future, which, beyond hoping for a similarly ideal year, required altering their methods.
In a sense, 1982 validated what Bordeaux enologists like Éile Peynaud had long been preaching. For years, he had recommended to Bordeaux producers that they should not harvest grapes early to prevent rot but allow the grapes to ripen fully. He urged winemakers to select only their best grapes for their wines, a difficult notion for many to accept at a time when quantity was often more important than quality. In fact, yields in .82 were high. They would have to come down if growers wanted to achieve better wines more consistently, even in less-than-perfect years.
Rather than put all their grapes into one wine, Dr. Peynaud urged wineries to create less expensive labels for grapes that were less than the best. In 1982 few chateaus had second labels. Now it.s standard procedure. In myriad other ways over the next 20 years, Bordeaux chateaus transformed their viticulture and production methods, adding technology, gaining control over nature, reducing the element of seasonal chance. Global warming made it easier for growers, or at least less difficult, to pursue the lush style of .82.
In the first decade alone of the 21st century, Mr. Parker himself has already proclaimed three vintages of the century. A global market developed and prices have skyrocketed. Great Bordeaux today is no longer merely a wine but a luxury good, priced well beyond the means of most consumers. For better or worse, it.s an unintended consequence of a transformation that began with the .82 vintage.
The one question that did arise about the .82 vintage was whether the wines would age well. Mr. Parker never doubted, but others suggested the wines from this hot vintage lacked the structure for the long haul. Well, here we were, 30 years later in Mr. Taylor.s apartment, about to find out. Among the wine lovers at the table were several professionals, including Charles Curtis, head of wine sales in Asia for Christie.s; Eric LeVine, founder of CellarTracker, an online cellar management tool; and Yves Durand, a sommelier, author and Atlanta wine personality. Almost all the wines came from Mr. Taylor.s cellar, where they had been since release.
Mr. Durand had arranged the wines in a series of three flights. While we were told the six wines that made up each flight, they were served blind. The first included five from the Méc and Pessac-Lénan: La Mission Haut-Brion, Pichon Lalande, Gruaud-Larose, Beychevelle and Lynch-Bages, and one outlier, Figeac from St.-Éilion, perhaps the most Mécian of St.-Éilions because of the high percentage of cabernet sauvignon in the blend.
The wines were lovely, though in such circumstances one can.t help being critical. My favorites included the Beychevelle, a complete, complex and harmonious wine that was both contemplative and surprisingly rich, and the Pichon Lalande, still youthful and impossibly delicate for such a full-bodied wine. The Figeac was not hard to identify: it had a spiciness to the aromas and flavors that clearly set it apart. La Mission was disappointing. Though fresh, it did seem to lack structure.
The second flight included the five first growths . Lafite-Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion . along with Cheval Blanc, their St.-Éilion equivalent. This flight was simply brilliant. One might quibble with the wines comparing one to another, but each was no less than splendid. We resisted the urge to rank these wines . .How do you rank greatness?. somebody asked. But we did have a consensus favorite, the Margaux, a beautiful ruby color with complex fruit, mineral and tobacco flavors. The Haut-Brion seemed bigger and more opulent, with exotic fruit flavors and a strong tobacco-like aroma.
The Lafite seemed fuller and richer than the Mouton, which seemed to have more finesse. Strange, I would have thought it would be the other way around. The Latour stood out for its purity and powerful tannins, while the Cheval Blanc, with time in the glass, developed a cedary quality that is often its telltale giveaway. All in all, a remarkable set of wines.
The third flight, with the unenviable task of following those sublime wines, included two St.-Juliens: Ducru-Beaucaillou and Léille-Las-Cases; plus Cos d.Estournel from St.-Estèe and three Poméls . Lafleur, Le Gay and L.Éangile. This flight was more erratic. The Léille was corked and a second bottle was a tad musty. My favorites included the youthful, harmonious Cos d.Estournel and the complex, rich yet earthy L.Éangile. The Ducru was pretty, but I was disappointed with the Lafleur, which was sweet and jammy. Of the 16 .82 Bordeaux, it was the one bottle that I would have had difficulty finishing. Of course, that.s one man.s opinion. Mr. Durand loved the Lafleur.
It.s not easy to sum up such an extraordinary set of wines. I was privileged to have had the opportunity to drink them, especially as so few wine lovers will have a similar opportunity to taste more recent great vintages.
Nowadays, so many of these wines are bought as trophies or investments. It will be the rare buyer who, like Mr. Taylor, can afford to pull the corks and drink them. The .82 vintage leaves a beautiful legacy, but that fact is bittersweet.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
