New Vintages

Some of my favorite wines have just been released in new vintages. I haven't had all of them yet, but I figured I'd share the news about the group that I've had at home with dinner:

And by the way, if these wines are representative of what's happening in general, 2009 in Beaujolais really is as awesome as they say. Buy the wines and drink them. Sure, pick a few that you are most interested in and lay a couple of bottles down, but these wines are drinking beautifully right now. Don't miss it.

2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon, $22, Imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. Ripe and enticing, pure and clean, very fresh, this is bursting with red fruit and as if to suggest what we would be eating with this wine if we were already in heaven, an undertone of earthy cured meat. This wine is not perfect - I find the alcohol to be a bit awkward, although the bottle says only 13%. But I wouldn't be surprised if it is in fact higher. And in any case, it juts out a little. The this is, the wine is still delicious. I cannot imagine cellaring it, as it tastes so good now, and doesn't seem to be holding anything in reserve.

2009 Coudert Clos de la Roilette Fleurie, $20, Louis/Dressner Selections. Ripe and aromatic, very generous, plushly textured and with good body and richness, but without crossing into the land of overdone or huge. In other words, it's a solid standard deviation away from the ripeness mean, but still within the realm of normal. Will this age well? I don't see why not. There is plenty of acidity and the wine is fundamentally in balance. In this case though, I'm having a really hard time imagining why I would try to hold it. The drinking really is just that good right now.

2009 Clos de Tue-Boeuf Cheverny, $16, Louis/Dressner Selections. Pure joy. Vivid red fruit, when served cool the texture is not entirely smooth and that is a big part of the charm, the acids are strong, the aromatics are lovely, the wine is clean and absolutely well balanced, and the finish lingers longer than it has a right to considering its humble pedigree. You blend Pinot Noir and Gamay somewhere near Touraine and you can make a decent wine. Even if you are Thierry Puzelat, the wine is not always great. This time, it's great. What else can I say - pure joy.

2008 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph, $25, Imported by Fruit of the Vines. As good as this wine is, it's a bit of a disappointment. The past several vintages have been wonderful and this wine is very tasty too, but it isn't as strong as its predecessors and this is clear. It has the dark fruit, the olives, the wet soil, the finesse that I know of Gonon and his plots in St. Joseph, but it is lacking the complexity that I have come to expect and with air, the emptiness of the midpalate really shows. The price is right and this is good drinking, but don't believe that this is the best that Gonon can show you.

2009 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet Clos des Briords, $16, Louis/Dressner Selections. This drinks differently than any young Briords that I've had, but that's okay because it's still absolutely delicious. This one is far more crowd friendly and approachable. The aromas are lovely and clear - lemon, a bit of yeast, spring water. The wine feels relaxed, as if it's already gone through that young tightly wound period. I've learned enough, however, about this wine to know that based on this one bottle, I have no idea what's really going on here. It certainly seems like it wants to be enjoyed early. And it tastes really good right now.

2008 Albert Boxler Edelzwicker Reserve, $16, Robert Chadderdon Selections. Sometimes the overall bigness and the residual sugar in Boxler's wines makes it hard for me to appreciate them on a practical level. Meaning, I respect what's going on, but I don't always want to open and drink them. Not so with this wine. This is the field blend of essentially every white grape grown by the estate. Yes, it is full bodied and big, unmistakably a Boxler wine, and there is residual sugar too. But the wine is very well balanced and actually feels lean and mineral on the finish. Herbs, pits, wildflowers, and bitter honey support and lend complexity to the wine, and it is so very satisfying. And flexible too - find something that doesn't eat well with this wine in the heat of summer, I dare you.

2000 López de Heredia Rioja Rosado Viña Tondonia Gran Riserva, $24, Imported by Polaner Selections. I haven't actually had an entire bottle of this yet, just glasses on several occasions. But I'm very excited about what I drank. This wine is perhaps more grounded than the 1998, a wine that I think is absolutely excellent, but a wine that took a year after release to show as well as it does now. That's the thing with these Lopez wines - they release them when they think they're ready, but maybe they should get a little more time in your cellar anyway. The 2000 has a darkly spicy, very focused character, and it is more attractive to me early on than the more tropical 1998 at this point in its life. Blood orange, salt, sherry, and so clean and pure. I hope I have the self-control to hold onto a few of these.

Wine and Cheese - Lazy Lady Fil-A-Buster and Pinot Blanc

Lazy Lady Farm in Vermont is Laini Fondiller's life's work. Located in Westfield Vermont, not far from the Canadian Border, Fondiller's farm is off-the-grid. Yes, that means that the electricity that is used on the farm is generated by solar panel and wind generators. Fondiller does mostly everything herself, from milking to washing the rinds. Her's is an interesting story, and NY Times Magazine recently ran a story on her.

That and $2.25 gets you a ride on the subway. Call me cynical, if you like, but none of that makes any difference to me if Lazy lady cheeses don't taste good. I respect and admire her commitment to minimal impact farming, and that she generates her own power and feeds the byproducts of her cheese-making to raise pigs - those are great things to do, things to aspire to. But I still want the cheese to taste good if I'm going to buy it.

The good news is that the cheeses taste great. The one's I've had, anyway. My favorite so far is probably the deliciously creamy Lady in Blue, a blue cheese that is more fruity and creamy than salty. The other day I saw a Lazy Lady cheese that I'd not seen before (Fondiller's cheeses are seasonal, of course, as is cow and goat milk in Vermont), something called Fil-A-Buster. I figured it would be a fitting cheese to eat this weekend as the ladies and gents in Warsh-ington had it out over the health care bill.

Fil-A-Buster is a raw cow's milk washed rind cheese that's available from January through May. It is similar to a legendary cheese from the Jura called Vacherin Mont D'Or, in that the cheese wheel is bound with a resiny and aromatic strip of spruce bark. But Fil-A-Buster must be aged for at least 60 days, as we are complete prudes about the bacteria in raw milk over here. Vacherin is made in smaller wheels and is a runny gooey mess of deliciousness.

Fil-A-Buster is a wonderful cheese that needs to be serves at room temperature in order to reveal its full flavor. Please don't eat around the rind if you try this cheese - the rind makes the whole thing so special. The creamy texture becomes pleasantly grainy with the rind, and the clean milky flavors take on nutty tones, particularly the somewhat bitter skins of fresh walnuts. The resiny spruce aroma lingers after swallowing.

The spruce bark takes on quite a gnarly appearance after 2 months in a cheese cave.

We ate this cheese with the 2007 Laurent Barth Alsace Pinot Blanc, $14, Louis/Dressner Selections. This is an excellent wine, and a great value at this price. It is a thing of liquid rock - the aromas are wet rock and limestone and more rock. Almost painful in its piercing mineral focus, but with an hour it relaxes a bit and shows a gentle undercurrent of honey and something like eucalyptus. It's well balanced and lively, and honestly has nothing to do with those round and blowsy Pinot Blanc wines that are common. It seems to be much more about place than about Pinot Blanc, which I think is a good thing. Although it doesn't have the depth and complexity of Dirler's Pinot Blanc, it's also less than half the price.


That said, I wish that I had opened a bottle of Jura wine with this cheese, something made in the intentionally oxidized style. The rich nutty character of a wine like that would have been an even better partner for this cheese. The Barth Pinot Blanc is great, but might be a better match for younger fresher cheeses, or perhaps with something like weisswurst and sauerkraut.

Getting Started with 2010

If you look at the left side-bar of this blog you'll see that with 2010, this blog enters its fifth calendar year. This is misleading, as I have been doing this for only three and a half years. In any case, enough time has passed so that I think it's worth stepping back for a minute. And I'll use the beginning of the new year as an excuse to do this.

I am not in the wine business. I write this blog anonymously in an attempt to maintain some sort of privacy for my family and for myself in my "real" life. I started blogging as a way to record my learning about wine, and that's basically still what it is for me. Some things have changed, of course. I get to do much more than I did back then, as the New York City wine community has, luckily for me, welcomed me into it's folds. And when I write a post now I am conscious of that fact that there are people who will actually read it. But other than that, everything is the same.

I'm still not in the wine business. I've still not had a bottle of 91 Rousseau Chambertin with dinner (or any vintage of any Chambertin with dinner, for that matter), I've never tasted DRC, I've never had anyone's Montrachet with dinner. Don't mistake me for some guy who has tasted and drunk the best wines of the world, because I haven't, and I never claim to be that kind of guy. I do drink a lot of wine, I like to think that I have a decent palate, and I'm learning as much as I can. I'm having an absolute ball doing so, and I'll continue to share whatever interests me with you here on this blog.

Now that that's out of the way, I want to share a bit about something exciting from 2009. I haven't written about this yet because I couldn't figure out a graceful way to do so. And I still can't, but it was really exciting, and so this will have to do - Eric Asimov came to our house for dinner! Why did he come to dinner at my house? My mother would have you believe that he's mulling over some sort of fantastic job to offer me, and he needed to meet to check me out first. That's kind of cute in its own only-your-mother-could-be-that-patently-absurd way, isn't it?

He came over for dinner because he loves to drink wine and eat (hopefully) good food, and because he probably gets mostly business invites, and this invite was personal. He came over because I have a blog and he does too, and because I invited him.

What would you serve Eric Asimov if he came over for dinner? I decided that I wouldn't try to impress him with Grand Cru Burgundy and things like that. He has access to that kind of thing through his work, and that's not what I drink at home and write about anyway. I decided to serve some of the things that I know and love. Here's what we had:

(2005) Cédric Bouchard Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules Brut Blanc de Noirs - solo. This Champagne is delicate enough that I prefer to drink it on its own - no almonds, no nibbles, nothing. It was delicious.

NV Equipos Navazos La Bota de Fino "Macharnudo Alto" Nº 15 with pickled herring. I love this Sherry, but it was the only wine that didn't show at its best that night. Three days later it was great, but at our dinner it was just good. And I'm still not sure if there really is a wine that pairs harmoniously with pickled herring. Sherry comes close.

2002 Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Excelsior Clos des Noelles with fish soup. We decanted this wine and it was lovely. Young, but lovely, and to my taste, a harmonious pairing. Is there a better value in wine than Muscadet? I don't think so.

1993 Domaine Tempier Bandol La Migoua with steak, mushrooms, and winter radishes. When mature Tempier is good, it's really good. We got lucky with this one - it was really good. From another era, literally and figuratively.

2001 Dirler Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Kessler with a stinky Bavarian Muenster cheese. Although there is plenty of residual sugar in this wine, the vibrant acidity brings it into perfect balance and the wine doesn't seem sweet. It's not just about spicy exotic fruit - there are herbal and mineral flavors here too. I loved this wine, and there is a reason that the pairing of great Gewurz and Muenster is a classic.

Anyway, he's a very nice guy, that Eric Asimov, and it was a thrill to have him over. I know what you're thinking - "how can Brooklynguy top that in 2010?" Well, I've invited Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner over (both big into Cali Cabs), and hopefully they'll get back to me soon. If they can make it, I really need to get started thinking about what wines to serve.

By the Glass - Domestic Cheese Edition

We've been delving further into domestic cheeses lately with some very good results, mostly. It continues to fascinate me, the challenge of pairing wine with cheese. In my opinion, which in this case is even less well informed than most of my other opinions, red wine is just too difficult to pair with cheese. They both tend to have such powerful aspirations, how can they avoid doing battle with one another? I find myself wanting to drink whites with cheese, the only question being whether or not the wine should have residual sugar. We've tried the cheeses I mention below several times, with various wines. Here are a few recent pairings that worked. Please feel free to chime in with any suggestions of your own.

Jasper Hill Farm Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese, paired with 2002 Domaine du Closel Savennières Moëlleux Les Coteaux, $28, Louis/Dressner Selections. Jasper Hill Farm might be the last great hope for artisanal cheese in Vermont. Mateo and Andy Kehler raise their own cows and make their own cheeses, but they also cellar small-batch cheeses made by other dairy farmers, including the famous Cabot's Cloth Bound Cheddar. Their Bayley Hazen Blue is a raw milk cheese that's aged for at least four months, and it is distinguished by its great balance. Not too salty, not too sweet, this cheese tastes of fresh butter, with herbs and roast nuts. It is crumbly and dense, not creamy like St. Agur. There are many wines that would be great with this cheese, but after one nibble, I knew that I wanted something sweet. The wines of the Savennières appellation are typically dry, but in 2002 the Domaine du Closel made a sweet wine. It was a great match, the herbal flavors of the wine enhancing the same flavors in the cheese. The rich, somewhat viscous texture of the wine enhancing the cheese's lean and sprightly characteristics. I've had this wine as an apértif in the past year, and it was far better with cheese than it was on its own.

Jasper Hill Constant Bliss, paired with 2007 Paul Pernot Bourgogne Blanc, $18, Jean-Marie de Champs Selections. This is a Chaource-style (in the Champagne region) cow's milk cheese. It is aged longer than Chaource cheeses (thank you, flavorful bacteria-averse FDA regulations), and the Jasper Hills folks say that it doesn't really resemble the cheeses of Chaource. This is delicious cheese, plain and simple. The best wine pairing I've found so far is the fabulously over-achieving everyday Bourgogne by Paul Pernot, which in the classic vintage of 2007 manages to be both lighthearted and serious. It shows hints of everything that makes white Burgundy wine so great - ripe fruit, delicate floral and stony aromas, and inner layers of texture that fade in and out.

Scholten Family Farms Weybridge, paired with 2007 Agnès et René Mosse Anjou Blanc, $18, Louis/Dressner Selections. This cheese is aged at the Cellars at Jasper Hill. It is a pasteurized cow's milk cheese with a bloomy rind, aged for 20-30 days. It quite sensibly ripens from the outside in, offering a lovely contrast between the creamy outer layer and the more chalky inner paste. I found the texture to be the most interesting thing about this cheese. The flavors are nice too, but more simple. The Mosse Anjou Blanc was nice here, its earthy and woolly notes adding complexity that I found the cheese to lack. Somehow, though, the wine showed almost no acidity when paired with the cheese. Strange...

Meadow Creek Dairy Grayson, paried with 2006 Pierre Frick Sylvaner Cuvée Classique, $13, Fruit of the Vines Imports. This is a raw milk washed rind cheese from the mountains of south-western Virginia, made somewhat in the style of the classic Italian Taleggio. Meadow Creek Dairy practices an earth-friendly form of cattle farming and cheese making. I have no data to back this up, but I hereby assert that Meadow Creek dairy is partially responsible for the fact that in the recent Presidential election, the great state of Virginia voted Democratic for the first time since 1964. In any case, this is delicious cheese. It is not a runny washed rind cheese, it retains its bouncy form even after several hours at room temperature. It is pungent, but not at all overpowering, with grassy and fruity flavors. Better to cut around the rind though, in my opinion, as it offers little to no flavor, and it adds an unpleasant brittle, waxy texture. Frick's bone-dry Sylvaner is great with this cheese. The floral aromas bookend the pungent, buttery cheese perfectly, and the almost startlingly dry wine accentuates the cheese's clean grassy flavors.

Wine and Cheese - Le Welsche and Gewurztraminer

I'm one of those weirdos who likes Gewurztraminer. It's true, so many of the wines are very bad - sweet and unbalanced, too viscous, devoid of subtlety, crude. But there are good versions out there, and they get lost in the shadow of badness. I understand Gewurztraminer, like Muscat, the way they relate to the other white Alsace grapes. In general, Gewurztraminer and Muscat make aromatic wines, whereas Riesling and Sylvaner are more mineral, and Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are more about fresh fruit. None of these general descriptors indicates anything specific about sweetness. Alsace producers make dry, off-dry, and sweet wines from all of these grapes, yet the average Gewurztraminer seems to be too sweet.

Aromatic doesn't have to mean sweet, though, and my favorite Gewurztraminer wines are dry, or at least they don't seem sweet because they are balanced by good acidity. Truth be told, I haven't found many that fit this description, but those I've found, I love: Dirler's and Binner's particularly. I haven't tried Boxler's, but I bet it's very good too. The other day I found another one, by a producer I'd never heard of, Helfrich. Full disclosure- this wine, along with several other Helfrich wines, was sent to me as a sample by a firm representing Underdog Wine Merchants in California.

A friend came over the other night and after dinner we served an Alsace cheese called Le Welsche, a washed rind cow's milk cheese in the Munster family. This particular cheese is washed with Marc de Gewurztraminer. I always thought Marc was a kind of Brandy, but it isn't (thank you ChampagneGuide.net blog) Marc, like Grappa, is a distillation made from leftover grape skins, stems, and seeds (called pomace), Gewurztraminer pomace in this case.
We unwrapped the cheese a solid two hours before eating to let it air out and come to room temperature. It is not a runny cheese like Epoisses, but is is soft and easy to spread - we went with thin slices of a seven-grain loaf. Le Welsche is not on the stinkiest end of the washed rind cheese spectrum, but it has a pungency that harmonizes well with its grassy sweet cream.

The pairing was great, and that's probably why it's a classic. The 2005 Helfrich Stenklotz Grand Cru Gewurztraminer, about $23, Imported by Underdog Wine Merchants, is a great wine, and a great value. Steinklotz means "stony block," and Helfrich's plot is calcareous bedrock covered in about 8 inches of loamy topsoil. This mineral character really comes through in the wine. The nose shows pure springwater and rock, and also classic aromas of exotic fruit and spice, but it is an elegant expression, not some sort of opulent explosion. The minerals continue on the palate, which comes across as dry, although there are 21 grams/liter of residual sugar here. That's well into demi-sec territory by Loire Chenin standards, and like the best examples of demi-sec Vouvray, the sweetness here is balanced by superb acidity. This wine is defined by its balance - it feels completely unadorned. It is only 13% alcohol, it is highly aromatic, especially on the finish, but it isn't sweet. It is full in body, but not viscous, it is very pure and almost cutting in its minerality, and the whole package is seamless. I would eagerly buy this wine, and probably lay down a few bottles too, but it is not available right now in NYC. A simple web search reveals that it is available in California, Colorado, and New York state, and it's probably available in other markets too. I still haven't sprung for the good version of wine location software.

The Pickyeater's BBQ

I was lucky enough to be invited to Keith Levenberg's BBQ again this year. Last year at this event I drank a few great wines that were completely new to me. Again this year a clutch of lovely people assembled on the roof of a building in Chelsea, again we had great weather, again Keith grilled a bevy of truly excellent steaks, and again everyone brought some sort of interesting wine that they wanted to share with the world.

I didn't take notes because I thought it would be more fun to enjoy the party, to speak to other people. I finally met Michel Abood in person, Manuel Camblor too, and many other good folks. There were some great wines, many of which fall outside of my typical experience. Here are some that moved me, along with a few impressions:

1995 Mount Eden Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains - if California wine tasted like this, I would drink lots of California wine. And by the way, put this up against a lot of white Burgundy from the same year and this will come out ahead, as there is not even a hint of oxidation. This wine was so fresh and well balanced, so utterly and completely delicious. Pure and intense fruit, secondary mint and soil, a mature richness that really lingers. Top notch wine.

1999 Trimbach Gewurtztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre - an Alsace Gewurtztraminer with some bottle age...yum. Actually, the nose was the star here, not to knock the palate which was lovely, but the nose was so complex with typical Gewurtz tropical fruit, but with such an elegant and mature tone. Really intriguing wine.

1981 Bodegas Riojana Gran Riserva - I don't know which Gran Riserva this was, as there are several, but whatever it was, it was fantastic. Such a clearly defined nose of bloody meat and metal, dried cherries, and rocks. So gentle for such a powerful wine. Antique in character, youthful in its power, this was just great wine. Why did they stop making wine like this in Rioja???

1996 Michel Lafarge Beaune 1er Cru Grèves - I had so much fun drinking this wine. I wasn't collecting wine when this was released, and it's a real treat to get to drink a wine like this. Seemed austere at first, but actually it wasn't - it's just old-school Lafarge. The fruit was incredibly pure and the wine was perfectly balanced, and so the acidity of the vintage was the most obvious characteristic of the wine. But it had a quiet intensity, and was absolutely lovely. I want a bottle for myself, and perhaps a Burgundian cheese plate.

2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py - really a pretty wine with lively and enticing fruit, and it puts on weight with air time. Elegant in body, crystal clean and pure, perfectly balanced - delicious wine. Not as meaty as the 2006, but more elegant. Great Beaujolais.

I was eagerly anticipating drinking the 2000 Bruno Clair Savigny Lès Beaune 1er Cru Dominode, but it was corked. People hanging out with me should know this - I am a magnet for corked wine right now. Clearly I am unclean, and if/when I get better I will let you know.

It's not easy to decide what wine to bring to this sort of event. It's a bunch of wine geeks - I wanted to bring something of the highest quality, but also something unusual. So I decided to bring a bottle of Equipo Navazos Sherry La Bota de Fino "Macharnudo Alto" Nº 15. Most were unfamiliar with this wine, and many of them were not terribly interested in Sherry. I can understand that - Sherry is still unusual for most people, and alot of it just isn't terribly special. But this is Equipo Navazos Sherry we're talking about, and it is as special as Sherry gets. "The Real Jay Miller," a bit of a legend in NYC wine circles, was well versed in Equipo Navazos wines. In fact, he told me, Jesus Barquin of Equipo Navazos is a friend of his, and would be coming to the BBQ later on in the evening. How's that for a coincidence?

Jesus came, he saw, and he most assuredly conquered, bringing with him a bottle of Equipo Navazos Jerez-Xérès-Sherry La Bota de Manzanilla "Las Cañas" Nº 16. Tasting these two amazing wines side by side, listening to Jesus Barquin discuss them, I think I finally understood the difference between Manzanilla and Fino. People tend to speak of these wines as if they are exactly the same, only that Manzanilla comes from nearby Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Perhaps that is true when the wines are not individually distinctive. But these wines from Equipos Navazos were cousins at best. The Fino, a wine that I think of as light and elegant (and that is light and elegant), seemed positively brawny next to the Manzanilla's ethereal texture. Both smelled of the sea, but the Manzanilla was imposibly light, with only wispy hints of almonds on the nose and a ballerina's touch in the mouth. The Fino was more assertive and more definitively structured, and a bit more pungent. I loved them both.

Now THAT'S a BBQ.

Wine of the Week

2005 Dirler Pinot Cépage Pinot Noir, $33, Robert Chadderdon Selections. There are a few unusual things about this wine. First of all, although it is made of Pinot Noir, it is white wine. Or is it - I'm just not sure. It looks like a white in the bottle but when poured looks more like a rosé. The label doesn't say. So I think we're talking about a rosé of Pinot Noir. Looking around the interweb, there is no information that I can find about this wine. Actually, I can't find much of anything about Domaine Dirler-Cade at all. And this estate is surely one of the finest in the Alsace. All I found is Jaime Goode's little tidbit, and Steven Tanzer's reviews of Dirler's 2005 lineup, in which this wine is not mentioned. And some other yo-yo wrote this bit about Dirler's Crémant.

All I know is this: Dirler farms organically, and as of the 2007 vintage, using biodynamic methods. Whereas many Alsace producers make wines with some residual sugar, Dirler's are better known for their searing dryness, their mineral intensity. I don't know a lot about Alsace wines, but so far this is my favorite producer.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a lot of technical info for you on this producer or this wine. But I'm a blogger, not a journalist, so I can go ahead and write about the wine anyway...

And it is a truly beautiful wine, memorable and I believe, unique. It is 14.5% alcohol! And still perfectly balanced, given sufficient air time. It is the color of ripe peach skin. At first it smells of resin and alcohol, with cinnamon scented orange fruit underneath. It reminded me of one of those northern-Italian skin contact wines. But that was only temporary. With a half hour open this wine really blossomed. The resin blew off and left behind an incredibly fresh and airy nose that offers plenty of ripe fruit, cinnamon, and a minty menthol floor. And there is a vibrant mineral character too, like the inside of a wet limestone cave. And this is all just the nose, people! It is intense on the palate, very energetic, and offers a compelling harmony of rugged minerals, ripe orchard fruit, and super-firm structure. Between this structure and the vivid acidity, I imagine that this wine will improve for quite some time in the cellar, and I plan to test this hypothesis.

BrooklynLady said that she thought this would be great with a blue cheese. I respectfully disagree, as I think that the most beautiful thing about this wine, the harmonious interplay of its individually rather loud parts, would be lost in the pungency of blue cheese. Next time we open a bottle I want to have some Alsace ham on hand, or speck, or something like that. Sliced thin and served with nothing other than good bread and unsalted butter, that is my dream pairing for this wine. The savory and mellow richness of the ham would work perfectly with the harmonious intensity of this wine - in my mind anyway. I'll try this in a year or so when I open another bottle and we'll see what happens.

It seems as though this wine might not be the easiest thing to find, but if you're in the NYC area, Astor Wines carries it, although it isn't listed on their website.

Friday Night Bubbles

2004 Audrey et Christian Binner Crémant d'Alsace Extra Brut, $28, Jenny & François Selections. I'm a big fan of the wines from this Alsace estate. They are pure expressions of Alsace grape varieties and Alsace terroir. And more importantly, they are absolutely delicious. I tasted through Binner's wines at the recent Jenny & François portfolio tasting and my favorite wine in the current lineup is the Gewurtztraminer. 2005 is the current vintage, and it sings out with fresh flowers and bitter herbs. Like all the wines, it is fresh and pure, and eminently drinkable.

Why am I telling you all this, if this post is supposed to be about Binner's Crémant d'Alsace? I guess I wanted to make it clear how great I think this producer is, and how special their still wines are before telling you that I am not crazy about their Crémant. I've tried it before at one tasting or another and never loved it, but the other day at the tasting it impressed me. So I purchased a bottle on my way home to drink with the BrooklynLady. Tastings are a great way to learn about wine, but for me the only way to discover my own truth about a wine is to drink it at home, slowly, with a meal. Not a novel concept, but I'm telling you anyway.

This Crémant is mostly Riesling at about 70%, with some Auxerrois and Pinot Gris in the blend too. It is aged for three years on the lees, it was disgorged in May of 2008 and topped up with more Riesling - no sugar or concentrated must in the dosage, hence the Extra Brut status. There are some lovely things about this wine. It has nice texture and there is a telltale Riesling bitter fruit pit character. The flavors are round and clean, and the wine has a pleasant lightness to it. But as I drank it I thought of something that Peter Liem said about extra Brut wines:

Non-dosé Champagne is highly fashionable in the Champagne region right now, but few people really do it right. The problem is that in order to make good non-dosé Champagne, you have to work exceptionally well in the vineyards, to achieve fruit that is ripe enough and complete enough to stand on its own. You can't just take your regular brut NV and decide that you won't add any sugar to it.

The Binners without question work exceptionally well in the vineyards - they craft gorgeous still wines year after year. And reasonably priced wines too, by the way. But the 2004 Binner Crémant lacks resonance and depth, and it feels a bit stunted. I gave it the old "how does the wine taste after you leave it out all night" test, and it didn't do so well. I think that it would benefit from a few grams of sugar in the dosage, as un-hip as that may sound. Or maybe it is a lesser selection of grapes used to make the Crémant, who knows. Or maybe this is great wine and I don't know what I'm talking about.

Anyone had this wine and care to share their opinion?

Friday Night Bubbles

2005 Dirler Crémant d'Alsace Brut, $23, Chadderdon Selections. In my self taught learn-by-drinking Alsace wine course, thus far I've found that my two favorite producers are Dirler and Boxler. Boxler makes lush wines that sometimes have a bit of residual sugar, and Dirler makes lithe and bone-dry wines of powerful intensity. Totally different styles, from what I've tasted, anyway.

This stylistic difference applies also to their Crémants, but with a role reversal. Both producers' new releases are non-dosage wines. Boxler's (drank in September) is made from a typical Alsace blend of Pinot Blanc, Riesling, and other highly aromatic grapes, yet comes across as lean and refreshing wine that showcases the purity of delicate fruit. Dirler's Crémant is all Pinot Blanc , and is a more full bodied and rich wine. Although I appreciate both styles of sparkling wine, I think that Dirler's is more successful.

This wine has rich freshly-baked bread aromas upon opening. With a little air time there are also aromas of baked apple and ripe fruit, and there is a noticeable mineral underpinning. There is something in the nose that reminds me of some Blanc de Blancs Champagnes that I've tasted, and it's the combination of rich bread and baked apple fruit. On the palate this wine is really just gorgeous, with ripe pear and citrus fruit, an herbal edge, good acidity, and a sense of purity and freshness that tempers the richness. Very well balanced and completely delicious - honestly one of the best non-Champagne sparkling wines that I can remember drinking.

It's interesting to think that Dirler can achieve this kind of richness and ripeness without any dosage at all, and the wine is still impeccably balanced. No surprise at all that these grapes are grown using Biodynamic principals and vinified with absolutely minimal chemical intervention - the wine is so clean. This one is a candidate for under $25 sparkling wine of the year, as far as I'm concerned.

More Dirler, please.

By the Glass - Alsace Edition

Wines of the Alsace...who knew? From what I can tell, the wines of the Alsace are about as popular in the US as square dancing. Less so, actually, as there are some parts of the US where groups of people really love square dancing. Alsace wine lovers, and I'm guessing you're out there - where are you? Do you meet in secret? Do you suffer in quiet loneliness?

For whatever it's worth, I now count myself as one among your ranks. And I say this as a newborn babe. Let me be clear: I know essentially nothing about Alsace as a wine region. I won't even try to kid you - I know so desperately little. But I've been inspired by the quality of what I've tasted recently.

I'm sure that there is a river of Alsace plonk out there, as there is in Burgundy, the Loire Valley, and in every other great wine region. But what I've tasted so far has been excellent. White wines of great clarity and focus, lovely fruit, and great intensity without being weighty or sweet. I look forward to more from this region, especially as the cooler weather sets in. A cold December night, sausages, real sauerkraut, beef stew, cabbage soup, goulash, anything like that with a shimmering glass of Sylvaner? Yes, that's for me.

Here are notes on a few Alsace wines I drank recently. Please feel free to chime in with your own .02 cents on producers or specific wine that are worth trying.

2004 Audrey & Christian Binner Gewürztraminer Kaefferkopf, $20, Imported by Jenny & Francois Selections. If you think of Gewürztraminer as syrupy and sweet, fit only for the fieriest of Thai food, let this wine be your wakeup call. Bone dry - really. There is a viscous texture to the wine, and incredibly expressive tropical fruit on the nose, but the wine is not at all sweet. It is concentrated and aromatic with lychee and flowers, and a bitter mineral streak underneath. Intensely mineral on the palate with great acidity, there are splashes of fragrance that linger in the mouth after swallowing. Really a lovely wine, one that I could imagine drinking with a variety of meals.But mostly it made me pine for something like choucroute, the traditional "garnished" sauerkraut of the region. Garnished with sausages, potatoes, fatback, and lord knows what other salted meat. This bright and acidic wine would slice very nicely though all of that salt and fat, and might help you to actually finish your plate.

2005 Dirler Pinot Blanc Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, $27, Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections. Gorgeous wine, really inspiring. Such great texture and intensity. Ripe orchard fruit, apple skins, a hint of yeast and lots of mineral character on the nose. Very pure, very fresh, and takes on weight with air time. Intense and fleshy in the mouth but still very lean, completely dry, and with very strong acidity. There is great length to the finish, and a lovely peach pit bitterness. The acidity and raw materials are strong enough here that I would imagine this wine would age quite well. Now that's an interesting question - other than Riesling, do Alsace wines age well?

2004 Albert Boxler Crémant d'Alsace Extra Brut, $28, Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections. A very shy nose at first, and it never becomes all that flamboyant. Considering the blend of highly aromatic grapes used to make this wine, that surprises me. A bit yeasty, fresh water, only the most subtle hint of flowers. This is very refreshing and pure with apple skins, bitter peach pits and hints of bread dough. Very nice wine, although probably not something I would re-buy at $28. I wonder, would this be better with just a couple of grams of dosage? The label certainly is pretty.

2005 Albert Boxler Sylvaner, $23, Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections. My favorite of those I tasted so far, this is just amazing wine. It starts slowly, but on the nose it builds to a crescendo of bright orchard fruit and lime peel, with bitter minerals running underneath. Such a rich and deep nose, so enticing! Absolutely pure and fresh. Great acidity frames the incredibly clear flavors of ripe fruit and bitter minerals. Great balance and length, and a whole lot of character. This is probably one of the lowest still wines on the Boxler totem pole, and it is truly excellent - it shimmers with life. And now I read that Sylvaner is being systematically replaced by other grapes in Alsace. About how the wines are unpopular. Say it ain't so. I've had two Sylvaners in the past few weeks and they were both wonderful, and inexpensive.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Théo, $37, Imported by Vineyard Brands, Inc. This also started slowly (am I drinking this way too young?), but took on some weight with time. Wet stones and lime peel on the nose, hints of apple skins. Clean and fresh in the mouth with attractive mineral and fruit, and an athletic and nervy body, a bit tense. It is a lean and mineral style of wine, and seems like it would be a perfect accompaniment to cold poached salmon with cucumber and dill, or smoked sea trout, or something like that. We enjoyed it with sea scallops in a creamy curry reduction, roast baby turnips and braised turnip greens. Tasty, but the wine is almost too fine for that meal.

Brooklynguy's Blockbuster Trade

I was recently given the gift of two Grand Crus and two 1er Crus, both by excellent producers in Burgundy. That's what it feels like, anyway. I traded for them.

Back in early 2006 I paid good money for a case of 2005 Bordeaux futures. Back then I guess I thought I would want to cellar and drink this wine 20 years down the road. I know my palate better now, and it doesn't tilt in that direction. So when the store contacted me to tell me that my case is here, I asked if I could swap out the bottles I am no longer interested in. To my surprise, they agreed. Too quickly, maybe.

So I thought about it - I paid 2006 dollars for wine that the store now sells, if they still have inventory, at higher prices. If they can sell my 2005 easily at those higher prices, they're coming out ahead. Maybe you could argue that with inflation, return on investment, blah blah blah, that I'm coming out behind.But in the end, I decided to think about it in altogether a different way. The wine that I now owned has almost no value at all to me. If I can trade it for wine that does have value, I'm doing a smart thing. Since I spent this money over two years ago, anything I gain here feels like something for nothing. And that, friends, as you well know, rarely happens.

Problem is, Sherry Lehman doesn't offer many of the wines that I love the most. Little to no grower Champagne and nothing whatsoever that I wanted from the Loire. What an opportunity this would have been to grab a load of "free" Clos Rougeard! Plenty of Burgundy, but lots of Faiveley, Jadot, Bouchard, and other negociant bottles, not what I usually go for.

In the end I found some great stuff, wines that I will cellar for as long as I would have the Bordeaux. Wines that I will look forward to with great anticipation.

Check out this trade:

Brooklynguy gives up -
2005 Château Smith Haut Lafitte - 2 bottles
2005 Château Monbousquet - 2 bottles
2005 Château Lagrange - 2 bottles

Brooklynguy gets -
2005 Chandon de Briailles Grand Cru Corton Bressandes - 2 bottles
2004 Sylvain Cathiard Nuits St. George 1er Cru Aux Murgers - 2 bottles
2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Théo - 1 bottle

I could have gone all Corton, as they are about the same price, but I believe in diversification. Even though that 1971 Corton I had in Portland recently convinced me that this is the little Grand Cru that could. And Chandon de Briailles...so good. The Cathiard wine should be great too, as long as I'm patient with it. The Weinbach comes highly recommended, and seemed like the way to go as I'm trying to learn about Alsace wines. Think of it as "the player to be named later."

Jenny & François Fall Portfolio Tasting

Jenny & François' tasting is something that I have come to look forward to. They do everything right - they send their email advertising the tasting well in advance, they create a good physical space in which to taste, and they order the wines thoughtfully and encourage tasting in that order. And they provide brief but comprehensive notes on their producers and wines - all in the same order in which the wines are poured. On top of that, they're a lovely group of people, very friendly and eager to discuss their wines. Oh, and by the way, they're committed to finding and importing wines that are good for you. Wines that are made with organically and/or biodynamically grown grapes and with minimal intervention in the cellar - natural wines. Their website describes their philosophy rather eloquently and without any dogma.

My two favorite Jenny & François selections are wines that I would pour for anyone. Lassaigne's Champagne from the chalk hills of Montgueux is just a fantastic Blanc de Blancs. Intensely mineral and dry, broad and rich with great fruit, and very well balanced. Sadly, this Champagne seems now to have broken the $50 barrier. It used to be about $36, and I'm talking about a year ago.

And then there is Binner. I like every wine they offer, from the lovely blend called Saveurs Printanieres to the Gewurztraminer, the Riesling, the Pinot Gris, and even the light and incredibly drinkable Pinot Noir (not as crazy, though, about the Crémant d'Alsace). This is a super-solid Alsace producer whose wines cost no more than $25, and in some cases are under $20. That Pinot Gris and a plate of choucroute...or that Gewurztraminer and a bowl of spicy goulash...or that Pinot and a bowl of creamy mushroom soup...I'll take it.

The Jenny & François portfolio offers some of my favorite reds that cost less than $20. This, in my opinion, is the strongest part of the portfolio - the selections from southern France, country wines from the Rhône, Languedoc-Roussillan, and Provence. There must be 10 fantastic wines from these areas that should retail for $20 or under. Serious, delicious, terroir focused, food friendly, interesting wines.

Such as, in no particular order:

1) 2005 Hervé Souhart VdP Le Souteronne (100% delicious Rhône Gamay).
2) 2006 Gilles Azzoni VdP Le Raisin et L'Ange Fable (100% Ardèche Syrah for acid freaks).
3) 2006Estézarques Côtes du Rhône Gres Saint Vincent (a top scorer in the recent NYT piece).
4) 2006 Estézarques Côtes du Rhône Villages Les Genestas (same wine coop, I like this one even better).
5) 2007 Chemin de Bassac Isa VdP des Côtes de Thongue (typical Languedoc blend plus Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir)
6) 2005 Deux Anes Corbières Fontanilles (full of brett and fruit).
7) 2005 Domaine Rimbert Saint Chinian Mas au Schiste (Gorgeous!).
8) 2005 Les Tonnillières Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint Loup (Gorgeous!).
9) 2005 Clos Siguier Cahors (a good decant, and beautiful - try with duck breast).
10) 2007 Estézarques Côtes du Rhône From the Tank (4 bottles in a box - and it's really good).

Here are my notes from the Spring Tasting, in case you're interested.

This is a importer worth watching, strong enough so that I would try a bottle knowing nothing other than the fact that Jenny & François selected it.

By the Glass - Purity Edition

This is not a post about wines that are chaste. This has nothing to do with the new Republican Vice Presidential nominee. This is a post about "purity," a common wine descriptor that I've been thinking about lately.

I often see "purity" in tasting notes as a way of describing wine. Certain wines are very pure, and appreciating this can be a big part of the pleasure that a wine gives. Appreciating purity in wine is interesting because it really means appreciating what is not present in a wine.

What does it mean to say that a wine has "great purity?" Purity refers to the lack of anything that might obscure a wine's natural aromas and flavors. New oak, added sugar, acids, or enzymes, industrial yeasts, pesticides and other sprays, excessively late hang times - these things, among others, can add their own layers of aroma, texture, and flavor to wine.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to make a wine of purity if new wood is used. And I'm not saying wines that are fermented using industrial yeasts are never pure. Purity is something that cannot be defined so absolutely, like oak or malolactic, for example. New oak is either used or it's not. Wine either goes through malolactic fermentation or it doesn't. Purity might be more akin to beauty - it's in the eye of the beholder.

To me, a wine doesn't taste pure, it feels pure. I get it when I can sense how clean the fruit is, when I can feel the clarity and definition of its aromas. When it breaks down on my tongue to reveal something more than just fruit, something essential about the grape variety, and about the soil and the place where it was cultivated. Hard to define, I guess, but for me, easier to feel.

Here are some wines I've had recently that I found to be of exceptional purity. These may or may not be available on retail shelves in your area. If not, no matter - these are producers who make wines of exceptional purity every year. It's part of their style. Is it a coincidence that these producers tend to farm biodynamically? You decide.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Sylvaner Clos des Capuchins Réserve, price unknown but about $20, Vineyard Brands Imports. As can be expected of an Alsace wine made using Sylvaner, this wine is very mineral. The nose offers clean metallic notes, and there are focused citrus and mineral flavors. It really blossoms on day two when melon and floral aromas emerge at the front of the nose, which is still dominated by clean and pure minerals. This is a very pretty wine, one that would work well with shellfish on day one or with a plate of ham, bread and good butter on day two.

2006 Marcel Lapierre Morgon, $23, Kermit Lynch Imports. A Beaujolais that drinks much better at home then it does at a tasting, this wine benefits from exposure to oxygen. It's lovely right upon opening, but with a little airtime there are incredibly well defined aromas of pure and clean Gamay fruit, iron, and very mild brett. And it's not a cop-out to describe an aroma as "Gamay fruit." That's the whole point! This wine smells like Gamay, and that's a beautiful thing, when done properly. Perfectly balanced with great underlying acidity, this is truly an incredible bottle of wine, one of the finest examples of its type.

2006 Gilles Azzoni Vin de Pays de l'Ardèche Le Raisin et L'Ange Fable. $15, Jenny & Francois Selections. Not your typical Syrah, that's for sure. This is high elevation light bodied fresh and pure wine, almost shrill with acidity. But the aromas of young Syrah fruit - bacon fat, horses, purple flowers, herbs and earth - they are all readily apparent. Tough by itself, this wine shines with dinner. Late summer tomatoes, grilled pork, duck...this will stand up to and compliment these and other dishes.

2004 Domaine Pierre Amiot et Fils Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Millandes, $42. This is a wine that doesn't suffer at all from the under-ripe green flavors that plague many of the 2004 reds. It was absolutely delicious. Find-more-bottles-immediately delicious. Soft and gentle on the nose, a mix of clean red and black Pinot fruit with notes of red clay earth underneath. With air time there are pretty floral aromas too. In the mouth the perfume moves between floral and earth, and the wine really caresses the palate. A wine of purity and elegance rather than weight, this wine leaves potent and lingering aromas of flowers, dark fruit, and mineral earth. So graceful and pure, yet such an intense core of dark Pinot fruit, a core that should unravel over the next 7 years or so and offer much to the lucky drinker. This is the wine that gave me the idea for this post.

By the Glass - Unusual Wines Edition

This past month I made a point of opening a few bottles that we don't normally drink. And you know what - we really liked them. Here's the problem - I can only open one bottle of wine a night (usually), and I'm actually trying to scale that back to 5 nights each week. I read somewhere that there should be two nights every week when your body does not have to process any alcohol. Anyway, I feel torn between opening wine from regions I know and love, and opening bottles from places I don't usually go. Mostly I stay with what I know. Here are a few notes on wines we don't usually drink:

2006 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Cuvée Buster Les Monts Damnés, $32, Louis/Dressner Selections. Sancerre might as well be in another wine region, for all of the attention it gets in our Loire Valley-lovin' house. Pouilly Fumé too. They're both as far away and as different from Savennières, for example, as Champagne is from Beaune. Les Monts Damnés is probably the finest terroir in Sancerre, with well exposed incredibly steep slopes that must be harvested by hand. Cuvée Buster is a title created by the Dressners to indicate a particularly fine cuvée by a certain producer in a certain year. Read the amusing story of the creation of Cuvée Buster here. This wine is incredibly delicate, yet focused and intense, with clean citrus fruit, floral, and mineral aromas and flavors. It has excellent acidity and great length, leaving a lovely perfume in the mouth. So well balanced, so great with food, such a beautiful wine. It will probably age well, but why bother? It's so good right now.

2004 Audrey & Christian Binner Riesling Katzenthal, $18, Jenny & Francois Selections. This is simply excellent wine. Full of orchard fruit and bitter honey, and intensely mineral, this wine calls out for food (hot dogs with kraut and mustard?). Apples, peach pits, herbs, and bitter honey on the nose, very clean and pure. The palate is aglow with minerals, but there is good balance with acids and ripe fruit too. There is a slightly oily texture, which is very pleasant. We enjoyed this wine with grilled fresh ham steak and spring onions. Why don't I drink more wine from the Alsace? Or more Riesling? Because I'm a complete ignoramus on both counts, that's why.

2005 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese **, $27 (375 ml). Two Rieslings in one month - that might be a record for me. This one came at the end of a great meal, and it was very nice, although not as moving as the Binner Riesling. Silly comparison though, as this is a much sweeter wine. Is it correct to call this a dessert wine? And whassup with the two asterisks after the name of the wine? Who can understand what's really going on with German wine? Not me. The nose was surprising with cinnamon, dried golden raisins, peaches, and pure spring water. Viscous on the palate, but still feels light, even though this is sweet wine. Maybe you're supposed to have this with dessert, but we had it as dessert, and really enjoyed it.

N.V. Gaspar Florido Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda Manzanilla Pleamar, $12 (375 ml), VOS Selections. You read it too - Eric Asimov recently wrote a compelling article about Sherry, and his tasting panel sampled 25 of them. That same Wednesday I grabbed this bottle, and that very evening, after several hours in the refrigerator, we drank it with hors d'oeuvre of fresh fava bean purée on toast. BrooklynLady didn't like it. "I've tried Sherry, I don't like it," she proclaimed. Too bad for her. I loved it. What a pairing - the fresh greenness of the beans, a bit of garlic, mint, fruity olive oil, sea salt...and this interesting wine. I loved its oxidized personality, the way the power of the flavors contrasted with the lightness of mouth feel. Savory, food friendly, and quite refreshing. Makes me want more Sherry, especially since I can try them for less than $15 a bottle. May I take this opportunity to ask this: does Sherry store well in the fridge, or should it be consumed shortly after opening?

Dinner with the In-Laws

That phrase alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of many of us. It's never easy to completely relax but if you and the husband/wife are in a good place together, it can be done. BrooklynLady and I are in such a place, luckily, because her folks flew in last Thursday from California and we had several dinners together, all in our living/dining room.

For the last dinner of this visit I decided to whip up something special, a little bit festive. But with tiny daughter needing attention, the occasion called for a meal that would be simple to prepare. I went with roast rack of lamb - rub it with mustard, garlic, herbs, throw it in the oven, let is rest, presto. Also some simple roast potatoes with white truffle oil, and some braised kale. Everything worked out well, I am happy to say, and the in-laws were appreciative and in YUM-land.

I wanted to serve something interesting as an aperitif, I didn't feel like defaulting to Champagne. Not that there's anything wrong with Champs, but we did that on Thursday night. How about something elegant and festive in a white wine? I opened a bottle of Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer, an Alsace producer I have been meaning to try for a while now. Both Fork and Bottle (if you read the WBW 29 Biodynamic Roundup, you already know this) and The Wine Doctor have nice profiles of this biodynamic producer, so take a peek.

2004 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Wintzenheim, $28.
Not vieille vignes, not a grand cru vineyard, this is more of an "entry level" Gewurz from the Zind. I LOVED it, and will definitely investigate Zind Humbrecht further. Deep golden color, very inviting. Expansive floral aromas, also some classic lychee, some citrus, and a touch of honey. And that's just the nose, people! First impression of the palate is purity lean and clean wine, surprisingly so for a wine with innate sweetness. The wine zings with the tension that comes from a perfect mixture of sweet yellow fruit and acidity. The label indicates that this wine is a "2" out of 5 on the sweetness index, and this honeyed and floral residual sugar carried through on the long and elegant finish. I wanted more and more of this wine. I want some now...

Father-in-law stunned us by bringing to this dinner a bottle of mature Burgundy wine, a 1993 Volnay 1er Cru by Robert Ampeau, a producer I had never encountered. It gets mostly excellent reviews from the community on Cellar Tracker, and one of the reviews said that it needs time to open up. Good thing I read that note...

1993 Domaine Robert Ampeau et Fils Volnay Santenots 1er Cru
Smells of seaweed and rotting vegetables when first opened. Reminded me of the older regional wine I opened with cheese at our holiday wine dinner. Not good. But almost 3 hours later (thank you Cellar Tracker reviewers), by the time we sat down to our dinner, the nasty smells had completely blown off. Lovely tranparent ruby, no visible signs of aging. Enticing smells of sweet cooked cherries, some spices, and some musty earth undertones. Amazing, how much changed in the nose over a few hours. Silky texture, flavors of cooked red fruit and clay earth with some dried leaf character - an interesting and delicious mature Burgundy. Made fast and close friends with the food too. This wine is available at Crush in Manhattan for $70, and although I really enjoyed it, I am not sure if that represents a great value. I guess if you're in the market specifically for a mature red Burgundy, it is a good value, but if you have $70 to spend on any bottle of red Burgundy...not so sure.

I opened a half bottle of dessert wine as a final flourish, a 2002 Grgich Hills Violetta, $30 (on secondary market). I have enjoyed, but not loved this wine in the past, and this was the best showing thus far. This is a late harvest blend of mostly Chardonnay (65-70% I think), Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Deep yellow with some light orange tint. Orange blossom and honey smells, some citrus peel. Fat and intense on the palate, with confectioners sugar and orange liquor at first, then some floral and honey flavors. A somewhat flabby and unfocused finish prevents this wine from soaring, in my opinion, but it is certainly a treat.

So the in-laws had a great time at dinner, and we did too - a successful evening to be sure. BrooklynBabyGirl slept through almost the whole thing too. And how lovely was that gesture, bringing that lovely old Burgundy? Good luck with your dinners with the in-laws.