Blogs of Note: One Oldish, One Newish, Both Vital

Taking a day off from writing yesterday enabled me to catch up on reading 'round the web, in the course of which I was reminded of two things I've been meaning to (re)share: the greatness of Wine Terroirs and the astounding launch of So You Want to be a Sommelier.

Bert Celce has been traveling the world, capturing his experiences with a camera and illuminating those travels and photgraphs with remarkable detail (and remarkably good English for a non-native speaker) at his blog, Wine Terroirs, since January 2004.  That makes him, undeniably, one of the senior statesmen of the wine blogging world, and he still does it with a level of enthusiasm—not to mention great content—that always keeps me coming back for more.  I've already given Bert a "Blogs of Note" shout-out here, way back in May 2008, but yesterday's visit—and his most recent post chronicling the disgorgement of the first sparkling wine produced by Touraine vigneronne Noëlla Morantin—reminded me of why I not only need to read his site more often but also really needed to re-share it with my own readers.  So here you go.... It's worth a look for the quality of the photos alone (that's one of Bert's shots above) but don't skip the every bit as worthy read.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that I also have a serious wine crush on Noëlla....

My own shot of Ms. Morantin in NYC, October 2009.

So You Want to be a Sommelier? is the recently launched brainchild of the ever erudite*, occasionally ascerbic of wit, and always all around good guy Levi Dalton.

The beverage director at Alto in New York City, Levi is indeed a sommelier, one of the city's best in my experience.  He's also a friend (that's my pic of him at right, snapped during a vertical tasting of Torbido! at Alto last month).  But this is no shill; it's an honest, forthright, and, yes, friendly endorsement of what I fully expect to be a damn good blog.

Levi has only been at it since the beginning of December but he's off to a running start.  An active patient participant in the discussion chambers at Wine Disorder (formerly Wine Therapy) for many a year, Levi's first several posts were "reprints" of detailed posts originally shared only at Disorder.  He's since made a quick transition into original posts.  Between the quality of his writing, a welcome thread of humor, and the sheer quantity of sick vino that passes his way (in terms of depth and diversity that is, not volume), it's a new blog that I very much look forward to reading as it grows.

(*Alice's word, not mine, but it was too apropos not to run with it.)

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The Meeting of the Mentshes

Just a quick post this afternoon, as I'm still working on shaking off a food coma, the result of two back-to-back days of fantastic dining and wining, Thursday in Philly and Friday in New York. There should be more details on the people, meals and vini involved in the days to come. For now, I just want to give a shout out to some friends and a nod to the serendipitous occasion that brought us all together.

Just look at those mugs!  From left to right, that's me along with Jeremy Parzen of Do Bianchi, Neil the Brooklynguy, and Lyle Fass of Rockss and Fruit, all gathered under one roof.  Can you believe it?

I don't know about you but I can still hardly believe it.  In the years that the four of us have been doing the wine blogging thing — I'm the junior member of the bunch in blog days — last night was the first time that we'd all convened.  Even harder to believe, as it feels like I've known him for years now, was the fact that it was the first time I'd ever *actually* met Mr. Parzen, an occasion long past due.  I think it's fair to say that we're all big respecters of each others work, and I know it's fair to say that Jeremy, Neil and Lyle are my three most linked-up fellow bloggers in the history of MFWT.

The man responsible for our meeting was Levi Dalton (busy at work in the photo at right), crack sommelier at New York restaurant Alto and an all around super good guy.  In two days flat, Levi had put together a very special dinner featuring the wines of Cascina Ebreo.  It was through his genius, generosity and, as our collective bunch might say (and forgive me for saying), mentschlekhkeyt, that we were all finally able to break bread together.

If only I hadn't had to rush off so quickly to make, just barely, the late bus back to Philly.  I jumped up from the table in such a flash that I somehow managed to leave behind my notes for the night.  Not to worry, though, the details are fixed indelibly in my mind.  As threatened above, I'll have a full report on the wine side of our repast in the days to come.

It was an honor and a pleasure, gentlemen!

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On Bardolino Superiore: Complicating the Complication

While today's post is certainly meant for everyone's reading pleasure, I'm going to start things out with a question for my fellow bloggers. Have you ever started a new post, saved it as a draft part way through and then never gone on to finish it? I'm guessing the answer will be a near-unanimous "yes." Now, how many of you have saved that partial draft, neglected it for over a year, but then returned to and completed it? Not so many of you, I'd guess. Nonetheless, that's exactly what I'm doing today, fourteen months and change after originally starting the piece.

Somehow I always knew I'd return to the topic at hand — Bardolino Superiore and its elevation to DOCG status — as it has been in my head ever since reading the post from Alfonso Cevola that originally inspired it. Be sure to check it out, as it's a great example of what makes On the Wine Trail in Italy one of the best things going in this here vinous corner of the blogosphere.

Ace, as I and others are wont to call him, has made it a serious sideline of his to catalog all of Italy's DOCG designations and to add any changes to this ever-growing list as soon as they come to his attention. As I was reading that inspirational commentary of his on DOCG additions (both recent and not so recent) that he deemed of questionable merit, I can remember thinking, "and Bardolino Superiore.... I'm going to hit the comments with my two cents on Bardolino Superiore." Yet there it was, at the end of his post... Ace's own inclusion of Bardolino Superiore on his not-so-worthy list.

Though I've never had "a hot date with with a cute blond in a mini" (again, Alfonso's inspiration, as is the above photo), I do really enjoy Bardolino, and I do mean *really* enjoy. The Bardolino "normale" from Corte Gardoni, called "Le Fontane," has been one of my everyday Italian go-to reds for many, many moons. I like it better — that is to say, I enjoy it more — than their Bardolino Superiore.

If you're thinking this is all just a long-winded lead-in to a trashing of Bardolino Superiore, then you're in for a disappointment. Another part of the inspiration for the genesis of this post, way back in the autumn of '09, was a bottle of the 2007 Bardolino Superiore from Corte Gardoni. A good bottle. Actually, two good bottles. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself....

Let's leap forward to earlier this week. Rooting around in my wine closet for something to drink with dinner, I unburied — and proceeded to uncork — a bottle of Corte Gardoni's 2005 Bardolino Superiore. Though Bardolino Superiore was granted DOCG status way back in February 2002, with retroactive application to wines as of the 2001 harvest, it was when this '05 arrived on the market that I first remember noticing the promotion, and first remember thinking it odd. At least that's how I recall it now.

However foggy that memory may be, my experience with this week's bottle of 2005 Bardolino Superiore is still very fresh in mind. Though I'd say the wine had reached full maturity, it was very much holding its own, not yet starting the inevitable slide into the less savory realms of decay. Aside from a deeply tea-like aromatic character, which to me is a hallmark of Bardolino, I might have been hard pressed to identify the wine if its identity hadn't been staring me in the face. Though delicate in body, it had developed aromatic characteristics not at all out of line with what one might expect from a good left bank Bordeaux, produced in an off vintage and now at its mid-life point. Tannic it was not; not at all. Still lively in acidity it was. Pleasing, too, in its own way; quite pretty wine, actually.

Was it a great wine, though? I think calling it great would be a stretch. But does that matter? Should DOCG wines be, by definition, great? Consider the following point made by Tom Hyland in a piece he wrote way back in 2002, just after Bardolino Superiore was granted its DOCG status.

"For Italians, DOCG does not necessarily mean the finest wines in the country; rather the designation is thought of as a statement that these wines are the best they can be, given the grapes and locales used. No one would argue that Bardolino is among the best red wines of Italy, but if DOCG means a better Bardolino, then why not?"

Tom's point is perfectly apropos and well stated. The twist comes (though I'm sure it was not his intention) along with that concept or image of a "better" Bardolino. I'm thinking here more along the lines of Colonel Steve Austin and the opening sequence of The Six Million Dollar Man. "We have the technology. We have the capability to [make him] better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster." Which brings me back to those two bottles of 2007 Bardolino Superiore from last year.

Take a look (above) at the back labels from those two bottles; aside from slightly different lot numbers, they're essentially identical. Turn those same bottles face first, though, as seen below, and it's a different story. The first is clearly Bardolino Superiore DOCG. The second makes no mention whatsoever of the wine's denominazione; only a knowing glance up at the bottle's neck (obviously not pictured) would reveal the wine's DOCG status.

What I know, only because I know the wines and the producer that makes them, is that they're actually the same wine (bottling lot aside). Corte Gardoni simply decided to change the name of the wine, and to do so smack in the middle of a vintage. Why? Well, as I understand it via a conversation between an old coworker of mine (who speaks fluent Italian) and Corte Gardoni patriarch Gianni Piccoli, it was the Piccoli family's direct response to the trend toward Six Million Dollar Bardolino that had occurred since the institution of DOCG elevation.

The discipline for the Bardolino Superiore DOCG requires that the wine's blend be based on 35-65% Corvina Veronese, the most distinctive and important variety of the area, 10% of which can be Corvinone (once thought to be genetically related to Corvina); 10-40% Rondinella; and up to 20% of other varieties, which can include no more than 10% each from any combination of vines such as Molinara, Rossignol, Barbera, Sangiovese, Marzemino, Merlot, and/or Cabernet Sauvignon. Granted, 20% might not sound like much but if you take 10% each of dark, bold varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Barbera and add them to the inherently pale and delicate Corvina, then you've got some serious fortification in the works. Add to that the fact that some producers were apparently making ripasso-style Bardolino Superiore and the scene just gets wrinklier.

The family Piccoli wanted none of it, so they gave their wine what some might be tempted to call a nome di fantasia — "Pràdicà" essentially means "house meadow" or "meadow by the house." To them it's a statement that their wine is, well, their wine, not a wine that's following the "superiore" fashion trend. The problem, as I mentioned before, is that one needs to know that for it to be meaningful. Complicated, no?

My point, aside from wanting to tell the story of Corte Gardoni's wine, is actually quite simple. In the big picture, I'm inclined to agree with Alfonso, who said it much more plainly than have I, "Bardolino is fine as a DOC, but no 'G', no 'G'." Sometimes simpler really is better.

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MFWT Voted Favorite Site in Food & Wine Magazine

Over the years that I've been writing here at MFWT, I've always taken great pleasure in spreading the word about other blogs and sites that I truly enjoy. One need only check out my Blogs of Note category to get a sense of what I'm talking about. It's rare that I feel quite so comfortable about dabbling in self-promotion. Once in a while, though, it's necessary for everyone to reach around and give him or herself a good old pat on the back. This, if you haven't sussed it out already, would be one of those occasions.

In the October 2010 issue of Food & Wine, their annual wine issue, McDuff's Food & Wine Trail was listed among the Top 5 Favorite Websites by 25 nationally recognized sommeliers participating in the magazine's "What Sommeliers Know Best" section. It's a quick mention, but more than enough to make me feel just a little proud. Hey, it's not every day that I get such a nice shout-out from some of the country's hardest working somms in a nationally distributed and internationally recognized magazine.

As happy as I was when I learned of the news, I was equally happy to find myself in such good company, right alongside the other four faves:

• Burg-guru Allen Meadows of the subscription-only site Burghound


• Iberian wine enthusiasts and social media entrepreneurs Ryan Anerson Opaz and Gabriella Reynes Opaz of Catavino


• Winechap, a site dedicated to reviewing restaurant wine lists in New York City, Hong Kong and the UK


• And Wine Opinions, a portal devoted exclusively to consumer and trade related research in the field of wine.

My appreciation goes out to those 25 participating sommelier(e)s, just as it does to each and every person reading this. Thanks as always for your support!

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Cookin' with Brooklynguy (and Equipo Navazos)

Contrary to what the title of today's post might lead one to construe, I was not recently cooking with, nor have I ever actually cooked with, my pal Brooklynguy. Rather, today's missive is named for an occasional series, thus named, that the BG runs on his own site. There's a fairly ambitious edition running there as we speak — something to do with swirling and tongues.

I did at least have the pleasure of seeing the Guy from Brooklyn not long ago though, when he, I and a half-dozen or so other amicable souls got together to drink an absurd number of bottles of flor-affected Sherry at a fantastic little spot called Prune in New York's lower East Village.

Our dinner came along fairly hot on the heels of an earlier post from Brooklynguy, one from another of his ongoing series that he calls "You be the Sommelier." The challenge: heirloom tomatoes. The recipe was challenging, at that. Slicing, plating and sprinkling of salt were all involved. I'm no stranger to techniques such as these — my local farmers market is a veritable heirloom mother lode during the growing season — though my rendition often features the added twist of pepper, maybe even a drizzle of olive oil if I'm feeling crazy.

I've found over the years that there are a lot of wines that can pair quite nicely with such a dish. Loire Sauvignon works surprisingly well, as do many crisp, mineral and moderately fruit driven whites. My first thought, though, almost always goes to rosés from Provence. Bandol rosé from producers such as Tempier or Terrebrune work splendidly, as do less highfalutin Provençal pinkies like the Coteaux d'Aix en Provence rosé from Château Calissanne, a wine with which I go way back. That was more or less my answer when he threw down the pairing gauntlet last month; however, I was pretty damn sure what he was actually thinking, and it proved correct. Sherry. So, when I was lucky enough to walk out of Prune that night with the generous remains of a rather well respected bottle of Sherry tucked away safely in my bag, I figured I'd put his spin on the challenge to the test.

The results, I must say, were transcendent. The wine I "rescued," La Bota de Fino No. 15 "Macharnudo Alto" from Equipo Navazos, was not my favorite of the night at the Prune marathon. A few days later, though, after it had time to rest, resolve and take in a little air, the Fino was simply singing. Uncommonly rich and lengthy, beautifully aromatic, all at once tangy, briny and delicately, freshly nutty. Paired with those tomatoes you can see in the picture above (no, the green one is not a kiwi) — with their natural acidity, firm, cool flesh, sweet fruitiness, a generous sprinkling of decent salt and just a touch of black pepper, no olive oil on this night — the wine took on another dimension. The tomatoes, too. Sparks flew. I could have been happy with that and nothing else for dinner that night. And come to think of it, that may be exactly what I did.

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A Blog of Note: Mosel Wine Merchant

Even though further convincing was long past necessary, Lars Carlberg's anything but "superficial" post yesterday regarding skin contact and its effects on Mosel Riesling has driven me to this....

If you're not already reading the Mosel Wine Merchant Blog, you should be. Add it to your reader of choice. Bookmark it. Whatever. Just do it.

If you're into German wines, it's an absolute must. Even if you're not, the quality of the content coming from Lars and his business partner, Dan Melia, is simply top notch and, really, should be of interest to anyone who is passionate about wine. Period.

Yes, Dan and Lars are importers. And yes, they do write primarily (though not only) about the wines in their own portfolio. But their posts are far more than shills for their own products. Excellent writing, historically relevant context and deeply informative technical information make it one of my most anticipated reads. Add to all of that one of the sharpest looking blog templates out there and the magnificently gothic photography of occasional contributor Tobias Hannemann... I think you've got the idea.

Now if only they'd keep up the regular posting....

The Bremmer Calmont vineyard, photo courtesy of Tobias Hannemann via the Mosel Wine Merchant Blog.

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Peter Lauer's Riesling "Senior" Fass 6

Here's a little something I've been wanting to try ever since first reading about it at the Mosel Wine Merchant blog. MWM principal Lars Carlberg's writeup goes well beyond describing the wine in question; it also details the history of the pertinent vineyard, maps out its various parcels and even gets into the etymology of the names given to each part of the site. If this is salesmanship, it's salesmanship at its best, and a textbook example of what — along with the regularly featured, stunning photography by Lars' friend, Tobias Hannemann — makes the MWM blog one of my required reads. It's the kind of post that really gets my mouth watering.

I had only to wait for the wine to enter the US market, then for a bottle to make its way into my shopping cart and, from there, eventually to find its way onto my own table....


Saar Ayler Kupp Riesling "Senior" Faß 6, Weingut Peter Lauer 2008
$26. 11.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Mosel Wine Merchant, via USA Wine Imports, New York, NY.
Showing gorgeous clarity in the glass, "Senior" delivers a deeply penetrating nose of minerals, green aples and gooseberry. Those aromas actually set up much steelier expectations relative to what first meets the palate, as there's some serious richness to the wine's mouthfeel. Behind that weight, though, is a blade of acidity that drives waves of lemon-lime fruit across the tongue, leading to a long, sweet-and-sour lemon drop finish.

As Lars mentioned in his post, "Senior" is "dry-tasting" for a wine that, with 13 grams of residual sugar, is technically halbtrocken. Yet to my palate, it's not quite "trocken-tasting," either. Though Florian Lauer designates the wine as trocken (I wonder if it's labeled that way on the German market), here in the US there is no dryness designation at all, save what can be guessed at via the wine's stated alcohol level. In the end, classic Saar delicacy and acid/sweetness balance wins out, but there's no mistaking the fact that Lauer's old vines (80-90 years) have delivered intense physiological extract.

A day later, the wine's aromas had shifted more into the dark end of the slate and mineral spectrum, also moving away from citrus and toward pit fruit scents of canned peach and fresh apricot. Showing less zingy, more muscular acidity, the wine was indeed more clearly dry tasting, day one's confectioner's dusting having disappeared/integrated into the wine's core.

I'd love to drink this with pan-seared scallops in a beurre blanc sauce. Or perhaps pair it, as I did with the similarly balanced bottle of Emrich-Schönleber's "Lenz" that I wrote up not long ago, with a simple dinner of pork chops and baked potatoes. On this occasion, I enjoyed it with two entirely different dishes: cheese and onion pierogies with peas and sautéed onions on day one, and green chile and cheese tamales on day two. Just for fun, anyone care to guess which pairing worked better... and hazard an explanation as to why?

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IDSK Volume 3

After briefly alluding in my last post to a recent IDSK collaborative dinner, I realized I’d been remiss in not posting at least a little detail about the event. But first, for those that missed my report on Volume 2 back in July, a quick injection of background information seems in order. IDSK is an acronym for the recent collaborative efforts between Alexander Talbot of Ideas in Food and Shola Olunloyo of StudioKitchen. These are two chefs – one a long time Philly resident, the other a recent transplant – who both approach their craft with passion and intensity. If you’re into culinary artistry, the nuts and bolts of molecular gastronomic technique, or simply enjoy ogling near daily doses of some pretty high zoot food porn, their blogs both deserve to be on your reading list.

The theme at this recent outing was a combination of the exploration of subtlety of flavor coupled with malleability of form and textural contrast. Though I found the evening’s food somewhat less delicious overall than at IDSK2, there was still no lack of pleasure to be found in the moment. As always, the experience was helped along by a charming cast of dining companions, which by bizarre coincidence on this night included Tesco Vee's old college roommate, with whom I partook in a little reminiscing about the DC hardcore scene of the early-to-mid 80s.

It’s been long enough now (the dinner was held back on October 2) that I won’t belabor this post with intricate details of each course. Instead, I’ll just let Shola’s photos do the talking; you’ll see what I meant by my above food porn reference.

Hiramasa
broken icicle radishes, crab applesauce



Peanut Pumpkin
roasting jus, dona engracia



Matsutake Mushrooms and Bartlett Pears
hot and cold, raw and cooked



Chestnut Soup
gala apples, bacon bits



Warm Hiramasa
vadouvan, eggplant



Russet Potato Gnocchi
parsley, tender garlic, powdered raclette



Twice Cooked Scallop
chorizo, black cabbage, beef fat consomme



Whey Poached Beef Strip Loin
braised shank, red cabbage: raw and cooked



Adelegger 17 Month
yellow tomato jam



Apple Pie and Coffee


* * *
In the old days at StudioKitchen – these dinners are BYOB – Shola had always presented a menu long enough in advance to allow for specific wine pairings. He and Alex have more recently taken to fine tuning their final menu right up to the last moment. As such, they encourage their guests to bring whatever they’d like to drink. For me, that means packing up a wide range of wines with an eye toward versatility and food friendliness. Of course, they’re all things I’d like to drink as well. On this night, I ended up sharing just about everything I’d brought with my fellow diners. No pictures to do the talking this time, so some quick notes seem in order.

Jochen Ratzenberger’s 2003 Bacharacher Kloster Fürstental Riesling Sekt showed the ripeness of the vintage in its rounder, bigger mouthfeel than in more typical years but was still a delicious way to start the evening.

As is my friend Bill, I’m convinced that one could very successfully pair Riesling with nearly everything that Shola cooks. So, for the first course or two, Riesling it was. Johann Peter Reinert’s 2005 Wiltinger Schlangengraben Spätlese halbtrocken, to be exact, which showed a whiff of sulfur when first poured but was also beginning to develop some lovely mineral pungency. Great, cleansing acids and lots of yellow plum and green apple fruit, as well. Excellent food wine. As I’ve said here before, Reinert’s wines are super under-appreciated.

That all-Riesling fest will have to wait until next time, as next up was the 2004 Viré-Clessé from André Bonhomme. This was much more developed than I’d have hoped or expected, showing some premox character in its slightly oxidized entry, followed up by poached pear and walnut on the palate. It improved as its temperature rose but not enough to make anything near a full recovery.

A bottle of 2006 Coudert Fleurie “Clos de Roilette” was screamingly good, showing amazing, even atypical levels of richness but still full of focus. Totally on point, though it’s got years ahead of it, and a great match with the garlic-potato-parsley combo in the gnocchi course.

Last up was a 1998 Gigondas from Château du Trignon, which gave the “Roilette” a serious run for its money. I’ve been disappointed with some other ’98 Southern Rhônes I’ve opened over the past year or two, as they’d either not gone anywhere or already begun to fade. This, though, was a lovely expression of Grenache, all crushed red fruits and garrigue, with the elegance that comes to wines like this only with age.

Finally, some music with which to bring things to a close. It’s not quite the same Meatmen mayhem as 20+ years ago but, even if you didn’t follow the link earlier on, I know you were just dying to see Tesco Vee in action.

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Do Bianchi on Bloggerview

Guitar slingin' somm and scholarly scribe of vinous humanism Jeremy Parzen, author of Do Bianchi, has just been interviewed in the latest edition of Tom Wark's "Bloggerview." Check it! And thanks for the mention, Jeremy. I'm honored indeed.

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Saignée Bloody Saignée

File this one under "Why didn't I think of that?" I'd hoped to get to this much earlier today, but a long and busy day at the office kept me from it until now.

Cory Cartwright is celebrating the first birthday of his blog, Saignée, today. To help the festivities along, a fantastic cast of characters -- Jeremy Parzen, Brooklynguy, Alice Feiring, Peter Liem, Wolfgang Weber... you get the idea -- have signed up as contributors to a month long brouhaha on all things yeast and vine. Cory's calling it "31 Days of Natural Wine." And I suggest you all follow along at Saignée in the month to come.

Somewhere along the way, I'll be throwing my own two cents into the mix with an interview with California winemaker and natural wine explorer, Michael Dashe. We haven't nailed down the date for my post yet, so you'll just have to stay tuned in to catch it -- and plenty of other great stuff along the way.

If that's not enough to convince you to join the party, check out:

• The original announcement of "31 Days of Natural Wine"
  
• The list of anticipated contributors
  
• The "31 Days" table of contents
  
• Cory's Day 1 post about how it all started.

Will bleed for food and wine.
Cory's thumb, injured in the line of duty while working on his contribution to WBW 54: A Passion for Piedmont, hosted by yours truly.

Not everyone seems to be enthused about the whole gathering but I for one am looking very much forward to following the month's proceedings.

Happy bloggin' birthday, Cory.

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More Good Stuff: Able Grape, Burgundy Report and The Wine Digger

When sitting down to write yesterday’s post, I had every intention of putting in a handful of quick plugs for some notable things that have been happening around the vinternet of late. That segment on ChampagneGuide.net quickly took on a life of its own though, so here’s some more of what I had in mind.

Being someone who is quite detail oriented (as a reader recently noted), I tend to do a decent amount of research when putting my wine related pieces together. As much as I rely upon Google for day-to-day web searches, I often find it lacking when it comes to filtering wine data. It’s taken me a while to change my ways but I’ve finally gotten into the habit of using Able Grape instead. Able Grape’s creator, Doug Cook, has put together a database built around search algorithms that are specific to wine information. It’s simple to use, especially if you install the AG plug-in that allows you to search directly from your browser’s toolbar). And it works – really well. Check it out.

As for new developments in the wine blogosphere….

Bill Nanson has recently posted the Spring 2009 edition of Burgundy Report, which features, among many other notable things, a profile of Domaine Georges Roumier and a vertical tasting comparing the wines of Clos des Lambrays and Clos de Tart. His constantly growing – and absolutely free – site is a fine resource focusing primarily on the red wines of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.

Thanks go out to Cory Cartwright at Saignée for turning me on to the youngest entry on today’s roster. The Wine Digger was launched a mere week ago by Guilhaume Gerard, one of the co-owners of San Francisco wine bar/merchant, Terroir. It’s as yet a bit unclear where Guilhaume’s headed with it – shop blog, personal travelogue, tasting note emporium – but no matter; if he keeps up at the pace and spirit with which he’s started there’s bound to be plenty more good stuff to come. His post on Paris wine bar/café Le Verre Volée should give you a good feel for things.

I’m tempted to keep going but I think that’ll do for today. Wouldn’t want to spread too much love at once now, would I?

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ChampagneGuide.net

Peter Liem, a Senior Correspondent for Wine & Spirits Magazine who lives in the Champagne region of France, has been writing one of my favorite blogs, Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel, for about 1½ years now. While like most bloggers he’s always felt free to write about wherever his travels or thoughts take him, his blog has nonetheless focused primarily on Champagne. I’ve found it to be a fantastic resource, as he has an insider’s knowledge of the region yet analyzes it with the freedom of an outsider, writing some of the finest tasting notes and most well informed producer profiles I’ve ever come across.


All along, Peter’s hinted at working on “bigger things” and he’s now brought the fruit of that labor to light with the launch of ChampagneGuide.net. In Peter’s own words:

"The site features profiles of over 100 champagne producers, along with tasting notes for nearly 600 champagnes currently on the market. While the Champagne region boasts over 5,000 registered brands, I have made a selection of those houses and estates that I feel to be the most significant and the most interesting in terms of quality. In addition, I wish to highlight the vast diversity of champagne, and in these pages you will find comments on large négociant houses, tiny grower estates and everything else in between—Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot are represented, but at the other end of the spectrum, so are Cédric Bouchard, Jérôme Prévost and Marie-Noëlle Ledru, and many others besides.

In general, the site is arranged by producer—unlike most wine guides, which focus heavily on tasting notes and point scores, offering abbreviated information (and oftentimes none at all) on the producers themselves, my champagne guide focuses on profiling these houses and estates in detail, in the belief that the more informed you are about where the wine comes from and how it is grown and made, the better you will understand and appreciate what it is you are drinking."

An annual subscription to ChampagneGuide.net will set you back US$89. If it’s anywhere near as well done as his blog – and I somehow don’t think that’s a worry – it will be an investment well made for any connoisseur, established or aspiring, of Champagne.

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Music and Wine

It comes as no surprise to me that more and more people in wine blogging circles are drawing parallels between music and wine or peppering their normally vino-centric sites with occasional (or regular) musical interludes. Both media offer, when at their best, a certain visceral sensation that can cut to the quick of personal expression and experience. Energy, soul, flavor… they’re all there, or at least should be, both in the glass and on the turntable or stage.

Sites like Rockss and Fruit and Old World Old School come immediately to mind, with Jim Eastman’s Music and Wine (whose unabashedly straightforward blog name I’ve borrowed for this post) following hard on their heels. I’ve been known to throw my hat into the ring from time to time. The guys at Wine & Spirits, Wolfgang Weber and Peter Liem, have both gotten into the act. And more recently, I’ve seen some pretty cool cross-referencing happening at Saignée. There's little doubt that I’ve missed a few others….

I also have little doubt that there are plenty of wine (and food) bloggers out there that dabble with a musical instrument or two.

But how many wine bloggers can you think of that also happen to be in damn good rock and roll bands? Please correct me if you know of others but I can only think of one: Dr. Jeremy Parzen. The fact that he’s freakishly talented in both arenas (and a scholar and gentleman to boot) only makes it all the more fun to follow his wine, music and food related musings at Do Bianchi and to check out the new video from his band, Nous Non Plus.



NN+'s new album, Ménagerie, is scheduled for release tomorrow, February 3. Advance copies are available for purchase through Aeronaut Records and CC Now or via Amazon. They'll also be playing next Monday, February 9, 2009 – fresh back from a quick European tour – at New York’s Mercury Lounge. Advance tickets are a must.

So what are you waiting for? Get on out there and do your part to support independent music. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to keep that dial tuned in to the work of your favorite independent bloggers.

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Around the Web on New Year’s Eve

I’m honored to have been invited to guest blog at Jeremy Parzen’s Do Bianchi today. Head on over, check out my short-take on holiday bubbles and drop Jeremy a comment to let him know you visited. Peruse awhile and you’ll find I’m in particularly good company, as Brooklynguy was guest author yesterday, with a new installment of his indispensable weekly series, Friday Night Bubbles.

As long as we’re on the topic of sparklers, and speaking of indispensability, Peter Liem has recently posted a richly informative piece on the current state of Rosé Champagne at Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel. His blog is one of my daily reads – in good company with Do Bianchi and Brooklynguy – and should be on your list as well if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge of all things Champenoise.

You’ll find a very even-handed take on the pros and cons of various wine closures at Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog. As a Master of Wine and author of The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass, it’s pretty safe to consider him an authority on such matters.

Stay tuned for a “year in review” type post here at MFWT. The creative/reflective spark for that one hasn’t hit me yet but I hope the inspiration will find me in the next week or so.

In the meanwhile, here’s wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year! Cheers!

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Blogs of Note: Loire Valley Edition... and Some Other Items of Interest

In recent weeks, I stumbled upon a fantastic new wine blog, Jim’s Loire. Its subject matter should be obvious given its title. The “Jim” in question is Jim Budd, a freelance beverage writer who contributes to Decanter as well as to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide series. Splitting his time between London and the Touraine, Jim’s postings offer on-the-ground insight into the day-to-day workings of some of the best wine farms in the Loire and often include direct commentary from the vignerons themselves.

Reading through his very first post will provide insight into what got him started down this road. At it for just over three months, Jim has already passed the 100-post milestone, so he’s obviously approaching his work with gusto. His blog is one that all of my kindred Loire-nuts should be following with equal gusto.

Jim’s Loire is also peppered with some very fine photographs, like this one of François Chidaine from Jim's recent visit at the Chidaine’s shop, La Cave Insolite.

In other news:

Relative to my recent comments on Brunellogate, Franco Ziliani offers up a much more cynical, hard-line opinion of “the hypocritical Brunello vote” at VinoWire.

Derrick Schneider – the man behind An Obsession with Food & Wine – and I share a problem in common when it comes to California Cabernet Sauvignon.

Finally, Alder Yarrow, author of the world’s most popular wine blog Vinography, takes some well aimed shots at the journalists and researchers responsible for recent headlines regarding wines tainted by heavy metals.

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A Little Left Coast/Right Coast Blogger Mash-Up

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of spending a little time with the real human beings behind two of my favorite wine blogs. The first I’ve mentioned in passing already. Brooklynguy and I had a chance to do a little – more than a little, actually – tasting together last week. In between gigs, we hit a neat little Tribeca lunch spot called Columbine. Grabbing a sandwich and having a quick sit down gave us a welcome chance to catch up and for Neil to inspire a little jealousy by dropping news of his impending wine-focused trip to France. It’s been way too long…. By the time we picked and chose our way through a sizable number of the daunting array of wines at the Dressner tasting, neither one of us could imagine sticking with our original plans to grab a glass of wine somewhere. Instead, Neil treated me to a bowl of Phở at Công Lý, one of his favorite Vietnamese storefronts in Chinatown. The comforting nature of Phở – belly warming noodles, a little beef tendon and light but richly flavored broth – put just the right restorative touch on the day before we parted ways, he back to Brooklyn and I to Penn Station.

A slice of the Chinatown skyline on a fall day in NYC. The photo doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid. Further up the page, a candid shot of He Who Shall Not Be Photographed.
Just a few days ago, I had the chance to continue the chain when Joe Manekin of Old World Old School passed through town. Joe lives in San Francisco but had come east to spend some time in a DC recording studio with his band and to visit his family in the Charm City (that’s Baltimore, y’all, or Mobtown if you prefer) burbs. I was jazzed when Joe let me know he’d be in the area but my schedule didn’t allow for a trip down to Baltimore or up to New York. Instead, he disembarked at Philly’s 30th Street Station on his way from New York back to Baltimore, allowing us to get together for a bite to eat and to catch up. The funny thing is, even though Joe and I have a ton in common – we both spent our formative years in the DC area, both work in wine shops and both share a passion for some similar schools of music – we’d never actually met before.

Rather than trying to take Joe on a two-hour whirlwind tour of Philly or heading for one of the city’s trendier dining destinations, I decided to go with one of Philly’s strengths – its BYO culture. And I kept it old school, opting for lunch at Nan, West Philly’s Thai/French amalgam that’s one of the old guard in town and, conveniently, happens to be open for lunch. It’s not the most exciting spot – the menu’s barely changed in the last fifteen years – but it’s reliably good and quiet enough for leisurely conversation. It’s also perfect for tasting a little wine. It’s always tough deciding what to pour for a fellow wine guy. I opted for a couple of things that I suspected Joe might not have access to in Frisco and for bottles with a couple of years under their corks. Ratzenberger’s 2002 Steeger St. Jost Riesling Spätlese trocken had changed drastically since I’d last tasted it, shedding much of its steely nerve and grapefruity citrus character. It’s now broad and roundly textured, less of a wow wine than in its youth but more clearly showing the blue and black slate pungency of the St. Jost vineyard. Many consider Aldo Vajra’s Dolcetto d’Alba “Coste e Fossati” to be his top wine. If it’s any indication, the 2004 is still a baby – profound, rich, structured and balanced. It was impressive straight off for its fruit concentration and brooding flavors but it wasn’t until it after an hour of airtime that its aromatic finesse really started to show.

Joe, leftover wine in hand, outside Philly's 30th Street Station.
Anyway, enough about wine. This is really about the pleasure of meeting and getting to know new friends. It’s weird how much you can intuit about someone via the wine and food blogging culture. I’ve always been a little freaked out by the cyber meeting place, whether it be social media, instant messaging or chat rooms, but our little corner of the blogosphere somehow seems more natural. Thanks for the brotherhood, guys.

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Restaurant's mentioned in this post:

Columbine
229 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10013
(212) 965-0909


Công Lý
124 Hester Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 343-1111


Nan
4000 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 382-0818

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Labeling Quirks and a Blog of Note

As I expect most food and wine bloggers do, I spend a decent amount of my non-blogging on-line time reading other food and wine blogs. The ones that keep me coming back tend to be those that both entertain and educate. One such that I’ve really been digging of late is Amy Lillard’s, La Gramière. It’s named after the property she and her husband purchased in the Côtes du Rhône a couple of years back and the winery they subsequently established on the estate. On her blog, Amy is chronicling the happenings throughout each vintage at La Gramière. It’s one of the most enjoyable winery blogs I’ve come across, neither tiresomely technical nor grossly marketing driven. Instead, it’s honest. Amy’s not afraid to talk about the difficulties faced at the estate. Reading her work gives me a sense of their place, their struggles and their joys, and it often teaches me something along the way. As one might expect given Ms. Lillard’s responsibilities in the vineyards, it’s not updated every day but she always keeps it fresh enough to keep me coming back.

Her recent post on some of the inherent hassles of wine labeling for a diversified distribution chain didn’t just teach me something, it also got me thinking. In it, she details running afoul of US regulatory authorities as the result of a labeling snafu and the subsequent conscription of labor and impromptu assembly line required to get her latest release into the US market. The offending item: a tiny icon of a pregnant woman overlaid with the classic “no” symbolism of the circle and slash. Many a French winery began placing the symbol on their labels as early as a year or two ago in anticipation of it (or a textual version) being required on all bottles of wine in France as of 2008. It’s very much the equivalent of the Surgeon General’s warning that has appeared on all wine in the US for years.

Even though she doesn’t much like the image, Amy chose the symbol over the prolix version of the warning for its less space-intensive traits, only to find out that the US has now banned any appearance of the symbol on bottles of wine entering the US market. While I’d seen the icon popping up on French bottles over the last year or so and was aware of the new French warning requirements, this was the first I’d heard of the American ban on the appearance of the symbol. Her solution was to scrape the back labels off a sizeable portion of her bottles – an ugly job from the sounds of it – only to reapply new ones that would meet with the demands of US regulatory authorities.

This first got me thinking of how all the other wineries throughout France would deal with the situation. La Gramière had placed the symbol on their rear label. The majority of French wines, when sold on their home market, don’t even have a back label. (The marketing novellas so common on the back of New World wines are still relatively uncommon on the European front.) A winery that sells to multiple nations will almost always have a different rear label for each country, even one each for multiple distributors in larger markets such as the US. But front labels? In my experience, they’re the same for most if not all markets. Put the pieces together and you’ll realize that most French producers who opted for the iconic warning option had to place the symbol right on their front labels.


Here’s how at least one producer handled the situation. The first shipment of Henri’s 2005 came through with the symbol intact. The second time around, it had simply been colored in with what I suppose is the French equivalent of a Sharpie®.
After talking about the issue with a few of my coworkers, what really got me thinking – actually, what really irked me – was why the powers that be in the US had to make an issue of this in the first place. From a bureaucratic perspective, it’s just nitpicking to the nth degree, at the expense of time, money and frustration for the people affected. From a sociopolitical perspective – whether or not you like the imagery of the symbol – it amounts to cultural whitewashing – censorship if you prefer. If it’s accepted as meaningful in France, why can’t it be accepted here as well? The Surgeon General’s warnings are going to appear on the back label either way. Are the American people that much in need of being protected from potential offense? I don’t have the answer to that, but my sympathies go out to Amy and all the other wine growers like her who’ve had to jump through hoops to prevent the question from ever being faced.

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Sulfur in San Fran

Wolfgang Weber, my fellow blogger behind Spume, recently wrote an excellent piece for the San Francisco Chronicle on the role of sulfur in the winemaking practice. Though he doesn't break new ground, his piece does an excellent job of covering all the bases and includes insights from an interesting group of California winemakers. I'm a little late in reporting this but no matter, meaningful content shouldn't have an expiration date.

Read it. And check out the predictably vociferous comments. But do yourself a favor. If you decide to comment or ask a question, skip the fray at the Chronicle and head back to Spume with your questions. If for any reason you prefer to leave questions here, by all means do so. I'll do my best to tackle them.

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Freundesday Night Bubbles

It was an unexpected invitation that inspired my trip to New York last week. By pure coincidence, I headed home with another surprise invite: to write a guest blog post about one of the wines enjoyed over dinner at Brooklynguy's.


I've included a photo-teaser of the wine in question but you'll need to head over to Brooklynguy's blog to read all about it. It's my first stint as a guest blogger, so I hope you will. While you're there, be sure to look around, leave a comment to let him know you visited, and consider adding his site to your bookmarks, reader of choice or blogroll -- whatever flavor suits your fancy. His site is on my shortlist of everyday reads.

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Hello Again

Forgive me for not being very bloggerly of late. It's been a very busy week, what with craziness at work, wine tasting events in the evening and the need for sleep in between keeping me from writing anything for a few days running. In the temporary absence of new content here, let me at least point you to some recent and worthy tidbits from around the wine blogosphere.


Dr. Debs recently -- actually, it's been about a week -- posted her summary of the last episode of Wine Blogging Wednesday, which focused on white Rhône style wines.

Subsequently, the host and theme of the next installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday have been announced. The folks at Grape Juice will be marshaling WBW #47. Their selected theme -- wines directly related to the letter "S" -- isn't one of the more didactic focuses of late but will no doubt result in fun and creative effortS aS participating bloggerS try to outSmart one another. Entries are due on Wednesday, July 9.

It's been a full two weeks now, but Alfonso Cevola, author of the poetic, insightful blog On the Wine Trail in Italy, recently posted a thought provoking piece on the current state of restaurant wine lists and the potentially pernicious influence of the young buck sommelier. It stuck in my head and it's very much worth a read.

Finally, a new entry into the world of wine blogging that I stumbled upon in recent days is J. David Harden's Rational Denial. If its first month on the ground is any indication, it's a site that you should all consider adding to your reading lists and blog rolls.

I'll try to get back to business as usual in short order. Until then, happy summer solstice, all.

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