Vinography Unboxed: Week of December 24, 2017

Hello, and welcome to my periodic dig through the samples pile. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently.

This week marks another sparkling edition of my samples tasting just in time for your New Years’s shopping!

Let’s start this week with the most unusual bottle in the lineup which is a sparkling Pinot Blanc from the North Fork of Long Island that was held for a long time before release. Bright and airy, it’s a lovely rendition of the Pinot Blanc grape and at $23, it’s a steal.

Also a bit unusual, not in its grape or source, but in its flavor, is the latest sparkling wine from Rollin Michael Soles, a pioneer of sparkling winemaking in Oregon. This, from his new project, is quite distinct in character, and tasty in its own savory way.

Before we move on to the Champagne proper, let’s not overlook the Adami single vineyard Prosecco from Col Credas which is grown on staggeringly steep vineyards in the Prosecco region. It’s got much more personality than most Proseccos.

Let’s start our Champagne focus with Franck Bonville, a producer from the town of Avize in the Cote de Blancs region of Champagne. Their prestige Blanc de Blancs of Chardonnay has a bright floral quality that is very compelling, and at only $44 is on the lower end of what you’ll spend for a Grand Cru Champagne.

The Chassanay d’Arce bottling comes from the main cooperative winery in the Aube region of Champagne, where they buy grapes from all the local producers to make some pretty decent quality stuff. This “Confidence” bottling is among their top non-vintage wines.

Finally there are a couple of wines in here from the tiny producer Remy Massin, also from the Aube region. This family run outfit, recently taken over by the younger generation is making very high quality wines.

All these and more below. Enjoy.

2012 Domaine Carneros “Brut” Champagne Blend, Carneros, Sonoma, California
Pale gold in the glass with medium fine bubbles, this wine smells of apples, wet felt, and sea air. In the mouth, a coarse mousse delivers flavors of apple, pear, and bitter citrus across the palate, leaving a woody apple skin flavor in the finish. 12% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $27. click to buy.

2011 Lieb Cellars “Reserve Blanc de Blancs” Pinot Blanc, North Fork of Long Island, New York
Light gold in the glass with medium bubbles, this wine smells of ripe and baked apples. In the mouth, a soft mousse delivers notes of yeasty, toasty bread that give way to apple and citrus pith brightness and an airy finish. Great acidity and nice delicacy. 13.2% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $23. click to buy.

2013 Roco Winery “Rollin Michael Soles Brut” Champagne Blend, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Light blonde in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of toasted sesame and pickled seaweed. In the mouth, a soft mousse rolls across the palate tasting of wet leaves, apples, sarsaparilla, and a hint of citrus pith. Unusual. Good acidity. A blend of 67% Pinot Noir and 33% Chardonnay. 12.5% alcohol. 200 cases produced. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $53. click to buy.

2014 Adami “Col Credas” Glera, Valdobbiadene, Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
Pale gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of butterscotch candy and white flowers. In the mouth, a velvety, voluminous mousse delivers a unique combination of butterscotch, pear, and vanilla into a long finish scented with a touch of camphor. Good acidity. 11% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $23. click to buy.

NV Franck Bonville “Prestige” Blanc de Blancs, Avize Grand Cru, Champagne, France
Pale gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of honeysuckle and pears. In the mouth, bright apple and pear flavors have a nice nutty biscuit quality. Nice and balanced, with equal parts of fruit and biscuity quality. A blend of at least two vintages.12.5% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $44. click to buy.

NV Gardet “Brut Tradition” Champagne Blend, Champagne, France
Pale gold in the glass with medium fine bubbles, this wine smells of apples and pears with a hint of vanilla. In the mouth a soft mousse delivers bright apple and pear flavors with a nice rounded quality to them and nice bright acidity and length with a slightly sweet finish. 45% Pinot Noir, 45% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $39 click to buy.

NV Chassanay d’Arce “Confidences” Blanc de Noirs, Champagne, France
Light blonde in color with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of freshly baked bread with honey, marzipan, and cold cream. In the mouth, flavors of honeysuckle, sea air, wet stones, and pink grapefruit have a nice saltine cracker savoriness to them. A lightly bitter chalkiness lingers in the finish. Made from 50+ year-old vines. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $82 click to buy.

NV Remy Massin “Brut Tradition” Champagne Blend, Champagne, France
Pale gold in the glass with medium fine bubbles, this wine smells of apples, pears, and wet stones. In the mouth, bright apple and asian pear flavors have a nice bright crispness to them. Round and bright. Juicy. 12.5% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $55. click to buy.

NV Remy Massin “Brut Reserve” Champagne Blend, Champagne, France
Pale blonde in the glass with fine bubbles, this wine smells of asian pear, white flowers, and green apples. In the mouth, green apple crispness mixes with asian pear, wet stones and pink grapefruit citrus crispness. Juicy and bright and very clean. 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $62. click to buy.

NV Pol Roger “Brut Reserve” Champagne Blend, Champagne, France
Pale greenish gold in color with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of bright apples and pears with a hint of white peaches. In the mouth, flavors of white peaches, apples, and pears take on a citrus peel brightness in the finish mixed with green apples. Soft mousse. Contains one third each of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier. Ages for 4 years in bottle before release. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $40. click to buy.

from Vinography Unboxed: Week of December 24, 2017

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Vinography Images: The Wide Sky

The Wide Sky
GIRONDE, FRANCE: Cumulus clouds hang across the wide expanse of sky above the vineyards of Chateau Ausone in Gironde on Bordeaux’s Right Bank near Saint-Émilion. Ausone is one of only 4 wines classified as Premier Grand Cru Classé in the Saint-Émilion classification.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting “save link as” or “save target as” and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

BUY THE BOOK:
This image is from a series of photographs captured by Andy Katz in the process of shooting his most recent work The Club of Nine, a visual exploration and celebration of Bordeaux’s top Chateaux. The book is available for $60 on Andy’s web site.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact Andy directly.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Andy Katz for readers’ personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images. These images are not to be reposted on any web site or blog without the express permission of the photographer.

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Why You Should Pay More for Champagne (And What to Buy When You Can't)

Valentine’s day. Easter. Halloween. New Year’s Eve. What do all these holidays have in common? They each drive some of the highest yearly consumption of a single product. As we approach the end of the year, Champagne dominates the wine media headlines. Everyone wants to know what to drink at New Year’s and heaven forbid us journalists leave our readers wanting for advice.

Just as with the so-called “rosé season” annually proclaimed to exist somewhere between the end of May and the beginning of September, the intense interest in Champagne this time of year leaves me somewhat bemused. Like rosé, Champagne ought to be drunk year-round in copious quantities, simply because it is some of the most food-friendly, versatile wine on the planet.

Everyone is willing to make a toast on New Year’s or at a wedding with a glass of bubbly, but a lot of people don’t drink it much more often than that. One of the reasons that I believe more Champagne does not get consumed year-round is that many people don’t like the way it tastes.

Nor should they. A lot of Champagne is bitter and nasty. In part, this (at least for me) explains the current boom in Cava and Prosecco consumption here in the United States, as these two sparkling wines from Spain and northern Italy historically tend towards the sweeter end of the spectrum, and are a lot easier on the American palate.

Like many consumers, it took a long time for me to enjoy Champagne. Not because it is particularly an acquired taste, but because more than with many other styles of wine, you really get what you pay for. For years in my early adulthood, I would confidently tell people that I didn’t care for Champagne. To my amazement one day, I found out what I really meant was that I didn’t care for cheap Champagne. You see, I had just never had any of the good stuff.

Generalizations are dangerous in any domain or discourse, but I’ve found few things in the wine world more reliably true than what I’m about to tell you. You need to pay at least $40 to get a good bottle of Champagne. Have I had good bottles that cost less? Absolutely. When I find them, like the stuff made by Ayala that you can find as cheap as $32 a bottle, I tend buy them by the dozen.

But if you’re able to pay $50, $60, or even $70 a bottle for Champagne, you can put yourself onto an entirely different plane of taste, texture, and experience.

Why is good Champagne so expensive, and why would it be worth paying for? I’ll do my best to answer this question, and if paying so much for a bottle of bubbly is a non-starter for you, just stick with me and I’ll tell you where to go looking for decent bubbly that won’t break the bank.

Any good wine, made with an artisan approach, won’t be cheap, purely because to make good wine costs money. Leaving aside the cost of the land itself, which in some regions (such as Napa) all but guarantees wines will never fall below a certain price point, the labor and equipment required to make wine is expensive. Vineyards take a lot of skilled labor to maintain and keep healthy. From tractors to the buildings that house the barrels to the barrels themselves, the equipment used to make wine costs a lot of money. And then there’s cash flow. If you’re going to age your wine, as is helpful to make fine wine of all kinds, then you not only need to buy barrels and pay for vineyard labor for the year you’re going to put into the bottle, but before you sell that wine, you may need to do the same for the next vintage, and the next. And of course, you need to pay rent on wherever you’re going to keep those three years of barrels while you’re waiting for the wine to be ready to go into the bottle.

And that’s just for a nice bottle of Cabernet. Sparkling wine ends up being a bit more complicated.

Of course, you can just make some early-picked wine, stir in some sugar to cut the acidity and then carbonate it, which, if you’ll forgive that description’s brevity, is how most cheap sparkling wine is made. But this doesn’t make for much more than a glass of bubbles that tastes vaguely like wine. If you want to make Champagne, or sparkling wine in the traditional method that region pioneered, you need to ferment the wine twice: first in barrels or tanks to turn your early-picked grapes into a highly acidic wine known as vin clair, and then a second time in individual bottles with a dollop of yeast that will create the bubbles under the seal of a crown cap like you’d use to close a soda bottle.

And then, according to your desire for flavor and quality, you may age that wine “on the lees” (in contact with that yeast residue) for many years. During that time, you’ll also need to riddle each bottle, a process that involves (either by hand or machine) turning the bottle in special racks to accumulate that yeast residue into the neck so that when it comes time, you can disgorge the yeast, top up the bottle and put in the final cork. Some of the best Champagnes are aged in their bottles for more than a decade before they are released for sale. This extended aging (known as tirage) can turn a good wine into a transcendent one. Of course, there’s more to Champagne than extended tirage. Some of the best wines being made today aren’t, in fact, aged for very long in the bottle, but instead are the products of impeccable farming, masterful blending and increasingly, very specific sites.

But back to my point. The labor, storage space and time required to make a good Champagne simply costs more. And then in the case of Champagne (and other imported wines), the bottles need to be shipped across the Atlantic in temperature controlled shipping containers and then imported into the US after paying the requisite taxes.

And lets face it, when you’re paying for Champagne, no matter which producer you’re buying, you’re also paying a brand premium. The word “Champagne” itself adds to the price of the wine, just as much as the word “Napa” does. That premium is reflected in the price of the land, housing, and the overall cost of doing business in the region.

No wonder, then, that it’s nearly impossible to find a Champagne that costs less than $20 and, in my opinion, few really good ones that cost less than $40. The Champagne that many people splurge on, Veuve Cliquot, represents an absolutely awful value at $50 or more per bottle. Instead try the NV Pierre Peters “Cuvee de Reserve” at $49 a bottle, or the NV Philipponat Brut Royal Reserve at $45.

If you can spend more, though, you can experience the magic of what Champagne truly has to offer, from the incredible minerality of a NV Frederic Savart “l’Accomplie Premier Cru” Brut ($60) or 2004 Pascal Douquet Mesnil sur Oger Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs ($80); to the freshly baked brioche richness that can only come from extended tirage in the likes of a Krug Grand Cuvee ($145) or a Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs ($114).

But if you (quite understandably) can’t bring yourself to spend that much on a bottle of bubbles, I’ve got you covered. Of course, Champagne isn’t the only place that makes great (and expensive) sparkling wines. Good sparkling wine gets made in many of the world’s wine regions. Some of the best California sparkling wines and Italian sparkling wines now command the same kinds of prices as do Champagne. But even in these regions, as well as some other spots around the globe, decent bottles of bubbles can be found for less than $30. The reasons these places and producers can make less expensive sparkling wine range from the simple economic realities of lower land prices and cheaper grapes, to less rigorous aging regimens and simply less recognition on the world stage.

Whatever the reason, thankfully the wide world of wine, skillfully navigated, can make up for the lack of decent cheap Champagne.

Let’s start with the far-ff corner of France known as the Savoie, where one of my favorite wine producers in the world, Dominique Belluard also happens to make a little bit of sparkling wine from the Gringet grape variety found in the region. His NV Belluard “Les Perles de Mont Blanc” will set you back a mere $25, and its a wonderful crushed stone and apple/pear mouthful that is unlike anything you’ve ever had before.

Chenin Blanc is one of the hot grapes right now amongst sommeliers and wine geeks, but the focus generally remains on the dry and off-dry versions produced in France’s Loire Valley. Less well known are the sparkling wines made from the same grape, but all the better for anyone looking for a wine that drinks well above its weight. Benchmark producer Domaine Huet makes a positively stellar version that goes for a song. Find the NV Domaine Huet Petillant Brut for around $23.

Still in France, Alsace is known for its Rieslings and Gewürztraminers, but insiders know that it grows decent Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc as well, some of which gets made into a sparkling wine known as Cremant d’Alsace. In my experience the best examples of this wine are actually the rosés, such as the reasonably easy to find NV Pierre Sparr Cremant d’Alsace Rosé ($19).

Much of what Spain’s Cava region produces is unremarkable, but quality producers have begun to make names for themselves, perhaps none more so than Raventos i Blanc, who produce some of the best Cavas I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. Their 2015 Raventos i Blanc “L’Hereu” Brut is an absolute steal at $19 a bottle.

Finally, while the best Italian sparkling wines are unfortunately just as expensive as the best Champagnes these days, a few producers are making really high quality sparking wines that trade at reasonable tariffs. Among my favorites is Ferrari, whose vintage Ferrari Perle Brut can be enjoyed for somewhere around $30 or $35.

And last, but certainly not least, there’s the wine I recommend whenever anyone asks the nearly impossible question, “How can I drink decent sparkling wine for under $20 a bottle?” More than a few weddings have avoided bankruptcy by using the Roederer Estate Brut from Mendocino’s Anderson Valley for their wedding toasts. It’s hard to imagine how Roederer manages to produce such a consistently drinkable bottle for under $15, but they do, and very few California sparkling wines even twice the cost approach its quality.

I hope you enjoy your toasts at the end of the year, but more importantly, I hope you’ll manage to discover some sparkling wines that will keep you drinking the bubbles long after the first of the year. If you haven’t explored the charms of Champagne with your fried chicken, or sparkling wine with your popcorn, well then you’ve got some further resolutions to make.

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Wine News: What I'm Reading the Week of 12/25/17

Welcome to the Christmas edition of my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I post them to my magazine on on Flipboard, but for those of you who aren’t Flipboard inclined, here’s everything I’ve strained out of the wine-related muck for the week.

Assessing the Impact of Wine List Awards
Fascinating article about the impact and history of wine list awards.

Free or Discounted Wine Tasting Options Vanishing in Sonoma County
It’s sad to see this go away, as much as I understand why…

How Master Sommelier and Restaurant Partner June Rodil Balances Wine, Food
An interview with the tastemaker.

Sake brewer jumps on wine bandwagon in France
Is there something for wine to teach sake? One brewer thinks so.

Jefford on Monday: Lessons from the laureate
Andrew Jefford says there’s winemaking lessons to be learned from Kazuo Ishiguro

How Warren Randall became the king of Australian wine
Profiling a pioneer

Machiavellian Adventure
Robert Camuto on a famous family’s wine adventures.

2 Key Wine Themes For 2018: Indigenous Grapes And Women In Wine
Cathy Huyghe on some thoughts for the coming year.

New Study Suggests Letting Your Child Sip Alcohol Does Not Predict But Increases Risk of Alcohol-Related Problems As A Young Adult
Read that headline carefully. No causality between a sip as a kid and a drunkard as a teen.

Champagne Seeks to Discover Itself in Single-Vineyard Wines
Eric Asimov talks bubbles before New Years’

Wine and liquor fraud: NY state fines big alcohol distributor in ‘pay to play’ scheme
One down, 49 states to go?

The future of the wine industry
Robert Joseph looks into the crystal ball.

Beer May Rule in Colorado, But State’s Winemakers Are Setting Their Sights High
And succeeding.

Moet is pushing champagne on Snapchat through a game
I applaud innovative marketing, but not to kids.

Wine Excise Taxes Cut as House and Senate Pass Tax Reform Legislation
The wine industry comes out ahead in the tax bill.

Three Women In Wine Talk Business Past And Future
Experiences and challenges from three veterans.

How Napa Valley’s Newton Doubled Down On Quality Cabernet
The story of a famed brand.

Finding Puglia’s Soul in Negroamaro
Shelley knows of what she speaks.

Nine Days in Chile
Elaine takes you through the highlights.

In Need of Recognition
Matt Kramer on under-the-radar wine regions.

from Wine News: What I’m Reading the Week of 12/25/17

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I'll Drink to That: Rhône Vintner Jean Gonon

Episode 439 of I’ll Drink to That! was released recently, and features Jean Gonon of Domaine Pierre Gonon in the Saint-Joseph appellation of France’s Northern Rhône Valley.

Domaine Pierre Gonon has moved to the top rank of Saint-Joseph producers today, and Jean Gonon is clear about the reason why: proper farming of old vines. “Our real work is not winemaking, it is farming” says Jean, and he describes the winemaking process as fairly simple if you do what is right when working the vines. He also describes the nature of the different terroirs that he is working with, and this episode is a treasure trove for anyone who wants to better understand the classic southern portion of Saint-Joseph around Tournon, Mauves, and Saint-Jean-de-Muzols. That last named village is the home of the vines that the Gonon family purchased from the legendary Raymond Trollat, and Jean speaks quite a bit about Trollat in this interview. If you want to understand the context of the generational changes in Saint-Joseph, this episode is for you. The hand-off from one generation to the next, and the sense that no one is ever really on their own with the vines, are constant themes underlying what is said in the discussion.

Listen to the stream above, or check it out on Apple Podcasts, on Stitcher, Google Play Music or check it out on YouTube.

IDTT is now also available on Spotify. Listen to this episode on Spotify.

I’ll Drink to That is the world’s most listened-to wine podcast, hosted by Levi Dalton. Levi has had a long career working as a sommelier in some of the most distinguished and acclaimed dining rooms in America. He has served wine to guests of Restaurant Daniel, Masa, and Alto, all in Manhattan. Levi has also contributed articles on wine themes to publications such as The Art of Eating, Wine & Spirits magazine, Bon Appetit online, and Eater NY. Check out his pictures on Instagram and follow him on Twitter: @leviopenswine

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Vinography Images: Storm Light

Storm Light
POMEROL, FRANCE: The sunset peeks around roiling storm clouds above Chateau Pétrus in Pomerol, on Bordeaux’s Right Bank. Pétrus became famous in the late 1800s after winning a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition, beating out many more famous estates. One of the most expensive and sought-after wines in the world, Pétrus is widely regarded as the single best bottling of Merlot to be found, and remains the shining star of the Pomerol apellation, which has never been classified. Consequently it cannot truly be called a First Growth, though it clearly ranks among them in both price and quality.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting “save link as” or “save target as” and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

BUY THE BOOK:
This image is from a series of photographs captured by Andy Katz in the process of shooting his most recent work The Club of Nine, a visual exploration and celebration of Bordeaux’s top Chateaux. The book is available for $60 on Andy’s web site.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact Andy directly.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Andy Katz for readers’ personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images. These images are not to be reposted on any web site or blog without the express permission of the photographer.

from Vinography Images: Storm Light

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Wine News: What I'm Reading the Week of 10/17

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I post them to my magazine on on Flipboard, but for those of you who aren’t Flipboard inclined, here’s everything I’ve strained out of the wine-related muck for the week.

Worried About Wine Fraud? That’s Rich
The big deal only comes with the big bucks, says Oliver Styles.

The Computer That Saved a Vineyard
The headline is misleading, but hey.

California cabernets do not get the same quality scores at different tastings
Interesting analysis for those inclined to statistics.

Treasure of Trousseau
Haven’t had any from Oregon, but quite curious to try.

Major alleged fake Bordeaux investigation causes stir in Bordeaux
Everyone wants to buy low and sell high.

Fierce fight along Santa Barbara coast as fire threat eases in Ventura
Just pray for less wind.

Perspectives on the California Wine Country Fires
GuildSomm adds to the thoughtful commentary and first person accounts.

Flop-Flip in Provence
When dreams die.

Inside the Wine Cellar at Chez Panisse
A nice profile of a guy and the place.

Alcohol will “disappear within a generation,” claims scientist
Hogwash.

Poland’s wine regions emerge
From the guy who knows more about Polish wine than anyone I know.

It’s a hard rock life for wine in granite tanks
Wet stone anyone?

Robert Mayberry Remembrance
Patrick Comiskey on the Rhone’s major fan.

Humans Have Been Drinking Wine for 8,000 Years
The history of drunk.

Winemakers Worry Wildfires Will Leave Whiff Of Ashtray In Their Wine
NPR worries about wine.

How One Mycologist Saved France’s Wine (Among Other Things)
But too much copper is a bad thing.

How a Thirst for Portuguese Wine Fueled the American Revolution
So raise a glass to freedom.

Everything you need to know about natural wines, plus six to try now
Patrick Comiskey writes without sulfur.

California comeback: Wine country rebuilds after wildfires
Karissa Kruse’s story.

Is the alcohol level of wines going up?
Yes. The question is whether it’s a problem.

As China’s Wine Industry Grows, France Trains a New Generation
Asia comes to Dijon.

Wine Glasses Are 7 Times Larger Today Than They Were 300 Years Ago
Science says so.

American Chardonnay For While You Cook (and With Dinner)
A lot of recommendations from Wine Enthusiast.

The Breadth of Turley Wines
Better than ever these days.

New Winemakers Driving Change in Catalonia’s Wine Scene
Amanda Smeltz brings us the latest.

California’s Ecology of Fire
David Darlington gives it a good think.

As California’s Wine Country Continues To Recover From The Fires, Tourism Still Lags
Come visit!

Sonoma puts hold on new wine tasting rooms
The impossible balance between supporting the local industry and civic and social pressure.

Corks Won the Closure War. You Lost
At least 3% of the time.

The dark matter of dirt
Deborah Parker Wong on the microbiome of your vineyard

from Wine News: What I’m Reading the Week of 10/17

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