Zester Daily

3.5.13 -

An invitation to taste Jacquart Champagne over lunch at Chrysan, which opened last summer and is rapidly establishing itself as one of London’s leading Japanese restaurants, was pretty irresistible. But we did have to work for our lunch, which was preceded by a very comprehensive tasting, illustrating above all that the quality and style of a Champagne depends upon the talent of the winemaker for blending.

The winemaker at Jacquart is Floriane Eznack, who first took us through five vins clairs. These are the still wines that form the Champagne’s blend before the production of bubbles. Tasting vins clairs is an intriguing and demanding exercise, and it certainly makes you realize just how bubbles can soften what would otherwise be rather severe flavors.

We had five examples, all from the 2012 vintage. It was not an easy year: There were numerous climatic problems, including severe temperatures in February and prolonged flowering that dragged on for three weeks rather than the usual one, which in turn affected the length of the harvest. Until the end of July, things were not looking good, with mildew and rot, but then hot weather arrived in August and everything came right in September. As we were able to taste, the results in the glass are very satisfactory.

The nuances were intriguing and subtle. There was a Pinot Meunier from the village of Villedommange, a premier cru village on the Montagne de Reims, with a ripe nose and a fruity and rounded palate.

A Pinot Noir from Ville-sur-Arce in the southern Côte des Bar was more structured on the palate. Next came a Pinot Noir from Mailly, on the Montagne de Reims. Eznack talked about the austerity of Mailly as it is a north-facing village, with vineyards protected by the woods on the summit of the hill. There was a touch of pink in the color, with some rounded fruit and quite a full long finish. I did not actually find it that austere.

We finished with a pair of contrasting Chardonnay wines, one from Villers-Marmery, one of the two Chardonnay villages on the Montagne de Reims, with some stony lemony fruit on the palate. Chardonnay from Chouilly on the Côtes des Blancs, was fuller, and more floral.

And then we moved onto Champagne itself, with a vertical tasting of the Blanc de Blancs. Wine from the villages of Villers-Marmery and Chouilly forms the backbone of this wine, as well as Avize and Vertus. Jacquart uses no oak for any of their wines, and so it was fascinating to see how the flavors had developed, with what could almost be described as hint of oaky richness in the more mature wines. I sometimes find the same effect in Chablis as well.

Jacquart Champagne tasting notes

2005: Light golden color. It had quite a rounded nose, quite broad and rich, and on the palate quite ripe and honeyed. The vintage was influenced by some rain in August and September.

2004: I initially liked this a lot, as it was tighter and more structured, with some elegant yeast autolysis. However, Eznack observed a note of reductiveness, and indeed the wine failed to evolve in the glass as the other wines did. Nonetheless it had a dry, nutty palate, but with a tighter structure.

2002: This came from Chouilly and Vertus, as well as Sézanne, a village south of the Côte des Blancs. Light golden. It had a broader richer nose, with ripe brioche on the palate. It also possessed a fuller bodied with a long note of maturity. This was a nicely rounded palate, but with elegance and length.

1999:  This was my favorite as it was light golden and had quite a broad, mature nutty nose. There was a beautifully mature palate. It was rounded and nutty, with a concentrated finish, with understated richness. 1999 was the warmest vintage of the four.

Lunch was accompanied by a flight of Jacquart Vintage Brut, a blend of 45% Chardonnay with 55% Pinot Noir. It can be quite challenging tasting wines with a meal. I find myself getting distracted by other flavors, and that was certainly true of the delicious sashimi selection that was our first course.

Our meal included salmon with wasabi tosajyoyo jelly, yellowtail with mooli and horseradish, tuna with egg yolk soy and ginger, Mediterranean shrimp with ponzu jelly, sea bream marinated with sun-dried tomato, and Parmesan and scallop with shaved black truffle. Some of the subtle Japanese flavors were quite new to me, and the Champagnes set them off to perfection.

We enjoyed a 2005 vintage that was quite golden in color, quite rich and honey on the nose, with texture and depth on the palate, and a honeyed finish. You certainly could see the vintage similarity between the 2005s, although the Pinot Noir added structure to the wine.

And with the 2004 we were treated to quite the best sushi that I have ever eaten, namely tuna with saffron and wakame sushi rice, kinoko rolls with mushroom, chestnuts, edamame, inari rice, with beetroot paper, a salmon cake on saffron and beetroot rice, and an Ebi 10 roll, prawn tempura and wakame rice wrapped in carrot paper. The flavors were fabulously subtle and tasty, and suited the 2204 Vintage Jacquart.

The 2004 vintage was similar to the Blanc de Blancs, for this was quite closed with a firm nose and quite a tight structured palate, and still very youthful,

The 2002 was quite rich and nutty and on the palate with some delicious yeast autolysis and brioche notes. This was my favorite of the three.

And then came the 1999 Vintage Rosé. By this time I was running late for my next appointment, so I tasted it without the dessert it was intended to accompany. I think it would have gone well with something sweet, as it was quite a deep pink, with rather a heavy nose, and on the palate, quite rich and sweet, with ripe raspberry fruit.

Top photo: Jacquart Champagne. Credit: Alex Layton

3.4.13 -

Lately I’ve been frustrating my customers, which is never a wise thing to do. We get asked all the time for analytical stats on the wines we offer and details about our winemaking practices. My catalogues tend to pass over such things, because I’ve reached a place in my drinking career where I find them otiose. This might seem snooty. So let me explain.

First, a wise quote from Peter Jost (of the estate Toni Jost), who said: “Judging a wine by its analysis is like judging a beautiful woman by her X-ray films.” Second, and further support for my theory, a remark I received from esteemed German winemaker Helmut Dönnhoff many years ago, when I asked him for the figures of a wine in my glass. “You don’t need these anymore, Terry,” he said. “Analyses are for beginners.”

But there are beginners, I must remember, and they’re curious, and it’s peevish for me to deny them the understanding they seek. If a drinker is interested in knowing how a wine was made, or in knowing what its acidity or residual-sugar or extract might be, this is entirely valid if she is trying to collate her palate’s impressions with the facts of the matter.  That is a useful way of thinking — until it isn’t anymore.

The ecstasy of defeat

I well remember traveling with an earnest young colleague who sought to guess how a wine was made strictly from its taste. He was especially eager to identify cask versus stainless steel aging. I loved the guy, but I knew the perplexing denouement that quivered a few days down the road. For indeed, at one winery where all the wines were done in cask, my pal was sure they used steel, and yielded to his dismay; however hard he tried, he just wasn’t getting it. When I told him he’d crossed the Rubicon into a place of far greater wisdom, he thought I had a screw loose. I tried to reassure him that being right was reassuring, but being wrong invited epiphany; you ascended to greater understanding through your mistakes.

I remember, though, the urge to understand, to find explanations, to learn the causes and effects of flavor. We mustn’t frustrate that urge –  it’s human to be curious and I think we should respect curiosity. But we also have to help drinkers understand the limits of this vein of knowledge. It is a closed system that gives the simulacrum of expertise while actually leaving us in an airless chamber of our minds. We feel terribly knowledgeable discussing the details of a wine, but there’s a big-picture glaring at us that this approach won’t let us see.

If you’re hungry for knowledge of how a grower trains his vines, prunes his vines, binds his vines; if you seek to know the density of plantings per hectare and the space between the rows; if you’re curious about which clones were used, how the canopies were worked, if and when the winemaker did a green harvest, if the grapes were picked by hand, with what-size teams and with one big bucket or several smaller ones, then these are things you ought to know. Shame on me for finding them ancillary and ultimately trivial.

More than the sum of its yeasts

If you want to know the wines’ total acids, the amount of its sweetness, the must-weights of the grapes at picking, whether it fermented with ambient or with cultured yeasts, how it was clarified, what vessel it fermented in and at what temperature (and if the temperature was technologically controlled), whether it sat on its gross or fine lees and for how long, and whether it was developed in steel or in wood — I don’t mind telling you. But it worries me some. Because I fear that for each one of you who sincerely wants to compare what his palate receives with what’s actually inside the wine, there are many of you who want to enact value-judgments prior to tasting, because you’ve decided what’s permissible and what’s despicable. (This nonsensical approach is rampant in Germany.)  

I am decidedly not in favor of excluding tasters from any wine because they disapprove of the effing yeast that was deployed, or because they won’t go near a wine with more than X-grams of sweetness. Who wants to enable something so repugnant?

Nor am I willing to abet the sad phenomenon of people talking about wine with what seems like authority, because of the “information” they’ve accumulated, whereas they’re actually blocked from attaining true authority by the rigid limits of their approach. If you’re stuck in the “how,” you’ll have a rough time finding your way to the “what.” And that is where true wisdom lies. The wonky isn’t a bad place to be, for a while, but it’s a dangerous place to stop, because like all objects of beauty, wine is more than the sum of its parts. If you’re busily probing into technical minutiae, will you remember to consider not only the application of technique but the expression of a vintner’s spirit? Will you remember to pause for just a second and consider how a wine makes you feel?

Photo: Terry Theise. Credit: Anna Stöcher

2.25.13 -

Last week I was in the Napa Valley, speaking at the Napa Valley Wine Writers Symposium and attending the annual Premiere wine auction. In my many tastings, some wines surprised me. One of them was this deliciously balanced 2009 Hess Collection Chardonnay from Mt. Veeder, with pear-like fruit flavors, juicy acidity and very restrained use of oak.

Over the years, I’ve found the lower-priced Hess Select wines, especially Chardonnays, far too oaky, heavy and lacking finesse. But this one from the estate vineyard is lively, almost racy, with lovely aromas of honeysuckle. It was perfect with a rich Maine lobster dish garnished with Meyer lemon and caviar, the first course at the Wine Writers Symposium Fellowship dinner at Meadowood resort.

Winery owner Donald Hess, a Swiss entrepreneur, began purchasing land on Mt. Veeder, in the Mayacamas mountain range on the western side of the valley, in 1978. By 1982 he had 900 acres, and in 1989 his winery opened to the public. It contains a huge two-story space with a portion of Hess’ stunning art collection; this winery gallery is one of the valley’s must-visit non-wine sites. Paintings by Anselm Kiefer and sculptures by Magdalena Abakanowicz are among the highlights. (Hess also owns several other wineries in California, South Africa, Argentina and Australia.)

To preserve bright acidity, the wine is fermented and aged in neutral French oak barrels, and winemaker Dave Guffy avoids malolactic fermentation. The grapes come from Hess’ cool, high Summit Estate vineyard, with blocks of vines at elevations of 1,300 to 2,000 feet. The 2009 vintage was textbook perfect, with none of the heat spikes that often lead to high alcohol.

The vineyards aren’t organic, but Hess has instituted many admirable green practices — like using the winery’s 100 goats to help control weeds. And it was one of the first wineries to be certified “Napa Green,” a new program to encourage ever-improving sustainable grape-growing processes.

Hess produces several lines of wines from entry level to a group of single-vineyard cuvées. His estate Chardonnay is far, far superior to the basic Hess Select version. It’s not cheap, but then most Napa Valley Chardonnays aren’t. This 2009 Hess Collection Mt. Veeder Chardonnay is one of the good values.

Top photo composite:

Hess Selection Chardonnay bottle and label. Credit: Courtesy of the Hess Collection

2.11.13 -

The official day for romance is almost upon us, and restaurants, retailers and wineries are pushing the same two concepts of indulgence that surface every year: toasting your love with rosé champagne and pairing wine with chocolate. I’m a fan of both, but this year my Valentine wine pick is frothy pink fizz: This rich, fruity non-vintage Laherte Frères Rosé de Saignée Les Beaudiers Champagne, whose beautiful deep rosy color even looks romantic. “Les Beaudiers” refers to location of the vineyard plots.

With its heady, seductive aromas of fresh cherries, and smoky spices and racy flavors of berries and minerals, this bubbly is not only ideal for toasting, but also to sip with a long and leisurely dinner.

This Valentine wine pick is unusual because it is made from Pinot Meunier grapes. Of the three main varieties in Champagne, Chardonnay (white) and Pinot Noir (red) are the famous ones, while Pinot Meunier (another red) has always been the least known and most humble. Widely planted, it produces wines that have more direct plushy fruit and expansive berry aromas, but many Champagne makers say they’re also more rustic and less ageworthy.

Not always. Several small-grower Champagne houses challenge that view with cuvées like this lively one from Laherte Frères, which is 100% Pinot Meunier from 45- to 60-year-old vines grown on stony clay soil.

The small, 25-acre Laherte estate dates from the late 19th century. The fifth and sixth generation — Thierry Laherte and his son Aurélien — use biodynamic practices in their 75 parcels of vines and rely on natural yeast in fermentation. Their 10 cuvées, including this one, very much reflect individual terroirs.

Big mass-produced Champagne brands purchase most of their wine and grapes from the region’s thousands of small growers and blend them together. Growers like rising star Laherte Frères make and bottle their own cuvées using grapes from their own vineyards in one or two villages. This kind of “farmer fizz’” has a more personal appeal that’s just right for Valentine’s Day.  This hedonistic Rosé de Saignée definitely telegraphs:  “I love you.”

Top photo composite:

Laherte Frères Rosé de Saignée Champagne bottle and label. Credit: Courtesy of Laherte Frères

2.4.13 -

In Italy’s Montalcino, the famous wine is ageworthy, expensive Brunello, made only from Sangiovese grapes.  But this small region in southern Tuscany also produces easy-drinking, less expensive reds under the Sant’Antimo appellation, like this bright, juicy 2009 Casanova di Neri Rosso di Casanova di Neri. This smooth, satisfying wine, with its cherry aromas and round, spicy cherry and licorice flavors, was a delicious accompaniment to lamb chops coated with rosemary and garlic and pasta with broccoli rabe at a dinner last week.

The region’s vines are planted on rolling hills that fan out from the pretty medieval hilltop town of Montalcino in the province of Siena south of Florence. The broad Sant’Antimo designation, introduced in 1996, allows winemakers to use any grape permitted in Tuscany, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and to vary their vinification methods. As a result, there’s little consistency of style from winery to winery.

Casanova di Neri’s version is a blend of the region’s main grape, Sangiovese, and some Colorino to add color and tannin. The winery’s modern-style Brunellos are full of rich, ripe, voluptuous fruit framed by oak. The Sant’Antimo expresses some of the same kind of fruit-forward personality, which works very well in this vibrant entry-level wine.

Montalcino controversy

Over the past three decades, controversy has raged in Montalcino over the direction of the region’s flagship wine, Brunello. As newcomers flooded into the region and the number of wineries jumped from two dozen to 250, many left behind Brunello’s traditional elegant character to create darker, fruitier, oakier examples. Then, in 2008, several well-known producers were charged with flouting regulations by adding grapes other than Sangiovese to their Brunello wines, a scandal referred to as “Brunellogate.” Casanova di Neri was accused, but cleared of any wrongdoing.

Founded in 1971 by the Neri family, the winery is now run by Giacomo Neri, who farms 120 acres of vines spread across several distinct hillside sites and whose most noted wine is the powerful single-vineyard Brunello Cerretalto.

The 2009 Casanova di Neri Rosso di Casanova di Neri Sant’Antimo is also a particularly good value because the estate is part of Dalla Terra’s “Winery Direct” portfolio. Former winemaker Brian Larky founded it in 1990 with the idea of bypassing importer markups by selling direct from the winery to the distributor. Wine lovers benefit.

Top photo composite:

2009 Casanova di Neri Sant’Antimo label.

Vineyard. Credit: Courtesy of Dalla Terra

1.28.13 -

Trolling the offerings at importer and distributor portfolio tastings is one way I discover new labels and keep up with the latest vintages. Last week, at the Michael Skurnik tasting at New York’s Tribeca Grill, I rediscovered the good-value Spanish reds of Cune, and was taken with this smooth, cherry-spicy, medium-bodied 2009 Cune Viña Real Plata Rioja Crianza. It costs only $16, but you can find it in some shops for as little as $14.

The family winery is actually named CVNE, which stands for Compania Vinicola del Norte de España, but it’s known to wine lovers as the more pronounceable Cune. One of the historic bodegas in Spain’s Rioja region, it dates to 1879. Viña Real, one of the company’s three estates, lies in the Rioja Alavesa sub-zone, which produces wines with more body, structure and acidity. The grapes come from the chalky foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains.

In Rioja, a debate has been raging for a decade over whether winemakers should keep to traditional winemaking or embrace a modern, fruitier, riper style with the taste of new French oak. Cune is on the traditional side. Viña Real’s crianza is aged in old American oak casks and the wine is wonderfully fruity and balanced. It spends one year in barrel and two years in the bottle before being released, a year longer than required.

The main grape is the classic Spanish variety Tempranillo; Mazuelo, Garnacha and Graciano add bright color, gentle tannins and complexity. Rich and concentrated, with a scent of chestnut, this food-friendly red has a long, earth-and-mineral finish.

Perfect setting for 2009 Cune Viña Real Plata Rioja Crianza

Cune’s main estate has 19th-century cellars built by Gustav Eiffel, responsible for Paris’ famous Eiffel Tower, while Viña Real’s winery, designed by a well-known Bordeaux architect, is impressively modern and well worth a visit. Set on a high hill with a commanding view of the countryside, the main part has the shape of a giant wine barrel, with a huge circular room holding fermentation vats and barrels serviced by a large crane. In long tunnels dug deep into the hill, wines age in barrels and bottles.

Since 2010, Cune has been releasing older vintages of its gran reservas at fairly reasonable prices, and the 2001 shows wonderful notes of spice and leather.

But this 2009 CVNE Viña Real Rioja Crianza is a reminder of how much flavor and character Spain’s traditional Riojas offer for affordable everyday drinking.

Top composite photo:

CVNE barrels and 2009 CVNE Viña Real Rioja Crianza. Credit: CVNE

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Zester Daily contributor Elin McCoy is a wine and spirits columnist and author of “The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste.”

1.21.13 -

Every week I open dozens of bottles to taste before dinner, and am always on the hunt for good value wines I’d actually serve to friends.  Many are disappointments, but this week’s pick, the wonderfully raspberry-scented 2010 Orca from France’s Ventoux appellation, is a soft, velvety mouthful of bright spice, herb and plum flavors — and it costs under $20. Though it was delicious alongside our coq au vin rouge last Friday night, I think it would be even better with a hearty lamb or beef stew.

The wine’s quality and character surprised me. Why? Because Orca is made by a big modern cooperative winery, Caves Marrenon, that sells a lot of its wines to French supermarkets. It draws grapes from 1,200 growers in the Ventoux appellation in the southeastern part of the Rhône Valley and from neighboring Lubéron and vinifies them in its own cellars. The winery has been steadily upping quality by overseeing and improving vineyard practices — many of the growers are moving toward organic viticulture — and in the past several years it has significantly improved winemaking.

Recently its top wines have been making their way to the United States. Orca is part of their line of single-vineyard wines, Sélection Parcellaires. While most wines from cooperatives are pretty generic in taste, Orca (and the other wines in this flagship range) has the tang of terroir.

Inside 2010 Orca Vieilles Vignes Ventoux

Geologically, Ventoux is pretty rugged wine territory. The Grenache grapes for this wine come from 60-year-old vines growing on the southern slopes of Mont Ventoux, a 6,200-foot isolated mountain that looms over the Rhône landscape.

Orca reminds me of a good Côtes du Rhône, though it has more Grenache than many of those do. Aging in older barrels keeps the wine’s taste balanced and fresh. Don’t expect lots of complexity or fabulous concentration. This attractive 2010 Orca is not a grand wine for studying, but is ideal for pleasurable everyday drinking.

Top photo composite:

Ventoux landscape and 2010 Orca bottle. Credit: JM Rosier, courtesy of Marrenon

1.14.13 -

It’s oh-so-fashionable now to bash Bordeaux wines as slick, unaffordable and made only for investors. But they’re not. This attractive, fruit-scented 2010 Château Saintongey Vieilles Vignes, with lovely taste notes of cherries and herbs, has just enough structure and tannin to make it excellent with roast lamb on a cold night and costs only $15.

A worthy, everyday Bordeaux at the right price

No, this wine isn’t one of the region’s fancy crus classés that require a decade or more of cellar aging to be at their best. Château Saintongey is a simple Bordeaux rouge for everyday drinking from the vast area south of the city of Bordeaux called Entre Deux Mers.

The 37 acres of vines and the chateau were acquired and totally renovated 20 years ago by Charles Yung et Fils, which owns seven estates in Bordeaux.

Chateau Saintongey is part of the company’s mid-range and vintages of this wine have won plenty of medals in France, the U.K. and the U.S.  It’s the kind of attractive inexpensive Bordeaux red that the French enjoyed with Sunday dinner a couple of decades ago and that turned up on wine lists at French bistros in the U.S.

The “vieilles vignes” (old vines) are 25 years old. The terroir is clay and chalk. The owner keeps production costs down by using mechanical harvesting and ages the wine in barrels for only six months.

When critics and sommeliers dismiss the world’s biggest and most famous fine wine region as boring or passé, I wonder how many of the region’s wines they’ve actually tasted. In my opinion, there’s no reason to disregard Cabernet blends just because we’ve all discovered how good wines made from trousseau are.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a California Cabernet or Merlot or an Argentine Malbec that’s as balanced and pleasurable to drink for the same price as this Château Saintongey.