Two Bruts from the Touraine

There will be no intensely detailed tasting notes here today. Friends and I recently drank these two sparkling Loire Chenin Blancs. We were having a good time, I didn't take detailed notes, and the intricacies are no longer fresh in my mind, just the overall impressions, the broad strokes.

I'm intentionally writing them up in reverse order: oldest to youngest, pricier to less so, opposite to how we experienced them. You'll see why soon enough.

Montlouis-sur-Loire "Almendra" Brut, François Chidaine 1996
$42. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Polaner Selections, Mount Kisco, NY.
It's kind of funny, you know, in that way that makes you say, "What the hell...?" I've visited the Chidaine estate in Montlouis, formerly sold their wines for several years, and have been enjoying drinking them for well over a decade. Yet it was only recently that I learned that François makes a sparkling wine called "Almendra," only in the best vintages or so I'm told, that spends 10+ years on its lees before disgorgement. This was my first time trying it. One of my favorite wine blogging buddies, as it turns out, drank and wrote-up the very same vintage of "Almendra" well nigh on three years ago. Turns out our reactions were very much the same, despite the three year and 3000 mile distance between them.

There was an intense mineral character, along with the mushroomy, toasty character that often accompanies sparkling wines that have seen extended lees-aging. The developed Chenin character of the wine sang loud and clear — wool, quince, dried honey, again, some pretty concentrated mineral character. It's that intense Chinin-ness that made appreciating the wine a complicated venture for me, almost as if the sparkling character was sitting off to one side, the Montlouis/Chenin character to another, not quite harmoniously joined. I enjoyed it in the general sense, but not as much as I normally do Chidaine's non-sparkling examples of Montlouis.

The experience made me think about something I hadn't considered in a while. As much as I enjoy sparkling Vouvray and Montlouis from producers such as François Pinon, Foreau, yes, Chidaine, even Poniatowski back in the day, and, more recently, Jacky Blot, I sometimes wonder whether there's any real benefit to be gained from producing Méthode Traditionelle examples of Loire Chenin, other than to satisfy market demand or to yield a product from slightly under-ripe fruit.

Then I drink this and the question again recedes...

Vouvray Pétillant Brut, Domaine Huet 2005
$26. 12% alcohol. Cork. Importer: The Rare Wine Company, Sonoma, CA.
Technically speaking, Huet's Vouvray Pétillant is not made according to the Méthode Traditionelle but rather via the Méthode Ancestrale, in which primary fermentation is stopped before completion (usually by dropping the temperature to a point where the yeast go dormant) and the wine is placed in bottle where fermentation will continue to completion, trapping CO2 in solution (bubbles!) along the way. I'm given to understand that Huet's winemaker, Noël Pinguet, adds a dab of yeast at bottling to ensure that the bottle fermentation goes smoothly, and that he finishes the wine with an small addition of one of the estate's off-day wines in place of the typical dosage used in the traditional method. For the 2005 Pétillant, that finish came courtesy of a soupcon of Huet's 2002 Le Mont Première Trie. (Check out The Wine Doctor's exceptional report on Huet for more details on this and the rest of the wines produced at the estate.)

Technical stuff aside, the Vouvray Pétillant Brut from Huet is consistently delicious wine. As much as I do like the others I mentioned above, I'm really not sure that Huet has a true peer in this context. The 2005 is still a baby, showing nowhere near the nuance of the best bottles of the 2002 I've drunk over the last few years but, like I said, it's still a baby. The wine is showing beautiful fruit, balance and structure, and complete integration between the sparkling and serious Vouvray sides of its personality. Given its balance and purity, I expect the wine to develop quite nicely over the next several years and will certainly enjoy exploring its evolution. I'll be sure to tell you if I was wrong....

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Three Fives for a Fifteen

If I'd planned ahead for last night's get-together, a 15th birthday party for the daughter of a good friend (Happy Birthday, Olivia!), I'd have rummaged through the cellar and pulled out a few birth-year Bordeaux or California Cabs. Beef was on the menu for the evening and it would have been a good chance to check in on some old-ish bottles (and to open up some space in my wine cabinet for stuff that's more in line with what I'm buying and drinking these days). The fact that I hadn't planned ahead worked out okay, as I realized that I had a '95 on hand. And through happy coincidence, my bottle found a mate at the party.

Vouvray "Clos de l'Avenir," Philippe Poniatowski 1995
$15 on release. 12% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
Still very youthful in appearance, the '95 Clos de l'Avenir (demi-sec in style though not labeled as such) has nonetheless mellowed considerably with age, shedding much of the mineral pungency it had shown in earlier years. Now, it's delivering soft acids and lightly honeyed pear and apple fruit, accompanied, as always with Poniatowski's wines, by an infusion of excavated cave flavors. Perhaps past its best in terms of depth and structure but still showing a freshness that should let it ride out many more years in the cellar. I've seen Poni's wines ride evolutionary roller coasters (as opposed to the standard bell curves and plateaus) before, so who knows what a few more years might bring. For now, it's about simplicity and easy drinking.

Vouvray "Clos du Bourg" Demi-Sec, Huet 1995
$65. 12% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY.
This was a stark contrast to the wine from Poniatowski. Definitely more structured and intense, one could say more seemingly complex, but also in a relatively unapproachable state at the moment. Very funky on the nose — a little metallic botrytis influence, and quite sulfuric — it came across to me as a bit of a contradiction: simultaneously more mature than Poniatowski's "Clos de l'Avenir" yet also quite backward in its flavors and angular in feel. I'd be interested to see where it heads over the years to come; however, based on this bottle, I'm not sure the investment would be worth the required tariff. That said, I'd be very curious to hear of others' experiences with this.

For the beef, we turned not to Bordeaux or California but to Beaujolais. Lest that seem an odd choice to you, let us not forget that the Beaujolais is situated only about 45 kilometers to the ESE of Charolles, the original home of Charolais cattle. A bottle of good Cru Beaujolais is exactly what people in the area would pair with their hangar steak. We opted for a magnum....

Morgon, Georges Descombes 2005 (from magnum)
$40. 13.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
This turned out to be the wine of the night, not only for me but for the whole group of folks around the table, many of whom lean toward bigger, bolder, more New World wines. Descombes' Morgon isn't at all New World in style, mind you. This was just one of those bottles where the pure deliciousness of the wine spoke for itself. The richness and structure of the 2005 vintage was in full evidence, along with plush, dark red fruits and a real crackling sense of energy (bordering on a little spritziness) on the palate. Great with the beef, even if it wasn't Charolais.

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A Few Good Wines

With a birthday and Thanksgiving separated by only a couple of days in the past week, there were no shortage of reasons to open a few good bottles. Today though, just a few quick impressions, as these were enjoyed for the pure sake of pleasure, at the table and without any note taking or overt analysis.


Vouvray "Clos du Bourg" Sec, Huet 2005
A really glorious bottle. Redolent of wet wool and damp clay when first opened then growing ever rounder and more honey and herb laced as the bottle grew emptier. I need to drink Vouvray more often... and I really need to drink Huet more often.

Nuits-St.-Georges "Les Grandes Vignes," Domaine Daniel Rion 2001
When last I tasted this, it provided a much needed breath of fresh air. The better part of two-and-a-half years later, it's continued to develop and continues to surprise, taking on greater weight with its slumber in the cellar. Rich red fruit laced with dark spice notes and beautifully ripe, round tannins. The wines of Domaine Daniel Rion are made in a very reductive style that can render them ungiving when young but, when all things are right, they can develop very nicely given a few years of patience.

Bacharacher Kloster Fürstental Riesling Brut Sekt, Weingut Ratzenberger 2000
This proves to be maturing more rapidly than the 1998, 1999 or 2001 versions of Ratzenberger's Sekt. Perhaps that's not surprising given the wet conditions in the fall of 2000. In any event, this has gone very much toward the truffle and oily end of the mineral spectrum, leaving behind much of the bright citrus and orchard fruits of this wine's youth. Still damn tasty but it's definitely time to drink up now.

Morgon "Côte du Py," Jean Foillard 2008
I thought it was fun. My wife thought it was serious. You know what? We were both right. Foillard's wines combine airy grace and delicacy with a depth that can be explored or simply accepted as fits the moment. The '08 may still be lacking something at its core but I think it's only a matter of time before everything settles into place. Even now it's delicious, with pure small red berry fruit allied to an earthy savor that made it a great match on the Thanksgiving table, especially with the turkey and the sourdough/shiitake/sage stuffing. (PS: Guilhaume published a neat photo essay at The Wine Digger a couple of weeks back on his visit with Foillard.)

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NorCal 2009, Day Two: The Grails of Berkeley

After not one but two miscues with catching CalTrain and BART on the way to Berkeley for the day, my plans to check out the neighborhood around UC Berkeley and to stop into what I’m told is a very cool bike shop were by necessity foreshortened. Instead, there was just enough time to take a quick walking tour up Shattuck Avenue and through the Gourmet Ghetto, stopping off for a quick macchiato at Guerilla Café, before hitting a few of the food and wine cornerstones of the Berkeley scene.


Enough has been said about Alice Waters’ impact on the history of modern California cuisine and the emergence of locavorism that I won’t bore you with a detailed history of her culinary ventures. What I will say is that I headed to lunch at Chez Panisse Café with very clear expectations of the food but little idea of what to expect from the rest of the experience. In the end, neither the space nor the food came with any surprises. Reservations at the Café, set upstairs from the original, more formal Chez Panisse, are not so difficult to come by as at the flagship; in fact, I had no problem securing a same-day rezzy for lunch. The space is casually elegant, lit primarily by the ambient sunlight entering through skylights and louvered shades in the front windows, with white tablecloths offset by comfy cushions and rustic wood flooring and beams.




The food is every bit as simple as I’d expected, yet proves that in simplicity the purest of expression can be found. The day’s three-course prix fixe lunch – a good value at $24, just a couple of bucks more than the average entrée price – included a salad of delicately dressed mixed greens straight from the CP garden; a zesty, piquant and quite traditional interpretation of spaghetti all’amatriciana; and delivered unfussy comfort in a finishing bowl of vanilla ice cream with bittersweet chocolate sauce. The greatest surprise, and a welcome one, was the wine list. Offering little in the way of ostentation, the list is adventurous yet centered on a clear understanding of the importance of food-friendliness. I could have been happy as a clam with the offerings by the glass – Muscadet from Marc Olivier; Tempier Bandol rosé; the new red, “La Ritournelle,” from Catherine and Pierre Breton; and Arianna Occhipinti’s Nero d’Avola/Frappato blend, SP68, to name just a few – but I’d already set my sights on a half-bottle of Huet’s 2007 Vouvray sec “Le Mont.” If only I'd noticed the '02 Clos des Briords, quite fairly priced on the reserve list....



Curiosity, thirst and appetite sated, I had just enough time remaining for the long downhill walk to North Berkeley’s unofficial gourmet ghetto, the corner of Cedar and San Pablo shared by Acme Bread Company and Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. My mission at Acme was simple: to score a loaf of their walnut-currant bread for the next morning’s breakfast. Said goal quickly achieved, it was on to the more economically perilous allures of Berkeley’s bastion of vinosity. I’d entered KLWM with every intention of having the crew there put together a mixed case for me to ship home. What I hadn’t figured on – rather naively, in retrospect – was that, as a direct importer, KLWM has very little business interest in shipping direct to consumers, preferring instead to let their nationwide customers purchase from the three-tier distribution systems in their own local markets. The cost of third-party shipping to the east coast, estimated at about $90/case, quickly put my original plans to rest. No worries though, as that left plenty of time to talk biz with Clark Terry, the KLWM staffer behind the new Kermit Lynch blog, and just enough time to select a few bottles to enjoy over the following couple of days.

Details, perhaps, to follow, assuming I can get my blogcationing butt back into gear….

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Xmas Eve Loire-apalooza

The big holiday feast this year was on Christmas Eve, thanks to the hospitality of our dear friends Bill and Kelly. Is there a better way to come together with loved ones than by sharing in some great food and wine?

Montlouis-sur-Loire Brut, François Chidaine NV. $23. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed some pretty distinct bottle variation with Chidaine’s Montlouis Brut. I’m not sure what to chalk it up to, though my gut is that it’s mainly a function of disgorgement date vs. consumption date. As the bottle is not marked, at least not obviously, with any lot or disgorgement information, I can base this only on my non-scientific observations of cork behavior. I tend to have preferred the bottles with some spring left in their stoppers – suggesting a younger wine with less time on the cork. Whatever the case may be, this was a particularly good bottle. Signature Chenin aromas of clover honey and green fig were in force, accentuated by scents of freshly toasted white bread. Bone dry but with an enchantingly soft, lingering mouthfeel.

Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, Domaine des Trois Toits (Hubert Rousseau) 2007. $16. 12% alcohol. Nomacorc. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchants, New York, NY.
This was my first encounter with the Muscadet of Hubert Rousseau, a relatively new addition to importer Neal Rosenthal’s portfolio. The Domaine des Trois Toits (“house of the three roofs”) is located in La Nicollière, just south of the city of Nantes. This is flinty yet fleshy, yeast enriched Muscadet that finishes with a mouthwatering twist of bitter lemon oil. Young and tasty, with exceptional length. It not only paired beautifully with oysters but also revealed an extra layer of salinity and savor when matched with a simple appetizer of oil-poached Spanish tuna belly.

Sancerre “Clos la Néore,” Edmond Vatan 2007. $55. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Wine Cellars Ltd., Briarcliff Manor, NY.
The answer to Saturday's bonus point question. Pungently mineral and painfully young Sancerre, brimming with lime pith and chalky aromas. Maybe the most complete bottle of Vatan’s “Clos la Néore” I’ve yet to drink, displaying really fine flavor and structural delineation with less funk and greater purity than in the past few vintages. I’d love to revisit it in five and ten years (and two, seven, three, eight…). Wines that provide this clear an expression of place, of terroir, are all too few and far between.


A little East Coast/West Coast Oyster Mash-Up. Which wine worked best…? Sometimes there’s merit to a cliché. All of the first four wines worked in their own way but the Muscadet stole the day. A phenomenal pairing.

Champagne Brut “Réserve,” Bérèche et Fils NV. $45. 12% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
We now interrupt this broadcast for a brief Champagne interlude. I’ve really been digging the Champagnes of Bérèche et Fils of late. The 10-hectare estate is based near Ludes, on the Montagne de Reims. Young Raphael Bérèche, who worked his first harvest at his family’s estate in 2000 and took responsibility for winemaking in 2004, appears to have great things in store. He’s converting the property to biodynamic farming and fermenting his wines on their native yeasts, with all cuvées seeing at least partial oak elevation. The Brut Réserve is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier (I don’t know the percentages), which includes about 25% reserve wine. It opens with a lush frontal assault, contrasted in fine balance by an incredibly dry attack on the finish. Rich notes of brioche and fresh hazelnuts dominate the nose, while notes of ripe melon and citrus confit emerge from the wine’s sweet, generous mid-palate.

Savennières, Domaine des Baumard 1996. $25. 13.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Ex-Cellars, Solvang, CA.
A bit of a shock after a flight of young wines and not a little weird. Funk covered rocks come to mind – what “eau de toad” might taste like if someone were to bottle such a thing. All of that said, this is still enticing wine, sour and rich at once. Savennières may just be capable of producing the broadest aromatic range in the wine world, or at least the most unusual range. In this bottle I found baked gooseberries, almond paste and lavender, along with something – that sour/rich component – that I can only describe as caramelized yuzu. This is starting to show some oxidative development but still suggests further potential to come. I’m dying to put together a horizontal tasting of ’96 Loire Chenins….

Time to dig into Bill’s delicious pulled smoked pork shoulder also meant it was time to switch into red gear.

Vin de Table Mousseux “Le Vinsans Ricard,” Domaine Ricard NV. $22. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
Though perhaps not as exuberant as when I last wrote this up (tasted with the same group of friends and family, by the way), this is still damn tasty stuff. Varietal Gamay – at least in this rendition of Vincent Ricard's “Le Vinsans Ricard” – made in the méthode l'ancienne. Juicy, crackling and refreshing, loaded with lively cranberry and raspberry fruit; it seemed tailor made to our pulled pork and slaw sandwiches.


Côtes du Forez “La Volcanique,” Verdier-Logel (Odile Verdier & Jacky Logel) 2007. $13. 12% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Wine Traditions, Falls Church, VA.
More Loire Gamay and another very cool wine, even if a little less friendly to the sweetness of the pork than Ricard’s bubbly. This is explosively mineral, black fruited Gamay – crunchy, rustic, viscerally fresh and laced with the scent of black pepper. Produced, as the name of this cuvée suggests, on volcanic soils in the Côtes du Forez, an area in the foothills of the Massif Central in the far reaches of the Upper Loire, where Verdier-Logel is considered the leading estate.

For the cheese course, a return to white was in order. And I’m in full agreement with The VLM as to the suitability of Loire Chenin, and Vouvray in particular, in such a situation.
Vouvray “Clos du Bourg” Sec, Domaine Huet 2005. $40. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, NY, NY.
By far the tightest wine of the night. This showed earthy mineral character in spades, with a muted core of beeswax and pear-driven fruit. Already subtly delicious, but barely hinting at what’s to come. If you’re holding any, stash it away for a rainy day a few (or many) years down the road.

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Bubbly Bubbly Notes

Tuesday's class on the sparkling wines of Europe was a success, at least so I'm told. I've never had such a quiet, studious group before. A good thing, I hope. In any event, the wines showed well, including a surprise or two, so I thought a few quick notes would be in order. You know, just in case you didn't manage to follow along on short notice. Here's what I poured:


Bugey Cerdon VDQS, Raphaël Bartucci NV (L07)
Very direct Bugey, both in its fruitiness and unabashed sweetness. Pure macerated strawberries with just a whiff of spicy earth. Perfect picnic wine and a fun way to lead off class.

Prosecco Montello e Colli Asolani, Bele Casel NV
Crisper, brighter and not as creamy as the Prosecco di Valdobbiadene from the same producer. A nice mineral tingle on the finish, too. Very peachy up front. Extra Dry in style but drinks no sweeter than an awful lot of Brut wines. Very tough after the Bugey, though, as the sweet red fruits left on the palate tended to wash out the Prosecco, which isn't shy on fruit in its own right.

Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Sekt Brut, Weingut Ratzenberger 2003
2003 remains the fruitiest rendition of Ratzenberger's Sekt that I've ever tried. Some time in bottle since last I drank it, though, has allowed the fruit to settle a bit. In turn, that's letting its hallmark mineral and floral notes emerge more clearly and it's tasting more like the Traditionelle Flaschengärung (traditional method) wine that it is. The intensity of its fruit nonetheless had a few attendees thinking it was sweeter than the Prosecco (which it's not).

Vouvray Pétillant Brut, Domaine Huet 2002
Amazingly different than when last tasted, so much so that I at first thought I was dealing with a bad batch. The corks had no spring-back and initial aromas were intensely mushroomy and otherwise mute. It turned out that patience was all that was needed. After about an hour of open air, this turned into a beauty, though still surprisingly more developed than only two months earlier. Loads more Chenin character. Rich, wildflower honey and quince with just a touch of dried biscuit. Plenty dry but plenty generous and truly pétillant, showing just a subtle trace of bubbles when poured in a white wine glass.

Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut, Diebolt-Vallois NV
This is an old friend, warm and welcoming. Like any old friend, it's sometimes neglected but it's always good to get reacquainted. When this wine is young, like the bottles opened this night, it just brims with creamy lemon curd flavors and aromas, carried on a light, nervy frame. Delicious Blanc de Blancs that might have unduly suffered from being sandwiched between two more intense wines.

Champagne Extra Brut Réserve, Bereche et Fils NV
This was the showstopper, kind of as expected. Muscular, grippy Champs, loaded with dark red fruits and displaying plenty of depth. Really finely balanced. This is a serious food wine, one I'd love to drink with a meal starting with a platter of oysters and moving on to chicken breasts with a thyme infused cream sauce and fresh morels. Real vinous extract. Even a little tannic on the finish. I expect this should age quite nicely.

Moscato d'Asti, G.D. Vajra 2007
If the Bugey makes for a perfect lunchtime quaff, this makes an ideal breakfast wine. A vibrant expression of Moscato Bianco. Fresh, grapey and intensely perfumed, it's totally refreshing and a real joy to drink. Vajra makes one of the most concentrated examples out there. A good way to finish class on a light, happy note.

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Vouvray Pétillant Brut, Domaine Huet 2002

I could just post a picture, point you to Brooklynguy’s recent write-up of Huet’s Vouvray Pétillant and leave it at that. But that wouldn’t be very bloggerly of me now, would it?

I received this bottle as a gift from a friend several months ago and it’s been biding its time in my wine fridge, waiting for the right occasion, ever since. Saturday night turned out to be one of those evenings where, with not much else in the works, opening the bottle was the occasion in and of itself.

That Huet’s Vouvray Pétillant Brut is produced from the estate’s youngest vines (only three to ten years old) does not come as a surprise in the broad context of a sparkling wine’s place in a Vouvray grower’s overall portfolio. It does come as a surprise, however, in the context of tasting the wine. This is much more than simple sparkling Vouvray. The wine has both finesse and concentration in spades. As Peter Liem points out, it’s an absolutely top-notch alternative to Champagne. And I’ll second Brooklynguy’s opinion that it gets the better of many entry-level Champagnes when it comes to complexity, balance and even its expression of autolytic flavors, which are no doubt helped along by four years of sur lie aging. What I loved about the wine is how it does all of that while still maintaining a clear expression of its place, of its very Vouvray-ness.

The wine’s mousse is sparse, to be expected of the lower pressure of the Pétillant style, yet I found its bead to be finer than in most Vouvray Pétillant. Poured in a white wine glass, the bubbles dissipate and the wine quickly becomes still to the eye. Aromas are of blanched nuts, lightly baked apples, cinnamon, mace and brioche. Behind that come some of the hallmarks of Vouvray: a telltale note of beeswax followed by the springtime scent of yellow daffodils and ripe pear fruit. A honeyed note emerges on the palate, yet the flavor and structure are completely dry. Limestone and clay minerality are submerged in the lingering finish, all wrapped up in a blanket of toasty goodness. There’s nerve enough to make this a fantastic food wine – I enjoyed it in particular with a simple dish of scrambled eggs and sautéed asparagus – yet it’s ample and forward enough to function as an aperitif. In other words, I’d be more than happy to drink it just about anytime. $34. 12% alcohol. Natural cork. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY.

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