Going Sans Soufre in Monterey

Please pardon the dead air of the last few days. I've been in California since Wednesday, here to celebrate (and help with as much as possible) the pending nuptials of my great friends Steve and Stacy. They welcomed our arrival on Wednesday night with a simple meal Chez S&S, which we all enjoyed along with a fantastic bottle of Marcel Lapierre's 2008 Morgon.

While the bottle above may look no different than usual (Meyer lemons aside) to the American-based imbibers of Lapierre's wines, let me tell you that this wine was different from what you're likely to have enjoyed before. The secret's all on the back label....

You may remember me mentioning here before that Lapierre actually produces three different "batches" of his Morgon: one with no sulfur and no filtration; one with no filtration but with a light dose of sulfur; and one with both light filtration and a little sulfur. Importer Kermit Lynch had never brought the unsulfured version into the States, as he prefers the more stable nature of that with a light sulfur dose for the rigors of national distribution.

Notice that I wrote "had" rather than "has," as Kermit has now brought a small lot of the unsulfured version -- "Lot n," as you can see in the photo at right -- specifically at request of the crew at San Francisco's natural wine bar extraordinaire, Terroir. Though I've had several bottles recently of Lappierre's regular 2007 Morgon, I've yet to drink the regularly sulfured version of his 2008 release, so this is a bit of a McIntosh to Gala comparison. Taking the liberty of tasting across vintages, though, I found the unsulfured version to be a little darker-fruited and earthier in aroma, crunchier in texture and ever so slightly more rustic than the regular cuvée. It was also really delicious. Which begs the question: when, where and how will I get to drink it again???

Thanks for the treat, guys! Lookin' forward to all the great things to come.