Drinking With A Master of Wine
A collection of emotive, characterful wine tasting notes.
Often considered a more feminine, sensual expression of Pauillac due to its southern location, the 2021 had a racy, rocky mineral nose and super pure fruit. Levity with depth. Historic expression with youthful vibrancy. Tension with ease. Textbook notes met dreaminess in my glass!
1971 Piper Heidsieck , 50 years on lees … old shoppe butterscotch-caramel rich nose and the Maillard reaction in full effect. The acidity is still racing but age provides a breadth of parting salty waves of texture, relaxing the overall experience.
Interestingly, I had two iconic Savennières recently. The one and only Coulée de Serrant from Nicolas Joly (2020) and La Jalousie from Domaine du Closel (2018). Each known for biodynamics in the vineyard and meticulous, natural winemaking in the cellar, with an interesting and interwoven history.Nicolas Joly founded La Renaissance des Appellations, an incredible group of like-minded vintners, while Evelyne de Pontbriand of Domaine du Closel was the recent president of the Savennières AOC. La Jalousie used to be called Les Coulées but Nicolas felt this too closely resembled his family’s monopole and Evelyne renamed the wine from her old family vineyard “Jealousy” in response…!!The 2020 Coulée de Serrant is a butterfly that cannot be caught and brought wonder and joy. From apricot to white peach, the fruit was ever-present and evolving. La Jalousie 2018 showed a richer cidery quality, reflective of the warmer vintage. A wooly texture as compared to the elasticity of Coulée de Serrant, and a bit more grounded. Both wines had the Chenin Blanc “crescendo” acidity defined by Nick Jackson in Beyond Flavour. Although my MW study group referred to it as “ball gag” acidity!
Like a wholesome great aunt with smudged lipstick and ill-fitting khakis, there is something real and endearing about airport Chardonnay. Nothing tastes more like freedom than chubby, oak-chipped white wine with the texture of non-organic whole milk.Airport Chard pairs perfectly with food I would never consume outside of those judgment-free walls. What happens in the airport stays in the airport!
In order to pass the MW exam, I had to evaluate a wine blind in under two minutes, confirming my thoughts on grape variety, growing region, vintage and maturity, winemaking, quality, style and commercial potential. I then had to write, in formal essay format, 25 unique “points” about the wine speaking to each of these categories in nine minutes or less. I did this for 12 white wines, 12 red wines and 12 “mixed bag” wines including sparkling, fortified, sweet, orange, rose and more (every wine in the world is fair game). Here are some thoughts that entered my mind in the 11-minute process (x 36 wines).
One impressive thing about Champagne Deutz is the high percentage of reserve wine they use in their NV bottling (53%). This abundance provides for depth of flavor, as the wine is laden with lively fruits and savory mushroom notes… both fresh and complex. It also makes for a rich, silky texture. Finally, this notable use of reserve wine leads to mellow acid integration which is especially important as Deutz hails from Aÿ known for powerful, firm styles.
Timing is everything with the world’s best wines. I opened Bereche Les Monts Fournois Champagne 2012 recently. I had been anticipating the bottle for months and felt like it was untouchable upon opening - pretty but with a cold personality. As I was pouting over this, I put my nose back into the glass to find aromas that brought me to a warm Big Sur cabin amid extreme conditions, with the Maillard reaction in full effect on the palate. Moments later it was gone and the beauty continued to ebb and flow until I realized it was one of the best Champagnes ever. It was alive and had something to say. I just had to listen. As Nick Jackson MW said to me in a cab, Michealangelo’s work came through him. Bob Dylan has gone on record saying that Astral Weeks had always existed but Van Morrisonon was the one to pull it from the air. Frank Jolley said there are engines and there are vehicles. No matter how it’s said, Bereche Champagne is a vehicle transmitting from the heavens.
I popped a bottle of Dragonette Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir ‘22 last night and my heart soared. The highs were so high — bing cherry and bright cranberry — and the core so savory — licorice and earth. Like a taut guitar string vibrating in balance from top to bottom. Both high toned and low fi. It was as Dragonette winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis describes Vosne-Romanée: spherical. Silky smooth with perfect circular tannins. I can’t resist wines that are truly alive!
Domaine Servin Chablis Les Pargues imported by Weygandt Selections devours terroir like a starving poet with something to say.Chardonnay is a terroir vector and translates soil to glass like no other variety.
I asked for the Champagne list at a fish market in Baltimore last weekend and was confronted with two options: Prosecco or Wycliff. I just can’t do La Marca so Wycliff it was. It was absolutely amazing catching up with old friends over oysters and stellar pizza but three bottles later I was reminded that yes! the headache is real. #highschoolmemories
Poderi Sanguineto I e II Rosso di Montepulciano 2020. Even in the dark bar you could tell it was perfectly hued. You could read a book through the core, and the rim was honest garnet. The sanguine was like a dark snake curling up my neck. I couldn’t escape its intoxication. Crushed violets, dried cherries, that old prom corsage I had hanging on my mirror months after the big letdown. Potting soil and my mom’s lean hands providing a sharp backbone of acidity. The dark earth fell through her fingers, and I felt the warm Tuscan sun shining out of the glass.
SOTOLON: A distinctive aroma and flavor found in Vin Jaune, Tokaji, VdNs and rancio styles of port. The compound imparts savory warm spice and unique curry notes… in the most irresistible fashion!I always find a whisper of sotolon in the still wines of the Jura and Arbois, even in ouillé (topped up) wines that do not see oxidation.
Is it about finding the absolute best bottles available or seeking out wines that transport to the places they are from?I love spots that do their thing, like Cantina la Veinte in Miami offering several Mexican wines by the glass. Many wine lovers would go for the margarita but I can’t resist embracing the “when in Rome” philosophy when it comes to wine.Sure, this wine lacked a mid palate and fruit definition, and showed signs of oxidation… but it did transport me to a hammock in Tulum. That’s everything I could hope for in a glass.
Sierra Cantabria Rioja Reserva 2015 - Classic warm hoisin and soy notes but not defined by the tertiary as 10-year-old Rioja often is… incredibly fresh * San Vicente Rioja 2019 - A Bordeaux lover’s Rioja with sleek and strident tannins… Tempranillo in a fine suit! * El Puntido Gran Reserva Rioja 2011 - High altitude + south facing vineyards = delineated + savory… it has it all! * La Nieta Rioja 2021 - Windy site + shallow soils = brambly and blue... super concentrated * El Bosque Rioja 2021 - The Vosne-Romanée of Rioja… spherical and polished with marked limestone influence * Teso la Monja Alabaster Toro 2021 - Rich, layered and velvety… literally a perfect wine
Riesling is magical. One qualitative word that comes to mind when describing great Riesling is levity. The Mosel naturally produces the most delicate styles, followed by the Nahe which I picture as fluffy. The Rheingau has a firmness that interacts with RS differently. The Pfalz never strains for ripeness and its texture and weight can come across almost Burgundian. The Wachau is always broadly structured while Alsace is rich and round with a high level of dry extract. Clare and Eden Valleys have low pH producing harder styles. Central Otago and Marlborough Rieslings are pure and zippy while Washington State and the Finger Lakes are driven by sharp fruitiness.No matter what the style, levity should always be a part of wonderfully expressive Riesling. My favorite Rieslings from around the world are cloudlike, hanging whimsically in the air. Lesser expressions are like clouds full of rain, weighing down their overall potential.
Wine is art. Wine inspires art. Simply smelling wine can put me in the splistream where everything is more beautiful. Spending nine months pregnant twice, periods when I never even felt the effects of alcohol but only the texture and tannin and acid, wine transported me to a higher place. My favorite example of this is learning that Robert Hunter, prolific lyricist for the Grateful Dead , wrote “Ripple,” “Brokedown Palace” and “To Lay Me Down” on the same afternoon in South Kensington, London, over a half bottle of ratafia. He called it “the personal quintessence of the union between writer and muse” as words flowed “like molten gold onto parchment paper.” It was like an orange polkadot bikini on a flat white 70s pool lounge — matte texture but laden with rich wild apricot flavors. I highly recommend listening to the trilogy over a half bottle of something this weekend. Tears for the human experience guaranteed.
Embarrassingly, I blind tasted this wine in front of a savvy group and went to Burgundy within seconds of putting my nose in the glass. Flinty reduction, creamy lees, nutty notes indicating time spent in quality oak. My mind raced to Saint-Aubin due to the unique green almond and beeswax notes, and bracingly dry finish.Ambitious and aspirational, Terravita Vinum ‘s Grandes Rogeries is a show stopper. Like Aretha Franklin covering Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” Anjou covering Burgundy’s winemaking beats can take the original to greater heights. “And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China…”
Vintage matters. But let’s face it, most wines sold and consumed on a daily basis are unaffected by vintage conditions because they are made in a strategically predictable commercial style or hail from a region now with homogenous annual expressions due to global warming. Thus, when I come across wines with transparency that allow the vintage to shine, it is a true joy. Jean Max Roger‘s Sancerres imported by Massanois are just this. Tasting through a vertical of La Côte de Bué, I found the 2017 to be wonderfully tart and chiseled (cool year). 2018 unfolded with richer spiced minerality and fruit concentration while maintaining a cinched waist (classic year). 2019 and 2020 were fuller and had more development at a younger age (warm years). Like slow cooking, long slow ripening makes for aromas and flavors exponentially more intriguing.
Ultramarinewine has a longtime cult following and while I have always enjoyed the wines, they have yet to blow me away like this Blanc de Blancs did last night. It was broad and rich yet tightly woven like a boho chic blanket that belongs in Tulum. All Ultramarine wines need hours to breathe — patience I have never shown with these Sonoma Coast bubbles… but did with this bottle. I should know better, after selling wine for 20 years, flat Champagne after a day out selling can show like white Burgundy.
Château Simone Palette Rosé
Flamingo pink in color. Orange zest and rhubarb with a hint of garrigue, like an herb gummy. Prickly pear skin texture and even pricklier acidity. Fresh squeezed grapefruit on a morning full of hope. Bronze skin adorning a woman who has been around the block – a bit older, perhaps with too many hours in the sun, but has still got the zing factor. Barrel aged breadth brings her home.
I recently tasted this 2002 McLaren Vale Shiraz imported by The Grateful Palate. What a blast from the past! Selling The Grateful Palate wines in Washington, DC, during the Parker era was a wild time. A wine would get 99 points and I, along with every other wine sales rep selling the Australian portfolio in the US, would frantically veer off the road, park haphazardly and start punching in orders for accounts that would buy everything we had. We fought with our colleagues over inventory, begged order desks to fulfill phone requests while trying to secure wine on our phones and tablets. The wines were stylized, mouth filling, velvety and rich. Trends were different. I’ll always think back fondly on The Grateful Palate, having travelled with them to Australia before moving there at age 25. While most buyers and sellers on the trip stayed out partying, I filled up a thick journal and felt myself growing up, preparing to separate a great distance from my family. We covered countless miles and saw so much of the country in two weeks, each leg of the trip bringing me further away from DC city life and closer to the next chapter in a small farmhouse in the Barossa Valley. It was life-changing and magical, an experience for which I am forever grateful… no pun intended!
Don’t you love it when Nebbiolo shows TRUE Nebbiolo color — autumn-tinged garnet? I feel this way for many reasons. One, as a longtime blind taster, Nebbiolo is a dead giveaway on sight… a true gift! Two, it implies less extraction and long aging in Slavonian oak. Read: classic winemaking. Three, it communicates purity, delicacy and Sam Cooke vibes. “Lights turned way down low with someone you love so… That’s where it’s at!”
Bruna Grimaldi's Nebbiolo d’Alba Bonurei 2022 was textbook — roses, tar and warm earth. Orange zest danced above the bouquet. Dry, powdery tannins were broad and palate-filling. The cutting acidity forced me to get seconds of dinner (eek! but worth it!). As “food wine” as food wine gets, it made my night complete.
Wrapping up Paris with a bottle of Lydie et Thierry Chancelle Saumur-Champigny in front of The Arc de Triomphe of the Place de l’Etoile.The wine captures the feeling of walking under the evening air. The outline of the moon is visible, casting night light; not bright morning light but undertoned light that carries the heaviness of the day. Reflection, both inward and outward against the chalky limestone. The cool air makes for brisk acidity and vitality. Alone with my thoughts but connected to a sense of place and time.
Champagne Pierre Moncuit is so Côtes des Blancs it hurts. Had this bottle of Pierre Moncuit Delos Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV recently. It hails from the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, one of the 17 Grand Cru sites in Champagne which sits on the chalky, ancient seabed slope known as the Côtes des Blancs. Pierre Moncuit only bottles vintage wine, even when NV is on the label (this was 2019); has some of the oldest vines in the village; and winemaking centers around stainless steel. The result? An intensely terroir-driven, transparent style of wine. Backbone of acidity linear like the length of a shoulder blade to pinkie finger aimed toward the sky. This wine doesn’t jump up and lick you like a puppy dog. It forces you to dig a little deeper and find nuance, as its chiseled shell knows its cool nature and doesn’t go seeking attention. Those who find it are always deeply rewarded!!
Drink the Rent...!
Joseph Voillot Pommard Vielles Vignes
Not sexy, but severely honest. Truly transparent with its soil-to-glass monologue. Engaging in the conversation, it became something else. Something with such soul, such beauty, a tangible, red-kissed moment that would leave me dreaming about it for years to come. A little rustic for Burgundy but so real. Like the perfect woman with tannic stubble on her legs while meeting my parents for the first time, all the while humming My Baby Just Cares For Me. A keeper.
Incredible time with the dynamic team at Fox 5 DC wrapping up Women's History Month this week!
Nestled between Burgundy and Switzerland is a hidden gem: the Jura. Twelve times smaller than Burgundy, the wines are harder to find. Much of their terroir is defined by their Jurassic era soils (hence “Jura”): oxidized clay. Four appellations make up the Jura: Arbois, Côtes du Jura, l’Étoile and Château-Chalon. The latter only produces vin jaune while l’Étoile is reserved for vin jaune, vin de paille and white wines. Arbois and Côtes du Jura make a wide variety of wines and I had the pleasure of tasting a 1986 Arbois Rouge out of magnum and an oxidative wine made under flor from Côtes du Jura this week. The Domaine Rolet 1986 was surprisingly gamey, laden with sanguine minerality owing to the Trousseau in the blend. It was notably pale garnet in color, had gorgeous tertiary development but still vibrant acidity.
Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay
The reduction on this wine is over the top. Strong matchstick aromas with truffle and flint on the finish. Toasted char within a white aura. Poignant yet with round intention; it meanders to the point of acidity. Puligny-Montrachet in masquerade? Winemakers say that you must grow the skins of the grape in order to achieve this unique reductive character. Is that what I need to do? Or do I need to masquerade as someone I am not to get by? As Haruki Murakami’s characters say, “I wonder.”
What goes through my mind when trying to identify a golden colored wine. There are almost endless options when it comes to red and white, but fewer possibilities with a brilliant golden hue.
Thoughts while blind tasting rosé…
Domaine Michelot in Meursault, tasting through Nicolas’ 2023s :: Flinty, tense AC Meursault… Phenolic, broad Sous La Velle… Citrusy, blanched almond-laden Grand Charrons… Sunny, concentrated Le Narvoux… Precise, angelic Charmes… Warmly spiced, reductive Genevrieres… a golden afternoon…
Grenache
A weekend of warm blankets, brussels sprouts and rich fall feels. Minty with a hint of bouquet garni. Fuzzy gazes, fluffy boots, chewy meals. The root chakra shines in autumn.
There are right brained wines, like this Strub Riesling . Wines whimsical and dreamy that allow your heart to drift up to the clouds. There are left brained wines, like this Saint-Émilion. Wines that are thoughtful and intellectual, demanding the mind be present. And then there are those that strike a perfect balance, like this Bruna Grimaldi Barolo. Wines with a beautiful, warm, fruit-drenched soul yet with structure requiring some serious thought. The perfect pick depends on the time, place and company.
Drouhin ‘s Clos des Mouches gets its name from the “ mouches à miel” or honey flies that once swarmed this mid-slope “clos” or vineyard site located at the southern end of Beaune near Pommard. Light limestone-marl soils here provide for Beaune’s signature cool, crisp, aromatic, finessed wine styles. This ‘95 did not disappoint!! A vintage known to be balanced and rich, though not lacking in acidity, it had just enough age to show hints of Époisses, woven into the red-drenched fruit and minerals.
Chinon wasn’t my first love, or my second love, or my third love. But it was my love when Saturn Returned… and for that, it will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Le Rocher des Violettes ‘Touche-Mitaine’ Montlouis-sur-Loire :: Queenlike golden hue. As wooly as it comes, it wraps me in a sweater hiding my true emotions from the world. Just me and it, unctuous and enveloping. Waves of texture allowing my dreams to unfold within. No one to witness the single tear rolling down my cheek at the understated beauty. Autumn breeze flowing through an apple orchard, the faintest whisper of fruit among the petrichor. A poem I don’t fully understand but makes me grateful to be alive.
Maison Champy is the oldest wine house in Burgundy, dating back to 1720, with holdings throughout the Côte-d’Or .Some interesting highlights: * Pernand-Vergelessess Blanc ‘22 - Historically known to be rather acidic is now showing up rich and full thanks to global warming. * Corton Grand Cru ‘13 - Tough vintage but Dimitri included 30-50% stems to help lower acidity. * Beaune 1er Cru Aux Cras ’22 - A classic standout with polished cherry, lifted florals and mouthfilling minerality. * Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru ‘11 - My favorite of the lineup. With its honest garnet color and hints of epoisse, it could be nothing but beautifully aged Burgundy. My heart soared at the dried flowers and ALL red fruits. Spicy French oak kissed the finish. Another difficult vintage (one to use the sorting table, according to Dimitri) but as they say, great producers shine in the hardest years.
Jankara Vermentino di Gallura Superiore DOCG… Taut like a custom corset I bought in an alley next to the original Blue Bottle Coffee in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. A powerfully cinched waist and light dancing off glistening gold like sparkles on the sea. Electric with acidity. Saline of the bay flowing in, capturing imagination in its shiny green accents. Historic and tasteful. Mind, body and soul in a glass.
Viognier lives
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In magical Miami patios
Misty wet with rain
Fleshy tropics
Oily sunshine
Broad dreams
Peach pits in the sand
Hidalgo ‘La Guitana,’ Lustau ‘Papirusa,’ Valdespino ‘Deliciosa,’ Yuste ‘Aurora,’ Pinero ‘Maruja.’ Ever notice how Manzanilla sherry always bears a feminine name as compared to masculine names on Fino labels like González Byass ’Tio Pepe?’ La Guita is based in Sanlúcar de Barrameda where all Manzanilla is aged. Uniquely, all of their grapes are from these gentle oceanside vineyards too (even for their Fino, Amontillado and Palo Cortado). Hence, their brand name is feminine as well. In the glass, Manzanilla (one of my most consumed types of wine over the years) has a pretty, lifted elegance as compared to Fino’s more firm and solid structure. Something to notice while scanning the aisle of brands like Jerez-based Sandeman, Hartley & Gibson, González Byass and more.
It always boggles my mind how taste can be fashionable. Considering our five physical senses, I understand sight being trendy with designer clothing going in and out. I also get how sound can evolve over time, based on fads. But taste, smell and touch… it seems we should be organically drawn to or turned off by flavors, temperatures and textures. Take brussels sprouts; they were the butt of the joke growing up but over the past 10 years, a bistro couldn’t exist with some form of brussels on the menu. What changed? In wine, it is chilled reds (among other things like natural wine). While über fashionable today, will we be revolted by the thought of over-chilling our reds (or imbibing in pét nat) in years to come? And who dictates what we genuinely want to taste? Is our own internal enjoyment a pawn in the marketing game like everything else?
If fruit were on a wheel with lime and lemon at noon, tart Granny Smiths at 3pm, juicy peach at 6, pineapple at 9 and dried banana nearing midnight, this wine runs the gamut. Like childhood in a glass with mango afternoons bursting out of the late summer sun. Creamy and heart-filling, my cup runneth over.Blinding this, I would have gone Viognier (but it lacked its oily nature) or Chenin Blanc (though it didn’t display its signature wooliness). Phenolic with electric acidity, it was perhaps the best Albariño I have ever tasted.
My skeleton in the closet
I had the amazing joy of tasting icons like Domaine Raveneau Chablis and Vineyard Brands Burgundies while selling wine in Washington, DC in my early 20s, but discovering Louis Dressner Selections at Terroir when I moved to San Francisco in 2008 changed my life. I had never had wines so alive, so soulful, so “bistronomy.” Wines that went with chicory and octopus and affordable café meals. Wines that were so glou glou I couldn’t help but imbibe daily. They were sophisticated and accessible at the same time. While I love premium classics and the big names as much as the next wine lover, these wines will always have a special place in my heart.
López de Heredia Viña Gravonia
The seeds and stems came back to me – so herbal. Lonely in a crowded room. Grateful I grew up and out of that. Warm and savory curry notes I heard wine folk call sotolon. Hope. Coconut, piña colada, underripe pineapple, salty sand. The perfect sunscreen. Bronze legs and chiseled cheekbones. A beautiful look only some could appreciate, someone out there as alone as me. Thoughts racing like butterflies, impossible to catch. This wine is not meant for a net. Nor am I.
“River rock” is a common wine term used to exude the hard-to-describe category of “minerality.” This wine from Stephane Ogier was all river rock. Round, shiny, slick and salty. Thick and mouth filling. Fluid and constantly moving. It was like looking at the ocean in the late morning… not under the piercing early sun but the broader 11am shimmer. It slept in.
Loved this message on the inside foil of a bottle of Benoit Déhu Champagne Cuvée de la Rue des Noyers gifted to me by the legend Thomas Calder alongside a signed photo he took of Jerry Garcia in the ‘70s!“Bravo, continue to be curious as you have shown yourself to be in looking elsewhere! A little secret, our wines are alive. So, let them breathe, smell them, taste, and above all. Be patient with them. Let time do its work.” - Benoit Déhu
The whimsical icon Terry Theise, who put German and Austrian wines as well as grower Champagne on America’s radar, wrote of serious wines and those so disarming that they jump up and lick you in the face like a puppy dog. ‘More is More’ made by Heidi Schrock , originally imported by Terry Theise, is somewhere in between… a sideways glance from across the room. Spicy and tempting, a confetti of minerality. In the words of Counting Crows “all at once you look across a crowded room to see the way that light attaches to a girl.”
Malagousia Mylonas Assyrtiko…She’s standing by the sea wearing a white linen dress with a taut, blocky golden zipper up the spine. Very salty with a whisper of spiciness. Elegant, boho chic… a free spirit on the surface but with Tulum sensibilities, she colors within the lines. Firm, not whimsical. Dense, not airy.Still a nice afternoon glass!
Toothsome. I have an arsenal of personal adjectives I use when dissecting wine. While toothsome technically means tasty (and is often the case), I jot it down when a wine is so firm, white and chalky that it feels like drinking teeth.This was the case with this Blanc de Blancs from Raventos I Blanc .Inspiration for the descriptor: “The voices talking somewhere in the house, late spring and you’re drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth. You are here with me, you are here with me. You have been here and you are everything.”
Did you know that every Champagne bottle includes a code with two letters followed by a string of numbers? The code can be on the front or back label, and is often small and a challenge to locate. Scouring the label, you will learn whether you are drinking a “house” Champagne, “grower” Champagne or a Champagne made by a co-op. Codes to look for:
RM: Récoltant-Manipulant: Grower that uses 100% estate fruit.
NM: Négociant Manipulant: House that purchases fruit for their blend. CM: Coopérative-Manipulant: Group of growers that pool their grapes and make their wine in a shared facility
Before Saturn returned, while I was coming of age on my wine journey, Bordeaux was super unfashionable in my world. It represented the business suit while Burgundy symbolized the farmer. Cru Beaujolais and Chinon were everything. I sought out concrete and carbonic and ran from oak. My MW studies led me to fall completely in love with classified growth Bordeaux and, while I still imbibe with joy in my original loves, Petit Chateaux make for such great little weeknight pairings. The crisp, peppery, cooling edge to this wine had a lot of the characteristics to which I was originally drawn, albeit a bit more sleek than crunchy and with a touch of spiced oak. I love that wine continues to open doors and deliver.
Cheese rind. I have a habit of eating too close to the rind. And of eating rinds that aren’t meant to be eaten. When making soup, I will drop in a Parmesan rind for weight and texture but not before sneaking the last thin slices. It is a secret joy. Great Chablis always has cheese rind — that funky, creamy, nutty, unmistakable flavor. This bottle of Les Boutots, a south-facing single-vineyard in the commune of Vaulicheres just east of Chablis, was laden with it. The irresistible result of lees aging was complemented by a touch of rich barrel aging. Patrick Piuze does it again!
On the 4th of July and I love reflecting on the fact that wine is made in all 50 states of America. I recently tasted these wines from Stoneashe Vineyard in North Carolina . They showed real promise! The Sauvignon Blanc had an Adelaide Hills esque vibe with zingy electric acidity, lime and marzipan and a touch of umami. The nose on the Cabernet Sauvignon was super intense — herbal with a touch of oak. It was plump with fuzzy tannins. We are babies compared to Europe but it is exciting thinking about the heights we are destined to hit!
I don’t even recognize myself with this All-American weeknight dinner! Chipotle carryout paired with Duckhorn‘s second label Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir which was on sale Whole Foods. Alas… life with two young kids…The ruby color was as see through as the setting sky when I go to bed these days. Fleshy cherry nose and clove-laden oak reminiscent of a predictably comforting (yet surprisingly rewarding) meal Hillstone. As someone who spent years championing only the independent, this says a lot. Still, the coniferous edge to the wine had a hint of airy freedom. Living a corporate moment with memories of a wild past, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Enjoyed this bottle of Earl Tribut Dauvissat imported by Vineyard Brands last night. Not to be confused with the mountaintop, René & Vincent Dauvissat. Or Jean & Sébastien Dauvissat imported by Rosenthal . Or Jean Dauvissat imported by a number of small companies across the US. How many Dauvissats are there in Chablis?!!