A Return to Terroir

Ever since my last trip to Terroir, I've felt a certain illogical but unavoidable sense of guilt by association. I actually visited twice, on successive days in October 2009, and smack in between those two stops, the place was flooded. What seemed at first to be relatively minor damage turned out to be much more serious, enough in fact to shut down Terroir for long enough that myself and no doubt others began to wonder if the anointed king of San Franciscan natural wine destinations would ever re-emerge from under the wreckage. Luckily, current owners Luc Ertoran and Dagan Ministero persevered, reopening their doors earlier this winter. And happily, I managed a return last week, during a day's trip up to San Fran from our post in Monterey. The guys didn't seem to have held anything against me....

I always seem to end up with at least one photo that I really like when shooting at Terroir. Something about the place must inspire creativity.

In fact, they even had something special open for me (at least that's the way I liked to think about it). Actually, it seems there's always at least one option by the glass at Terroir that's out on the bleeding edge of the establishment's already devout focus on site-expressive wines. Last time 'round it was something orange. This time, it was the 2005 "Savagnin de Voile" from Evelyne and Pascal Clairet's Domaine de la Tournelle, an expression of Jura Savagnin aged under a veil (sous voile) of flor-like, surface dwelling yeasts. Dagan called it a "baby vin jaune." Nearly all of my companions on a mid-Thursday afternoon found it a little too bizarre for their tastes. I called it compellingly delicious, with its intense nose of fino-like oxidative characteristics, oily yellow flowers and crushed, blanched almonds followed up by a penetrating, long-lasting presence on the palate. Very cool juice that, if I understood Dagan correctly, is brought in especially for (and perhaps available only at?) Terroir by Tournelle's importers, Jenny & François.

Yes, that does read "2 x 75cl," what former Terroir partner Guilhaume (not to mention the guys at The Ten Bells in NYC) likes to call a full bottle. Check out Guilhaume's photo-profile of Derain at The Wine Digger. (No more photos, I'm afraid. The Wine Digger has since gone into hiding.)

My friend Joe, he of the Old School, met up with us just as we were finishing our first pours. Knowing that we were there as part of the celebratory preparations leading up to our friends Steve and Stacy's wedding, Joe treated us all to a magnum of "Chut... Derain," a sparkling Aligoté produced by Dominique Derain at his estate in St. Aubin. It went down way too easy. And yes, it's no coincidence that the swoosh on the bottle label resembles the natural curvature of the feminine posterior form. Luc explained the etymology and wordplay involved in the cuvée's name but I can't for the life of me remember the details. You'll have to stop by and ask him for yourselves.


As afternoon all too quickly bled into night and appetites started to flare, I was jazzed to see Spencer on the Go set up their french bistro food truck. I'd missed them on my last Sunday/Monday visits — the Chez Spencer mobile unit feeds Terroir customers and other passersby Wednesday through Saturday from their parking spot in the lot at 7th & Folsom, directly across the street from Terroir. A braised lamb cheek sandwich to go and I was back at the Terroir bar, enjoying my meal with a little taste of Derain's Mercurey rouge, poured for us by Luc as counterpoint to the bottle I'd ordered to close out our visit....


Luc warned me. "Pigeage... barriques... 2005... extracted... tannic... young." Joe just kind of sneered. But I was unstoppable. I'd enjoyed some of the white Burgundies of François Mikulski in the past but had never encountered any of the producer's reds. When I spotted Mikulski's '05 Pommard on the list at Terroir, it stuck in my head. The price was fair, it was an opportunity to explore Burgundy. I had to go for it. But I should have listened. One tough customer, very dark and closed, even a little volatile. Natalie and I, in fact, debated the finer points of the Pommard's aromatic profile, I calling it reminiscent of paint thinner, she in her painterly ways correcting my description with a comparison to the subtler scents of "odorless" mineral spirits. Guess I need to spend a little more time sniffing solvents. I took half the bottle back to Monterey with me and, honestly, it never opened or markedly improved over the course of the next two days. Makes me wonder what its future will bring.

Hey, you can't win 'em all. But you can sure enjoy the trying. I'm ready to go back....

Terroir 1116 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 558-9946

Spencer on the Go 7th & Folsom (across the street from Terroir) San Francisco, CA 94103

Intro only...

Notes from Fright Night

As much as I loved Halloween as a wee lad, the idea of sitting home alone on Friday night, handing out candy to scores of costumed kids, my dogs barking frantically in the background, just wasn’t calling my name this year. The idea of hanging out with friends, preparing a casual meal and tasting through a few wines, though, sounded like just the thing. What better way to pass the time between the few stray trick-or-treaters wandering their neighborhood?

Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Amphibolite Nature,” Domaine de la Louvetrie (Joseph Landron) 2007. $14. 11.2% alcohol. Importer: Martin Scott, Lake Success, NY.
Jo Landron’s “Amphibolite Nature” spends minimal time on the lees, thus delivering a purely fruit-driven expression of Muscadet that’s perfect, particularly given its low alcohol, as an aperitif. That’s exactly how we treated it. The bottle had actually been opened the prior day. What was left was showing quite nicely, with pretty lime pith and mineral scents followed by melon, crisp peach and a dash of white pepper on the palate. Very refreshing.

Bourgogne Aligoté, François Mikulski 2006. $20. 12% alcohol. Nomacorc. Importer: Elite Wines Imports, Lorton, VA.
Right up front, this delivers a nose of sour rocks and pear skins, aromas that eventually become riper and rounder. Nice front palate flesh is contrasted by bracing acids and grippy texture on the finish. In the big picture, it’s a simple wine. But it’s a pretty serious Aligoté, one that delivers admirable concentration, balance and ripe lemon-lime fruit.

Bourgogne Rouge, Domaine Chevillon-Chezeaux 2006. $22. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA.
A touch tighter and tangier than the handful of other basic ’06 Bourgogne from the Côtes de Nuits I’ve tasted thus far but delicious nonetheless. Griotte and lightly brined green olive scents follow through in the mouth, carried along on a light-bodied, brightly acidic frame with silky texture and measurable persistence. This was my first encounter – and a promising one – with the wines of Philippe Chezeaux.

Fleurie “Les Garants,” Domaine du Vissoux (Pierre-Marie Chermette) 2007. $25. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA.
I sold Vissoux’s wines years ago and now terribly miss having convenient access to them. Pierre-Marie Chermette makes some of the most fruit-rich, concentrated Beaujolais out there. They tend to show tons of primary fruit on release, sometimes tight, sometimes forward, but take time to really blossom. This is on the forward side of the curve right now, explosively fruity – crushed raspberries, violets and blueberries – on the nose, round, vibrant and juicy in the mouth. But it’s painfully young, both grapey and chalky. The pieces are all there – excellent balance and fine bones. It just needs to be forgotten about for a few years.

Fleurie “Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive,” Coudert Père et Fils 2007. $26. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Louis/Dressner, New York, NY.
The differences between the Fleuries of Coudert and Vissoux in ’07 (as in most years, I expect) are like night and day. It was a treat to taste them back-to-back. “Cuvée Tardive” is already showing much more serious, vinous character than Chermette’s wine. Earthy, pale ruby red in color, its nose, which is really lovely, hints of wild red berries, fresh thyme and black pepper. It’s even lovelier in its impact on the palate, tense and serious. Absolutely spot-on with flank steak sandwiches topped with caramelized onions and red peppers, served on onion rolls. This too is built to last, but it’s going to require serious willpower not to drink it now.

Carema “Etichetta Bianco,” Luigi Ferrando 2004. $37. 13.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchants, New York, NY.
This was the rollercoaster of the night. Tight, closed, even a little musty when first opened, after about an hour it blossomed into a fantastic expression of high altitude Nebbiolo. Leather, herbal red fruit, vanilla and rose petals, none of which were apparent at first, came out of hiding. Aromas of drying cigarette tobacco followed, even a touch of sweet seaweed flavor. Another thirty minutes, though, and it clamped shut again, tight, tangy and wacky. Whether drunk now or later, coming to grips with this will take a patient temperament and an open mind.

Intro only...