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If you go to London, read my blog and like to drink the same sort of wines that I like to drink, then Brawn is a must the next time in your London!  Brawn, the baby brother to the well-established Terroirs, is the sort of restaurant I could eat & drink at every night!  A laid back sort of place where the service, food and wine are the focus here. No fancy table cloths.  This is the sort of place that oozes with passion and it’s easy to see that everyone is having a good time working there.  I also want to thank the staff, especially Maxime & Louise for seating a group of our size. We were 18 people, 19 including David (the local  importer of Frank Cornelissen wines), and they normally limit the size of their groups to 12. So for this, I am extremely grateful because if i had missed the opportunity to eat at Brawn, i would have been seriously bummed.  Enough said.

What we drank:

Camillo Donati Malvasia Rosé / Puzelat Pétillant Naturel

Overnoy – need i say more?! too bad they only 3 or 4 bottles!

Panevino Vigne Vecchie. Again, too bad they only had 3 bottles of this beauty!

Yes, that is a Magma back there. 2007. Thank you David!

Sébastien Riffault Sancerre. A sauvignon blanc w/o cat piss…

Tenuta Grillo Pratosciutto dolcetto – too much wood influence for my buds

Olivier Cousin V V  Grolleau. cool and yummy. some oak, but i like it anyway.

I have to ask Maxime what this was. Something was said about residual sugar and cheese.. But, I don’t remember tasting it.. hmmm.

Zidarich Vitovska Magnum. ok. not going to complain. but i prefer Vodopivec for this lovely, mineral grape. so sue me.

David decanting the Magma. Photo accurately depicts our vision by this time in the evening 🙂  Just one thing to say about the Magma: wait 5 years to re taste.. Oh, and thanks David! One of the highlights of the evening for sure

If I remember correctly, an unsulfured Cortese from Valli Unite BiB..?  Very interesting, and a pleasure to taste. A tad green for my buds.

How i finished the evening – sharing this bottle of Ganevat (Jura) with Maxime, Louise and Ed the chef

And what we ate:

oysters, no doubt!

And let the pork begin! That country terrine was nice!

some shellfish!  Great broth!!

oven baked pork on a bed of chick peas, and a bitter salad of radicchio!  rustic and delicious!

Pork rinds! wouldn’t have been complete without!

Of course, cheese. If I remember correctly, all English

Apple pie? who remembers! just look at those beautiful glasses of wine!

And no night out in London would be complete without a chance meeting and greeting with the great Jancis Robinson, who obviously also appreciates the sort of wines that Brawn is serving!  respect!

I’ve written about Marc Barriot and his Clos de l’Origine before, so if you wanna refresh your memory, click here. The wine i wrote about was one of his whites, but this is something completely different. It’s not red, that’s for sure, but it’s not really white either. Rather, this wine glows much like radiator anti-freeze fluid.. What? yup.. it does, check it out:

Date tasted:  January 26^th, 2011 21:00

Appearance: Orange, brown, greenish color. Much like radiator fluid?? The grenache gris is a light red colored grape which with some skin contact should give the wine a pinkish-orange hue.. Judging by the look of this wine (the color), it does suggest some oxidative wine making techniques.

Nose: at first whiff, reminds of an oloroso sherry, or better yet, a Marsala. It is an oxidized style wine. It does have a bit sharper aromas with some citrus, orange peels. Almonds, raw. Dusty, wet stones. Hints of caramelized nuts as well on the back. Hints of espresso. Strange wine. Sherry-like tones are what I keep coming back to. Pecan pie? I should also say that the aromas jump out of the glass and you can smell it from feet away.

Palate: Bone dry. Slightly nutty at first with some citrus peel and mineral. Nuts come back after swallowing. A bit of an alcohol sting, but not too much warmth. Very, very slight hints of rancio, with the dried, spiced fruit. Oxidative style really dominates. Fresh and rather light with a pretty good structure. It’s actually quite drinkable for this style of wine, but i still think I’d rather share the bottle. Semi-long, semi-sweet finish.

I wonder what Marc eats with this wine? Cheese? Charcuterie?? Or is it just as an aperitif?  I don’t love it. I don’t hate it…hmmmm, I’ll have to try it again tomorrow.

January 27^th, 2011 17:15

Nose: sweeter aromas today and more spicy notes. I swear i can smell dried apricots and more candied nuts. Much less noticeable alcohol on the nose today as well. I have to say that i am a bit surprised at how this has changed overnight for the better. Some of those oxidized notes that were so dominant yesterday have sort of «oxygenated» and burn off… an oxygenated oxidized wine?

Hmmm. My mouth is watering as I nose this glass…

Palate: Much «sweeter» on the palate today as well. Again, those apricots and candied nuts that I found on the nose. Alcohol also less noticeable than yesterday. A slight, very pleasant bitter almond finish appears today, and i love it. This is a great aperitif. Something about this also reminds me a bit of a vermouth, like Martini Rosso (minus the sugar). Know what I mean?

The finish is also longer and sits on the middle of the tongue, and the roof of the mouth. Like sucking on a candy.

I am enjoying this wine much more today than i did yesterday. Has this wine opened up and improved since yesterday? Am I more relaxed today? Is it a «better drinking day»? Or is it just because the wine is a few degrees cooler today giving it all these positive attributes? I don’t know. I know only that this is damn good right now. There is something about this wine that makes it much more quaffable than yesterday.

On January 30th, a few days after i started writing this tasting note, I got this message from Marc describing this wine:

“The Vin de voile is a mistake. he came from the quilles Libres 2004 grenache gris. i harvest the grenache gris the 20/08/2004, fermentation in big barrel for 30 days, then aging in barrels outside, bottling direct from the cask, only 13 % alcohol, a dry and fine rancio!!.

the color was a big rosé, so i put it outside in used barrels for 365 days. after sun, rain and wind it became a nice ‘ptit Vin Jaune” …

i decided to bottle it (600 bottles). i have 192 bottles left. pretty hard to sell in France when it is not a vin jaune !!

it is very good with cheese and foie gras or such spicy meals, but French are very chauvinistic so i keep drinking it slowly and give for special tasting…”

In a separate message, he confirms that this was his first vintage with this grape variety:

“the famous grenache gris which skin color is red, so at harvest when i press a bit too much, i extract too much color… and so it became a nice rosé!!

it takes time to like it, try whit a manchego, anchovies and pizza or foie gras (half cooked) if you still have some…”

January 31^th 2220

Appearance: Slightly more brownish in color as you see from this photo. This was to be expected as this wine is oxidized to begin with.

Nose: Aromas still jumping out of the glass as I pour the wine. Very «sticky». Marsala-like. Rancio more than on the previous days – these are my initial impressions as i am pouring the wine. I have yet to nose the glass. As I nose the glass I get very intense, nutty aromas today. Less fruity than on previous days. Walnuts. Nocino (walnut liquor). Worn leather.

Palate: Definitely more oxidized on the palate with some persistent bitter-sweet tones. Alcohol again more integrated. Long finish. Very marasala like and still very savory. I would definitely like this wine as an aperitif or with some nuts and cheese. .

I have tasted most of Marc Barriot’s wines. I like them all, but I have to say that my favorite is still the 2008 P’Tit Barriot which he has bottled in 2 lots.  The first bottling/Lot 1 –  “a very small parcel of old syrah on gneiss soil in Latour. i kept it for 4 years , very old and very low yield.”   Marc is currently bottling Lot 2 of this wine and here is the difference – “the second petit B is produced on the new terroir of Caudies far at the end of the department of 66, altitude quite high 360 m, limestone and schiste soil, lot’s of bird, bees, grass so a big Life over there!! no neighbour, very quite and lovely name: L’amourouse in catalan mean the lover.  It is a carbonic maceration aged in barrel(6 months) and tank until now to loose the technologic aromas and get the terroirs taste of these very “green region” which is the fenouilledes compare to the moon of “Maury” ??

For me, the P’Tit Barriot is full of personality and should be tasted if you have the chance.  I find it very quaffable and easy to like.  And who can resist the label..

So I don’t update as often as I should (whatever that means). So, since I spontaneously write, as it should be, I decided to do a “live” tasting note.. That is, I am writing this as I taste the wine.. This opens me up to some critique perhaps?

Anyway, the goal here is few words, less education, and just to post

I got this wine from Pierre at La Verre Volé (Paris) the last time he was here in Bergen. I decided to crack the bottle tonight cause I felt like it and I thought it would be nice with this (wild soul on a bed of organic capers from the island of Pantelleria, fennel and potatoes..and a few other things):

Here are my quick tasting notes just to make it official:

Appearance: golden yellow – see photo

Nose: Medium intense, youthful and rich nose. When I nose this sort of wine, I feel right away that it is an organic/biodynamic wine with spontaneous fermentation (ok, Pierre gave this to me, so what else could it be?!) There is something about the expression of the wine that signals this for me right away. Hints of lees and yellow fruit, citrus and yellow stone fruit with a mineral lift giving the wine a fresh edge. Hints of alcohol on the nose. Jumps out of the glass at first.. I love wines that are alive!

Palate: A rather rich, dry palate with good acidity and a slightly bitter/mineral finish. Sits well long after swallowing. Again yellow fruit. Yellow berries and ripe citrus fruits. Hints of passion fruit? Nice food wine, not necessarily vin de soif. Well balanced. Well intrigated alcohol overall with just a hint of warmth at the end and at the back of the throat.

After just 15 minutes open the wine is tightening and becoming more citrusy and mineral on the nose and palate. The sweet, very ripe fruit I first nosed is burning off – and that’s good for me

I get sort of a Chenin Blanc feel with the wine even before researching what the hell it was I was drinking..

Ok. doing a bit of reasearch right.. At least I got the terroir correct (Loire). Wrong grape though, Chardonnay.

Be right back, gotta pop that fish in the oven!

Ok, here I am… So, I guessed chenin blanc. not sure why, just felt like it. But, apparently, it’s a whacky Chardonnay.  Oh well.. follow these links if you want to read more about this small bio producer from a small northern appellation in the Loire just outside of Orléans.

Mmmm…ton vin!

EATER

Ok, the wine has been open for half hour now… vin de soif!! Et voilà!

This must be the fastest post I have written…. until next time, drink wine that you like.

In a country where disposable income seems to be increasing rapidly, the world of wine is only at it’s infancy with hopefully only one direction to go and that’s up.  This will be of course an “uphill”  battle in a country that consumes loads of Vodka (which is very cheap) and beer (also cheap).  They also have a vast variety of  “wines” from central Europe which on average can cost half as much as the wines from what I call the “Old World”.   Still, people seem to be talking about wine and wine shops seem to be opening up as fast as you can imagine.  Yet, in Krakow (Poland’s second most populous city with a population of just over 750,000), there is a serious lack of wine bars.  I can count them on one hand and still have some fingers left over.  Just to give you some perspective, in Bergen where I currently reside, there are at least 5 wine bars. Bergen is a city with one third the population of Krakow and is in a country that doesn’t (yet) produce wine (Poland does, by the way).  Despite this, one wine bar is surviving and even growing.  Welcome to the Wine Garage.

Wine Garage (the bar) got their start about 18 months ago.  Not only is Wine Garage a nice, cozy spot to drink some good wines, but the owners Mariusz and Agnieszka have also been importing and distributing their wines throughout Krakow for the last 5 years.  They focus on organic and biodynamic products (they also have a small selection of coffees and teas) from mostly small producers from Italy, France, Hungary and even Moravia (Czech Republic).  Wine Garage is located underground (that is,  one floor below street level) on a small residential street about a 5 minute tram ride from the historic city center.  The vibe is very informal and easy going, making you feel welcome and relaxed from the minute you enter  and come down the stairs.  Sit and enjoy a glass of wine with some cheese, or buy a bottle to take with you. It’s up to you.

In countries where a new economy is booming, many people with these new found riches like to show others  by proudly displaying recognizable labels from not only marks like Mercedes Benz and Prada, but also wine labels like Möet & Chandon and top Bordeaux’s.  This makes Mariusz and Agnieszka’s job even tougher trying to sell items with little known, non-conventional labels.  But it seems to be working out for them because as I write this, they are preparing to open a second location right smack in the city senter.

Ok, now on to some wine! Last night I had the privilege to get to together with Mariusz, Agnieszka and a few other wine enthusiasts to taste some wine.  The first wine we started with was a bottle I brought with me, a 2007 Dario Prinčič Pinot Grigio.  Seven days of skin contact gives this Pinot Grigio an unfamiliar hue that most wine drinkers wouldn’t expect.  This pinkish-skinned grape is usually made into a white wine, which I feel is a shame since my two favorite Pinot Grigio’s are made with the skins, like red wine.  Dario’s Pinot Grigio is made with grapes grown in a very natural way, only spraying sulfur if he really needs to and nothing more.  His philosophy is carried over into his wine making where, you guessed it, nothing is added, not even the yeast.  He checks his free sulfur levels before bottling (he adds none during the wine making process), and sometimes adds a little just to get the number up to about 20mg/liter.  I love this wine, and the others seemed to enjoy it as well.  Aromas of orange peel and tea, spices and herbs.  On the palate the wine is simply delicious.  Fruity, mildly tannic and even at 14% alcohol, extremely refreshing and easy to drink. Perhaps the best Pinot Grigio I have tasted (or should I say – perhaps my favorite Pinot Grigio thus far).

The second two wines were sponsored by wine enthusiast Kuba.  The first of the two was a “mature” Burgundy.  A 1995 Domaine Chaumont Pere et Fils Mercury that he found at a very reasonable price (about 100 Polish złoty – or about $34). Kuba had drank a bottle just the night before and was pleasantly surprised by it, so he decided to pick up another for this tasting.  I don’t know much about this producer except that the grapes are his own, not purchased.  The wine appeared more youthful in the glass than the age would suggest. The same held true on the nose.  No dominant oak here, just fresh red fruit, some herbs and hints of characteristic farmyard.  The nose made me eager to taste, but I nosed the wine at least 5 more minutes because the nose made me so eager with anticipation that I wanted to delay the pleasure a bit.  When I did finally take a sip, I have to admit that I was disappointed.  The wine still had it’s tannins and acidity in place, but the fruit was no where to be found. Have I just found my favorite H2O?  We laughed a bit at the comment made by Kuba that the wine tasted like Pinot Noir-flavored water.  The bottle he consumed the night before was still alive and fruity according to him.. Oh well… on to the next wine.

The next wine was a surprise.  A 2008 Vinařství Baloun Merlot from Moravia.  A very light, fruity and peppery wine carrying a modest 11.5% alcohol.  When I first nosed the glass, the first aroma that hit my nostrils was pepper, and lots of it!  Followed by very sweet, almost candied, red fruit.  These two aromas I would never have expected to find together.  Most of the “peppery” wines I have come across carried more earthy, less sweet aromas.  This was strange.  But, the more I aired the wine, the less candy-like the aromas became.  The pepper stayed and now red cranberries were the dominant red fruit.. Now the wine was getting interesting to me.  On the palate the wine was light, fresh and peppery with red fruit shoulders.  Low acidity and no tannins make this the perfect quaffing wine on a hot summer’s day.  I enjoyed the wine, but I felt it carried a rather hefty price tag of 43 Polish złoty (about $11.50).

We then moved on to a Spanish wine from Jerez de la Frontera provided by Carlos, a distributor for the wine.  A 2009 Viña Greduela Coupage Joven.  A bold blend of organically grown Merlot (40%), Syrah (30%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%) and Tempranillo (only 10%).  First aromas to hit my nose were quite intense.  Ripe fruit, even some over ripe fruit characteristics, with mostly dark berries, plums and stewed plums.  Hints of the yeast with a mild volatility suggested to me spontaneous fermentation.  Very nice structure on the palate, refreshing acidity and medium plus tannins suggest that this Joven was young and could be possibly enjoyed for the next 5 years.  A good wine, a drinkable wine.  Not yet available in Poland.

And the last wine that made an appearance last night was actually a wine provided to us by Mariusz and Agnieszka from the Wine Garage selection of wines. A new Piemontese producer for them (and for me as well).  A 2007 Olek Bondonio Langhe Nebbiolo.  An organic producer of Polish decent.  This wine was a modern Nebbiolo made in the slightly oxidative style.  On the nose, the delicate aromas of the nebbiolo grape were hard to pick up at first whiff, but as the wine aired (and aeration it does need), the wine became a bit more characteristic.  Structure on the palate was immense and the tannins were very round (rounded out by the storage in small oak barrels).  This for some may not be an easy to understand nebbiolo, and for others may not be their style.  Whatever the verdict, it’s a pricey nebbiolo at around 120 Polish złoty (around $41). Despite this hefty price tag, and the average person’s propensity to spend little money on wine in Poland, the wine is selling well says Agnieszka.  That’s good news.

All this wine made us hungry, so we were fed some homemade Bigos, a traditional Polish hunter’s stew.  This Polish “national dish” is made with cabbage, sauerkraut, various cuts of meats and sausages and a few other ingredients.  I’m told the longer you take to make the dish, the better it is!  And, it’s supposed to get better the longer you keep it for.  This was by far the best Bigos I have tasted in Poland. Thank you Agnieszka!

Frank was kind enough to send me this email and allow me to post it here for my readers. Thank you Frank.

FrakeClaradipingere - Frank & Clara Painting

Dear friends,
The picking of the 2010 harvest finished on November 1st.
A special harvest in many ways for me. First of all as this is my 10th harvest (we survived the huge financial and economic risks), second as this was probably the most difficult one so far because of the risks of loosing over half of the crop (but we didn’t!) and third because of the new cellar we have inaugurated with this harvest (the extra space was a blessing!).

2010 was dominated by a lot of rain since the beginning of the season; a lot of vegetation resulted in vines with more vigor than usual, needing more canopy management, especially the vineyards in the lower quotes. The high vineyards did very well in terms of extra water overall during the year and this was a blessing for the vines. The summer was dry as usual and the ripening this year was accelerated over this period. Autumn was epic in terms of excessive humidity. Most of all we lacked the classic winds this year that keep the air dry; nights and mornings were dominated by humidity and the extra rain showers weren’t a help.
We have lost quite a bit of white grapes this year as at a given moment I decided to go for botrytis which in the end hardly didn’t develop and so we cut down lots of grapes due to the grey mould developing. It was either this or picking unripe watery grapes… difficult decisions especially when looking at all the grapes on the ground…

Frankfolature - Frank Punching Down

The difficulty in keeping grapes healthy was great and monitoring and cleaning to push to ripeness was extremely demanding this year with long days in the vineyards and even longer nights in the cellar. The new cellar with more space to work in an ordered and cleanly way came at the right moment and was a blessing in these difficult conditions.

All is fermenting for the moment and we will be pressing a bit earlier also as the fermentations on the reds are finishing faster than usual. The whites ferment slowly and doesn’t seem to want to stop… The rosato has been produced this year and was separated from the skins on November 7th. We used the running juice only and have 2 anforas aging with the malolactic nearly finished.

Another novelty is the arrival of a new person to our crew: Samuel Vinciulli, a graduate in enology who has “passed the test” during our harvest, will stay for two years to join us. Australian-Italian, Sam has worked in many different cellars and will be a welcome help with his positive energy and expertise in the cellar so that we can move into another level of quality and research over the next decade.

FrankeSamanfore - Frank & Sam Amphorae

During the winter period we will finally open our blog to be able to inform our clients and friends of our “works-in-progress”.
We will keep you updated!

Cordiali saluti,
Frank

What?! A cooperative making wines without the addition of Sulfur?! Is this possible? Yes it is!  The Valli Unite coop in Alessandria, Piemonte was formed over 30 years ago by three men who merged their vineyards and built stalls for their farm animals in order to use organic manure.  They saw organic farming as the way of the future, and from this was born the Valli Unite coop.

Today, they are a group of 25 people working together.  Their viticulture follows closely the belief that wine drinkers should drink  little, but well.  In their wine production, the aim is to let the wine remain as alive as possible so that it is the true reflection of the grape.  They use old cement vats to ferment their reds later transferring them to barrels.  This wine was bottled without filtration. No sulfur was used from the beginning of fermentation to time of bottling.  Here are my thoughts:

Date Tasted:  November 7^th, 2010 20:42 (8:42pm) – decanted after 5 minutes

Appearance: Dark purple with light purple edges. Great color extraction and very young in appearance.

Nose: Dark berries, especially black berries with fresh red fruits in the background. «frutti di bosco» (forest berries). Slightly reductive… will decant… purple gooseberries and hints of barnyard and crushed, dried leafs. Smells like a freshly fermented wine.

Palate: slight fizz on the tongue, very slight. Frutti di bosco all the way with tremendous structure, medium (ripe) acidity and gripping tannins. Medium length finish (approx 20 seconds). A very structured wine that has lot’s of mouth feel. I don’t mean «velvety» –  rather chewy, rustic and a bit «rough». Well integrated 13.5% alcohol.   Not an elegant wine, but a very honest wine which begs for grilled sausage.

21:10 (9:10pm) almost half hour in decanter

Nose: The wine is much more floral (roses) now then before. The reductive notes have fallen to the background and are no longer as noticeable.

Palate: some sour red plums on the finish now. Tannins have stepped up a bit and now dominate a bit.

November 8^th, 21:52 (9:52pm)

Nose: more fruit showing and less reduction. Tree bark.  Blackberries and raspberries. Also some black currants and purple gooseberries. Very slight hints of dark licorice and bitter almonds (like found in the pit of a peach)

Palate: Still has very grippy tannins, really feels like you are chewing on the pips of the freshly picked grapes. Pure fruit quality in my opinion. Mostly dark berries, but yet a fresh wine. Hints of licorice and dried leafs. Again, really strong character of pure grapes and the pips. Really more open then yesterday. A slightly bitter finish. Really enjoying this wine today – just like eating the grapes off the vine. Picture this – you walk into a vineyard and grab a handful, and I mean a handful, of healthy, ripe dolcetto grapes and just pop them in your mouth. This should give the idea of the how this wine is every time I take a sip. This is one unsulfured wines which I feel could benefit from some storage – let’s say a year or two?  And you know I love my wines young.

November 9^th, 18:15 (6:15pm)

Nose: More earth and dark berries. Hints of lavender. Alcohol also more noticeable on the nose than it was in previous days.

Palate: A bit rounder today. Tannins  softened a bit. The finish is a bit more leafy. Just as fresh as the first day opened, but the tannins seem a bit more integrated today and the finish is more «almondy» now, which I love.  Alcohol still not noticeable on the palate, well integrated.

I drank the last glass and a half with a homemade burger topped with white cheddar, caramelized onions and avocado… gotta say that the wine was a bit too much for the burger, even with the cheese and onions. Although Dolcetto’s are often paired with «carne cruda» (or beef tartare) with the raw egg and the fixings in Piemonte, this dolcetto would be too much in my opinion. Try this wine with another Piemontese speciality,  fresh pasta with rabbit ragu. Or if you are in Norway, like I am, try with some duck confit. With the wild flavors of the duck, this wine should pair well.

Robert Camuto’s Palmento is a  journey through Sicily that describes the landscape, people, lifestyle, personality, generosity, cuisine and even the mafia of Sicily all between two hard covers. Oh, and did I mention that the book is also about wine?

For me reading Palmento was like watching the movie Sideways. An entertaining book about wine and at the same time, not only about wine. Sideways was fun to watch if you weren’t into wine, just like the book is entertaining to read weather you’re into wine or not. Follow Robert through his Sicilian adventures and misadventures making you eager to want to to see how it ends and at the same time, you just don’t want it to.

If you’re like me and are passionate about wine, then you might know that the book’s title Palmento, refers to «traditional stone wineries with massive wood lever presses» that were used in wine making in Sicily generations ago, and can still be seen strewn around Sicily like old abandoned bicycles in Amsterdam. For those of us not familiar with the Palmenti, and don’t care, then the title simply sounds like an Italian name for something charming, and indeed the book is just that, charming.

If you’re into wine, then you should read this book. It has enough wine information about some of the most interesting wine makers in Sicily to keep your attention. The book welcomes you into their homes, lives and wine making techniques. This book is also for those of you that like to travel, and actually feel like you are doing so through the eyes of the author. But be warned, you will often find yourself salivating as if you were the one actually traveling and eating your way through Sicily.

If you like my revue, then you will like the book because I don’t write nearly as well as Roberto Camuto does.  A must read…. for everyone. I couldn’t put it down.

“Go Orange!” is the theme here.  After more than a few years including my orange wines neatly hidden among it’s white counterparts, i have finally decided to create an orange wine section all of its own. You will find the orange wines listed after the whites and before the rosé’s.

I should also include my definition of orange wine here. In order for a wine made with white grapes to be included in my orange wine section, it should have at least 48 hours of skin contact.  In some instances this is enough to give the wines their orange-hued color earning their “orange” name.  In other’s, it’s just enough contact to give the wine a glowing yellow color a few shades darker than your average white.  The 2009 Sassaia from Angiolino Maule’s La Biancara is an example of this. Just 48 hours of skin contact gives this wine a glowing yellow, almost orangish color, and is therefore included in my orange wine section. An unsulfured and spectacular wine, I love it.  Look for a tasting note on it soon.

Along with some of the rarities you’ll find in the new orange wine section, there are some other new wines i should mention here. Like my first 100 % Merlot wine, the Rosso Masieri.   Also produced by the outstanding natural wine maker Angiolino Maule of La Biancara (the same guy who makes the Sassaia named above).

Some new wines and vintages from Jean-Pierre Robinot also made it onto the wine list, like his 2009’s Concerto & Regard along with two sparklers – all unsulfured of course.   Some interesting wines from Henri Milan, both white and red, from Provence.  A couple of new Sassella Magnums from Ar.Pe.Pe in Lombardia.  A couple of new Spanish titles, including one from the island of Tenerife.  I have also added the “Four Thirteen” wine from A Donkey & Goat winery in Berkley California – my only California wine on the wine list!  Named “Four Thirteen” because the wine is made with 4 of the 13 allowed Southern Rhône grape varieties.  Click on the Donkey & Goat bottle below to view the most recent wine list.

Clos de l’Origine – Marc Barriot

Marc Barriot, originally from Bandol, obtained his BTS in Viticulture-Oenology in 1995.  After obtaining his degree, Marc chose to travel the world to  hone in his skills and to gain experience.  He finally settled in Maury in 2004 where he now cultivates 10.5 hectares of vines spread across several communities: Estagel, Montner, Latour, Maury and Caudies.  He discovered slopes with magnificent old vines (min 65 yrs, except for the Syrah).  Marc maintains low yields in the vineyards and he works them with love with his mule.  He has been farming organically and biodynamically since the very beginning.   Most of Marc’s vineyards are certified organic from the 2009 crop. Marc vinifies his whites in tank and old barrels and the grapes are harvested “green” to promote acidity, and subsequently bottled the following year with minimal use of sulfur. Read the rest of this entry »

I just wanted to post a list of things that I believe in. These are just my beliefs, and are not necessarily truths for you. They are merely my strong opinions and may not reflect yours.

• Not all conventional wines are bad – If you like it, it’s good
• Great wine tasters are those with great recollection abilities
• A great quality wine can stay open for more than 3 days and remain drinkable
• What you can’t see can hurt you – Don’t filter the nutrients out of your wine
• If over used, sulfur does not preserve a wine, it kills it – Wine is a living thing, please use sulfur judiciously
• Wine comes in all colors: white; orange; rosé; red….etc.
• Natural wines still contain alcohol, so drinking 2 bottles per night may not be healthy
• Natural wines are often very food friendly
• The definition of «Terroir» must include the wine maker
• Not all Pinot Noir’s are good – Not all Merlot’s are bad
• Not all natural wines are good – If you don’t like it, it’s not good