The fish people are back at my market after their winter vacation. Actually they've been back Since the beginning of April but I've only recently gotten into the swing of things. And now all of the sudden we are eating a lot of seafood in my house. Here are some recent favorites, and the wine pairings that love them:
Supposedly there are more words in the English language than in most other languages. And yet it feels as though we are limited in our ability to discuss some of the more important ideas - there just aren't enough words. I've read that there are over 40 words for snow in one of the Inuit languages. Makes sense - there are many different types of snow and if this is an important part of daily life, differentiating between these kinds of snow, it's natural that different words wold emerge so that people can communicate clearly.
Although there apparently are a lot of words in English, we have only two that I can think of to describe warm feelings towards another person - "like" and "love." Shouldn't there be more than that? Aren't there gradations that we aren't giving efficient voice to? Same with "happy." There are many different kinds of happiness, but we have few words to differentiate here. There is the kind of happy you feel when a puppy bounds up and starts licking your face or the kind of happy you feel when holding a 6 month old baby. The kind of happy you feel when you've stepped inside from a soaking rain, or finally made it through security after a long line at the airport. The kind of happy you feel when you're finished taking a final exam, or the kind you feel when your test results are negative. The kind you feel when you get to the BBQ and open the back door to the yard, see everyone there talking and eating and having fun, and you haven't yet but are about to join the fray. There's even the weird kind of happiness you (or maybe just me?) feel when you are depressed about something, but finally give in and allow yourself to wallow in it in the comfort and safety of your own home - an exquisitely sad kind of happy.
Where am I going with this. A fair question indeed, patient reader.
I've been having a hard time with red wine lately. Okay, I never have a problem with mature Burgundy, or mature red wine in general. But when I'm alone and I feel like opening something to drink with dinner, or to just have a glass, I almost always reach for white wine these days. White wine is so much more versatile with food, so much easier to drink on its own. I'm speaking in broad terms, obviously, but I looked through what I've been drinking for the past few months and it's almost always white wine, unless some sort of special mature red is involved.
There could be many reasons for my bias. I did just go to Jerez, and I have been drinking a lot of Sherry. But I think it's more than that. I think that it's about easy drinking - I want to drink wines that clearly say what they are about, where they are from, that do not distract me with excess fruit or tannin, or any kind of excess. Lately, white wine just makes this happen for me far more often than red.
But of course there are red wines that continue to fit the bill. I've noticed that there are a few things that unite the everyday red wines that I reach for lately. They are lighter wines, wines that achieve balance above all else, and also express themselves with finesse and grace. Here are a few current favorites:
2007 Muhr-van de Niepoort Carnuntum Blaufrankisch, $20, Imported by Martine's Wines. This is definitely a wine that showcases ripe dark fruit, but that's only a part of the package. There is an unmistakable white pepper scent (I guess white pepper is more about Austrian soils than it is about Gruner Veltliner), and the nose is entirely graceful and expressive. The wine is perfectly balanced and feels great in the mouth. It satisfies on many levels - there is fruit, soil and mineral, and a pleasant leafy undertone. I must say, I've not been as impressed with a red wine in a while, as far as quality-to-price ratio goes. This is absolutely top notch wine, I bet it would improve with time in the cellar, and it sells for $20 before a mixed case discount. It isn't too hard to find in NYC (Blanc y Rouge in Brooklyn, Chambers Street Wines in Manhattan, among others), but if you're having trouble, try a wine by Moric - more expensive, but also great.
2008 Julien Labet Côtes du Jura, $36, Imported by Fruit of the Vines. Joe Salamone at Crush brings this wine to NYC and it's worth asking about. Objectively speaking, I think that Overnoy/Houillon's is the finest Poulsard out there, but that wine is basically impossible to find and it's gotten quite expensive. Labet's is excellent too. So light and graceful that it seems strange how well structured it is. This wine smacks of dried leaves and blood oranges and herbs and it's completely delicious. But what moves me about it now is how impossibly weightless and light it is, and still how clearly and pungently it expresses itself. If Labet's Poulsard proves to be too hard to find, there are several others out there. They should all be similar in their graceful delivery of Jura-ness.
2010 Clos de Tue-Boeuf Cheverny, $19, Louis/Dressner Selections. Red wines from Cheverny in the Loire Valley can include a variety of grapes. This one is made of Gamay and Pinot Noir. It is a lovely wine - high toned and bright red in fruit, a bit of forest underneath and a genuine crackle of energy that can be mistaken for effervescence - decant or otherwise aerate the wine and the energy is still there. This wine isn't for everyone - it's light and bright and flirts with volatility, and it doesn't offer anything in the way of power. It's not really about fruit either, although there most certainly is fruit. It's a refreshing and light wine that really is an expression of this place and this winemaker. If you try it, aerate the wine before you drink it.
2010 Domaine Guion Bourgueil Cuvée Domaine, $12, Imported by Fruit of the Vines. David Lillie at Chambers Street Wines is responsible for bringing this wine to NYC. This is the lighter of the two Guion Bourgueils, and I prefer it to the Prestige Cuvée, in general. The 2010 is a wine that I really like, although again, it's not for everyone. It is not a fruity wine, except for the first 10 minutes or so after opening. It's only $12 but it is a complete wine - a perfect balance of iron minerals, bloody dark fruit, and acidity, and the structure is firm but doesn't intrude in any way. This is an easy drinking wine that I think faithfully expresses terroir.
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.
Pairing wine and food is something that, if approached seriously and with the right balance of art and science, can produce thrilling results. But a serious approach is not necessary in order to be thrilled by food and wine pairing. The idea that a person must be steeped in knowledge in order to participate is nonsense, and I think people are starting to free themselves of this burden. People seem to be more and more comfortable with the notion that wine doesn't have rules - that they can drink white wine with Lasagna if they feel like it, and that wine and food is really about pleasure, not pretension.
I'm not trying to dumb down wine and food pairing. I think that our popular wine culture is close to going too far to denigrate as snobby the art of wine and food pairing. Overcompensating probably. It is snobby if a person is made to feel that they are wrong to make a certain pairing, or that their lack of knowledge should prevent them from happily participating. But it is not snobby to suggest that there is an art to pairing food and wine, and that a bit of practice and perhaps some study can produce great results.
I think that wine is like chess, jazz, baseball, and many other things that are easy to enjoy, but are still complex things. Wine can be enjoyed by just about anyone - it tastes and feels good. It's something that people all over the world drink with dinner. But like chess, jazz, or baseball, wine rewards careful attention in that its deeper intricacies are revealed only to those who spend enough time "practicing." And even for those who practice a lot, not everyone will experience the deepest pleasures of these things because there is a degree of talent involved. Luckily, we can enjoy without too much practice. But the practice is fun, and that's why you're reading this blog, isn't it? It's why I write this blog, anyway - it helps me practice and get even more pleasure from wine.
This has been a rather long winded way of getting to my point: I am essentially clueless when it comes to pairing wine and cheese. I understand that cheese helps to tame tannins in wine, like milk in black tea. And I am familiar with some classic pairings. But I don't know why certain wines work better than others with certain cheeses. And when I plan dinners at my house, the most uncomfortable part for me is picking wine to go with the cheeses I am serving. I know a little about cheese, more about wine, but I know almost nothing about how to make them work together. I enjoy all of my attempts, but I know enough to know that I don't know anything. I'm even confused about what to me is the most basic issue: red or white wine?
I decided that I'm going to use the light dinners on hot nights this summer to practice some more with wine and cheese. I'll read some, but I warn you - I'm going to just open different bottles with various cheeses and see what works for me and my friends. So there.
I started last week with a classic pairing - Loire goat cheese with a Loire Sauvignon Blanc. Sancerre is probably the most heralded wine to use, but I wanted a more humble wine. At Ten Bells a few weeks ago I asked the bartender to pick a wine to enjoy with their wild boar sausage. She picked a declassified Cheverny, now a Vin de Table, a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir by Christian Venier,a Loire hipster-natural-wine-biodynamic-producer. It was utterly delicious. There was no wild streak like in Puzelat's wines, but there was a volatility to the wine, particularly to the alcohol component. Served cool out of the wine fridge I just loved it, and it was perfect with the thinly sliced sausage.
So why not Venier's Sauvignon Blanc? We sat on the deck on a lovely summer evening with a bottle of the 2007 Christian Venier Touraine Le Gautrie Sauvignon, $17, Savio Soares Selections, and a well known Loire Valley (from nearby Poitou, actually, but close enough) goat cheese called Le Chevrot. It is not young cheese, and not an aged cheese either - somewhere in the middle. The center of the pate (the 'dough' of the cheese - check out Fork & Bottle for great cheese info, tasting notes, and fancy terms like pate) is snow-white and chalky, and the outer part is creamy and yellow, but not runny, even at room temperature. The wine paired well and was lovely, although not as stunning an example of Loire Sauvignon Blanc as Venier's VdT is as a Cheverny. We had a great time that evening, and as Morgan Freeman said to his Captain at the beginning of the movie Se7en: "There will be more of these."
And by the way, our lily that blooms for only a few days each spring finally bloomed. We noticed it while enjoying our goat cheese and Sauvignon. It should have happened over a month ago but there has been so much rain, everything is all out of whack with the plants.
I'm talking about wines from places and producers that I've liked in the past, things that I expected to like. Not random stuff, like the liquids masquerading as wine that I sometimes receive as samples (remind me to tell you about the California Babera that reminded me of light sweet crude oil - drill baby drill!).
Like this - the 2006 Luneau-Papin Domaine Pierre de la Grange Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Vieilles Vignes at $12. This is Luneau-Papin for crying out loud! I loved this wine in 05 but this one was just out of whack. Bread dough and highly concentrated, but not in a good way. Didn't really feel like Muscadet. Like reaching for your cup of milk and drinking orange juice.
Or this - those 2007 Hervé Villemade Chevernys from Domaine de Moulin at $16. I really liked the 2006 red wine based on the glass I had at a restaurant. This was so uninspiring though. At 50-50 Pinot/Gamay it felt like it was trying too hard, a bit overpowering. And it had a burnt earth aroma that kept wafting in and out, something that I did not at all enjoy. Look, maybe this isn't bad wine, but to me it just doesn't hold a candle to the 07 Tue-Boeuf Cheverny. But Villemade's 2007 Cheverny Blanc...pungent and borderline unpleasant. Maybe I'm just cranky?
Now this - the 2003 Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny La Marginale, this just isn't any good. It's Thierry Germain's top cuvée and it's like licking the inside of a recently drained oak barrel. It doesn't help that this is an 03, as there is little acidity or structure, but this was hollow in the mid palate and completely catatonic. To think that I shelled out $35 for this a few years ago. Schlameal!
And I wanted to like this - the 2007 Luneau-Papin VdP Nantais Gros-Plant, but in the end I couldn't. So much nail polish remover on the nose, and then seaside air which is nice, and then almost bubble gum sweetness on the palate. I'm not trying to pick on Luneau-Papin because I am a true fan, but this wine gets the nay-no.
It hasn't been all bad. I had a great Tour du Bon rosé, and a very nice 2007 old vines Beaujolais from Vissoux. But enough of that - this is a bad wine post.
There are piles of fava beans at the market beginning sometime in June all the way through the summer. They look so invitingly green and 
healthy. I've seen them for years and never taken them home - what would I do with them? Isn't there a lot of shelling and peeling involved? Yes, there is, but I've since learned that it's totally worth it. I only wish I had written this a few weeks ago when the beans were still young enough that you could eat them raw. You'll have to wait until next year for that.
I've used favas in vegetable soups and they're toothsome and savory. Lately I've been puréeing them with great results, and you can season and serve this purée however you want. Here is the basic technique, as adapted from The Art of Simple Food, the excellent cookbook by Alice Waters:
1) Get the beans out of the pod. This is more fun if someone helps you. I would pair this activity with a nice Crémant du Jura, or maybe a crisp glass of Chablis.
2) Remove the outer skin from each fava bean. I'm not going to dance around the truth here pal - this is a total pain in the @$$. The bean skins are edible, and for soup I wouldn't bother with this step. But for purée, there's no way around it. It's quite satisfying to see the incredibly green shiny beans pile up in your bowl. If that sight alone doesn't work for you then remember what Principal Skinner once recommended for getting through a similarly mind numbing task: "See how many you can do in 10 minutes and then try to break that record." A pairing for this activity? I recommend something simple, yet restorative. Maybe open one of those 2002 Bourgognes you've been saving?
3) Cook the skinned beans until they are easy to mush. You can cook the beans in olive oil and other seasonings, but that doesn't make sense to me, as good olive oil doesn't like to be heated up. I simply cook the beans in canola oil and a little salt, and add good olive oil to the purée. This is quick - somewhere between 5-10 minutes. You'll need something pungent while doing this, like a cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
4) Season the beans with salt. You can add whatever fresh herbs you like here. I think mint or marjoram work perfectly, thyme is good too. A small amount of garlic and/or onion is also good, but cook them with the beans, I wouldn't add them raw. I don't like the way this turns out using a blender and I still don't have a food processor, so I use the same food mill that I used for BrooklynBabyGirl's food. Works like a charm. Combine the purée of beans and herbs with your best extra-virgin olive oil until you get the texture you want. If you can drink wine while doing this, then you're some sort of Hindu deity. 
You can serve this purée as hors d'oeuvre by spreading a thin layer on crisp bread. After trying several breads, my favorite is a toasted slice of baguette. The flavor of the puree is green and mellow but also nutty and savory. Something bright is good with this hors d'oeuvre, like a squirt of lemon. Even better is pickled red onion. I stumbled on a great wine pairing for this dish: dry Sherry. The nutty saline oxidized flavors of the cold sherry work perfectly with the green-earthy and nutty beans. We recently ate these with a bottle of N.V. Bodegas Hidalgo Manzanilla La Gitana, $10 (500 ml) and people were using their fingernails to scrape their plates, licking the insides of their wine glasses. 
If you want to try something new and completely delicious, serve this purée with skirt steak. It works, just trust me this one time. The two types of savory really complement each other. Again, something bright and acidic is important here, or else it's savory piled on savory with no lift. I heartily recommend the same pickled red onions. Or, you could bust out your Fleur de sel or other fine sea salt here. A lighter style of red works great with this dish, something snappy. Try a good Beaujolais or a Loire Cheverny. We went with the 2006 Coudert Fleurie Clos de la Roilette, $21, and beautiful music was made that night, friends. 
Once you make the puree, I'm sure you'll come up with your own interesting ways of serving it. I'm telling you, work your way past the peeling because this stuff is beautiful - it's completely healthy, it's versatile, it's delicious, it gets better with a day or two in the fridge, and you'll be the only one in your group of friends making it. Unless your group includes an Egyptian. At their house you might be served foul medames, a delicious version of this dish made with cumin, tomatoes, and onions. But I have no idea how to make that dish.
Thierry Puzelat, along with his older brother Jean-Marie, is responsible for a big lineup of delicious wines from the Touraine and Cheverny appellations in the eastern part of the Loire Valley. The family estate is called Clos du Tue-Boeuf, but Thierry Puzelat also operates a négociant business, buying grapes from nearby growers who farm as he does. The Puzelats grow Pinot Noir, Gamay, Côt (called Malbec in Argentina), Bréton (called Cabernet Franc in the film Sideways), Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris (called Pinot Grigio in Italy), and the rarely seen Pineau D'Aunis and Menu Pineau (called Arbois in the Jura).
Puzelat's wines are delicious regardless of the particularities of the weather in the vintage. The style may change depending on the year, but not the level of quality. These are food-friendly and inexpensive wines, even now with the terrible dollar. These are natural wines - vineyards are organically farmed, fermentation is accomplished using yeasts on the grapes and in the cellar, and there are no further manipulations to the juice. The Puzelat brothers' wines are an institution at natural wine bars in France, and are firmly entrenched in the vocabulary of natural wine aficionados here in New York.
Here's what I love about these wines: they taste honest, like real representations of the grapes and soil from that place. They buzz with energy, some say "wildness." They are eminently drinkable, great with dinner, and they just feel right.
My guess is that if you like the wines that I talk about here, you might already know about Clos du Tue-Boeuf and Puzelat. But if not, why aren't you drinking these wines? You love good wine, right? And most of these are under $20 a bottle. Maybe it's because the shops you frequent don't carry Dressner's imports. Or maybe your shops focus on high scoring wines, and these wines don't really feature in the publications that dole out the points. Maybe the wines are sitting right there on the shelf and you never tried them because after all, the grapes aren't always listed on the label and there are so many cuvées...where would you start? Start anywhere - it honestly doesn't matter. Everything is good. Here are some notes on wines I've had over in the past month or so:
2004 Puzelat Touraine Pineau D'Aunis La Tesnières, $18. Tesnières is the little village near Cheverny where Puzelat sources grapes. The new vintage is 2006, so you're not going to find this now, but it's a gem each year. This one offers fresh strawberries and cracked black pepper on the nose, a waft of caramel underneath is the only clue to the wine's age. Fresh and light in the mouth, this is great with a chill. Well balanced, great acidity, energetic and alive in the mouth. I'm drinking it right now with a plate of Buffalo Mozzarella and golden beets. It works.
2006 Puzelat Touraine La Tesnières Pinot Noir, $18. A funky nose of mushrooms, red fruits, and violets. Pure and lovely palate of ripe fruit and mushroomy earth with buzzing unpolished energetic tannins. Very impressive indeed, and a great price for interesting Pinot Noir. This recently reappeared on shelves in NYC.
2007 Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny, $17. Cheverny rouge must be a blend, and this is about 90% Gamay and 10% Pinot Noir. I love this wine, just as much as I loved the 06, although this one is quite different. A much lighter wine - in color, in flavor, in texture, and in alcohol too - this is only 11%. A bright red berry and potting soil set of aromas and flavors, with that Puzelat wildness that provides underlying energy. There is some spice, the tannins are smooth and friendly, the overall effect is incredibly gulpable. Chill a bit and pair this with literally any food. Literally. Okay, maybe not with starburst fruit chews or haggis. But steak, eggplant Parmesan, lobster, mushroom barley soup, scallion omelets, raw oysters, chopped liver, etc.
2002 Puzelat Touraine Pinot Noir La
Tesnières$18 I stumbled on this bottle, the last in the store, at Astor the other day. How's that for sunken treasure? And the bottle was imported by Jenny & Francois, not by Dressner. Who knew? Four years of age on one of these is rare - it's almost impossible to stop your self from drinking these on release. This has an interesting color, like strawberry juice with some orange bricking, and a bit cloudy. The nose is very Pinot, strawberry with cooling herbs, a pleasant soft earthiness. Almost no tannins left in the wine, or they're so fine and sweet that I can't perceive them. Light and graceful on the palate with delicious hints of stewed strawberries, soil, and subtle minty notes on the finish. Some chalk on the palate too, and lovely acids - not bright, gentle. If this wine were a person it would be Jessica Tandy.
2005 Puzelat Touraine La Tesnières, $19. Can you guess what this is from the name of the wine? Me neither.This is the glorious white wine made from Menu Pineau, known in the Jura as Arbois. This is honestly one of the finest bottles of white wine I have had the pleasure to consume in 2008. A rich golden yellow color, like a much older wine, but this is as fresh as a daisy. Nose of smoke, petrol, mineral water, figs, and fennel seed. A really amazing nose, clean and incredibly well defined. BrooklynLady thought we were drinking a northern Italian wine - the fennel threw her off. Viscous on the tongue, full bodied, it really spreads out with figgy and citrus flavors, all supported by vibrant acidity. Smoked fish! Pickles! Black Mission figs! Sushi! Pasta with a tangle of spring herbs and green garlic! How I want to drink this wine with all of those foods...
2006 Clos du Toe-Boeuf Le Brin de Chèvre, $18. For whatever reason, this was denied appellation status and is a Vin de Table. This happens periodically and should act to convince you of the wine's particular interest and deliciousness. Not as tingly of a nose as the 05 Puzelat Touraine Tesnière, but lovely nonetheless. Smokey figs, nuts, citrus rind on the nose. Viscous texture with really sharp acidity. Slightly oxidized, especially on day 2, but very delicious. I would lay this down for a year and drink the 05 Puzelat Menu Pineau today.
There are many others to try too, this is just a sample. If you haven't yet done so, taste a Puzelat wine. Hard to do better for less than $20.
I'm kind of behind on posting these days. I never even did one of those Thanksgiving Wines posts. And I know that you must be wringing your hands and tearing out your hair - 'what wines will I bring to Thanksgiving dinner? Brooklynguy abandoned me in my moment of need...' Um hmm.
You already know by now what you're bringing for Thanksgiving dinner, so stop trying to make me feel guilty. Here's what I'm bringing:
Sparkling:
Eric Bordelet Poire Authentique, about $12 - a sparkling pear cider made of biodynamically farmed fruit from northwest France. At only 4% alcohol, I can drink a few glasses over a few hours, feel festive, and safely drive home with my family in the car. Heck, I can even refill my aunt's glass, and she's 80.
2005 Bisol Prosecco di Valdobiaddene Crede Brut, about $15 - the best Prosecco I know of. It's fresh and crisp and easy to drink, and it has some nice complex aromatic notes too, especially with about 15 minutes of air time. Ripe tasty fruit and a hint of ginger-spice on the palate. This one is 11.5% alcohol, so it won't knock them over when they like it enough to have another glass.
White:
2006 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny, about $14 - this is one of my favorite whites this season, and I think it should pair well with turkey and all that. It's a blend of about 85%-15% Sauvignon Blanc to Chardonnay, and it's lip smackingly good. It's over 13% alcohol though, so watch it...
Red:
2005 Chateau de Hureau Saumur-Champigny Grande Cuveé, about $14 - this is among the better under $15 Loire Cab Francs of the season, in my opinion. Very different style from a young Chinon, this one has tobacco and lots of earth to compliment the fresh red fruit. I've made my way through a half case of this little gem in the past 8 months, and now my family will do the same on one special Thursday afternoon (if I'm lucky).
By the way, this particular wine is one of the two Loire Valley wines I picked for Domaine 547's blogger's wine pack project. So if you're curious to taste this but can't find it near you, they'll ship it to your door.
What I'm most excited about bringing, though, and what I'm most thankful for, is the little 10 month old BrooklynBabyGirl. That's what everyone in the family is most excited about this Thanksgiving.
I wish you a healthy and a happy one, or at least an easy one, and a quick and safe return to normal life.
Good friends NorthCarolinaGuy and Gal were in town for a few days and what better reason to have a wine tasting? The tasting gang hasn't been together for a while now - April was the last time we really did our thing. I tried to do a Beaujolais tasting over the summer but lots of people actually came and the tasting became eating and drinking a load of Beaujolais instead. That's a fun thing to do on a summer evening though, so no complaints.
Why Sauvignon Blanc this time around? Because there are many great wines to be had in the $12-30 range, from many wine regions, and also because I think Sauvignon Blanc can be a great late summer and fall food wine. Tangy, citrusy, sort of grassy, minerally, light, lip smackingness that goes well with most fish and chicken dishes, and late summer vegetable dishes too, like a squash and roasted tomato tart, for example.
Everyone brought one bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, we bagged 'em, tagged 'em, and tasted 'em. Each taster noted their top three favorites, in order, and we added up the scores to pick a winner (first place vote=3 pts; second place vote=2 pts; third place vote=1 pt). After that we spent the evening drinking the wines with a variety of goat cheeses, a classic pairing. And if this evening proved anything to me, it is that Sauvignon Blanc goes GREAT with goat cheese, the creamy young ones, the chalky older ones with an ash coating, and the really old hard ones too.
A couple of general thoughts: the Loire wines kind of blew the others away. Not only to my tastes, either - they were the top scoring wines. Granted, we only tasted 6 wines, but I thought that they were just better than the rest. Could be our small sample, but this reiterated for me that France continues to make some of the finest under $15 wine in the world. There was no New Zealand wine in this tasting, which is a shame. And no Long Island wine either. Another time...
The 2006 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny, ($14 at Prospect Wine Shop and readily available at other stores) received 5 out of 7 first place votes! This is the same wine that I went nuts for almost a month ago. It really is that good, and at about $14, it's a steal. Happily for consumers, there are many producers making great wine in Touraine, Cheverny and other parts of the Loire, many of the wines at this price. This one, like all Cheverny, is actually a blend, with about 10% Chardonnay in the mix. People liked the balance of this wine, the clean aromas and flavors. NorthCarolinaGuy said it smelled like dandelions.
Strangely, I was not one of the 5 people who picked it as their favorite. I preferred the wine that took second place, the 2005 Lucien Crochet Sancerre La Croix du Roi (about $23, available everywhere). I was the only one who put it in first place, but 2 people picked it second, and 2 more as their third favorite. I thought this wine was excellent, with inviting and warm citrus oil aromas, some grass and herbs, and wet slate minerality. It really drew me in, and the palate was so nicely textured, medium bodied and well balanced. A nice choice from NorthCarolinaGuy and Gal.
A wine from Graves in Bordeaux took third place, getting the final first place vote from Mike (a true Bordeaux-phile) along with 2 second place votes. Like the Cheverny, Bordeaux blanc wines tend to be blended, in this case with Semillon. Many whites in Bordeaux are oaked, but I am not sure whether or not this is. I would bet that it does see some oak. The 2006 Château Graville-Lacoste Blanc ($12 at Wine Library in New Jersey, about $15 everywhere else) had a lovely nose of flowers and citrus, with good acidity and balance on the palate. It lacked the focus and definition that I found in the Loire wines, but it was very good, and I think a good value.
Next comes a Deetrane special, a wine he bought somewhere on the gray market, that even had we loved, we would never be able to find for purchase. From northern Italy in the Fruili region, the 2003 Vie de Romans Fruili Vieris Sauvignon (price unknown, unavailable) was just strange. 2 people liked it enough to put it in second place, and 2 more people put it in third place, so it definitely appeals to some palates. Not mine though. Here are my notes from the tasting: "What an intense tropical nose, like pineapple candy. Overwhelming, and not natural, in my book. The palate features pineapple, red ruby grapefruit, and other fantastically candied flavors. Interesting, in the way pop rocks are interesting - you're happy you tried them, but you don't really want more than a taste." But remember, some folks liked this wine, so don't write off Fruili Sauvignon Blanc just cause I thought it sucked.
The two wines pulling up the rear, so to speak, were both from California. The 2006 Honig Sauvignon Blanc ($12-15, available everywhere) had a positively green tint to it, and although it is unoaked, it had a distinctive creaminess to go with the grass and lemons. But it was not very focused, and there was not enough acidity to balance the wine. It got a second place vote and a third place vote.
The 2006 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Rancho Chimiles (about $27, unsure about availability) did not show well in the blind tasting, getting only 1 third place vote. Maybe it needs more time in the bottle? I found it to be a bit dull. Cat pee nose and a creamy palate but with a bitter quinine type of edge to the finish. Guarantee you that had we not done this blind, this wine would have scored much better.
Okay, that's the word on our tasting. I learned that I need to explore the inexpensive Sauvignons of the Loire, and also that I may be missing something by not drinking Sancerre more often.
Remember a few weeks ago when I made a grandiose pronouncement about finding the finest value red of the season? That wine was from the Cheverny appellation in the Loire Valley. Cheverny is one of several places in the Loire that offers truly beautiful wines for around $15, sometimes less. Of course, they're all going up in price as the dollar continues its downward spiral...
Whites, like reds in Cheverny, must be blended. Sauvignon Blanc tends to dominate the blends, the balance typically Chardonnay. I don't drink much Sauvignon Blanc. I find most of them to be super pungent and intense on the nose. Finding a balanced Sauvignon Blanc is not easy, something that doesn't smack me with grassy cat-pee aromas, something that compliments food. I won't lie to you folks, I've had no success in New Zealand, and mixed results in California. I really want to like Long Island Sauvignon Blanc but I just don't, so far. Lenn is going to help me find the right wines, I hope. Not enough experience with white Bordeaux do say anything meaningful.
When I want Sauvignon Blanc, I turn to - you guessed it - the Loire Valley. Sancerre and Pouilly Fume are the big shots for Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire Valley, but great wines hail from appellations like Menetou Salon, Quincy, Touraine, and tiny Cheverny, and at about half the price.
This little gem from Domaine du Salvard, without question an under $15 beauty, should be part of your fall white wine collection. It's a bottle you can open without occasion on a Wednesday night, or to surprise fellow wine lovers as an aperitif or with a seafood course. And it's elegant and balanced enough to be enjoyable as an aperitif. 
2006 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny, $14 (Prospect Wine Shop, but Wine Library has it for $11). Vibrant aromas of lemon peel, grass, and wet stones - tangy, but not overwhelmingly so. The nose will seem refined and mellow if you're used to the New Zealand stuff. The flavors have really good focus and purity. There is citrus and plenty of minerals, and even a touch of that gooseberry flavor that I associate with Sauvignon Blanc. Zippy acidity balances the fleshiness of the wine. This is so drinkable, and at 12.5% alcohol you can have a glass while cooking, another with dinner, and another while brushing your teeth before bed.
If I were you, I would find two friends and split a case of this wine - four bottles of this for $44 is simply ridiculous. I bought four bottles, and I find myself conserving the wine now, like I do more expensive bottles. I am saving my last two to impress my wino friends who I bet will think it a pricey Sancerre. I will let you know the results of that experiment once it's completed.
I don't usually like to make pronouncements because it's just too easy to be wrong or to change my mind. But in this case, I'm going for it.
Pronouncement: I, Brooklynguy, have discovered the finest value-priced Pinot Noir of the season. Actually, it's a blend of Pinot and Gamay, so maybe instead I should say that it's the finest under $15 red wine of the season. But since we've all been looking for that elusive beautiful but inexpensive bottle of Pinot, and simply not finding it (unless $28 is value-priced, and it can be with Pinot), this counts as value-priced Pinot in my book. Not sure of the exact blend, but I'm betting it's half Pinot, approximately.
So here is the wine, before you get yourself into an uproar. It's the 2006 Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny. This is a Loire Valley wine, naturally. It costs $13.50 at Chambers Street Wines, and it's honestly just fantastic. I'll tell you more about it in a minute.
First, here is what I can tell you about Cheverny. This is one of those small appellations, obscure I guess (but this blog is not esoteric, dammit), created only 14 years ago in 1993. This is just north-east of the Touraine appellation - you can see the area in gray below. The rules for Cheverny wines are both strict and highly subjective at the same time.
Wines labeled Cheverny must be blended. That's right, no matter how wonderful your Pinot or Cabernet Sauvignon might be in a given year, if you bottle wine made solely from that varietal, your wine becomes Vins de Pays, not Cheverny. But blend them together and you have Cheverny. For red wine Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and the obscure Pineau d'Aunis are allowed. White wines labeled Cheverny may contain Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc, but every white Cheverny I have encountered is primarily a Sauvignon Blanc with a bit of Chard blended in.
Is there a rule about how much of a particular grape is allowed? What about the number of grapes in the blend? Can you use 99% Pinot Noir and a touch of Gamay? Who knows. But if your wine does not pass the muster of the INAO's tasting commission, no Cheverny on the label. Vin de Pays or Vin de Table. Why would a wine not make it through the tasting commission? They might not think it representative of the appellation's wines, for one. Yes - that's the subjective part.
Cheverny, like many a Loire Valley appellation, is a jackpot of delicious, naturally made, low alcohol, and inexpensive wines. Wines that show off the true character of the grapes they are made from. This red from the 2006 vintage is a great example - it's absurdly delicious and completely food friendly, and if you plop a fifty on the counter you're gonna get three bottles of the stuff, and some change back.
And Clos du Tue-Boeuf? It's made by the Puzelat brothers, Thierry and Jean-Marie. The Puzelats have been making wine in this part of the Loire Valley for about 500 years. Thierry is the cool-cat younger brother, a bit of a cult hero in Paris, and Jean-Marie is the grounded older brother. Thierry, by the way, sources grapes to make wine under his own label, including one of my favorite Loire sparkling wines every year, the Puzelat Petillant.
2006 Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny, $13.50 (Chambers Street Wines).
I think Tue-Boeuf means "cow-killer," but I'm not sure. The label sports a multi-colored cow with what could be angel's wings, so go figure. This blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay has a clean nose of dark red berries and once open for about 10 minutes, vivid floral aromas - dark violet. Pure, juicy, and sweet, this is a bowl of black cherries on the palate, with pleasant earthiness and lip-smacking acidity. As the foam cork indicates, this is not a wine for aging, and it is not trying to wine the complexity award. It is pure pleasure, delicious on its own or with food, drink-me-now-and-smile share me with your neighbors wine. This is a top-top highest recommendation wine for me - check it out if your shop carries it.
