Sunshine so brilliant greeted our arrival in Chablis for this week long "fete" to showcase the treasures of Burgundy it was in direct contrast to the rain and chill of two years prior, where umbrellas and coats were necessary to protect against the winter chill.

One of the hazards of being a wine educator and writer is that as one palate's evolve, so does the price of the wines. It may be a slow progression for some -- a step up from village level Chablis to one from a trusted producer, and before you know it, you are buying first and grand cru.

Yet tasting through the village level Chablis in the 2008 vintage at the Union des Grands Crus de Chablis tasting this past Monday any wine lover would be pleased to buy on this level. It was a treat to see so many producers whose name I recognize from my local wine store standing by their wines, offering pours. And in contrast to two years ago, everyone seemed to speak English -- had my daily hour with Rosetta Stone Language software been in vain?

The wines I tasted were fresh and delightful with very high acidity and a strong mineral content. Depending on the producer and nature of his or her terroir, even the village level wines seemed to have enough balance, concentration of fruit, and acidity to age for quite a while.

As for the crowd, last year I saw Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies, from New York but he said he wasn't going to make it. This go round I was pleased to see my friend Becky Sue Epstein along with Elin McCoy, a fellow member of Manhattan's Wine Media Guild.  But where was my friend Panos?

Amanda, a fellow Master of Wine student I tasted with during the Hospices du Beaune, said hello in the room reserved for the Grand Cru Tasting. You probably know there are 7 Grand Cru yet can you identify the differences? Identifying them may be a lifelong process, yet as time goes on and the more Grand Cru Chablis I drink the more the individual terroirs make themselves apparent.

Differences between Grenouilles and Bougros seem easier to note than the other Grand Cru areas. Bougros seems to have a very strong nose and palate of extreme minerality. Les Preuses, specifically Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre, seemed to have a pronounced element of lime and citrus, and curiously, the acidity was not as racing as the Grand Cru Preuses from Domaine Simonnet-Febvre.. Perhaps it could be chalked up to Fevre's forty year old vines.

The entire 2008 vintage across all the Crus was showing quite well, with all wines having incredibly high acidity, solid concentration of fruit, excellent balance between the fruit and acidity and alcohol, and very gentle oak. The AOC that one my vote yesterday was Grenouilles - I particularly liked La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2008.

I also liked Blanchots, both Domaine Laroche "Reserve de l'Obedience 2008" and Chateau de Viviers which had quite a bit of texture, possibly from battonage and 15% aging in French oak barrels. Laroche was a particular study in balance, very elegant, with a pastry cream sort of aroma. It had been aged 9 months on lees, with 80% in French oak barrels.

Domaine des Malandes Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir got notes of praise for its balance, finesse, and delicious palate of citrus and pastry cream. Le Clos, as represented by Domaine Servin, struck me as exceptionally full bodied - perhaps due to 100% alcoholic/malolactic fermentation and maturation in oak casks (average age 3 - 4 years).

Also great to see darkly handsome Jean Francois Bordet showing his First Crus - Jean Francois had been one of three Chablis producers who came to New York last fall on a media tour. And I was able to meet in person young Romain Collet, whose wine I wrote about during a Master of Wine related tasting practice.

The buffet was an extravaganza of incredible cuisine from the area's celebrity chefs.

Gorgeous sunny weather is this beautiful city is always a treat. I am here today, March 15 2010, on a four day study trip with fellow students in the Master of Wine program. Happily, I've met most of the group during our Napa educational week and then during what is called a 'Course Day' in the UK and dinner at the wine bar Terroir.

Our first day started at 4pm and went until Midnight.

Chateau Rauzan Segla

Nearly an hour's drive from the modern city of Bordeaux is the castle-like structure of this 2nd growth winery that was built by Pierre des Mesures in 1661. Much of the origninal structure remains and on this gloriously sunny day it is awe inspiring to walk the same manicured graveled walks as Pierre and his descendants.

I've read that during the 18th century the estate has vineyards encompassing Gassies, Segla, Desmirail, and Marquis de Terme - it was inherited in 1903 by Frederic Cruse - and feel into a state of disrepair and neglect due to lack of investment. Many fault the old, infected wooden vats for the loss of the wine's quality, which may be why so many wineries are using stainless steel today.

The chateau was bought by a negociant who replaced the tanks with stainless steel and grubbed up the vineyard to plant a majority of cabernet sauvignon, with a smaller percentage of Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. The percentages vary yet as is the case in most of the Medoc, Cabernet Sauvignon is the major varietal.

During the harvest, 100 extra workers come to pick and select grapes, which is done on two selection tables by block and varietal. The average age of the vines is 35 years. The estate has 52 hectares.

Once sorted, the perfect grapes are de-stemmed and led down by gravity to the crusher, where they are gently crushed (not more than twice) by block and varietal and then put in fermentation tanks where they are quickly fermented at a warm temperature (29 c) with native yeast for a week, and then enjoy three more weeks (depending on the vintage) of masceration with the skins in tank, with twice daily pump overs using a special mechanical device that takes the juice from the bottom of the tank and pumps it over the top. Then the wines are aged in oak in a series of two rooms. The first year room sees each barrel "topped up" through the bunghole twice a week for three months. Then after six months the wine is put in the second year room, which has them age in a combination of new and second year French oak from a variety of forrests to improve the aroma and complexity of flavors. The wine is racked six times in room, a traditional time honored process which uses egg whites to to fine the wine (they do not filter), with the yolks reserced for a famous cake traditional in the area. Six eggs to each barrel. Just enough wine is run out with each racking until it runs clear, and then it is put in another barrel so in the end the winery is left with a naturally clear product which contains the complexity of flavor without the cloudiness.

We tasted the 2007 first wine - the vintage was said to have been challenging. I liked the wine yet thought it was very feminine in style, with lots of bright red fruits, very sweet and intense. My technical notes are below

Violet ruby color, purple rim, medium intense nose of sweet intense violet, tart raspberry, pomegranate, black licorice, and cherry.

On the palate, Dry, medium acidity, medium tannin (very balanced), tannin that can be described as somewhat grainy in texture, medium body, 13.5 alcohol, and flavors of tart cherry and tart red fruit.

Overall the wine had finesse, good length, intensity of flavor, complexity of flavor, concentration of fruit, yet curious about its potential to age for many years and until I taste through several vintages, am unsure if this wine is a one-off vintage and expresses typicity for this winery and their terroirs. I would love to find out.

Chateau Cos d'Estournel

Another visit to a gorgeous estate, this one curiously Indian influenced in style (on the outside at least) with a lovely palm tree lined entrance way. We were met by General Manager Mr. Jean-Guillaume Prats, one of the most elegant and well spoken winery GMs I have met, which is saying quite a bit because all of them are exceptionally gallant.

After our warm welcome we were ushed upstairs to the Indian-influenced tasting room, where we found it arranged for a formal tasting of their En Primeur 2009 vintage. The wines were all a purple-violet color with a purple rim. I really liked the 2009 Goulee, which is made from old vine Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the north near the river. I liked the second wine, Pagodes, as well. These vines are all under twenty years. The percentage here is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot.

The first wine Cos d'Estournel was delicious … a very complex nose of vanilla spiced plum and palate with medium acid, med+ tannin, a medium body, med+ alcohol, and incredible spice and minerality. With its finesse, length, complexity of flavors, concentration of fruit, it shows the potential of aging quite well.

After this elegant tasting with its formal placemats, napkins, and bevy of uniformed servants (security?) we were ushered into a futuristic fantasy land of the inner workings of this fabulous state of the art winery. Pictures (well, these pictures at least) can not do the stunning scene justice. I must persuade the winery to send me images that reflect how gorgeous this winery is. Think a Vogue fashion show, with models slinking down an illuminated high tech Lucite runway and you will have an idea of what this winery looks like. It is all Lucite and sophisticated high tech lighting and shiny surfaces. Pumping over is a work of art here, a silent musical symphony of shiny moving parts. One wonders why one needs to go to this extent to accomplish the basic purpose of pouring wine over itself, yet -- why not? Quite a step away from the ancient TV episode when Lucy Ricardo stomped grapes with her bare feet.

Dinner in a private room was another embarrassment of riches. 1998 Tattinger Blanc de Blanc, Antinori Solaia 06, Cos d'Estournel 2003 -- all incredibly fabulous. To end the dinner that included truffled scallops, lamb, and cheeses, was 20001 Hetszolo Tokay (5).

... so I will be in Bordeaux in a few weeks to attend En Primeur ... and so appreciated the snapshot of some of the 2009s showcased by Sopexa's Le Cercle Rive Droite today for journalists and members of the trade. The 2009s were showing remarkably well! At the same time, Sopexa showed "Today's Bordeaux 2010"  which is a selection of 100 Classic, Contemporary, Affordable wines. The wines were all under $30 and some delicious wines as low as $13.

Jeremy Benson of Benson Marketing Group

When I was in Bordeaux a few years ago, speaking to producers and the CIVB, the message they wanted to get out was that Bordeaux isn't some "fancy wine for special occassions" - it is to drink with dinner on Tuesday nights. And it really is true that when someone mentions "Bordeaux" the perception is that of the Grand Cru wines that could cost more than ten thousand dollars a case.

Daniel Marsteller

Luckily the wine store near me carries a lot of under-$20 Bordeaux by small quality producers, so I am a bit more familiar with this taste profile than the Grand Cru. The wines showcased today, mostly 2005s, were very well balanced and delicious, with many of the producers speaking with pride about their new sorting equipment or other machinery. If you are used to California cabs, you might appreciate the lower alcohol and more subdued and restrained flavors. Among the white Bordeaux I would like to call attention to Chateau Lamothe de Haux, 2009, a dry white blend of 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon, and 20% Muscadelle. Lots of delicious goodness for $13. On that 2008 trip I was invited to stay at the winery's gorgeous chateau in Entre du Mers. Click here to read about the drama that occured in their limestone caves.

Damien of Les Caves Du Chateau Lamothe

Some of the tasting, for me, was educational. It was quite a great opportunity to taste across the regions, finding similarities and differences. I found that most all of the Saint-Emilion had a curious clay-limestone type of element ... yet really didn't have enough regions to compare it to.

Helene Garcin Leveque of Vignobles Garcin

Among the notable producers was Chateau de Pressac in Saint-Emilion. I met the owner J.F Quenin who explained the method beyond the smooth flavors of their Grand Cru - almost unheard of in a barely out of the barrel 2009. We discussed pumping over vs. punching down and which is more gentle, with M. Quenin explaining they have a special machine that punches down very gently and evenly, and when the skins have given color to the must, then they pump over. Though the winery uses 100% new wood, the wine was so incredibly balanced I couldn't smell or taste any wood at all - it was very well integrated.

I was also impressed by Clos des Jacobins, which is a "Grand Cru Classe" - a wine that does not have the distinction of a Grand Cru by title, yet I found much better than its sister wine, a Grand Cru called Chateau La Commanderie. The producers explained that the Grand Cru classe wine sold for twice the price of the Grand Cru, and that they are applying to kick it up a noche in the system (an occassion that happens only once every ten years). To be successful in elevating a wine, producers must submit ten vintages for tasting, notes and studies on the soil, and incredibly, stacks of (hopefully good) publicity so the powers that be can see that the wine is getting good reviews, and even more incredibly, a hospitality program that sees the winery hosting tours.

One of the best things about being a wine writer is the opportunity to meet really great people. Wine producers always seem to be so genuinely friendly and nice. Of course, they are sales peole by necessity, yet every single wine person I've met has always been incredibly sincere and passionate about their product.

This past Monday night I had the occasion to meet producer Antonio Garcia Figuero, whose family owns a winery called Garcia Figuero in Ribera del Duero and goes back through several generations. The wines of Garcia Figuero are all 100% Tempranillo, which as you know is Spain's signature grape.

What is frustrating about tempranillo - to students of wine at least - is that it can take on so many personalities. In the "old days" one had better chance of identifying a Tempranillo, especially from Rioja, by its signature "American Oak" barrel aging which resulted in specific aroma. Today producers are experimenting with many different types of oak, and many different styles.

The Tempranillo of Garcia Figuero is smooth, elegant, and their very finest "Noble 2004" has been described (not by me) as akin to the finest Bordeaux. At $130 it is certainly equivalent in price, but I liked this wine for its smooth, elegant richness of fruit and complexity of flavors. It's not just the Tempranillo grape at work here, it's the soil of Ribera del Duero which has quite a bit of minerals, iron in particular. You can taste ripe jam, licorice, all very smooth and balanced and compex and rich.

For this wine, 70 year old grapes are hand harvested, destemmed, and put through gravity-controlled tanks (Antonio is very proud of these new tanks, as they improve the quality of the wine) it is macerated two days prior to fermentation. It is aged 21 months (15 months in American Oak, six months in French oak from the Allier and Troncais forrest). It then spends an additional 15 months aging in bottle before leaving the cellar.

Yet if this wine is too rich for your budget, you can choose a 'Crianza' which has spent twelve months in barrel. I liked this wine a lot ... rich concentrated flavor of spiced plum, vanilla, blackberries ... and a bit of new French oak shinning through. 85% of the grapes used for this wine come from 20-40 year old vines, with the remaining coming from vines older than a half century. After the grapes are hand harvested they are destemmed, go through gravity controlled tanks, and have five to six days of cold soak maceration prior to fermentation. $28.00

I also liked the Reserva (15 months in Barrel, $53.00) which was delicate with firm yet plush red fruit, quite silky and sensuous. Vines used for this wine are all over half a century, and after gravity controlled tanks have two days of masceration prior to fermentation. It is aged 15 months in new barrels (95% American, 5%French) and sees an additional 21 months aging before it leaves the cellar. Affordable for all at $19 is the Roble Four Month, which has a fresh dark berry aroma. Well balanced and delicious yet can not be compared to the rather coddled wines described above. 

Antonio, his siblings, and brother in law J. Felipe Martin Cabezon run the winery now as his father is mostly retired and they feel very positive about the future of the winery. Tasting the wines, I can see why.

... so on my previous post I mentioned I have been coming here for years to catch up with fellow professionals throughout the world.  Even the most jaded journalist can always learn something new, and of course new associations can always be made.

This year Tuesday kicked off with optional visits to To Kalon or Cade vineyards ...

yet our flight arrived too late for this, so arrived in time to hear Frances Mayes, author of "Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life" speak about her book.

Every Day in Tuscany

This segued into a talk called "Sense of Place" by Louise Kiernan, writing coach from the Chicago Tribune. In the interactive writing exercise, I remembered writing about one of my favorite Languedoc wines I enjoyed by an ancient Roman structure in the Coteries de Nimes, where gladiators fought over blood and sand. (Something about the Carignan grape and its corporal quality).

Wednesday's events took place at the CIA in the famed Greystone building. Jeff Morgan, winemaker and author whom I interviewed many times, gave a fabulous brief on winemaking bore Karen MacNeil (author of The Wine Bible and now invited to the Hall of Fame from our Wine Media Guild) in New York and Eric Asimov, Wine Editor of the New York Times, gave a great presentation on tasting notes.

John Ash cooks lobster

Lobsters and Viognier were the theme of the day in the next presentation by John Ash, Chef, Author, and Instructor at the CIA and Antonia Allegra, founder of the Wine Symposium and creative writing expert, gave a talk on writing about food and wine pairing.

lobster dish

The highlight of this afternoon was a dynamic talk by Vic Motto, Chairman of Global Wine Partners, on the current recession and ideas of how the industry can dig its way out of a "recession mentality."

In the afternoon, Mark Krasnow, a post-doctoral candidate at the University of California at Davis, gave a talk on identifying flaws in red wine, followed by a "crash course" on red wine varietals in California Bordeaux style wine by Meadowood's Director of Wine Education Gilles de Chambure and Cain 5 Winemaker Chris Howell offered an enlightening lecture. The vines for all varietals are planted all over Spring Mountain, with Howell revealing that it many be many decades until it is known which varietals perform best in which plot.
 

That night, a friend arranged us to have dinner at Bottega in Yountville, a Chiarello restaurant that is quite popular. Chiarello produces wines and we tried his Cabernet Sauvignon Eileen (2006) as well as a reasonably priced Puglia red. The food was quite authentic -- appetizers and pastas are served family style which allowed guests to try various bites.

Thursday - today - was also very dynamic. Alder Yarrow was moderator of a social media panel, with the panel consisting of Doug Cook, Director of Search for Twitter, Steve Heimoff, California Editor for Wine Enthusiast, Joe Roberts, 1winedude.com, and Patrick Comiskey, Wine & Spirits. The theme was what bloggers could do to build brand and buzz, with the audience very keen on probing questions. The takeaway point of the panel was for bloggers to educate themselves on search engine optimization. 

Alder Yarrow by night ... (without jacket)

The Wine Writers, Ethics, and Income Streams panel was also quite controversial - Steve Heimoff moderated a panel including the S.F. Chronicle's Michael Bauer, Bon Appetite's Heather John, and Thomas Ulrich, of the Journalism Department of California State University.

I thought Christian Miller's report on "What Wine Drinkers are Reading" was fabulous. Miler is part of Full Glass Research and had some eye opening statistics. Following this was the The Luxury Media Panel revealed the "do's" and "don'ts" of the trade.

So tonight the conference is over - tomorrow is all about Premiere Napa Valley as we gear up for the sold-out auction!  Stay tuned!



 

... so I am on my way to the opening of New York, February 3, 2010

I had spent the opening day (February 3) in the Napa Valley at a conference related to the Masters of Wine (though happily we did have an Italian wine seminar with many examples of great Italian wine).

One of the many things discovered at the conference is that Italian wine is very popular in Japan and the UK, and the number one source of wines imported to the United States with 30 percent of the market share in the first 11 months of 2009.

This year's edition is organized by the Italian Trade Commission with the support of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with four of Italy's most prominent and promising wine regions: Apulia, Calabria, Tuscany and Veneto, and with the first-time participation of VinItaly and Buonitalia under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. 

Among the highlights of VINO 2010: The Italian Wine Masters - a new collaboration among the Consortia Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Prosecco Superiore Conegliano-Valdobbiadene featuring focused seminars and a grand tasting of wines offered by 150 producers; more than a dozen other specialized seminars on recent market trends, indigenous varietals and many other hot topics; an Italian Wine Exchange Grand Tasting showcasing over 300 wines from Apulia, Calabria, Tuscany and Veneto; dinners hosted by each of the sponsoring regions on February 4 at the Waldorf-Astoria, with customized wine pairings and menus from the chefs of four notable New York restaurants: I Trulli, Il Gattopardo, SD26 and Salumeria Rosi.

I will let you know more when I am there!

“Now this Volnay would go perfectly with salmon!” says Becky Wasserman, the vibrant American-born French wine importer and head of Becky Wasserman Selections who is giving a presentation to the eager young staff at London Lennie’s, a famous, casual, yet upscale high quality seafood restaurant in Queens that is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year.

Though it is three o’clock on a rainy Monday afternoon, the dining room is packed with a mixture of families, friends, and local business people who look delighted to be there. The fresh whole fish, attractively displayed on a bed of ice, look remarkably less so.

Few restaurants – especially in this economic climate – can afford to have three dozen or so employees participate in a mandatory lesson on wines of the world and how to pair them, let alone engage one of the most famous negociants to give the presentation. Yet successful wine and food pairing is important to Leslie Barnes, who manages the restaurant built by his parents Leonard “Lennie” Barnes and his wife Joan Barnes after they relocated to Queens, NY from London, England. And it’s especially important to keep the staff wine savvy, now that they were honored with the 2007 & 2008 Wine Enthusiast Award of Distinction and 2008 & 2009 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

Wine Director Brad Haskel

Joining Becky in the presentation is her son and colleague, Peter Wasserman, Becky’s husband Russell Hone, and Michael Feuerstein of Pas Mal wines, whose wine we will be tasting and learning about today.

The servers, mostly attractive young women, look barely old enough to drink yet they listen with attention as Becky first explains the style of the wine, the region it is from, and then help the servers identify flavors and aromas in the wines.

First among them is a grower’s champagne, Champagne Jose Dhondt Blancs de Blanc NV, which is crisp, with a flavor of golden apples and the tiny bubbles that are a hallmark of good French champagne. We learn about the soil (Peter effectively gestures how deep the vines drill down through the limestone) and how it is made before tasting.
 

Muscadet is a wine few Americans know about, yet it pairs so well with fish with its aroma of fresh ocean spray and its racy high acidity. This one is Domaine Guindon 2007 and would be a great match for London Lennie’s seafood

Peter Wasserman

Next is the Fougeray De Beauclair 2007 Bourgogne Blanc – a wine that will pair very well with most of the white fish London Lennie serves. We learn a bit about the producer, his style, and his judicious use of oak (old barrels so you can taste the wine, not just oak).

Few Americans have tried a white wine from the Cotes du Rhone, but this Villages Blanc Saladin “Per EL” (named for the producer’s wife) 2007 is right on. The majority of the grape is Grenache blanc. For this discussion, Michael Feuerstein of Pas Mal wines jumps up and tells the assembled audience that the producer handed the winery to his two daughters, an unusual practice for many French producers, and shares many colorful anecdotes about their down-to-earth, feisty personalities.

Mrs. Barnes

Finally, we taste the only red – Volnay 2006 by Jean Yves Devevey. It is delicate and delicious, filled with light, sweet floral aromas that will enhance rather than overwhelm London Lennie’s deliciate fish dishes. I can see this pair well with a salmon served rare.

At the end of the tasting, both owner Leslie Barnes and wine director Brad Haskel thanked the speakers for their insight, and also for talking about wine in a way the young servers can understand. And the servers also thanked Becky and the others for helping them better serve the customers by tasting some of the more popular wines on the menu and being able to describe them accurately.

London Lennie’s
63-88 Woodhaven Blvd.
Rego Park, NY 11374
Tel : (718) 894-8084
Fax: (718) 894-5258
Hours
Mon-Fri 11:45 AM - 10:00 PM
Sat 4:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Sun 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Becky Wasserman Selections

Pas Mal
Michael Feuerstein

 

Imagine yourself at a very elegant restaurant, hosting an important client, or trying to impress a date. You both decide on white fish as an entrée, so you are leaning toward a white wine. And since Chardonnay is such a popular grape, and Burgundy, France, such a respected region, you decide to go in this direction.

Yet as your eyes scan the enormous wine list, you see the various regions: Chablis, Meursault, and Puligny-Montrachet (and dozens of others). Maybe you remember ordering wines from these regions before, maybe you don’t, yet either way you feel frustrated that you can’t remember the differences between them.

Of course, you could always call over the sommelier and at the moment, it is probably your best option. Yet in the future you could help recall tasting notes from these wines with some practice.

Recently, I had to taste and compare three white Burgundies from the above-named region in the same vintage for a Master of Wine related exercise. So for this tasting I choose 2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault (from the village of Narvaux), the 2007 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet, and the 2007 Jean Collet Chablis Vielles Vignes The idea was to open label taste the wines, then bag them and see if I (and a friend) could detect the correct wines.

2007 Jean Collet Chablis Vielles Vignes

Before tasting the wines, I did as much Internet research as I could. I had been to Burgundy before and remembered Chablis (mainly because it was February, freezing, and could not find a coat to buy in the charming tiny Chablis village),

So having been there, I could imagine the high acidity, the clean citrus flavors, and other elements associated with very cool climates. The Chablis was as I expected it to be: very high acid, sharp citrus (lemon, a hint of grapefruit), some mild apple, some fresh butter (as opposed to melted), and minerals.

On the Internet, I read Chablis producer Jean Collet’s family began producing wine in the 17th century, and his vineyards are parcels locate on the best hills on both the left and right banks of the river Serein in the village of Chablis. Soil is limestone and marl from (Kimmeridgian and Portlandian). The age of the vineyards is 25 years, and they do a mechanical harvest and use a pneumatic press. The wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel under controlled temperature.

Now I am going to discuss the other wines, yet will compare them to one another and leave the Chablis out of the comparison. True, these wines are all from the Burgundy region, but because the Chablis is stainless steel only, and the others have oak, it is very easy to detect the differences (even by sight, as the above wine is very pale lemon).

2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault & 2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault (from the village of Narvaux)

In terms of sight, you might guess that the Meursault would be darker because of a tradition of oak aging, and you are right. Open label tasting the Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault it was “easy” to detect the subtle differences. The Meursault was characterized by butter, ripe apple, subtle spice (from oak), vanilla, and very rich, ripe, generous, concentrated fruit. It seemed ready to drink, and would not necessarily benefit from additional bottle age. In terms of quality, it seemed very much a premium wine. The Puligny-Montrachet was a little lighter in color, with a medium plus nose of butter and very ripe fruit in addition to aromas of hazelnut and saffron. One could almost detect a pastry cream type of aroma and the biscuit aroma often a result of decomposed yeast cells. On the palate, the “texture” was opulent, rich, generous, supple, and concentrated while the acidity was still medium plus. Very good quality again.

Though the Puligny-Montrachet was $60, it was only a village level wine. The two grand cru vineyards in Puligny-Montrachet are Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, and two which are shared with neighboring Chassagne: Le Montrachet itself and Batard-Montrachet. I read that the village wines are “less impressive” than the village wines of neighboring Meursault because the water table is nearer the surface. This means that village producers can not dig the deep cellars ideal for aging and they can not prolong barrel maturation for more than a year.

The Carillon family traces their lineage in Puligny Montrachet to 1520 and it is comprised of 12 hectares of vineyards. The holdings in Puligny (8 ha total) are various parcels located on the Chassagne side of Puligny, within “Enseignere.” On his web site Mr. Carillon writes that the grapes are harvested manually, with the whites barrel fermented and aged in a small percentage of new oak and that some of the Village wine is aged in larger foudres rather than small barrels. Battonaged is practiced. The wines are assembled in stainess steel prior to bottling (which occurs in early spring) 18 months after harvest.

Now the Meursault terroir consists of marl and chalk soil, and the kind of high water table that allows producers such as Phillipe Chavy to carve deep cold cellars. No Grand Cru in Meursault, yet the Premiere Cru vineyards are Les Perrieres, Les Genevrieres, Les Charmes, Le Poruzot, Les Boucheres, and Les Gouttes d’Or. M. Chavy writes on his web site that he cultivates 8 hectares of splintered holdings comprising 30 plots. The various cuvees are vinified separately and may be blended later depending on his objectives. The grapes are harvested by hand as the vines are old and the rows very narrow. It takes 30 harvesters ten days to pick the grapes. Though his father and grandfather used mechanization and sprays, Mr. Chavy decided to revert to ploughing his vineyards, and no longer uses herbicides or insecticides so as to preserve the environment.

In the cellar, Mr. Chavy uses a pneumatic press (ideal for gentle, slow pressing of the must) and stainless steel, temperature controlled tanks.The final phase of vinification and maturation is conducted in oak barrels of various ages and provenances. The wines are aged for 11 month with regular stirring of the lees. M. Chavy writes that he recently purchased a special hi-tech filter so as to avoid stripping the wines of flavor before bottling. A small producer, Mr Chavy has two full time employees and his wife Graziella looks after sales.

So after tasting the wines open label, the idea was to bag them and the next day, pick out the correct wine. Though it was easy to tell the difference open label, the 24 hour lag seemed to have made the comparison between the Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault more difficult. The darker color of the barrel aged Meursault was the best tip.

And there you have it!

Which of the above villages are your favorite, and why?

For whatever reason, I received the book About Wine by J. Patrick Henderson and Dellie Rex over two years ago, yet had been too overwhelmed by my wine studies to open anything that wasn't Janscis Robinson or Tom Stevenson. It's only now that I have my diploma from the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust that I am dusting off my wine books and taking a (relaxed, for once!) look inside.

Now I haven't met Mr. Henderson, but I knew Dellie Rex when I lived in Boston and was active with Julia Child and the American Institute of Wine and Food. Not sure if Dellie and I met at an AIWF event or not, yet this is a terrific book and I am so proud of the authors.

In some ways, it's a nice bridge between a wine created for students in intensive wine programs, and service people (waiters, sommeliers) who read Brian K. Julyan's book "Sales and Service for the Wine Professional." Most of the "textbooks" I used in my WSET study didn't really talk about service all that much, or how to set up a wine list. This book is very practical in that regard. The authors, Henderson and Rex, also take a different approach to wine regions. When they discuss Burgundy, for example, they define each village and the style of wine it produces quite succinctly.

Each chapter begins with learning outcomes -- what the student/reader will learn as a result of reading that chapter. For this reason, i can see the book used the the Wine Directors of restaurants in whatever wine program they might be developing for the staff. It gives the reader a clear sense of what they are expected to know.

Very impressed by this book, and feel that it fills a very needed gap in the market as it is more extensive in terms of regions, history, and tasting notes than Julyan' shorter, more specifically service book, and is less intense than the oversized, dense educational books.

As a wine educator, one of the most pleasurable aspects of my profession is choosing a theme for a class and introducing students to exciting wines or wine regions I have discovered. And here in Manhattan, this is a special challenge, because in this jaded city most everyone dabbling in the world of wine has tasted pretty much everything the world has to offer.

So I first decided on a theme of Aromatic white wines, and decided that this class should be called “Discovering the ABCs of Wine.” Now in this context, the word “ABC” can mean “introduction to wine” – which is also an intention of the class. Many people have enjoyed wine for decades without really understanding how to analyze wine and appreciate the opportunity to formally learn this skill. Yet for me, ABC also means “Anything But Chardonnay.”

Now there is nothing wrong with Chardonnay. It is an international variety produced almost everywhere on the planet. It can grow in warm and cool climates. It can smell and taste like hot buttered popcorn, apple pie a la mode, or like mineral water with a squeeze of lime or lemon. And the reason it has so many expressions is because for the most part it is a neutral grape, with its expression and style coming from the choice of vinification.

Now for this tasting I chose three aromatic white varietals considered very unusual and hard to find. The first was a 2007 Domaine de Cezin, a wine made from the Chenin Blanc grape that grows in a tiny AOC region called Jasnieres in Touraine in the Loire Valley (France). What’s interesting about this appellation is that it was created in 1938, about a half century before the ‘frenzy’ AOCs are today. Almost every day, it seems, a new AOC is granted.

Given this 1938 AOC designation, one has to ask what is so special about this wine that it was distinguished from all the other regions in the Loire? First of all, Jasnieres is a tiny appellation … just 128 hectares under vine and a dozen producers making a living off their wine. The wine is named after the “terroir” so Domaine de Cezin is the name of the plot, now owned by the Fresneau family since 1952. In doing research on this wine, I saw many family photographs dating even earlier than 1952 – it is very much a family operation. This was likely the case in the Middle Ages, when wine from Jasnieres was drunk and celebrated by Kings (possibly, I’m assuming, with oysters from the mouth of the Loire). If you know Chenin Blanc, you know that it can be dry, sweet, or off-dry, depending on the mood of the producer and the vintage. In good vintages, Chenin Blanc is almost always sweet. This 2007 vintage borders that difficult area between dry and sweet … technically, I believe it must be under 9 grams of residual sugar to be considered “dry” yet sometimes searing acidity can make a technically off-dry wine taste dry by contrast.

In any event, when you taste this wine (a class favorite) you will find very high acidity that is a perfect match with seafood, good mouthfeel, racy acidity, minerals, and notes of lemon and citrus. The soil here is called “tuff” and is made of soft chalk, decomposing clay, with flint – very difficult to work. Vineyards face the south for sunshine and protection from the north winds. The forest of Berce also helps te vines resist the wind. On the web I read that some visiting journalists stopped by for tasting and M. Fresneau revealed that he recently tried a wine from the turn of the century left on the property from previous owners – and that it was still fresh and lively. I can believe this given the soil, acidity, and fifty year old vines.

Now the next wine ws Vin de Savoie Apremont Les Rocailles. I loved this wine in the 2007 vintage (no longer available). I first experienced it in a blind tasting, and with its delicate white and gold flowers, seemed possibly a Muscat. Actually, the grape is the Jacquere and it ONLY grows in the Savoie area of France, which is between the Italian and Swiss Alps. Unlike the Chenin Blanc from the Loire, this wine is meant to “drink now.” The 2008 had less flowers, and more minerals and fruit, which seems mostly citrus (tangerine, orange pith) with some minor CO2. The producer is now Pierre Boniface, who inherited the vineyard from his father when it was twenty hectares producing only this varietal. Now, I read that Mr. Boniface also makes red wines, has increased his hectares, and has succeeded in conquering the export market. In conducting research for the tasting, I see that a handful of blogger/tasters have written notes on this wine, with their readers so excited about it they are demanding to know where they can buy it. If you are reading this outside NYC, you might check out the web site for Hand Picked Selections, its importer.

The last wine in the tasting was the 2007 Finca y Bodega Carlos Pulenta Torrentes Tomero Valley de Cafatyate, which is a favorite among the ladies who lunch crowd. People – mostly women – who rarely drink love this wine because of its intense floral nose. It is like being at a bridal shower in terms of that light, white floral aroma. The grape is indigenous to Argentina (Salta) where it is sunny 360 days a year. Irrigation is mandatory. Despite the sun, the wine keeps its acidity because despite the warm days the nights are cool. The Torino brothers started the winery in 1898, twenty years after the Cafayate Valley became confirmed as a quality wine producing region.

So there you have it. Three very interesting white wines, none of them a Chardonnay!

Please try these wines and use the comment feature to share your thoughts.