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In Part I of the Bressan producer profile, I discussed in depth the philosophy of Fulvio Bressan.  Now I will present some of his wines which I had the opportunity to taste.  Bressan is an artisan wine producer making wine in extremely small quantities, between 0-50,000 bottles per year.  They specialize in the production of indigenous grape varieties, including the wine being tasted for this tasting note.

The Verduzzo (Friulano) grape is indigenous to Friuli, but can also be found in the Veneto.  According to Fulvio, it is very rare to find dry versions of the wine made from this grape (only 2 or 3 other producers in Friuli  make it dry).  The Verduzzo grapes is unusual in that it has high tannins like you might find in a red wine. Therefore, if the grape is harvested too early, the tannins can be quite bitter and harsh, and therefore wine makers began adding sugar to the wine to make it sweet, thus masking the bitterness of the tannins. In Fulvio’s opinion (and in mine as well), a sweet wine will not be balanced when made in this way.  Fulvio instead picks his grapes at the optimal ripeness (because he is patient), and vinifies the wine as a dry wine.

The first thing you notice when pulling the cork out of the bottle is the quality of the cork itself. Fulvio swears by the quality of his corks and says that if you ever get a corked bottle, simply return the cork and he will refund you.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

And along came natural wines. Pure, fermented “grape juice”. I find it difficult these days to drink wines that I can see through.  I’m not saying I want to have a glass of super-dark, jammy, inky wine.  In fact, I like wines that are lighter in color and fresher in taste.  What I am actually saying  is, I prefer my wines to be totally unfined and unfiltered.  I love cloudy wines, wines with bits and pieces of “deconstructed grapes” floating around freely. A glass of wine that I can’t see through because of the living particles afloat in the glass.  I believe that fining and filtering a wine is partly to blame for the “death” of a wine, along with over-sulfuring. Read the rest of this entry »

Sean Thackrey’s property is in Bolinas,  a one hour-drive north of San Francisco in western Marin County. After harvesting, Sean typically waits 24 hours before fermenting.  Although his wine-peers think he’s crazy, he tells them that he’s merely being guided by his collection of old and ancient texts relating to wine.  You can read more about this art-dealer-turned master vigneron here. I also recommend spending some time on Sean Thackrey’s website, which is very unique. Read the rest of this entry »

Date tasted:  October 8th, 2009 at 23:00

The Philosopher Grower Vincent Gasse lives just outside the main village of Ampuis, in the northern hamlet of Verenay, in the AOC Côte-Rôtie.  From here he conducts his private campaign – to solve the conflict of making truly organic wine off slopes that crumble when you hand work their soil. Read the rest of this entry »

(I am sorry for the quality of the photo’s in this post. Since I am not a photographer, I should really apologize at the beginning of every post, but the photos in this post are especially low quality – blamed on the settings being incorrect on my “wonderful” camera phone. Oh, and although this post seems long, it’s mostly full of pictures to entertain you) Read the rest of this entry »

New for December – I have added the following symbol next to wines that have been made without the use of any sulfur whats so ever:

Our wine list now boasts 19 titles that are made without the use of any sulfur what so ever.  This is by far the largest selection of wines made without sulfur in Norway.  I am not including in this number, nor am I placing the NO SO2 symbol next to, any wine that has had minimal use of sulfur during the wine making process, but none added at bottling.  Had I included these titles, there would have been an additional 4 or 5 titles.  I feel it’s important to mention that these natural wines don’t merely make it on the wine list for looks. We sell these natural, un-sulfured wines on a daily basis. Read the rest of this entry »

While many restaurants in Norway feature traditional Norwegian Christmas food, at Jacob’s Bar & Kjøkken we do things differently.  Our concept for the Christmas menu is the same as usual – simple, fresh and creative food.  The wines I have selected to pair with these dishes also don’t steer away from my usual focus on Biodynamic and Natural wines.  Please note that since we only use the freshest of ingredients and small wine producers, the courses and the wines (and vintages) can change slightly.  So, without further ado, here’s the Christmas menu and the wines: (click on thumbnails to enlarge photos and make yourself hungry and!) Read the rest of this entry »

Here you will find a transcript from my phone call to Jørgen in Italy (the leader of this project). I apologize in advance for this really looking like an exact transcript of our conversation (warning, this post gets a bit technical):

Igino Garberoglio next to the press

Friday & Saturday, November 13th & 14th 2009

“Analysis was done to check if fermentation was complete. Checked the skins. Not much flavor left nor color, so we decided to press and remove the good wine and free run juice. Only the free run juice will become the wine in our bottle. The last 150 liters from each tank will not be used nor will the wine from the press be used, approx 500 liters. The skin was quite dry after the free run juice was removed. The free run juice was placed in one cement tank of 4000 liters (this decision was made after speaking with natural and non natural wine producers). No pump-overs nor “racking” since the very beginning (except removing the free run juice). No “botti grandi” will be used because the tannins are very mature, not aggressive AND THEREFORE WE DON’T WANT TO EXPOSE THE WINE TO ANY UN-NECESSARY AIR. Because of good grape maturation, the tannins are sweet and good.”

“The alcoholic fermentation is not totally complete yet, about 4 grams of sugar left and the wine is still fermenting . The lactic acid is at zero (the Malo is at 1.46, THIS IS QUITE LOW), so the malolactic conversion has not yet begun. The VA (Volatile Acidity) is at 0.26 which is very low and good.”

“The natural sulfur from the fermentation was analyzed (the analysis was done by hand in the lab to be totally accurate). If sulfur had been added during the wine-making process, you would be able to check this by machine, but since we didn’t add any, it must be analyzed by hand. The result was 26mg per liter where 12mg is free SO2”

“The wine has a very high extraction equal to 30.97 grams per liter. A good Barolo, for example, would be between 29-33 grams per liter. Remember that this wine will be bottled as a Vino da Tavola, not a Barolo!  Jørgen also visited Mr. Aldo Vajra (of Azienda Agricola G.D Vajra).  Aldo Vajra used to be a teacher at La Scuola di Enologia in Alba (The School of Enology in Alba, Italy). The analysis was brought to him because the PH and the total acidity levels were a bit low (PH 337 and total acidity is 6.3). Aldo explained that these readings were because of the very high measures of potassium (a salt, which lowers the total acidity level). When the cellar gets cold, the potassium with the tartaric acid form crystals which will fall to the bottom of the tank. When this happens, the acidity level will rise again as the level of potassium decreases. Since this is our first wine, we are analyzing more often then we will when we make wine next year. We are nervous about our first baby! Aldo also said “Sei appostissimo! Non ti preoccupare!” – translated means “Things are perfect!  Don’t worry!”

Irma Garberoglio tasting our wine

Tasting (drinking) of the wine: “it’s balanced and leaves the mouth very clean and fresh. High and mature tannins. A liter of wine was consumed this evening by Jørgen and the “Carussin” family  and the wine was fantastic!! The “Carussin” family were surprised that the wine was so clean. Even the color was deeper than expected.”

“The plan now is to (the tank is closed and still fermenting)  leave the wine alone until the malo acid converts over to lactic acid which could happen this week or in early spring as the air warms a bit.”

We have decided to bottle the wine (hopefully next year) using the same system as used for Moscato d’asti so as not to expose the wine to any air when bottling.”

On my recent trip to France, I dove head first into the natural wine world, meeting with some of the greatest wine makers making wine today.  Between tasting the wines of these “hero’s” of natural wine at the various natural wine bars in Paris, to visiting them at their “domains”, I got to better understand their wines and the people behind them. I would like to apologize in advance for the quality of these photos!

The "Wine List" at Racines natural wine bar & restaurant, Paris

Monday, November 2nd 2009

After having lunch with Jean-Marc Brignot (Jura) at Racines in Paris, where we consumed a 2002 skin-macerated Riesling from Alsace produced by Gérard Schueller with a gorgeous plate of pork, we headed for the Loire Valley. Our destination was Domaine Griottes, an approximate 5 hour drive south and West of Paris.  Since their wine “P’tite Gâterie” (here’s a tasting note for this wine) had been on my wine list for the past 6 months, this was a visit I was looking forward to.

Domaine des Griottes label detail with logo

Domaine Griottes is located in the small village of Saint Lambert du Lattay. Located in the Loire Valley (within the Anjou appellation) about 26km south of Angers, 175km from the West Coast. Patrick Desplats & Sébastien Dervieux are growing and making delicious wines from an almost unheard of local variety called Pineau d’Aunis.  A grape that made wines consumed by the nobility between the 13th and 15th centuries, it has almost completely disappeared from the Loire Valley save for some brave & passionate wine makers like Patrick and Sébastien. The grape produces some of the most exciting spicy red wines with aromas of grapefruit and pencil shavings. In my opinion, Domaine Griottes make some of the best examples in the Loire Valley from this grape. (Griottes also produces whites from the Chenin Blanc grape). All work in the vineyards and harvesting is done by hand with the help of Patrick’s ageing horse, Caroline.  Grapes are subsequently fermented in fiberglass. The P’tite Gâterie is then bottled, while the rest of the red cuvée’s and the whites spend some time in oak after fermentation. Although the use of oak is moderate and these wines are great, the oak is detectable and not entirely to my palate.

Patrick Desplats

We arrived around 2100 (9pm) and were quickly greeted by a very outgoing Patrick Desplats, a table full of things to eat

naturally fermenting apple sauce

and of course wine by the magnum pouring.

We tasted all of the wines from previous vintages. Stunning wines all the way through the gamma, even the oak-influenced wines had stunning fruit qualities that could have only come from extremely healthy grapes that were subsequently spontaneously fermented, aged and bottled without even a milligram of sulfur! My kind of wines.

Tuesday, November 3rd 2009

After a good night’s rest at Patrick’s house, we came down for a nice breakfast where we got to sample some of his home-dried natural teas made from various flowers and herbs growing in his yard.  Very inspirational!  We then headed over to the vineyards to see where his Pinea d’Aunis and Chenin Blanc was growing. In some of  their vineyards, the two grapes were growing together, side by side.  We shared a glass of wine with Patrick as we looked over the Loire Valley and talked about the nature and how passionate he was about what he was doing and the nature around him.  He and Sébastien had actually purchased a piece of forest separating his vineyards from the vineyards on the other side of the river. He wanted to keep the conventionally farmed vineyards as far away from his as possible.

As the sun began to set, we headed over to his winery and sampled his 2009’s directly from the fiberglass tanks. The fermentation was just finished. At this time, his 2009’s seem to be stunning. Fantastically concentrated wines with incredible amounts of structure while they were still light and fresh.  His P’tite Gâterie (which is a blend of Pinea d’Aunis, Gamay and Grouillot, the amounts, and grapes, varying from vintage to vintage) will be bottled directly from the fiberglass tank it was fermented in. His other cuvées like La Griotte, will spend some time in oak before being bottled. After tasting the current vintage and as we headed towards the door to leave, we noticed a tank of SO2 hanging from the ceiling where Patrick had placed it to express his dislike of sulfur!