Christmas Wine, A Cautionary Tale

This Christmas, I brought wine to the Kramer household. For Thanksgiving and now Christmas, I  revel in the opportunity to serve bottles I wouldn't normally open, bottles that are suitable for the occasion. It's not that the Kramers don't have enough wine, but that I seek a somewhat perverse satisfaction in presenting wines to them and gauging my palate based off their reactions. As much as I preach "trust your palate", often I am just as guilty of second guessing myself as the next person.

This is the lineup, a set of wines that represent some of my favorite regions around the world. The four are:
2008 A Tribute to Grace Grenache from the Santa Barbara Highlands AVA.
2008 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon from the Walla Wall Valley AVA.
2006 Robert Groffier Burgundy from the Passetoutgrains AOC
1999 Chateau Simard Saint-Emilion AOC

Each of these had been acquired over the past year or two via the internet or local wine shops. The prices ranged from around $20 all the way up to $100. With the exception of the grenache, I had not tasted any of these wines before, but have had other examples from either the producer or region.

First though, some sparkling wine from the Willamette Valley. This Elk Cove beauty was picked up by Kim Kramer a few days ago when we went tasting up and down the Willamette. The base wine was made in 1999 and bottled in 2000. In 2010 it was first disgorged, and when it's gone, it's gone. To my knowledge, Elk Cove hasn't made any more vintages of sparkling wine since.

How is it? In a word: wonderful. Although it's not as yeasty or doughy as a lot of Champagnes, it retains a bright crispness and layers of apple, pear, lemon zest, and a hint of apricot. Despite sitting on the lees for a decade, there isn't a lot of creamy weight to the wine, something both Kim and I found very interesting. The bubbles are small and uplifting, just like in a real Champagne, providing excellent mouthfeel. For about $30, this is one of the tastier domestic sparkling wines I've had in 2011. Only 200 cases were made, so it's best to purchase some now before it's all gone.

Moving on to the wines we had with the meal:

2008 A Tribute to Grace Grenache Santa Barbara Highlands: Already on my list of top wines I tasted in 2011, this grenache didn't disappoint. Sourced from vineyards over 2,500 feet high, the wine is the color of fresh-pressed strawberry juice. It's moderately opaque too, indicating it's unfined and unfiltered. The nose is redolent of raspberry sorbet, rose petal, wild strawberry, and black peppercorn. Initially there's a burst of acidity layered with raspberry, that recedes quickly into cracked pepper that sweeps the insides of your palate. Strawberries, wild and a touch green, bring the mid-palate through to a sour-cherry laden finish. All the ripeness is tempered by the acidity, balancing this wine out perfectly. My only regret is that this was my last bottle of the 2008.

2008 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley: I bought some bottles of this in the Fall, intent on aging them for many years, but I also reasoned that a bottle of wine that routinely goes for $100 should be pretty awesome right now. This is one of Washington's cult wineries, and the cabernet is routinely awarded huge scores from the print rags. 2008's Leonetti cab is a blend of 77% cabernet sauvignon, 16% merlot, 4% carmenere, 3% malbec. I decanted this for several hours, reasoning that despite it's youth, a decanter would help bring out some great flavors. I was wrong. Aromatically pleasing with notes of tobacco, cassis, tar, and black fruits built anticipating for an equally complex palate presence. Sadly, this wine was flat out boring to drink. Lots of sloppy black fruit up front, a somewhat hollow mid-palate, as if the wine evaporated, and a finish so oaky that it felt like someone dragged a vanilla-soaked cedar plank across the back of my tongue. If this is something that gets high scores, it's a mystery as to how. I'll probably age the other bottle I have for a few years but this is a lesson: don't always believe the hype.

1999 Chateau Simard Saint-Emilion: I paid $20 for this wine at San Diego Wine Company back during the summer, so I had appropriate expectations. However, there was an undercurrent of excitement that I cannot deny feeling, since most of my Bordeaux are far younger and not yet ready to drink. The chateau dates back to the 17th century, and the current ownership ages their wines for around 10 years before releasing them.  According to my research, this is 70% merlot and 30% cabernet franc.  It opened up nicely in the glass, with an earthy, cherry and bittersweet chocolate nose that also had some spices and a whiff of brettanomyces. Some call that terroir, others a flaw, but it wasn't horribly overwhelming to me. On the palate I picked up the cabernt franc's tannin structure, framing a cherry/leather/herbal/raspberry flavor profile. It had very nice mouthfeel and I suspect it could even age longer, perhaps till 2015 or so. I'm pleased with this purchase.

2006 Robert Groffier Bourgogne Passetoutgrains: I should have figured an '06 could be over the hill. Passetoutgrains from Burgundy contain pinot noir and gamay and are usually meant to be consumed within two years of production. I took a gamble, read on to find out how I got burned. The volatile acidity was powerful, almost smothering an undercurrent of cherry-soaked minerality and some barnyard funk. Beyond the VA issues, a dollop of ripe red cherry sat squarely in the mid palate, bounded by a little bit of (good) acidity. More of the barnyard came through, but compared to the VA problems it wasn't bad at all. A somewhat clean finish was laden with chalky minerality and sour cherry notes. Unimpressive wine and at $26, also overpriced. It went down the drain.

Strictly speaking, I went 1 for 4, batting a whopping .250 on Christmas Day. That's not exactly where I want to be. I still struggle to wrap my head around the Ch. Simard because it was interesting wine, just a little boring. Good Bordeaux has a certain palate presence, one that Bordeaux lovers immediately know. While this Saint-Emilion was good, it could have been more smile-inducing. While I would buy the it again, I wouldn't pay over $25 for it.

The Leonetti does confound me as well, it's just so atypical of what I expect from a high-scoring Washington wine. I know my palate is different than Paul Gregutt's, as well as all those who criticized me on Twitter for not loving the wine, giving it enough aging time, or other "helpful" advice. On the day I tasted it, the 2008 Leonetti cabernet was not very interesting wine. Winemakers can do a lot with heavy extraction techniques and oak barrels, as well as acid addition and tannin manipulation. What they cannot do is create a wine with soul, one that touches your palate.

I could wax poetic about the A Tribute to Grace, but what's the point? You can't find it anywhere and as far as I know, the last magnum was snapped up a couple of days ago. Don't ask me how I know that, of course. Luckily the 2009 is available and you should buy as much as you can. One of the best wines I tasted in 2011.

The Passetoutgrains was shit, plain and simple. It didn't hurt my feelings for Burgundy though, just reminded me that even self-important wine bloggers occasionally get burned.

With that, I wish you all a Happy New Year, see you in 2012! Let's drink some great wine together!

Beau Carufel

Nestling Up to Another Beaujolais, Courtesy of Louis Jadot

Last Friday night I became acquainted with the 2009 Joseph Drouhin Morgon, a sublime bottle of gamay at the ridiculously-cheap price of $13. It was recommended by my friend David, during a discussion of the merits of the 2009 vintage in Beaujolais. Critics feel that the '09 vintage is superb, producing wines with a balance of ripe intensity and clean acidity. Traditionalists lament the ripeness, wishing for a return to the austerity and "purity" (as they call it) of previous, less heralded vintages. It doesn't hurt that Beaujolais is enjoying a moment of glory amongst the sommeliers, bloggerati/Twitterati, and wine geek crowd.

You may ask, and rightly so, why there's a "villages" on the end of the Beaujolais. That is a differentiator meant to indicate a higher level of quality, mainly in the vineyard. In this instance, Louis Jadot makes a huge amount of wine from Burgundy and Beaujolais, including a "regular" Beaujolais bottling and this Beaujolais-Villages bottling. Here's to hoping I get to taste more wines from this wonderful producer.

The color is beautiful, a deep rich purple like you'd see in some medieval tapestry hanging in a 700 year old French church. It isn't opaque, I can see through to the bottom of my glass yet that just manages to work for this wine. Since I'm new to actually evaluating wines from Beaujolais, I keep finding myself making the comparison to Burgundy, which is erroneous because the varietals are different beasts entirely. What I'm trying to say is that I like the color, it appeals to me on some level beyond just the topical "oh how pretty" aspect.

If you can imagine taking fresh, ripe plums and mashing them in a bowl then tossing in some river rocks and baking spices, that's what this wine smells like. I can also get a whiff of oak, but it's very integrated. Monsieur Lardiere, the winemaker for Louis Jadot, aged it for about ten months in French oak barrels. Nice bit of a floral component, but flowers with dark petals, like violets. I like this Beaujolais, the nose is appealing in a way that makes the wine seem alive, inviting but also something else. This isn't a big, bombastic assault on your nostrils like you'd get in an Australian shiraz or California cabernet. Right now the word I keep thinking of is "alluring" but that seems overplayed. Seductive adds too much of a sexual connotation to the wine, this Louis Jadot isn't seductive. If I could just figure out what to call that quality. Je ne sais pas!

What a contrast from the 2009 Drouhin! Way more minerality here, in a sense more austere. You have to fight with the gravel and oak to find any kind of fruit. When the wine finally gives up the fruit, it's again a plummy, black currant kind of flavor. I don't mean to suggest the flavors are under-ripe, merely that they're harder to discern. The acidity here is a bit less focused than my last Beaujolais, I get the sense of it being somewhat spread out and not as linear but nevertheless it remains very potent and definitely grabbed my attention.

Overall, the 2009 Jadot is good stuff, a lot of fun to drink and explore. I think perhaps it is veering towards the wine-geek side versus the casual drinker side though. Maybe another six months to one year in the bottle will allow some of the more potent minerality elements to recede, allowing that lovely fruit and floral to shine through. Since Easter is approaching, a great pairing would be a rack of lamb that's been baked with lots of herbs. Alternatively, some prefer ham with Easter meals but I'd caution against a honey baked ham, the pairing doesn't seem like it would taste good at all.

For a suggested retail price of $13, and a real-world retail for as little as $9, this is a QPR winner and a wine you should pick up as a way to explore outside the typical "new world style" wines you might drink. I highly recommend it, giving a B and a STRONG BUY recommendation. While that may cause wine geeks and wine experts to scoff a little bit, they would be well served to remember that we all must start liking wine at square one, and our journey takes different paths for each individual. To experience a great sense of terroir balanced with a winemaker's talents at a reasonable price, this is something you should buy. Where can you find the Louis Jadot wines? Everywhere! They're imported by Kobrand and distributed across the country. Try your local Beverages & More or supermarket.

This wine was received as a sample for review purposes from Kobrand. 

Beau Carufel

It's Friday Night and the Morgon Beckons

2009 Joseph Drouhin Morgon
100% gamay, as that is the only grape that you can legally use in the appellation of Beaujolais. Looks like someone took the color purple and ran 10,000 volts through it. Smells like crushed violet petals, spices, gravel, and smashed grapes. You want to shove your nose into the glass as far as it'll go, you want to spend an hour just smelling the wine, searching for every nuanced aroma you can find.

Don't do that, you'd be depriving yourself of something sublime. Take a sip! Feel the velvety ripeness slide into your arms and whisper words like "plum, spice, minerals". In your arms, feel the curves in all the right places, making you want to hug this wine closer to feel its embrace on a deeper level. But wait, here comes something slinky, equally seductive yet leaner, more focused. Your palate can't help but notice acidity and the way she gracefully slides between you and ripeness. Every part of your palate tingles with her presence, yet she too is fleeting. While you sit and ponder what's happening, she slides away and there's nothing you can do about it beyond admire the elegance and grace with which she recedes from view.

So you sip again, once more you experience something wonderful, a wine with soul. There's beauty here, an expression of a grape manifesting as an event. The synergy between emotion and consumption reminds us that  wine does hold a special meaning in our hearts.

Beau Carufel

Beaujolais Day! 2010!

Happy Beaujolais Day!  

The third Thursday of each November has become known as "Beaujolais Day", a day when wine lovers of the world celebrate with a glass (or bottle) of Beaujolais Nouveau.

What then, is Beaujolais Nouveau and why should we join together to celebrate it? Two questions that many people unfamiliar with this celebratory day will ask. I suspect most of the general public is aware of Beaujolais Nouveau day as I am aware of the proper way to perform open-heart surgery. You/They/Them might see the flashy PR materials and press articles then dismiss them as something wine geeks do to pass the time. But wait, there's more!

A bit of history and world geography then. Beaujolais is a region within an appellation within a country. France would be the country, Burgundy would be the appellation. Within that is the Beaujolais region/sub-appellation, and here we can find some truly amazing wines. We also find Beaujolais Nouveau, which is the first wine released from each year's vintage. Originally the Nouveau was cheap, quaffable juice that was hauled down from Burgundy to Lyon as something to drink dock-side or at home as a way to commemorate another year's harvest.

Often it fermented the entire length of the journey and was consumed as a "young" wine. These days, by law, the only grape that can be used is Gamay Noir, and a fermentation technique called Carbonic Maceration must be employed. That means very little, if any pressing of the grapes, rather, carbon dioxide is pumped into sealed vessels to begin fermentation within the grape itself. This results in lower tannins and alcohol along with a youthful, it not well suited for aging, style of wine.

In the 1970's, Georges DuBoeuf began to market the festive side of Beaujolais Nouveau, introducing it across Paris, then to the United States. The them this year is that of a circus, or cirque en Francais. Around the country, wine lovers are partying it up with many bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau (often provided for free). It's a relatively good marketing campaign, though research has shown consumption of Nouveau dropping for the past several years.

Where does this leave us then? I could make fun of Beaujolais Day, like many bloggers do. I could whine about it on Twitter or Facebook. What's the point though? I keep repeating my belief that wine brings people together and can be such a great way to connect or reconnect. To me, a day like today is wonderful because it enables us to get together and talk about something unique. How often do we drink Gamay? Probably more often than we get a chance to taste a wine made by Carbonic Maceration! This alone can stir up some fun conversation.

The wine itself is simplistic, young, racy, acidic and very rustic. In the samples I was sent, I detected notes of banana and bubblegum, hints of earth and kirsch, along with sour cherry. Pretty basic stuff but this isn't a wine to age. Remember, the whole point of Beaujolais Nouveau Day is to celebrate the first wine of the year's harvest. 2010 has potential to be a very good or perhaps even great year, Beaujolais Nouveau might help start that conversation along.

For more information, check out http://www.duboeufnouveau.com and @GeorgesDuBoeuf on Twitter.


These wines were received as press samples


Beau Carufel