Mid-Summer Laundry List

I've been meaning to write more, I really have. It's not as though there's been a shortage of interesting food and wine to discuss - it's been an embarrassment of riches. But I am trying to write when I have a story to tell, not simply to blabber on when I eat or drink something interesting. That said, the other day I was in Washington DC and had dinner with my pal Keith Levenberg, and he gently chastised me for not writing so much. He said that I shouldn't worry about writing the occasional "here is what I ate or drank" post.

I still disagree - I want to write when I have a story to tell. But sometimes one needs to get the proverbial juices flowing, and a laundry list post is a fun (for the writer, anyway) way to do that. So, patient reader, here is a mid-summer laundry list for you. Here are some things that I've been doing:

It's been over two years now, but I finally got my grill up and running again. Wow, I love to grill. With hardwood charcoal. The slow way, but the dee-licious and lighter-fluid-free way.

My pizza dough is beginning to be more consistent now too. It turns out that the small details are crucial - punching down, but not kneading the dough after it rises, for example.

I spent some time (and way too much money) with my daughters planting on our deck. For a while, things really looked great. Then it rained everyday for over a week. Then the heatwave came. Plants that like super hot weather are doing okay, like the poppies above. Many other things have simply wilted. Next year I will choose plants more wisely - things that like intense sun and heat. Because NYC in the summer is now essentially the same as Dubai. But there is no climate change, people!

There's been a lot of great wine.

Some of it fabulous and now very expensive wine from iconic vineyards, wines that achieved great heights.

Some of it more humble in terroir and aspiration, but capable of giving a different and also very valuable type of pleasure.

I drank a few wines that are beloved by many wine folk, but that are completely new to me. This one was utterly compelling.

I drank wine by producers I know and love, but wine that is new to me. This one is intensely sweet - a style that is hard for me to appreciate. But the quality here is simply impossible to miss and the wine was delicious and entirely expressive of place, even as a dessert wine. This is not an easy trick.

I am lucky to have generous friends who take pleasure in sharing their treasures.

And I try to do the same. This was my last bottle, and let me tell you - with 3 years of bottle age this wine is a finely tuned symphony of Manzanilla greatness.

It's been a great summer and summer is only a month old. The outlook for the net two months is quite positive. More soon.

Final Burgundy Trip Tidbits

I'm having fun with these but I'm guessing that you've had your fill. I'll wrap it up with a few random tidbits. Here are some interesting quotes by Mounir Saouma, wine maker at Lucien Le Moine:

On his wine making style - "I'm trying to make wine with no defects."

On minerality - "Minerality in wine begins with water on rocks."

On whether or not I could photograph him in his cellar - "What are you, Japanese?"

On his 2007 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses - "Amoureuses is one of the finest Crus in Burgundy. This wine is nowhere, this wine is everywhere."

On Chambertin Clos de Beze - "If you close your eyes, this is like a white wine. Clos de Beze is all limestone, like in Puligny."

On Le Montrachet - "There is no acid, there is low alcohol, yet Montrachet ages forever. This is one of the mysteries of wine. Montrachet doesn't need these things, that's just the way it is."

On the uniqueness of terroir, even if vineyards are adjacent to one another, separated by only a few meters - "Please do not make me tell you a most vulgar story about two things that are incredibly close to each other, yet smell and taste entirely different."

Thanks Mounir! Check out the "About us" page on Le Moine's website for some genuinely interesting facts about the wine making.

Here are a few photos that haven't made it into the other posts:

Château de Chambolle-Musigny, home of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier.

The photo below depicts some of what we drank with dinner at Jeremy Seysses' house. There is no label on the 1978 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes. Behind it on the left is the unlabeled 1975 Sigolas-Rabaud Sauternes. To the right is the 1992 Pousse D'Or Pommard Jarolières. To the left is the 2001 Bernard Moreau Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Grand Ruchottes. That unlabeled half bottle behind the decanter is the 2005 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis, and the 1996 Noël Verset Cornas is sitting up in the front decanter, trying to open up a bit. By this time the 2001 Domaine Dujac Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru Monts-Luisants was drained and gone. Maybe we're not such lushes as you think - each of these bottles and decanters still has wine remaining, and dinner is over.
Magnums gathering mold in the cellars of Pierre Morey.


Alright, that's it. Thanks for reading through these Burgundy 2008 posts, I hope you enjoyed them. One day I'll go back and you may have to do this all over again...

Same Terroir, Different Hands

I was thinking about my Burgundy trip the other night at 3:30 am while rocking a squalling baby in the crook of my arm. We sampled well over 100 wines from barrel representing many different terroirs. Some we sampled only once, such as the phenomenal Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Gaudichots at Lucien Le Moine. We did get to sample several wines from the same terroir, though. Wouldn’t it be interesting, I thought, to list them all, to see the wines that occurred most frequently? To compare the expressions of terroir in different highly capable hands?

This is the kind of thing that can fascinate you at 3:30 am with screaming baby. If what follows is of little interest, I ask that you either bear with me, or print this out and save it until you have a baby. Then pull it out at 3:30 am and you'll see…

So I found that the most commonly occurring terroirs across our visits were Bonnes Mares and Charmes Chambertin, both Grand Cru, both tasted four times. An interesting duo, if I may say so. Neither of these is in the most elite class of Grand Cru wines, although Bonnes Mares is probably a notch higher than Charmes Chambertin. Moreover, these wines have personalities that might be described as polar opposites.

Bonnes Mares is interesting in that it spreads across two villages. About 14 of its 15 hectares are in Chambolle-Musigny and one lone hectare, the northern most portion, is in Morey St. Denis. The wines in general are said to be dense and masculine, highly structured and unyielding in their youth. I've never had a mature Bonnes Mares, so I cannot comment on what happens with age. Reference standards include Dujac, Roumier, and Mugnier.

Charmes Chambertin is one of the Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Crus, bordering Chambertin to the west and the villages-classified Champs-Chenys to the east. The wines in general are said to be, as the name might suggest, charming, with elegant red fruit and finesse, and a subtle power running underneath. I don't know who are the reference standard producers. I'm going to guess Dugat, Roty,Rousseau, and maybe Bachelet.

I am not presenting this as a comprehensive study of these two Grand Crus in 2007. It is just a set of tasting notes, that’s it. But as you’ll see, there are some interesting similarities and differences among the wines. The Bonnes Mares wines seemed to exhibit similar characteristics across the board, although Le Moine's was more immediately drinkable than the others. The Charmes Chambertins were a bit more varied, and maybe that's because they sometimes and sometimes not contain grapes from neighboring Mazoyeres Chambertin.

Mounir Saouma of Lucien Le Moine.

Here are the notes on the 2007 Bonnes Mares:

JF Mugnier Bonnes Mares – savoury nose, so much so that I spelled savoury with a “u.” Umami all the way. Deep dark fruit on the palate, incredibly dense and difficult for me to really taste. Mugnier pours this before he pours his 1er Cru Amoureuses.

Georges/Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares – Reticent nose, some umami notes with coaxing. Dark plums on the palate, lots of extract, leaves something minty after swallowing, which is quite appealing. This was poured after the Amoureuses.

Lucien Le Moine Bonnes Mares – Nose of deeply perfumed fruit and hoisin sauce. On the palate sweet dark fruit, plums, hoisin, lots of sap, great length and purity. There is a stony mineral grip, and a minty aftertaste.

Domaine Dujac Bonnes Mares – Smoky nose, dark plums and hoisin, an energetic core of aroma. Closed on the palate, but there are hints of dark fruits and the minerality is evident. The finish is deeply fragrant with herbs, very complex.

Terroir whizzing by our car's window.

And now the assortment of 2007 Charmes Chambertins:

Georges/Christophe Roumier Charmes Chambertin – wide open nose of fresh fruit and baking spices, hints of black tea. Very pretty red fruit on the palate with great acidity, sappy and deep. Lovely wine.

Philippe Pacalet Charmes Chambertin - incredibly dense nose of spicy fruit, orange peel, and minerals. Elegant and powerful, and still somewhat closed, if you can believe that. Rich and deep on the palate, the wine spreads out and coats the mouth with gentle red fruit. There is great clarity here, balance, poise, richness, and a powerful core of fruit.

Armand Rousseau Charmes Chambertin - A bit reductive on the nose, but still lovely with roses, tar, and tea. Sappy red berries on the palate, great acidity, very elegant with a fragrant rose petal finish. Very pretty wine.

Domaine Dujac Charmes Chambertin - Nose is quite closed, but the palate shows a core of deep fruit, baking spices, and a bit of oak with nice fruit-filled length. Dense right now, hard to evaluate.

Domaine Dujac Barrel Tasting

"I consider myself primarily a grape grower." - Jeremy Seysses.

This statement perfectly describes the humble way that Jeremy conducts himself. I'm not sure that I would be able to be as humble, if I were in his shoes. I like to think that by nature I am a student of the things I love, an admirer and an appreciator. I rarely covet. Spending the afternoon tasting the wines of Domaine Dujac and talking with Jeremy, and then enjoying dinner with him and his family...I will admit freely to you that I covet. Who wouldn't want what he has?

His father Jacques took over the Domaine in 1967 (Dujac = du Jacques) and became an icon as a wine maker. Now, after many years studying under his father and elsewhere, Jeremy is assuming the bulk of the wine making. He is married to Diana who is also a wine maker and wine lover, they have an adorable infant son, they live in a beautiful and cozy apartment in Nuits St. Georges. Jeremy has access to an incredible cellar loaded with wonderful wines from all over France - he can pull out whatever he likes for dinner. He is an immediately likable person, very gracious and down-to-earth. He clearly approaches his work, and wine in general, as an eager student interested in any and all information, and eager to discuss with you regardless of your (okay, my) relative lack of knowledge and experience.

And did I mention that Jeremy makes wine at Domaine Dujac - the most celebrated Domaine in Morey St. Denis and unquestionably one of the greatest in all of Burgundy? And Jeremy Seysses is not yet 35 years old. I think I basically maintained my dignity, but I definitely was emitting the "I covet" vibe.

It was in the Dujac cellar tasting those wines when I understood something fundamental about myself as a Burgundy drinker. I loved the 2007's I tasted. And I was really psyched about the 2006's out of bottle too. Not just at Dujac, but everywhere we went. Jeremy and most of the other wine makers we spoke with agreed that 2005 is a phenomenally ripe vintage that will age for a long time. But that it might not in the end offer as much pleasure for the Burgundy lover as a year like 2006. Such ripeness and structure as in 2005 doesn't always lead to a balanced and graceful drink after 15 years. And isn't that the thing that makes Burgundy red wine so special, the combination of grace and elegance, ample structure, and the subtle stamp of terroir? Maybe these things are easier to experience in a "classic" vintage as opposed to a super-ripe "vintage of the century." If I had to select either 2005 or 2006 wines to take to a dessert island, I know understand that I would take the 2006's. Although I would need a good cooling unit.

Jeremy Seysses in the cellar.

This sounds trite, I know, but it's just true - all of the 2007's were great. The real meaning of "great," these are fantastic wines. I'll share notes on a few of them:

Morey St. Denis 1er Cru - Mostly from the Ruchots vineyard that borders Clos de Tart, there are also grapes from Les Charrières, Les Millandes, and Les Sorbès. Animale and floral on the nose with a burst of fresh fruit in the mouth. Roses in the empty glass, really lovely. And here's the thing - this might be the only Dujac wine that I might actually purchase, at maybe $90. These are expensive wines, my friends, but in Dujac's case, they are fantastic even at the "lower end" of the lineup.

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes - Whoops, now we're at at least $200. On the nose flowers, spices, very fine and elegant. On the palate I recognized this (see what a few days of intense tasting can do?) as very Gevrey, with red fruit, orange peel, and zippy acidity, very clean and quite intense, with a zesty lingering finish. I'd love to drink an old bottle of this and see what it's like. Jeremy pulled out a 1978 for our dinner, so that's convenient.

Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts - Potent core of stones and flowers. Vibrant in the mouth with juicy dark fruit, sappy, mouth tingling acids. So nicely detailed, so delicious, so complex - these Vosne wines just roll over on themselves and show so many different personalities. I'd love to buy a bottle of this and give it to my daughter one day - she was born in 2007. At least $225, though, and that's if I can find it. And what if she she doesn't even like wine? Maybe I should drink it with her.

Échézeux - One of my favorite barrel wines of the trip. The very cleanest of sappy red fruit, flowers, and a bit of savory brown sugar on the nose. A lovely fragrance that fills the nostrils. Amazing length, so much class and breadth. Heartbreaking wine.

That's it - I'm not going to regale you with stories of Clos St. Denis, Clos de la Roche, or Bonnes Mares. They were awesome, honestly. I'm not sure what else to say. I don't want to ruin your day, anyway. This is supposed to be fun.