NewsletterApril, 2008
TASTING CALENDARBURGUNDY SEMINAR WITH PETER WASSERMAN When you purchase a bottle of Burgundy with the back label saying, “Becky Wasserman Selection” you are assured of the top quality. She’s been battling in the Burgundian trenches for nearly forty years. Thus, she’s been around the Place Carnot in Beaune more than a few times and she has accumulated the goods. We are honored that her son, Peter, who was weaned on the finest of Burgundies, is coming to Colorado Springs. Like his mother, he is one of the most knowledgeable and forthright people working in Burgundy. We want to tap his abilities and taste the superb Wasserman selections. So we propose a Burgundy wine seminar where Peter will enlighten us on the nuances of the various appellations. The tariff per taster is $60. Henri Chaperont, La Petite’s gifted owner/ chef, will prepare delectables to accompany the wines. To reserve your “couvert” call us at 475-9700. The event is limited to 20 people. TRAPPIST BEER TASTING Join us in tasting some of the rarest and most unique beers on the planet.These beers are brewed by, or under control of the Trappist monks, one of the strictest orders of monks. There are only seven abbeys that produce beer under the Trappist designation, and only six are available in the U.S. We will be tasting 8-12 different beers in various flights and pairing them with cheeses and other light snacks. The cost is $30 per person, and seating is limited to the first 24 tasters. Call 475-9700 to reserve your spot at The Warehouse. THE FRENCH WINES OF IMPORTER NEAL ROSENTHAL Neal Rosenthal started as a one-man retail operation thirty years ago and has become one of the elite importers in the country today. His objective is to deal with small producers of the finest quality wines…wines that depict the essence of their regions and “terroir”, that ephemeral “sense of place”. Each time we taste with them, it is an education in wine made in the classical tradition. Well, we are going to bring this educational opportunity to you. John Paine, a most knowledgeable representative of Rosenthal Wine Merchants will taste us through 12 different regions of France. Chef Pete Moreno of McKenzie’s Chop House is turning his creative wheels to provide us with delightful accomplices for these treats. The fare will be $70 per person. Call us @ 475-9700 to reserve a place at this wide ranging tasting. New Arrivals2006 Alfredo Roca Pinot Noir, Mendoza, $10.99: You normally don’t think of good Argentine Pinot Noir coming from the Mendoza wine region. It’s generally too hot and dry. Mendoza is the land of Malbec, Bonarda, Cabernet Sauvignon and the white Torrontes grape. Argentina’s Pinot Noirs are generally the best from Patagonia, farther south. So it is that this tasty Pinot is “una grande sorpresa.” It has a deep garnet color. There is a touch of dried rose and cherries on the nose. There are cherries, spice and hint of vanilla on the palate. “Tal bueno.” It’s hard for us to think of a tastier Pinot Noir for the price. 2006 Pierre Sparr “Extrem” Riesling, $13.99: Sparr has come out with a new line of wine here and it is most impressive. This is significantly new because the Sparr firm has been making wine in Alsace since 1680. The winery is located in the village of Sigolsheim. Production is substantial with 170,000 cases of wine produced in the average year. About 20 percent of this comes from Sparr’s own vineyards, the rest from contracted growers (120 or so). What grabbed us about this bottle is the steely, virtually bone dry aspect. Reportedly the winery has ways to separate sugar levels in the grape must and produce dryness levels that they want. “Formidable.” The flavors here give apple, peach and mineral. If you like dry wines with character, snag this. We could envision downing it with a piping hot plate of “choucroute garnie” in an Alsatian “brasserie,” while singing battle songs with the German tourists. Barring that, drinking on the back porch, alone, watching squirrels frolic would be agreeable too. 2004 Los Planos Syrah, Pais de las Cotes Catalanes, $12.99: This ain’t no over the top Aussie Shiraz. It has smoke, spice and balance. It shows you what Syrah can do at a value price. (We all know what Syrah can do at a premium price from Cote Rotie and Hermitage). The wine is a project of Eric Solomon, an American importer who brings us boatloads of unusual and delicious wines from France and Spain. He sources the grapes for this bottling from different areas of Catalunya each year. Some years the grapes come from Spanish Catalunya. So then the wine is Spanish, not French. But, he has that covered on the back label. 2005 Alain Burguet Gevery-Chambertin, Mes Favoirtes, $71.99: Alain Burguet might first appear as a rustic character. But he is one of our heroes in Burgundy. He is what is described in that wine zone as a “micro-negociant.” This means he buys small amounts of grapes from other “vignerons” and makes the wine. This is a coming trend, according to his exporter, Becky Wasserman, because vineyards are so expensive that, unless you want to sell your Boeing 747, you’re out of the bidding. This is ONE OF THE FINEST 2005 BURGUNDIES WE’VE TASTING, particularly if you like concentration. Like most of its 2005 classmates, it has deep color and mouth coating flavors. It certainly doesn’t mug you with acid or tannin. We drank it on Christmas Eve and were most content. The future should be even more rapturous. If you find this a bit pricey, check-out the following wine. It is made by Alain Burguet too and is a good quarter the cost. 2006 Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Le Jardin de Charlotte, $14.99: This is a new project of Becky Wasserman, cited above, with Alain Burguet as the enologist. She buys the grapes that Burguet selects and vinifies. Sources change according to the vintage, quality and price. Here the wine is silken and fairly light bodied. It is nowhere as powerful as the preceding Gevrey. But this is smashing party quaff. It’s utterly amazing that you can purchase a Burgundy Pinot Noir at this price. 2005 La Bastide Saint Vincent Gigondas, $25.99: Honestly, we had never heard of this Gigondas maker before tasting this wine. My gosh, it’s one of the finest Gigondas we have tasted, even in the Gigondas village beneath the “Dentelles de Montmirail,” rock outcroppings which somewhat resemble our Garden of the Gods. The maker is still a mystery to us. What makes the wine great is its subtlety and equilibrium. There is also some serious red fruit and “garrigue” in here. FYI, Gigondas is largely made from Grenache which can make up 80 percent of the blend. Syrah and Mourvedre must make up 15 percent of the composition. This acutely balanced Gigondas could improve for another five years. If you ever visit this intoxicating area, stay in the family run Hotel Les Florets. It’s a well aged lodge/restaurant with squeaky floors and sway-back beds. It has a winery too that is pretty good and supplies the vinous libations for the restaurant. The phone number 04 90 65 85 01 within France. 2004 Barbaresco, Produttori del Barbaresco. $34.99: From, perhaps, the most serious wine cooperative in the world. Sixty growers make up the coop. They toil in some of the most premium vineyards in Barbaresco. In the best vintages they produce nine crus (single vineyard barbarescos)—Asili, Rabaja, Pora, Montestefano, Ovello, Paje, Montefico, Mocagatta and Rio Sordo. This wine is a blend of different vineyards. Coming from the superb 2004 vintage, it is a superb example of what the Nebbiolo grape can give. Here there are bushels of cherry on the nose. The acid and tannins are balanced. The wine is lean, yet muscular. At its price it is a stellar value. 2004 Cascina delle Rose, Barbera d’Alba, Rio Sordo, Regularly $17.99/Sale $15.99: Another extraordinary wine from the 2004 vintage in the Langhe Hills of Piemonte. It actually comes from one of the vineyards, Rio Sordo, where Produttori del Barbaresco, above, does some of its impressive work. The difference, of course, is that the grape i this wine is Barbera, not Nebbiolo. FYI, Barbera is the most widely planted red grape in Piemonte. But it thrives best in the localities of Alba, Asti and Monferrato. This Barbera is colorful and plush which is important because Barberas can be lean and mean with searing acidity. In general, this gives you red fruits like currents, cherries and raspberries. But you can taste a bit of that Rio Sordo dirt here too. What we’re saying is that this Barbera is more complex than the norm. With European wines ascending in price, this is a tremendous value as well. 2006 Terlano Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige, $17.99/Sale $16.99: They might not be able to speak Italian up here in northern Italy, but the German is “sehr gut” and the wine out of sight. Terlano is one of the finest makers in the autonomous province of Alto Adige. Much of the credit goes to the brilliant cellarmaster, Hartmann Dona. Alto Adige does a lot of good work with the whites, particularly varietals you see often in Alsace. They are normally a bit less unctuous than the Alsatians particularly with Gewurztraminer. This Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc) is a masterwork of style and grace. There are stone fruit aromas that take you into a smooth mouthfeel with a bit of Dolomite rock under it all. And, believe it or not, this stuff will age some. We’ve had some ten-year-olds that have been dynamite. But we have no self-control and would rather drink this with some “speck”, “bresaola” or “gnocchi Tirolese” on the ski “pistas” around Bolzano, watching the Italian “bellas” glide by. 2005 Flor de Pingus, Ribera del Duero, $69.99: You must wonder what a northern European, like Peter Sissek is doing making wine in dusty, central Spain, but he does it right. Since 1995 he has been making some of the most highly regarded wines in the Ribera del Duero wine zone of northerly Spain, east of Valladolid. This is the zone where some of Spain’s most sought after wines, such as Vega Sicilia and Pesquera, come from. This release is dark in color with a ripe fruit nose of the Tempranillo grape and detectable toast from the small American oak barrels in which it has been aged. In every aspect it is full and delicious. It’s rather hard to get, so snap on it now. We could only get six bottles. For what it’s worth, Parker scored this 96. 2003 Pedroncelli Merlot, Dry Creek, Bench Vineyard, Regularly $11.99/Sale $9.99: It’s a wine like this that transform us into Merlot adherents. It’s certainly not the mindless, fruity libation the grape all too often gives birth to. On the contrary, there is depth, dirt, even some tobacco here. Most impressive. This wine can battle the Spaniards as one of the best red wine values in Coaltrain. 2006 Shannnon Ridge Wrangler Red, Lake County, Regularly $17.99/Sale $16.99: Wow, a new buffo blend from California’s ever ascending Lake County wine zone. Sixty percent of the wine is Cabernet Sauvignon. The rest is an international teaming of Syrah, Tempranillo, Mourvedre and Zinfandel, of all things. These parts add up to a soft, totally seductive red for near-term gratification. But, we must caution, that it is not boring drinking at all. 2004 Dry Creek Mariner, Dry Creek, Regularly $39.99/Sale $37.99: We’ve known Dave Stare, the owner of Dry Creek Winery, for too many years to admit. As you might suppose, he loves to sail, since the wine is called “Mariner.” We’ve drunk a lot of his white wines over the years and enjoyed them immensely. The wine here is most likely our favorite red that Dave has made during his long, esteemed career. It’s largely a matter of balance and complexity that makes us say that. Also the wine has that ineffable enchantment factor going for it. It is mainly composed of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot lightly in the blend. 2006 Dry Creek Chenin Blanc, Dry Creek, $9.99: Here Dave Stare gives us one of his old faithfuls. Year in and year out, his Chenin Blancs have been the “gold standard” for this white varietal. What we appreciate is that he makes Chenin Blanc in a dry style with a lemony nose and crisp flavors. In the flavor profile, there is the lemon and pear. This is just the ticket for Asian cuisine or a Dover sole. Or by itself, watching dryads frolic on your lawn. 2006 Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon $26.99: Here, the renowned Burgundy wine house of Drouhin has released a New World Chardonnay in the mold of France’s white Burgundies. That means the wine has some minerality, citris and flint. Not the “jelly belly” kind of hot climate Chardonnay we all abhor. This wine demonstrates what high quality Oregon can achieve with white wines, not only with their ravishing Pinot Noirs. 2006 Pierre Olivier Bourgogne Blanc, Regularly $12.99/Sale $10.99: Pierre Olivier is a “negociant” working out of the village of Nuits Saint Georges in the north of Burgundy. Monsieur Olivier must not have heard of the infelicitous US dollar/Euro exchange rate because he can give us good, honest wine at insanely low prices. The wine has a lively, lemon-colored robe. There are “delicious apple” and honeysuckle aromas. Good, not zinging, acidity on the palate. This would be a dandy, little Chardonnay if it were twice the price. The world is not looking so costly after all. 2006 Bell Bird Merlot, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, Regularly $11.99/Sale $9.99: We all have the tendency to view New Zealand as totally a white wine country (particularly Sauvignon Blanc), other than some Pinots from Central Otago. Not true. All colors and many types of wines are made in this vibrant, island nation. To demonstrate this notion, we offer a Merlot from the Hawkes Bay zone of New Zealand’s north island. It’s not overly fruity and, also, not too lean. It’s friendly and charming…like all the “Kiwis” we know. 2004 Kilkanoon Prodigal Grenache, Claire Valley, Australia, Regularly $24.99/Sale $17.99: You look at all the great Chateauneuf-du-Papes that have recently come from France and you think, “This can spar with many of those at a third of the price.” Though 13 different grapes are allowed in Chateauneuf, it is generally a Grenache based wine.This wine is bold with red fruits, currants, spice and that beloved Claire Valley dirt. The WINE ADVOCATE scored it 92 points. 2003 Rolf Binder Hales Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Regularly $19.99/ Sale $14.99: While above we have the analogue of a southern Rhone red from “Down Under,” here we have a northern Rhone analogue. It’s Syrah, baby, the grape the Greeks sailed up the Rhone River around 400 B.C. and left on the riverbanks between Ampuis and Tain. This bottling gives a hint of the bacon fat and spice of a Rhone Cote Rotie in an Aussie package, meaning outgoing, not timid. Passionate drinking. White Wine of the Month2006 Tormaresca Chardonnay, Regularly $10.99/Sale $9.99: Who would have ever guessed that Puglia, the heal of the boot of Italy, with all its hot, semi-African climate, could produce a Chardonnay with extreme grace? Almost like something out of Burgundy. We were taken aback when the importer brought us a bottle of this to try. Wow, there is even some minerality here that is normally associated with cool climes and limestone soils. So how did these guys to it. Well, it’s a relatively new operation, started in 1998, owned by the Antinoris of Tuscan renown. The vineyard, Bocca di Lupo, is 820 feet above sea level. This provides sunny days and cool nights. In such a clime, the grapes can mature at a normal pace. After harvest, the winemaking techniques come in. The grapes are gently pressed and fermented in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature of 55 degrees F. The finished wine sees three months of oak and is then put back into steel for fining, and shortly thereafter bottled. Golly, let’s forget the winemaking tedium. The question is, what does it taste like? Well, it’s a light, green/gold colored wine with green apple notes in the nose and on the palate. It’s a tender wine, but with sassy acidity. Try it with sushi or grilled seafood. Or drink it alone, all day long. Red Wine of the Month2006 Don Miguel Gascon Malbec, Regularly $12.99/Sale $11.99: This winery, Bodega Escorihuela, is home to one of the most famous restaurants in Argentina, 1884 Francis Mallman. It serves what one might call “haute Argentine cuisine.” So the emphasis is on grilled meats. As everyone knows, Malbec is the prodigy (not prodigal) of Argentine red wines. The most serious Malbecs come from a few serious makers in the region of Cahors, France, but the Argentines in this high, dry plateau around the tree-shaded town of Mendoza, have figured out how to grow Malbec with thicker skins to conserve the grapes juicy flavors and provide intense colors too. A lot of this has to do with vineyard site selection and irrigation procedures (you gotta irrigate in this arid place). So much of the credit for the loveliness of this particular wine should go to the Gascon’s vineyard manager, Alejandro Sejanovich. So what does this wine have that we are so impressed by? Purple color, no big surprise. It’s the nose that first makes one pay attention. There are essences of black fruits, spice and tobacco. Yow! On the tongue there is again the dominate black fruit notes with a little chocolate. There is even a speck of soil, something almost unheard of in lesser Malbecs. Wispy tannins signal short term drinking. What to drink it with? It probably lacks the force for an Argentine cut of beef (overcooked as these Borgesian people relish). I might try it with duck or veal. For Dessert1994 Dow’s Vintage Port, $94.99/ Sale $79.99: This wine takes us back to the banks of the Douro River in Porto. We love the sateen mouthfeel, dried fruits, cherries, chocolate and maybe nuts. Maybe were nuts, but when we drink this we envision sitting in a bar, on the Ribera of Porto, peering across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, where the Port lodges stand, aging this noble nectar within. Their signs are illuminated at night…Dow’s, Grahams, Taylor Fladgate, Warre’s, etc. All the holies of Port. Well, this lovely wine is probably as close as we will get back to Portugal. The wine is just that kind of experience. Scored 97 buy the WINE SPECTATOR and its supreme wine critic, James Suckling. Alpine White2006 Vin de Savoie, Abymes, F. Giachino. $13.99: In the Savoie, near Mont Blanc, purity is revered above all else. And this offers some of the purest flavors we’ve recently tasted in a white wine. It is made from a grape called “Jacquere.” We’ve never seen it grown out of the Savoie region. The wine is light and aromatic, without an atom of residual sugar. In the mouth, it has the flavors of licking a glacial rock, along an Alpine stream. This wine would shine with the finest, most delicate cuisine, like an “Omble chevalier du Lac, ecorce d’epicea” (a small lake fish baked in pine bark). At least that’s what Marc Veyrat pairs with it in his “super-extra resto” on Lac d’Annecy. By the way, the Abymes part of the wine’s name refers to the village whence the wine comes. Another Vin de Savoie, with village designation, you often see is Apremont. It’s mighty nice too, and we have some of it as well. Rhone Renegade,
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COALTRAIN
Wine & Spirits
330 W. Uintah
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
719-475-9700