vinosseur

Here’s the latest update.  Even though I practically eliminated my entire Champagne selection, this month I have added a new Champagne. Drappier’s Brut Nature is organic and made without the addition of sulfur dioxide.  This isn’t the only sans soufre wine added this month!  4 more un-sulfured wines were added (for a total of 5) and one that has no detectable sulfur!  The most stunning Beaujolais Nouveau I have ever tasted also arrived at Jacob’s yesterday!

• Drappier Brut Nature – Sans Soufre! – Champagne, France
• Murgo Spumante Metodo Classico Non Dosage 2006 – 100% Nerello Mascalese! – Mt. Etna (Sicilia), Italy
• Crêt de Ruyère/Cathy & Jean-Luc Gauthier (with Jean-Marc Brignot) “biojô nuovo ” Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2009 – No detectable sulfur! – Burgundy, France – A stunning Beaujolais Nouveau  like only Jean-Marc Brignot can bottle!!
  
• Domaine Le Mazel Cuvée Raoul 2008 – After being sold out of the 2007 for about 6 weeks, the 2008 is finally here! – Southern Rhône, France
• Domaine des 2 Ânes Fontanilles 2006 – Corbieres, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
• La Treille Muscate (Catherine Marin-Pestel) L’Effrontée Magnum 2007 – 100% old vine Carignan – no sulfur added!! – Languedoc-Roussillon, France
• Domaine Robert Sérol Les Vieilles Vignes 2009 – 100% Gamay – Loire Valley, France
• Domaine Robert Sérol (L’)Incorruptible 2009 – 100% Gamay, No added sulfur!! – Loire Valley, France
• Bressan Cru Pignol 1999 – 100% Pignolo grape, No added sulfur!! – Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Click on the Treille Muscate Label below to check out the latest wine list!

I thought that publishing my top 9 list would be fun for people to see and also for me to look at in the future to see if my favorites remain my favorites and also to watch my moods change!  Why is it a top 9 list instead of a top 10 list?  Why not?   For now, the wine style I can’t seem to get enough of is that lightish red colored, fresh and slightly CO2′d wine sitting at between 11 and 12% alcohol. Wine number 2 is a good example of what I am talking about (although the last bottle I drank noted an alcohol of 12.5.5% – there’s no mistake in my post, this is exactly the way it was printed on the label)!  (I have left out vintages because I didn’t feel that they were necessary here.. )

1. 1.  Frank Cornelissen Munjabel Bianco
2. 2.  Jean-Marc Brignot Rayure
3. 3.  Camillo Donati Rosso della Bandita
4. 4.  Laureano Serres Montagut Vinyes Arrencades Blanc 2008 *
5. 5.  Maison Pierre Overnoy Arbois Pupillin
6. 6.  Domaine Le Mazel Cuvée Raoul
7. 7.  Camillo Donati Malvasia Secco
8. 8.  Domaine Griottes P’tite Gâterie
9. 9.  Jean-Pierre Robinot Concerto d’Oniss

* (I noted the 2008 vintage here because this is the first and only vintage of this wine I have ever tasted.)

Of course I have many more favorites and could have made this list quite long… but these are my favorite 9 for now!

Located East of Burgundy approaching Switzerland, the Jura is perhaps more “known” for it’s white wines made with the Chardonnay and Savagnin grapes.  For example, the slightly oxidized, “flor-enhanced” Vin Jaune.  However the “reds” made with the Poulsard grape (as found in this bottle), are perhaps more interesting.. At least to me..

After Pierre Overnoy retired, the Houillon family took over the domain. They have continued in the same manner as Overnoy (from what I understand). That is, as close to natural viticulture as possible and the same goes for the wine making.  No added anything here, not even my least favorite friend, Sulfur Dioxide.  I have tasted both the reds and the whites of Overnoy and I have to say they are amongst my favorite wines… of all time, placing comfortably in my top 9 list (coming soon!) of all time favorites.

For many years, the only wines of the Jura I had tasted had been those of Tissot. Although the wines of Tissot are good, they don’t approach the quality of Overnoy’s wines in my opinion. Tissot’s wines can seem a bit “dirty” by comparison (again, my opinion).

Date tasted:  Sunday February 21, 2010 18:45 (6:45pm) – Decanted

WOW!!!!

and…… 1 hour and 15 minutes later @ 20:00 (8pm)

HUH???

When I first opened this wine – it was exactly as I remembered it and expected it to be. A gorgeous, light red color not unlike what fresh squeezed raspberries or cranberries might look like. In fact, the similarities don’t stop here. The nose was of pure, fresh raspberries and cranberries with delicate spices.  Background aromas of cherries, stems and pits.  It had that typical “sponty” (spontaneous) nose and  was slightly volatile , in that way that we natural wine lovers really appreciate, helping those aromas float up to our noses.  Slight animal and mineral tones also noted on the very back. The same was found on the palate.

This wine was very alive and it was making me jump out of my chair with every smell and with every taste.

BUT, within a little over an hour, my friend and I were looking at each other and asking “huh??”. What the hell happened! The wine was almost completely dead.  I don’t normally decant a wine like this. So why the hell did I do it tonight? Was that the problem? First of all, I will never decant this wine again, just in case. Second, I will continue to drink the wines of Overnoy because they are so incredibly seductive. Finally, in the future I won’t take an hour to drink a bottle of Overnoy again!  Oh, I should mention that I had only brought the wine back with me from France two weeks prior – travel sickness??

Cheers!

Here it is! The latest wine list updated for February.  Remember, I’m not just adding titles to an ever-growing wine list. Very often for every title I add, one has disappeared from the list. Since last fall, I have reduced the list by about 20 titles. I try to keep my list dynamic so that my guests (and I) don’t get bored!

As I have mentioned in a past entry, I am reducing the number of Champagne titles on my list and increasing the number of sparkling wines. I feel that there are so many interesting sparkling wines available at competitive prices and from interesting wine areas. I have added one sparkling wine to my list in February and I expect to add 3 or 4 more titles next month depending on availability.

New to the wine list this month:

• André et Mireille Tissot Crémant Indigène Brut – Jura, France
• Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Schlossberg Grand Cru 2008 – Alsace, France
• Château de la Gravelle Muscadet Sèvre et Maine L’Ancestrale 2004 – Loire, France
• Ciro Picariello Aglianico Zi Filicella 2007 – Campania, Italy (Single vineyard, planted in 1925 (see photo just below this description).  Spontaneous fermentation.  20-25 days skin maceration.  Only steel and cement for fermentation and storage (24 months in cement). Less than 40mg per liter SO2.  Bottled without filtration.)

Ciro Picariello Aglianico Zi Filicella Vineyard - Planted in 1925

Click here to see the wine list in its entirety!

I have often asked myself how important complexity is in a wine.  I have also asked people around me this same question and the answers and opinions are mixed. Yes, I like complexity in a wine as much as the next person, and often speak of it when describing a wine in my tasting notes. However, when I think about some of my favorite wines, the wines I drink and enjoy most often, they are simply put – simple.  Does this make them inferior to their peers? Does this make them any less a quality wine?? (Much like my writing style – not very complex, extremely simple, and hopefully getting the point across quickly and easily)

In terms of quality, I don’t necessarily feel that complexity is a trait that a quality wine must possess.  A wine made from healthy grapes, spontaneously fermented, unfiltered and unfined,  then bottled provide me some of the greatest drinking pleasures I can remember. To pick up that glass, smell it’s (sometimes volatile) aromas, take that first sip and to find everything in so much harmony that the bottle of wine can disappear in 10 minutes – now that’s quality. Complexity didn’t even enter into the picture as that bottle of wine vanished within minutes.  I won’t sit here and list my favorite (simple) wines because it may offend those who don’t agree that the wines are simple, although I feel it’s a complement.

The same wine - glass on left is the final pour from the bottle

As I said at the start of this post, I also enjoy tremendously the complexities I find in wines that I can meditate over. A glass that can take me 30 minutes to consume as I discuss endlessly all the aromas and layers I am finding. Do I enjoy this more than than bottle of simple (but well made) wine that I can drink in 10 minutes flat? This depends on the moment I suppose, who I am with and why I am drinking the wine.

Now that I have stated my opinion on the complexity in wine, I will go on to state another opinion – simple wines often go best with food.  Especially natural wines (which often can be simple and very drinkable). I find that even simple (natural) red wines go with fish, simple “white” wines go with meat, simple “dry” wines go with dessert…

Sometimes I feel we read too much, analyze too much and think too much about wine. Sometimes it’s ok to read less, analyze less and think less and let the wine that’s in the glass speak to us.  This is my favorite way to understand and learn about wine.

Food for thought…..that’s all this post is!  What do you think?

For those of you who follow my writings, my last publication was a producer profile on the philosophy and wines of Bressan from Friuli, Italy.  I have been speaking rather loudly about natural wines for some time now and I will again try and get my point across about how when well made, these wines are alive.  The wines of Bressan are no exception to this rule – they are most certainly alive and have one hell of a “shelf life”.

I opened his wines and began to write about them on December 26th, 2009.  I wrote about my findings and continued to taste the wines over the course of the next few days.  On December 30th, I left for Poland where I remained until the 13th of January.  I left approx 1/3 of a bottle of the 2006 Verduzzo  Fruilano and 1/3 of a bottle of the 1999 Pignol in my fridge.  On the evening I returned home, I removed the two bottles from the fridge and poured myself a half glass of each, and was not very surprised to find that the wines were still showing well. There was no sign of turning to vinegar and the wines were still very fresh and drinkable.  This was 18 days after I opened the wines!

Tonight I finished what was left of the Pignol, a whopping 22 days after being opened, and it was showing remarkably well. If I have to be fussy, I could say that the fruit had faded a tad…(but only a tad!).  This being said, the wine was very drinkable (which I did) and showed no signs of negative volatility nor had it become vinegar and in fact improved again once it sat in the glass for 5 mintutes… This is a 10 year old wine opened 22 days ago and I enjoyed it as much today as the day I opened it.. And it was made without the use of sulfur. Sulfur is a preservative that many conventional wine makers say you cannot make a stable wine without it… really?

Before my current position at Jacob’s Bar & Kitchen, where I have the largest selection of natural wines in Norway (and I sell them almost exclusively to the tune of about 250-350 bottles a month (perhaps more)), I managed what is considered the best wine bar in Norway.  A wine bar that boasted a wine list of over 500 titles and the “Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence”.  Although I managed to sneak a few natural wines on the list here and there, the wine consisted of mostly a very well selected group of  “conventional” wine makers. Although we prided ourselves in hand selecting small wine makers and growers, they very often used selected yeasts and sulfur in wine making.  I speak from the 4-years of experience managing this bar when I say that almost every bottle of wine that was open more than 3 or 4 days, ok sometimes 5 days, was sent to the kitchen as “waste”. This included expensive, well-made wines.

In my last 12 months of running the wine program for Jacob’s Bar & Kitchen, I sell almost exclusively organic, biodynamic an natural wines. I have a wine list of over 15 unsulfured wines, and I hardly send a bottle of wine to the kitchen as waste.

I have experience with other natural wines being long lived like the wines of Frank Cornelissen, Domaine Le Mazel (vertical tasting coming soon!) and Clos Roche Blanche (whose wines I have tasted over a one week period) for example.  I have deliberately set aside opened bottles of wine from the likes of these producers and tasted them over the course of weeks only to find that they almost always improve over the course of 10 days. I often find they level out and remain the same through the 14th day after being open, and most will begin to fade after day 18.

Why does this happen? I am not sure that I have the explanation for this. I feel that these wines are alive. Sulfur may be a preservative, but what kind of perservative kills its host?! Well-made wines without sulfur in my opinion are alive, more stable, have more interesting aromas and I am able to drink more and feel better the next day.

I just have to finish by saying that I simply write what comes spontaneously to me.. It’s what I feel.  In this case it’s also based on my experience and I challenge and welcome anybody who wants to discuss their personal findings on this subject, after all, I just want to learn as much as possible about the life that these wines possess.

And along came the Pignolo grape, another very rare, refined, prestigious and indigenous grape of the Fruili-Venezia Giulia region in North-Eastern Italy.  This grape has the potential to make “Cru” level wines, like Bressan’s Cru Pignol, a stunning example of what this grape can do when care is taken in the vineyards and the winery.   According to Fulvio, the Pignol needs at least 8 years of aging to become a great wine, and after tasting his latest Pignol release, I would have to agree. At 10 years of age, this wine is just a baby. Drinking well now, but begging to be left alone for another ten.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Schioppettino is a  red grape grown predominately in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.  Also known as the Ribolla Nera, Schioppettino literally means “gunshot” or “little crack”.  Records show that red wine made from the Schioppettino was used at marriage ceremonies back to 1282.  The grape was nearly lost to extinction thanks mostly to the phylloxera epidemic. Today, Bressan is one of the few wine makers making wine from the Schioppettino grape.

Soil composition: Calcareous mineral base, with high presence of iron sesquioxides. Such geological characteristics, associated with this scarce endowment of organic and other nutritional elements, forces the vines to a slow vegetative growth, resulting in an extremely low production, with an overall benefit to the MACRO and MICRO components of the grapes, and therefore the wines.

• Total surface area: 3.88 HA
• Planting year:  1982
• # of vines/HA:  3086
• Sun exposition: Southern, with rows oriented EAST-WEST
• Harvest:  Permitted to slightly over-mature (so as to attain very high fixed acidity congenital to the species), harvested by hand.

Wine Making: Grapes are de-stalked and brought to must by way of soft-pressing; extremely long maceration with principal fermentation along with the grape skins, refrigerated with well water at a controlled temperature not exceeding 25C (77F).  After racking, the wine undergoes an ulterior 35 days of fermentation. The wine is then stored in stainless steel tanks, followed by aging for at least 2 more  years in 2000 liter oak casks. After bottling, groups of 500 bottles are placed in large chests, which are then stored in a temperature controlled warehouse for additional aging.

• Alcohol content:  13%
• Total acidity:  5.58 g/l

Date tasted:  Saturday December 26th, 2009 12:02 (PM)

Appearance: Medium dark brick red. Very very slight development showing. Medium intensity.

Nose: Very intense freshly ground black pepper. Blackberries and dark plums with mineral undertones. Floral and very intriguing. Hints of roasted meat.  Forest floor, musk and wild fruit. Very complex and intriguing nose.

Palate: Very intense on the palate as well with aromas of black pepper, wild dark berries, musk and hints of red berries with a mineral background. Some pleasant dried fruit aromas as well.  Medium tannins, medium to medium plus acidity carrying the wine to a long, very fresh finish.  Very fresh and very drinkable.  This has always been one of my favorite wines of Bressan..  Excellent with lamb!

Soil composition: Calcareous mineral base, with high presence of iron sesquioxides. Such geological characteristics, associated with this scarce endowment of organic and other nutritional elements, forces the vines to a slow vegetative growth, resulting in an extremely low production, with an overall benefit to the MACRO and MICRO components of the grapes, and therefore the wines.

• Total surface area:  1.41 HA
• Planting year:  1990
• # of vines/HA:  4630
• Sun exposition:  Southern, with rows oriented NORTHWEST-SOUTH
• Harvest:  Physiologically correct, by hand

Wine making: Grapes are de-stalked and soft-pressed, with cold decanting of the must and the total elimination of the entire part decanted.  20-25 days cold fermentation. Subsequent slow fermentation of the fine lees in stainless steel tanks; then aging for 12-15 months before bottling.  Bottles are placed in groups of 500 in large chests that are then stored in temperature controlled warehouses for additional aging.

• Alcohol content:  13%
• Total acidity:  5.20 g/l

Date tasted:  Saturday December 26th, 2009 12:02 (PM)

Appearance: “Ramato” – Copper-like color, but perhaps a bit lighter than the Verduzzo Fruilano with a tad more brownish tinge.  Medium plus intense glow.

Nose: Less intense than the Verduzzo Fruilano and more “feminine”. Fresh apricots and orange peel. Hints of star anise and mineral. Medium complex

Palate: Medium intense wine with orange citrus, hints of apricot, star anise and mineral.  Well-integrated alcohol, very fresh and drinkable. Very mild tannins, medium plus acidity with a long, mineral, fresh finish. One of the best Pinot Grigio’s I have ever tasted, if not the best.

Drinking very well now, but can be stored up to 5 years in my opinion. Another winner from Bressan…

I haven’t done too many “producer profiles” so far, and I suppose that’s because I really have to believe in the philosophy of the producer before I feel compelled to write about them. Then, I really have to like the wines. I may have a favorite bottle, but overall, I tend to enjoy all of the wines the producer makes. Usually the wines will have a certain signature that says they all belong to a certain family – in this case we’re talking about the philosophy and wines of Mastri Vinai Bressan, and that signature is one of  passion and patience. Patience enough to release a wine that, although is certainly age worthy, is actually ready to drink upon release. And this is why I have selected to write about Bressan.

The Bressan family owns about 20 hectares in the Friuili-Venezia Giulia appellation in North-Eastern Italy on the border to Slovenia.  The first thing that struck me about this producer was of course the wines.  Indigenous varieties that one does not taste every day, such as the Schioppettino, Pignol and Verduzzo Friulano. The second thing that struck me was the vintage of some of these wines which went back as far as 1999 (the latest release of the Pignol, for instance). The third thing that struck me was the philosophy of this producer. A philosophy very much in line with what I feel a wine producer’s philosophy should be. Read the rest of this entry »