Category — Wine

Picture of Lytton Springs Vineyard

This was an evening when we had a small dinner party — just one couple — of people who really pay attention to wine, and I wanted to pull out some of my best.  The first two wines, a Pomerol (Chateau de Sales, 2003) and Demoiselle de Sociando Mallet (2000) seemed to create a slight sense of disappointment in the two women in the group.  Knowing that my wife prefers a good Californian Zin over anything Bordeaux has to offer, I decided to pull from the cellar a bottle of the Ridge Lytton Springs (80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Syrah).

What a good idea this was!  Everybody at the table absolutely loved this wine.  This (2000) was a year in which yields were especially low, but these low yields did not prevent the grapes from being fully ripened by the middle of September.  A lot of care was put into making sure that the wine was not over-oaked.

We worried that we were about to drink a wine towards the end of its life span, but it was simply perfect.  The deep berry tastes (raspberry, blueberry, and possibly some plums) showed through with just a little hint of sweetness.  The tannins were soft and pleasant with no harshness whatsoever.  While this wine is very distinctly Californian, the wine make seems to deftly avoid the kinds of faults that are sometimes associated with California particularly as it was neither over-oaked nor over-alcoholic.

I just love this wine, and it was even better than the first time I had this wine.  Click here to see my earlier comments on the Ridge Lytton Springs 2000.

Domaine de la Présidente Côtes du Rhône Grands Classiques, 2008

A delicious red Côtes du Rhône.   The grape composition is 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Cinsault, and 10% Carignan.  The average age of the vines is 25 years.  This wine is from a private vineyard in the  the Southern Rhone valley in the small village of Sainte Cécile les Vignes, near Avignon

In the glass, it shows with sparkling ruby color.  Wonderful aromas in the glass with the fruit bursting upwards — cherries, strawberries with nice concentration.  Very pleasant finish with soft tannins and vanilla flavors.

Not a special occasion wine, but a useful wine for easy drinking at around $10.00 a bottle.

This Champagne was a gift, and it was wonderful.  As I poked around the Internet, I noticed that more than one person suggested that this was the finest Dom Pérignon ever made.

Everyone in the party loved it!  One of my friends has tended to go for slightly sweeter Champagnes, and this certainly did not have the aggressive acidity that one often associates with lesser bone dry Champagnes.   He absolutely loved it.

The initial taste definitely had that doughy, bready smell and taste. It had nice citrus flavors with notes of nuts — almonds and hazel nuts.  The balance between complex fruit and acidity was perfect.

The bubbles made their way up the glass in a seemingly never-ending stream of fine mousse.  This is the kind of Champagne that red wine drinkers like — full bodied.  This wine is made with approximately equal proportions of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  (Pinot Meunier, the other legal grape in Champagne was not used.)

Cos d'Estournel 1989

I think I sometimes need to remind myself that wines are really not supposed to be collected.  They are meant to be drunk.

So it was with great happiness that I decided to celebrate a friend’s birthday by opening a bottle of the 1989 Cos d’Estournel, indisputably one of the best châteaux in Bordeaux.

Château Cos d’Estournel is often called a “super second.”  This refers to the classification of Bordeaux wines in 1855, which organized the wines of Bordeaux in terms of perceived quality mostly based on the prices they were fetching at the time.  The top wines were classed as first, second, third, fourth and fifth growths.   Four wines made it to the top as first growth or premiers crus and fifteen had the distinction of being second growths.   This classification has barely changed since that time.  The important change was the “promotion” of Château Mouton Rothschild from a second to a first growth in 1973, which, incidentally, was a dreadful wine for Bordeaux in general and Mouton in particular.

A “super second” is an unofficial term used to identify the top second growths.  Wines such as  Léoville-Barton and Cos d’Estournel (among others) that exhibit pretty much the quality of the first growths are considered to be super seconds.  Cos d’Estournel comes from the commune called Saint-Estèphe, one of six communal appellations in the Médoc.  Wines from Saint-Estèphe are reputed to be a little more tannic than other Médoc wines initially.  People often think of them as a little difficult and unapproachable when young, but careful aging rewards you with intensely flavored, elegant wines.  My bottle had been carefully stored since its infancy in a wine refrigerator.

Not only were we drinking wine from a very distinguished maker in a great area, but 1989 was considered a very good year in this part of Bordeaux.  Grapes were picked early and the wine was put into new oak barrels and blended as 68% Cabernet Sauvignonn, 30% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc.  Most critics rated the 1989 Cos d’Estournel very highly although Robert Parker, tasting it in 2005, called it “very good but uninspiring” with a rating of only 88, and a suggestion that it should be drunk now.  I will never forget the very pretentious description of this wine in the Wine Spectator, which gave this wine 95 points:

A designer wine that wears its oak like an Armani suit. Shows an impressive concentration of spice, berry and vanilla aromas and flavors and an excellent tannin structure. (Wine Spectator, 3/15/92)

I bet the writer of that line (James Suckling?) cringes with embarrassment whenever he sees this description quoted!

I found that the tannins had definitely softened and it seemed to be a wonderfully balanced wine exhibiting fresh ripe black fruit and some spicy vanilla on the nose.  It had a mineral (lead pencil?) taste that often characterizes Bordeaux wines that are made predominantly with Cabernet Sauvignon.  One of our group found it pleasant, but not outstanding  — perhaps a little one dimensional.  He contrasted it with the 2000 Sociando Mallet that he had drunk the week before, and pronounced the Sociando Mallet a much more enjoyable wine.

The color of the wine was still bright and ruby with barely a hint of browning although we all agreed that possibly this wine, although known for its long aging potential, was possibly past its peak.

So what was wrong?  Well nothing really!  This is simply a wine that promised to be remembered for ever — and it was just another good wine.

In summary, this was a bit of a disappointing wine.  There is no doubt that it was very good, but my expectations were extremely high as I considered this to be one of the jewels in my collection.

One of the most admired wines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape is Château Beaucastel.  I have one bottle in my cellar, but at around $100 a bottle (a present from my beloved wife!), it is quite expensive.  Coudoulet de Beaucastel is often known as a baby Beaucastel, and at only $32, it is a good way to get some insight into the kind of wine Beaucastel makes.  2007 was also an exceptional year in the southern Rhône, and this made it seem like a pretty good idea to buy a bottle.

Although Beaucastel is classified as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Coudoulet is grown on 30 hectares of land outside the area to the east just on the other side of the A7 autoroute. For this reason, Coudoulet is classified as a Côtes du Rhône, which is usually cheap, cheerful, often delicious, and consumed soon after bottling.  But Coudoulet is the kind of wine that is appealing to the serious wine lover — more like a Châteauneuf-du-Pape than a typical Côtes du Rhône.

The grape varieties that go into this wine include Grenache (30%), Mourvedre (30%), Syrah (20%), and Cinsault (20%).  The high proportion of Mourvedre makes the wine more tannic and provides aromas of leather and tobacco that are characteristic in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  Mourvedre also makes the wine resistant to oxidization giving it aging potential.  Each varietal is vinified separately and reunited and matured in large wooden barrels.  Before bottling, the wine is fined with egg whites.

The philosophy of Beaucastel is to make wine as organically as possible minimizing the use of chemicals and pesticides.  The following extract is copied from their website.

We try to place the vine in its environment, that is to say in its relationship to the earth, to animal life and the stars, by which it is influenced

If a wild strawberry has more flavour than one grown in a hothouse it is because the former, even if smaller and less attractive visually, has grown in a natural environment. It has quintessential aromas, whilst the second, produced in a man-made environment, has its flavours diluted to favour its appearance.

The same goes for grapes. To make a wine of character, grapes must have flavours. All our decisions follow this logic of harvesting healthy, balanced grapes, intrinsically capable of producing a wine of great quality.

This is why, for example, we do not use chemical fertilisers, preferring a compost made on the property from a mixture of sheep’s manure and the previous year’s grape pressings (marc) which, once mixed into the soil, maintains its humus content and microbiological equilibrium.

Preventive treatments are reduced to a minimum; the natural nutrients in the soil improving the physiology of the plant and its natural resistance to disease. These conditions, which are desirable and which we try to obtain, enable us to avoid an escalation in chemical treatments. These are intended to destroy various parasites, but in fact produce a biological imbalance, engendering other parasites.

Through these organic methods, many natural diseases have been eradicated in the vineyard and we have now a strong population of birds, cicadas and lady-birds at Beaucastel.

Although we drank this wine young, it was simply delicious and you could identify the role of each of the varietals.  Mourvedre gave the whole wine a sense of structure and balance.  The wine has a big fruit feel with overtones of spicy pepper that probably comes off the Grenache.  The Syrah and Cinsault provide deep red berry fruit, more tannin, and generally add to the complexity of this wine.

Robert Parker liked this wine very much indeed  and gave it a score of 92.  I second that very high recommendation, but I am about as inclined to give numeric scores to wine as I might to my friends!

Quite simple!

These are the producers that have been reviewed on this blog.  I put up the link so that readers can easily find out more about these producers.

I put in the link whether I like the wine or not, and I am still playing catch up.

Chateau de Nages, Reserve Rose 2009

A delicious and refreshing Southern Rhone rose made from Grenache (70%) and Syrah (30%).  This wine is beautifully, fresh, dry with a lovely almost floral bouquet.  The taste is of light berry fruit with just a hint of peppery spiciness — probably from the Grenache.  Drink it cold and drink it now!

This wine is made by Michel Gassier, a fourth generation maker of wines in the area.  He puts the “family rock” on his web site:

We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.  We are but a link in a chain, receiving and then transmitting, following the path of generations past. Solidarity, trust, commitment, and love nurture the human spirit to tackle even the most ambitious projects.

Michel Gassier minimizes the use of disease control to accentuate the terroir.

A marvelous summer wine that was a perfect complement to roast pork.

For Baltimore/Washington readers, I bought this wine at Corridor Wines in Laurel for about $10.00, but I got a case discount.  Highly recommended.  I am going to seek out other wines from this very interesting producer.

Vino

905 South Ann Street

Fells Point

Baltimore, MD 21231

410 342 8466

www.v-nowinebar.com
Click here for a Google map

After doing a day’s work in Fells Point, I decided to have a little walk before driving home, which I found absolutely lovely.  This area is known all over the world to followers of the television series, Homicide, and it is delightful to walk around.  It is less full of tourists than the main part of the inner harbor, but you still get lovely views of the water, the boats, and ships.

View of Fells Point on March 27, 2010

Although I used to know this area really well from when I used to work here, many of the restaurants have come and gone.  But I was surprised and delighted on my walk to stumble across a wine bar that I never knew existed!  Well, it was Friday evening, and I was in an especially good mood having done an interesting and long day’s work.  So rewarding myself with a glass of wine seemed to be a very good idea.

Inside Vino, a wine bar in Fells Point

Vino is definitely focused on wine, but they do offer things to eat while you are drinking, including pâté ($7.50), which is served with bread, butter, pickles, and bread from the (excellent) Bonaparte bakery, which is conveniently located next door.  Other  offerings include toasted nuts ($5.00), a cheese sampler ($12.50), chicken terrine ($9.00), and a “rustic” plate of meats, cheeses and pâté ($12.50).

Vino has a very friendly corkage policy.  You can either drink wine by the glass, as I did, or you can pay $7.00 above the retail price and pick a bottle off the shelves.

The bottle of Cepa 21, 2006 at Vino's wine bar in Fells Point, Baltimore

There is not an enormous selection of wine, but obviously  a lot of thought has been put into what they do offer.  I picked out Cepa 21 2006, a Ribera del Duero, which is made of 100% Tinto Fino, the term used for Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero ($11.00 for the glass).  What a treat this wine was!  It was dark, bordering on purple in color with a beautiful cherry/blackberry bouquet that also suggested its relatively high alcohol content (15%).  The wine is well structured with firm tannins from the 14 months spent in predominantly French oak that I imagine will soften nicely by about 2012, which might be the optimal year to drink it.  This is a very interesting wine from the area with a modern style and big fruit suggesting a new world rather than an old world wine.

This was such a good wine that I bought a bottle ($25) to take to a party on Saturday night!  I was so pleased to have discovered a very nice new wine bar and an excellent wine that I had never tried before.

Regular readers probably know that I am a fan of Ridge wines.  And I also complain all the time about how you can never find decent American wines in England!

I was gratified to notice how Jancis Robinson’s column in today’s Financial Times talked about both of these issues.  I already think that Ms. Robinson is the best wine writer in the world, but when she reinforces ideas that I have already talked about, I think she simply a genius!

She also talks about how Ridge is different from American wines as they tend to create a more classical wine, avoiding the sweetness, high alcohol, and overwhelming fruit that often characterizes American wine.

Click here to see Jancis Robinson’s excellent article about Ridge wine.

Click here to see a recent post I put up about Ridge Geyservile 2007.

The Stump Jump, Shiraz 2008

The Wine Spectator not only gave this McLaren Vale wine 90 points, but it also made it into the 2009 Top 100 Wines of the Year.

The label describes it as “gently crushed, fermented in open tanks, basket pressed and matured prior to bottling.”

The praise heaped upon this wine is richly deserved.  It has deep tastes of dark berries (blackberry and cherry).  An approachable wine, it displays some sweet fruit, relatively high alcohol (14.5%), and a nice mineral finish.  You may want to use a wine funnel with this wine as several bottles seem to have had lots of sediment.  The bottles have a screw top.  (I approve!)

So good that I bought a case of this wine, and I am off to buy a second one!  At only $10.99 a bottle, it is a terrific bargain.  It is going to be my “house wine” as long as it lasts.  Recommended.  A “must buy” wine if you can get your hands on it.

Readers in Columbia, Maryland can still get it at The Perfect Pour, where it is $10.99 before they have applied their case discount.  (Note that this post is written on March 9, 2009.  I doubt if it will be there for more than a few more weeks.)