Wine Each Week ~ Domaine de Cala 2019 Rosé

In the restaurant world, Master Chef Joachim Splichal is an icon. Splichal runs a restaurant empire, The Patina Group, comprised of 65 restaurants across the US (mainly New York, Florida and California) and even a location in Tokyo. It’s no surprise then that he wanted to make his own wines, and more importantly, make them from where he grew up – Provence. His 2019 rosé, is light in style and approach, and this wine subtly fills the palate with notes of strawberry, plum, rhubarb, with back notes of lime and sandalwood. Comprised of mainly Grenache and Cinsault, there are smaller amounts of Rolle, Syrah, Carignan and Grenache Blanc. The beauty of most wines from this region and certainly de Cala is that they are young, light and fresh wines, not manipulated and forced. This 2019 has the acidity and minerality to work with foods (something Splichal knows a lot about) or is light enough to enjoy on its own.

ORIGIN: Provence, France

ALCOHOL: 12.5%

PRICE: $17.50 /750 ml

SCORE: 90 POINTS 

Domaine de Cala 

Wine Each Week – 2017 Wrath Swan/828 Pinot Noir

Monterey Country excels at Pinot Noir. This fact is indisputable. Exactly what type of Pinot you prefer is another matter. And that’s because there are more clones of Pinot Noir than of any other wine grape variety, and, not surprisingly, most are from France. At present nearly 100 Pinot Noir clones are registered in California. Wrath has chosen wisely. This bottling of half Swan clone and half clone 828, results in bright expressive notes of black cherry, blueberry, boysenberry, with back notes of rose water, pomegranate, cola and Bing cherry compote. It is the Swan that provides the floral component, which is one of the reasons Swan can be so compelling as it is here, offering a richness in the mid palate. They used French oak - 40% of that was new – and the wine was aged for 11 months, then bottle aged another year. Truly an astounding price for a wine of this quality, I highly recommend this. Just 500 cases were produced.

ORIGIN: Monterey, California

ALCOHOL: 14.3%

PRICE: $35/ 750ML

SCORE: 94 POINTS

WRATH

Wine Each Week- 2018 Chateau Tour de Mirambeau, Despagne White

France is known for its many wine regions (specifically Bordeaux and Burgundy) but it has one which is almost unknown just outside of the city of Bordeaux. Entre-deux-Mers is the place for dry white wine. In the 1950s through the 1970s Entre-deux-Mers was pretty much avoided as it was considered cheap bulk wine. That Mirambeau championed the resurgence of the region starting in the 1980s has helped place the region again on the map, this time with much better results. Their Despagne white is a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Semillon and 3% Muscadelle and is all stainless steel fermented, which allows for a crispness. It presents bright grapefruit, lemon verbena, white peach, a slight guava, spring wildflowers as well as a bold acidity, making food pairing easy.

You can visit the winery itself when near Bordeaux, or get a taste of the entire Entre-deux-Mers region if you visit the “Syndicat,” a consortium of growers whose wines are collectively housed in a re-purposed barn from 1512 (original timbers are used throughout the building and is the backdrop for the above photo) that belonged to the Abbey of La Sauve Majeure next door. Here you can sample the exciting dry white wines that Bordeaux should also be known for. Specifically, under French law, wines from Entre-deux-Mers must contain a minimum of two grapes so you’ll find white wines unlike other Bordeaux regions. 4 Euro gets you three wines to taste, or better yet, spend just 8 Euro and that includes access to the very cool ruins of the Abbey.

ORIGIN: Entre-deux-Mers, Bordeaux, France

ALCOHOL: 13.5%

PRICE: $10/ 750ML

SCORE: 90 POINTS

Www.vins-entre-deux-mers.com

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Wine: Drinking Bastille Day

July 14^th, 1789, regular citizens in Paris, France get really pissed off. The French Revolution was already underway, but on this day when the fortress/prison we know as the Bastille was stormed, it became a pivotal moment in France’s history, ushering in a new era of liberty. I’m not French. I only speak a few words of French (very helpful by the way) and I love France as I’ve visited a number of times including multiple trips to Paris, the Champagne region, Dijon, Burgundy and Cognac.

One of the things France does really well is rose’, and to help the French celebrate their liberty, we take the liberty of drinking their wines. Chateau Minuty has long been one of the leading producers of rose’ and two of their wines offer classic Cotes de Provence expressions.

The 2018 Minuty Rose Et Or ($40) is made of Grenache and 10% Tibouren, which offers subtle, soft, rose water, strawberry, guava, distilled lemon-lime, white peach, it’s that typical subdued, reserved wine that allows itself to be a supporting player to the food on your table, and this is where Provence gets it typically right, nearly every time. Whereas California wants to be the Broadway star, Provence is content to share the spotlight.

The 2018 “M” de Minuty Rose ($21) is comprised of 50% Grenache, 40% Cinsault and 10% Syrah and offers a bit more upfront fruit, more pronounced strawberry and lemon-lime, red delicious apple, more reminiscent of a summer fruit sangria, and just as easy to drink. Both wines are meant for food and their bright acidity compliments a wide rage of foods, from seafood and salads to pesto and popcorn.

Locations, Locations, Locations…Wine

Wine is a global affair, yet most wine production facilities/wineries, only make wine from one place – where they are located. Some have a few vineyards in say France and California, or something like that, (Paul Hobbs for example has vineyards in California and Argentina) but few wineries offer wines made by them from places across the globe in a single portfolio. Yes, it’s been done before, but with little success. But Locations Wine is finally getting it right.

Just after the 2010 harvest, Dave Phinney was at the Charles de Gaulle airport, lamenting how existing wine regulations were limiting his ability to make the kind of wine he wanted. He joked about possibilities, imagining what he could do if there were no rules. What if you could blend across French appellations? What if there were no rules. Standing at the airport a taxi pulled curbside and he noticed the very distinctive “F” sticker on the license plate. His mind exploded with thought and possibility. What if he could take this idea and do this not only in France, but also in Italy, Spain, and Portugal? Since great wine is made all over the world, what if you could produce a range of wines across all of the major wine regions of the world paying homage to each country? Enter Locations, with wines from California, France, Portugal, Texas, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Oregon, and Washington. Pretty impressive. I sampled through three of the wines – line priced at $19.99 - the Portuguese being my favorite of the three, though terrific quality with all of them.

The Italian, a blend of Negromaro and Nero d’ Avola offers black berry, brambleberry, pomegranate and cedar, bing cherry.

The Portugal blend of Touriga Nacional, Trincaderia, and Touriga Franca is full of black cherry, black berry, rhubarb, cassis, boysenberry and is earthy and vibrant.

The French Rosé, all Grenache, is strawberry, hibiscus, rose water and violets with a bold acidity, and that mineral/earthy quality that Grenache offers. Locations Wines is a capital idea that lets you travel the Big World of Wine.

Bargain Bordeaux: Légende by Rothschild

Ok, so here’s the point: Not everyone can afford First Growth Bordeaux. Well, even Second Growth is pretty pricy. So for those of us who would like to drink Bordeaux without carving up our savings account, there is a light at the end of the wine tunnel. With all that in mind, may I present the 2014 Légende Bordeaux Rouge. Let me be honest, this is not some stellar wine you’ll embrace by buying dozens of cases, but it is a solid example of a reasonably priced wine that is enjoyable - an “everyday drinker” as we like to call it. Sound good? 60% Cabernet, 40% Merlot, it provides muted black cherry, raspberry, pomegranate, cranberry and sweet cedar notes and combines that with a pretty good acidity to make a wine that is fairly complex and enjoyable to drink. Oh, and it picked up a Silver Medal at the Decanter Wine Awards, if that matters to you. Since it’s part of the Lafite Rothschild group, you already know you’ll be getting a better than average wine, at a better price for a better jolly good time with your meal.  LAFITE

ORIGIN: Bordeaux, France

PRICE:  $17.99, 750/ML

ALCOHOL: 12.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  88 POINTS

Bombs, Bubbles & Benedictines - A Pithy History of Champagne

Champagne has long been considered the beverage of choice for holidays and celebrations, marking special occasions with a sense of prestige. But it wasn't always that way. Wars, disease and exploding bottles have all taken their toll on Champagne’s rocky road to the 21st Century.

The name Champagne is derived from a Latin root word, ‘campania’ meaning 'field,' and in 92 A.D. these fields of vineyards in the Champagne region of France were to be uprooted by order of Emperor Domitian, however many acres were secretly kept and cultivated. The Emperor wasn’t terribly bright, not understanding the potential value of land as land in Champagne today is pricy - between $1 and $1.5 million Euro per hectare, according to Champagne Ayala, whom I visited recently. Of course the Church got involved (somehow they always do) and as their power grew, vineyards were donated to monastic orders. And that is why the Dom is associated with Champagne.

The Vineyards of Ay, Champagne, France

Two monks capitalized on the trend of sparkling wine in the late 1600s. Jean Oudart and Dom Perignon (yes he was a real person) and both began experiments with second fermentations inside the bottle in order to produce a sparkling wine. Dom Perignon is credited with sourcing grapes from a variety of vineyards and blending wines to produce consistency, not with inventing Champagne. But as with all new endeavors, fermenting wine in a bottle had its price. It was known that sugar and yeast needed to be added to produce the second bottle fermentation, however the amounts were never exact and bottles routinely exploded, resulting in an average loss of 30% of inventory, not to mention shards of glass embedded in your skin. But in 1836, a pharmacist determined the exact amount of sugar and yeast needed to produce the necessary carbon dioxide, corresponding to the atmospheric conditions of the bottle and bottle thickness. Finally there was a high degree of reliability of Champagnes. Good and prosperous years lay ahead...sort of.

About 1863 a North American aphid (phylloxera) paid an unexpected visit to the vineyards of France. The little yellow aphid lived on the roots and leaves of vines and slowly, steadily ruined everything. Within 15 years nearly half of France’s vineyards were destroyed. The solution was to graft French vines onto phylloxera-resistant North American rootstock. Needless to say, much of France was appalled at having to accept help from America but it worked. The replanting of vineyards began and Champagne returned to greatness…sort of.

At Champagne Ayala

During World War I vineyards became battlefields, cellars were looted and, with the advent of prohibition in America and the fall of Imperial Russia, the export market hit rough times and the demand for Champagnes halted. Champagne eventually rebounded from the hardship, but then World War II arrived and once again France's countryside was devastated – it was déjà vu all over again.

Riddling at Champagne Bollinger

Today everyone knows the names Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, Dom Perignon, even Korbel and Champagnes retain their regal position. American sparkling wine (not called Champagne as that’s a registered brand name) is also of excellent quality and American houses like Schramsburg, Gloria Ferrer, Domaine Carneros and others compete with France's best. Not to mention Prosecco from Italy, Cava from Spain and sparkly wine from across the globe. So this year, as you toast family and friends, remember the long struggle it took to get those bubbles in your stemware…and be grateful that you don’t have to pick shards of glass out of your skin.

A Quick Cognac Primer – Brandy’s Dandy But Cognac’s Quicker

Cognac is still something of a mystery to most people – maybe even more of a mystery is that June 4^th is National Cognac Day. Really?  Since I’ve been to Cognac, I thought I’d peel away some of the mystery and confusion surrounding Cognac. Yes it is brandy, distilled wine, and like Port and Champagne it is also a region, specifically in the Western part of France located north of Bordeaux and a three-hour train ride south from Paris. Brandy is made in many places across the globe, but anything labeled Cognac must be made in Cognac. As the old saying goes, all Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac.

At the Martell Dsitillery

Like any product controlled by a trade board, Cognac is no different and there are quirky things that all Cognac producers must adhere to like it is "compulsory" to use copper stills, and all distillation must be completed no later than March 31st at midnight. There are about 260 Cognac houses in France - some very small like the mother and son team of Maison Dudognon and newcomers like CognacLecat (started in 2014), to medium sized houses like Frapin and Camus, to the larger and better known brands like Hennessey(251 years old), Martell (301 years old), Courvoisier, and Remy Martin.

Frapin's old blending room

In Cognac there are wine makers and grape growers in the thousands, some who make the wine and sell it; others who distill their wine and sell the eau du vie to the Cognac houses. It is a vast complex web of relationships in a small market and it involves a tremendous amount of people. My visit took me to many producers, each one with their own story and iteration and style of Cognac, which I do not detail here, or the cool history of Cognac, as that is a much longer story. Cognac typically consists of four specific tastes: floral, fruit, spice and wood. Cognac starts as wine, then it is distilled into eau du vie, then distilled a second time, and then aged…for a long time. And it is this understanding of time that gives Cognac its unique expression, and cost.

Pondering my blend at Hennessy

Olivier Paultes is the director of distillation for Hennessy, the largest Cognac producer in the world. I visited with him and blended my own Cognac, which he liked, but I’m certain he was just being kind. “What you look for is perfect harmony, just like in an orchestra, just like when you cook,” he says. Every morning at 11 a.m. he, along with the rest of the tasting committee, tastes through 50 to 80 samples. I am given multiple Cognacs from which to blend - a 1983 (smooth, clean and spicy with a moderate fruit component), a 1990 (spicy wood, butterscotch, caramel), and a 1996 (clove, apricot, apple with more upfront oak). I ponder, mull, overthink, and assemble my own concoction. Oliver calls my blend the “most round.” Another blend he calls "95% spot on," and of someone else's blend he says, "No, it's not horrible it's just strange," in that French accent which really suggests that, in fact it's not strange, it's actually horrible. Fortunately I am not a master distiller. But what a distiller does, be they from a new Cognac house like Lecat or an old standard like Martell, and what Cognac offers apart from most any other wine or spirit in the world, is an amazing concept of continuum – a life over time whereby age is the perfect compliment to the spirit.

The tasting experience at Camus

Olivier sums it up best. “What's exciting for me personally is that we will be preparing the Cognac of tomorrow; what I have just distilled now will age to be tasted in 100 years.” And that, in part, is why Cognac is worthy of your attention; it is often created for a generation not yet born, an experience far into the future, and a connection with the past that has a sense of pride and patience. VISIT COGNAC

Pop Star Fromage

Cheese and wine have always had a long, sensuous love affair, and I love seeing both of them together like some kind of dirty porn film.

It seems like everybody wants to pair wine and cheese and whereas I'm not opposed to that idea my philosophy is that people eat and drink what they like and don't worry about it. But recently I had the chance to have a Santa Barbara Rhône wine, Seth Kunin’s very able 2013 Pape Star (a blend of Mourvèdre with additions of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault) and Fromager d’Affinois Brebicet, a double cream sheep’s milk cheese from France. Yes, they work beautifully together, a culinary dance of sublime beauty and damn good texture. Seth’s Pape Star honors the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region and has bright blackberry, black cherry fruit, hints of vanilla and cedar and a mild acidity, actually deeper berry notes that make this a richer wine. The double cream by contrast not only has an incredible seductive viscosity but also presents a slight blue cheese note with a nutty, buttery, salty bite. The point of food and wine is to try combinations and pairing, not to seek out that elusive “perfect” pairing – since it does not exist - but to play, explore and let your palate be overwhelmed with foods and wines that make sense in that moment. For me, these two nail it. The Brebicet is available at Whole Foods nationwide and Seth Kunin’s underappreciated wines, about 5,000 cases are more limited. Try one, preferably both, but try something new!

FROMAGER d'AFFINOIS

KUNIN WINES

Tasting With: Adventures with Stephan Asseo - L’Aventure, Paso Robles

I’m not French, but I do love visiting France, however I must admit I’m more of a California wine guy. Hell, I lived here all my life and California wines fill my house. Biased? I guess so. But a Frenchman making a kind of cross between French and California wine in Paso Robles means you gotta look into it. Ladies and gents, meet Stephan. You might know of L’Aventure winery in Paso Robles, but since they only make around 7,000 cases of high-end wine, well, you may not. I recently visited Stephan and his daughter Chloe who handles marketing and distribution (she studied fashion in Paris and always seems impeccably dressed), to speak directly with them. (I have written about the wine before for The Tasting Panel Magazine/January 2014 so I was already familiar with the wines, not so much with them). A little note: There are new underground caves and a spanking tasting room in the works.

 

Stephan

“The story of “L’Aventure was not to do Bordeaux in France but to make Bordeaux in California,” Stephan tells me with his thick French accent. “I wanted to find a place with fewer regulations than France.” There are good sides and bad sides to France’s rules he says - the good side is that it preserves the identity of regions. But you have to contend with only the grapes allowed to be planted there under French law. He wanted to plant Syrah, but that could not happen in him homeland, but in Paso? Hell yes. Though trained in France on a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru property, Paso Robles offered Stephan “more creative freedom,” he says. He looked in Napa, Sonoma, and Monterey for property, but nothing spoke to him. “I thought I was very rich, but I was very poor,” he jokes about the land prices that scare off many a vintner. Over the course of a several days he visited dozens of properties in Paso, then came to this spot off a dirt road, a kind of amphitheater with low rolling hills and a serpentine canyon allowing for the necessary maritime impacts to soften the fruit. “The cooling influences of the Pacific Ocean are crucial in Paso, otherwise we would be like Fresno,” Stephan says. Now there’s a thought! There are 40 blocks of grapes around here and this is where Stephan will be. “I’m a grower more than a winemaker,” he admits, therefore the role of sales is better suited to his charming daughter, so chances are he won’t be pouring wine standing idly behind the counter. And being farmer he acquiesces to the seasonal changes annually which reflect the changes in his wines. After all, a plot of earth cannot produce the same exact, identical  fruit year in and year out. You want sameness? Then buy a wine from a mega producer who achieves sameness as a matter of sales. 

Chloe

L’Aventure, and many Paso area wineries strive to educate the public that change is good. “The attack of the wine is always soft, the palate rich and long, and textured like silk,” he tells me. True, and the best part of his wines is the constant touch of acidity which gives his wines body and mouth feel, something lacking in many Paso Robles red wines. And after 17 years there’s a Frenchman in Paso making non-California wine. It is this intrigue which should compel you to visit. “I don’t want to make the wine of my appellation, but specifically I want to make the wine of my place.” And that is, exactly, the essence of L’Aventure.

The Wines:

2013 Estate Rose: Made from Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Petit Verdot, it’s light and clean with soft berry flavors and solid acidity ($25)

~2011 Optimus (sold out) a blend of Syrah, Cab, Petit Verdot, there is a deep, rich dark fruit center with medium tannins and a pleasant long finish ($45)

~2012 Optimus Syrah, Cab and Petit Verdot, this version is less tannic than the former, amore bright cherry fruit and since it had been bottled only two weeks showed much promise ($45)

~2011 Cote a Cote of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache this is a complete wine, a subtle bacon fat surrounding bright, clean blackberry ($85)

~2013 Chloe (in barrel) made from Syrah and Grenache from “cherry picked” fruit and co-fermented – this is a robust, earthy, rich gamy wine with a touch of acidity. “The Syrah brings the elegance, the composition,” says Chloe. ($85)

VISIT:

Tasting fees: $15

Open daily by appointment only. L'AVENTURE

50 Shades of Grey

Carménère. What you might ask? Carménère, the grape, the wine. There’s a cool little bottle available for you to try. Originally from the Medoc region of France, Carménère was always blended into other wines, and, like the classic middle child who craves attention, Carménère needs some time in the spotlight. And ta-da, its time is now here! One wine writer whom I have never heard of referred to Carménère as “the Alec Baldwin of forgotten grapes.” I have no idea what that means, but in some existential way it makes sense. Made by winemaker Felipe Tosso from Vina Ventisquero in Chile (you know, the country in South America?) this happy little number has a boatload of zesty black cherry, rich red and black fruit, spicy pepper, and a slight bitterness, frankly a lot of shades to this wine. Aged for 18 months in French Oak to soften the flavor and give some structure, yes, there is a slight vegetal element waaaaay in the back which normally I abhor (under ripe fruit and all) but weirdly it doesn’t detract from this wine. Carménère has softer tannins than Cabernet, but also a solid acidity which works so much better with food than a lot of heavily manipulated, or redundant Jolly Rancher-fruity Cab. It’s actually closer to Merlot, but with a rustic, edgy quality that makes this version actually fun to drink. Yeah, fun – as in Alec Baldwin fun. So try something new and find this baby. There are quite a few wines under the Grey label, but this is the only one I have tried, and it’s a beauty. It's imported by San Francisco Wine Exchange into the U.S. market.  VINA VENTISQUERO
ORIGIN: Maipo Valley, Chile (Block 5 from the Trinidad Vineyard)

PRICE: $23.99 / 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 13.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  90 POINTS

Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Cab

Cabernet Pfeffer is an obscure grape variety nearly wiped out by the crappy little phylloxera louse in France in the late 1800s but meager plantings of this variety still exist in San Benito County, easy of Monterey County. What now? Cabernet Pfeffer. Come again? Cabernet Pfeffer has something of a dubious history which I won’t go into here; suffice it to say this is a fun wine with noticeable acidity and a wonderful and immediate cracked pepper profile (hence the name since pfeffer means pepper in German) and dark red fruits like black cherry, and raspberry (if raspberries were more serious). It’s that funky weird grape that no one has ever heard of and no one has ever tasted. Juicy, lighter and less tannic than Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Pfeffer is cool simply because it is so unique and it’s always important to try something new. For the price, this kinder, gentler version of Cab Sauv is a solid and well executed example and defiantly worth checking out. There are a few places across the States where winemakers blend it, but Mr. Volk proudly gives us Pfeffer as it should be. www.volkwines.com

$28/750 ml – Alc: 13.82% (no, seriously, that’s what the bottle says)

BOOZEHOUNDZ RATING

4 Bonz – Good Dog!