My Bordeaux One Night Stand

I know it's a touchy time to talk about Bordeaux, but I'm going for it anyway. I'm not trying to stoke the fires of the debate. I just want to share a recent experience I had with one bottle over a special dinner.

I thought it would be fun to open a bottle of Calon-Ségur with dinner on Valentine's Day. As you know, we don't drink a lot of Bordeaux in our house, and I thought it would be a nice change of pace. It seemed like a perfect match for the beautiful rib eye steaks we treated ourselves to. BrooklynLady feels proud when we drink good wine that's made by women, and Madame Denise Gasqueton makes this wine. But best of all - the label is perfect for Valentine's Day. It features a very sweet heart that surrounds the name Calon-Ségur and St-Estèphe. And yes, I am definitely capable of being that cheesy.

We kept it super simple - just salt and pepper on the steaks, mashed sweet potatoes, salad with a bright tarragon vinegar dressing. I read somewhere that the wines of Calon-Ségur require about 86 years of cellaring before they drink well, so I decanted almost four hours in advance and kept my fingers crossed. We drank a 2004, a vintage that might not need as much time to unwind as say, 2000, 2003, or 2005.

Side note - I cannot keep my fingers out of the cookie jar when decanting wine. I have to go take a sniff and a tiny taste every 45 minutes or so. I mean, how else can you see the evolution of the wine, see WHY you are actually decanting it? Do you do that? Don't lie, you know you do.

Anyway...We were both extremely impressed with this wine, and I say this having no idea whatsoever whether or not this is a spoofulated wine, or if 21 consultants helped to create it, or if Madame Gasqueton took the must, allowed gravity to run the juice into enamel-lined steel tanks and the oak barrels, adding nothing except a bit of SO2. Is this wine "cool" within the Bordeaux world? I have no idea. It was classified as a 3rd Growth back in 1855, if that matters.

2004 Calon-Ségur, St-Estèphe, $40 when I bought futures almost three years ago, and only a few bucks more now. This wine was powerful yet elegant and graceful. Dark cassis tones and lots of herbal character, and some bright red fruit too. A bit of spice for good measure. This stuff is well balanced and delicious and it worked great with our dinner. How nice to try a wine that is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon (70% in 2004) and at merely 12.5% alcohol - it is actually refreshing. The one negative thing I can say is this: the wine doesn't have the same energy that I experience in my favorite wines from Burgundy, Beaujolais, or the Loire Valley. It's as if it sits still on the mantel, as opposed to running around with the kids, enjoying the fire. Whatever that means.

2005 Bourgogne - a Few Favorites

2005 in Burgundy is one of those vintages in which all wines can be great. You hear over and over again that very little sorting was necessary, the fruit was almost uniformly perfect. Grapes were harvested without a lot of rot or other damage, even from plots that qualify only for the regional designation of Bourgogne, Côte de Beaune Villages, or Côte de Nuits Villages. Yes, in 2005, some producers made humble regional wines that will knock your socks off. This means that even though prices are high, it's possible to spend about $25 and to enjoy a stunning bottle.

And it's not only the superstars. Their 2005 Bourgogne will run you more than $25 anyway. There are plenty of solid producers who made fantastic regional wine in 2005. The trick is determining which ones are to your taste. I suggest gathering some buddies and asking everyone to bring a bottle of 05 Bourgogne and have your own tasting - see what you like best. There are many that I have yet to taste at the $25 -30 price point (Truchot, Pillot, de Montille, Barthod, LaFarge, Roty, and so on). But here are three of my favorites so far:

2005 Lignier-Michelot Bourgogne - I last tasted this in September, but I've enjoyed several bottles over several dinners. These grapes are from 50 year old vines in Bon Bâtons, the plot in Chambolle-Musigny that gives forth a couple of solid Bourgognes (Barthod, Rion). Hits full stride after a half hour in the glass. Beautiful blood red color with aromas of cinnamon and maybe cloves to go along with the ripe and juicy cherries. Well balanced with good acidity and an earthy mineral core. Really impressive wine and will probably improve over the next year or two. It might be tough to find at this point, but it is certainly worth looking for.

2005 Domaine des Croix Bourgogne - I read about this one on Burgundy Report and bought a bottle based on that review. I went back for more - just fantastic wine and hard to believe that this is a humble Bourgogne. David Croix makes wine at the famous Maison Camille Giroud - far more expensive wine than that which bears his own name. And some of the grapes that go into Giroud wines are purchased from des Croix plots, but that's neither here nor there...This wine includes juice from Beaune 1er grapes that Croix declassified. It has broad aromas of red and dark fruits, lots of earth, dark flowers and a mineral core. Lovely medium bodied palate echoing the aromas with really persistent flavors on the finish, and a cool minty sensation. It should improve over the next three years or so too. I don't know what else to tell you about this wine - it's just such a great wine, and at about $25, absurd. This one should still be available. In New York, try TriBeCa Wine Merchants.

2005 Sylvie Esmonin Bourgogne - The most complex and mysterious of the three, and my overall favorite so far. I think that the grapes come from a plot called Sylvie in Gevrey-Chambertin, but I might be wrong. This one changed personalities back and forth in the glass, from fruity and concentrated to delicate with an herbal nuance, and back. And forth. Lots of extraction but also very nimble and light, a very dark purple color. Lovely nose of dried rosemary, dried flowers, sandalwood, and mineral and herb flecked earth. Layers of cool dark fruits on the palate and a definite mineral streak. This is broad and heady stuff for a humble regional wine, and it's just delicious. Worth searching for.

So? What about you? Any fabulous 2005 Bourgogne to recommend at under $30?

Friday Night Bubbles

NV Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blancs Réserve Privée, $40 about a year ago. Wine searcher says it's about $60 now. Created in the '80s, the Paillard house is one of the newer houses by Champagne standards. The grapes for the Blanc de Blancs were purchased from growers in the Côte de Blancs, the Mecca of Chardonnay in Champagne. The Paillard style of Blanc de Blancs is soft and fine, achieved by adding less yeast to the bottles for their secondary fermentation.

This bottle was disgorged in December of 2000, and you can smell and taste the older wine here. There are clean and pure aromas of white flowers, roast nuts, and bread in a slightly sherry-like and mineral frame. Very nice nose, quite elegant. A super smooth mouth feel and an intensely mineral palate with biscuit and nut flavors that really power through to the finish, which is again intensely mineral. This works as an aperitif, but in more of an intellectual way. It doesn't have the freshness or precision that I prefer in a Blanc de Blancs. Don't get me wrong - we both really liked this wine. But I think it's better as a food wine. It would pair well with roast turkey or chicken, or with green split pea soup, or even with a firm and nutty cheese like Gruyere.

It's About the People, not the Wine

Last night I met Alice Feiring! I had no idea this was going to happen, but it did. BrooklynLady and I met fellow blogger David the WineBaer and his wife for a glass and who knew? The place I picked to meet sort of sucked (The Monday Room) and we went up to another restaurant called Alta where David and his wife Abby were meeting a friend for dinner. That friend, it turned out, had invited a mutual friend, Alice Feiring (as in squad) to join.

First of all, no matter what else you might hear, The Monday Room does, in fact, suck. It's not the wine that's the problem - the wines are thoughtfully chosen and really interesting. The prices are very high. A half glass costs minimum $8 and usually more. Yeah, the wine list is really good. But still, c'mon - $9 for a half glass, and a small half glass at that, of 2004 white Bandol? $16 for a glass of Cava? That's crazy talk. They wisely omit the prices of the wine on their website. I wouldn't have suggested the spot if I knew the prices, that's for sure.

But in the end the real problem with The Monday Room is the atmosphere. The place is set up to be such a hipster paradise, with thumping music and low lighting and plenty of pretense (men in suits ceremoniously bring your wine glasses to the table on silver trays before a server pours the wine). Impossible to have a conversation cause we couldn't hear each other. Do the folks who like thumping reggae and a style scene at their wine bar care about the interesting and off beat wines on the list?

I guess I shouldn't say that it sucks. If you like to pay way too much for wine in an an environment that prevents you from speaking with your companions, you might like it. And it's in a super cool neighborhood in a beautiful space. And none other than Alice Feiring, who I was destined to meet later that evening, suggested in her piece from a year ago that The Monday Room is the best wine bar in the city. So what do I know?

Alta had an impressive wine list too, but the bottle we selected, with the owner's help, was so disappointing. One of those green and reductive Burgundy 2004's, in this case the Bachelet Côte de Nuits Villages. At least at $54 it didn't feel like we were horse-tied and robbed. But sub-par wine is sub-par wine. Not a great wine night...but it's not always about the wine.

The upshot of all of this is the people - it's about the people, baby! David and his wife Abby were just excellent people and full of interesting talk about their coming move to the west coast. And their pal Lisa was a riot - sarcastic and sincere and smart and fun to talk to. And then there was Alice. Although we were risking pissing off my parents the babysitters again by being late, I insisted upon staying to meet Alice. Imagine that you're a huge baseball fan and you find out that Pedro Martinez is coming to join your party for dinner. You're staying, even if you piss off the baby sitter. Why compare Alice to Pedro, specifically? Because Pedro can stand by his numbers. He did it without the chemicals, on his own, au natural. And even though not everyone agrees with him, there's no denying that he makes a big impact.

I spent 2 minutes and 37 seconds with Alice, but teach of those moments was quite nice, and a thrill for me. And what a taster she is, what a nose! Alice knew before she entered the restaurant, just by sniffing the air in the entry hall, that we were drinking an 04 Côte de Nuits Villages. She didn't know that it was Bachelet, but still, that's pretty impressive.

A Wee Bit of Bottle Age

It's really amazing the difference a few months can make. Here are a few Loire Valley '05s that I enjoyed when I first tasted them, but that I really loved when drinking them recently. In each case, about 6 months passed between tastes. I always liked the Loire '05s, but this is ridiculous - 2005 in the Loire is just sick, and an amazing value. Don't let the wines get lost amidst the cacophony of 2005 Bordeaux and Burgundy.

2005 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Tuffeaux, $26. I purchased a few bottles of this wine based on my impressions at a tasting, so clearly I always liked it. But the first bottle that I opened at home in October of 2007 did not overly impress me. I found it to be a bit fat, to be lacking in balancing acidity. Well, we opened a bottle the other day and let me be the one to tell you that this is excellent wine. It is full bodied and flavorful but also well balanced and perky. On the nose is apple skins, wool, wax, and pure honeysuckle rainwater. It's a beautiful nose, it really pulls you in. There is plenty of residual sugar but the palate is well balanced and very drinkable, the acids so much more prominent than they were in October. There is great energy for an off-dry wine. The finish is surprisingly light and sheer, but the flavors linger. This is really a perfect aperitif wine and I'm buying more.

2005 Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny La Grande Vignolle, $16. Wow, this is some tobacco-ey, earthy stuff. There is also great fruit here. Beautiful nose of red and dark fruit, tobacco, a bit of cocoa too, and that Saumur-Champigny earthy velvet is in full effect. This has great texture, purity, and length. And I remind you - it cost $16. Very satisfying wine and an excellent companion to roast meat. I'd love to get my hands on the "higher level" wines from Filliatreau, but I haven't seen them in NYC. I might sock away one of my two remaining bottles just to see what happens to it in 6 years.

2005 Chateau du Hureau Saumur-Champigny Les Fevettes, $22. This wine was basically closed down the last time I tasted it, in July of 2007. Of the three wines discussed here, this is the most improved and the most impressive. The nose is incredible, with absolutely clean and pure red raspberries (I would say jumping out of the glass, but it's cliché - the raspberries WERE jumping though), dark flowers, and minerally wet soil, with only the tiniest bit of alcohol (14%) poking through. This is a beautiful nose and you can tell that there is still some unwinding to do. The palate echoes the nose and is silky in its rustic country-ness, such a winning combination. There is soil underneath the raspberries and flowers, and it crackles with minerals and life. The finish is clean and pure. Just very impressive and delicious wine, and with a long life ahead of it.

What other glories from 2005 in the Loire Valley await? I'm guessing everything will be great.

Coming Back to 05 Beaujolais

A couple years ago BrooklynLady and I went to a friend's house for dinner and I brought a bottle of 2004 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie Cuvée Tardive. The wine was waaaay too young to drink at that stage but I didn't know that, I thought it was just mediocre wine. And it confused me because I so much enjoyed another Roilette bottle I had a week or two earlier. But the first bottle was not the Cuvée Tardive, it was the "regular" Roilette. I didn't know they were two different wines. The one thing I knew for certain, is that I loved the label. How nice is that racehorse, and how great a choice is the orange/yellow background?

Now I know that Cuvée Tardive is the old vines wine, and that it typically requires more time to unfold. Depending on the vintage, it can age and improve for quite some time. I have not yet tasted the new release, the 2006 vintage, but Lyle at Rockss and Fruit says it's really good.

The thing is, the regular wine is fantastic too. It should also be allowed to mellow in the bottle, though. I found even the ripe and generous 2005 to be a bit out-of-whack when I tasted it about 8 months ago. My last bottle hung out in the wine fridge until recently, as my attempt at Pork Adobo (Filipino national dish of pork stewed in vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper corns, and soy sauce) bubbled on the stove. The 05 regular wine was just amazing.

2005 Clos de Roilette Fleurie, $18 at Chambers Street Wines. If this were poured blind I would have guessed it to be a solid Bourgogne. It has a beautiful mingling of crushed strawberry fruit and leafy earth, with a cool mineral streak running right down the middle. Lip smacking acidity and great balance - this stuff is dangerously good right now. But I didn't like it anywhere near as much when I tried it a while ago. I should have bought more when it was on the shelves.

I re-tasted another 05 Beaujolais on my daughter's first birthday when the relatives were in town. I've had maybe a half case of the 2005 Descombes Morgon now, $22 at Chambers Street, and each bottle is better than the last. I found the Descombes 2006 Regnie to be more accessible than the 05 Morgon when I was drinking Beaujolais like 3 or 4 times a day, I mean week, during the summer of 07. But these days the Morgon is just incredible, with complex fruit and spice notes, and a great mineral streak. Great floral mouth aromas after swallowing too. Everyone at the table loved it, and no one had a clue that they were drinking Beaujolais. Oh, the horror.

I have two bottles of 2005 Descombes Morgon Vieilles Vignes that are now sleeping in the cellar. I wonder how long should they rest before I open them? That should be exciting. Lots of interesting 2006 Beaujolais is out now too. I'm telling you, there is just far too much interesting wine worth buying these days.

Friday Night Bubbles

NV Domaine André et Mireille Tissot Crémant du Jura, $19 at Chambers Street Wines. This domaine is run in Arbois by Stéphane Tissot, the son of André and Mireille. This is the third Crémant du Jura I've had in the past two months and I am right now firmly of the mind that if I'm not going to drink Champagne, I want to drink Crémant du Jura.

Really? What about Loire sparklers? Well they're very good too, but the Crémant du Jura wines are made from 100% Chardonnay, and if you squint a bit, they are almost like a Blanc de Blancs from Champagne. I've found them as a group to be very focused and precise, chalky, fresh and citrusy, lean, and refreshing. Not approaching the depth of a Blanc de Blancs from Champagne, but great in their own half-the-price-of-Champagne way.

While this one is not my favorite of the three (that would be the Domaine de Montbourgeau), it is still very good wine. The nose is super clean, very fresh, with prominent chalk, pastry dough, and ginger. The palate is surprisingly full and rich with citrus, chalky minerals, and yellow cake. It is not all that focused though, and does not follow through on the promise of the nose - it's missing that cut at the finish. Still, this is satisfying and delicious wine, and I suspect would be better with food than it is as an aperitif.