Wines from Places You Didn't Know Made Wine: The Report

Very well attended and it appeared that fun was had by all.

In speaking to many guests, I was struck by the wide variety of opinions on the wines. The same wine that several people disliked intensely won raves a table over -- and for the same reasons, sometimes ("It was too tannic" vs. "I loved all that tannin")! Most times, there's one wine of the four that everybody loves and one that many were less enthusiastic about. Not this time.

My tasting notes (in the order they were served):

Ziahtina Katumar White 2003 (Croatia) Made by the Katumar family on the island of Krk (Croatians hate vowels) in the northern Adriatic, this one puts the lie to the thought that most Balkan wines are crude and obvious. An elegant, gutsy white with a zingy, almost sherryesque finish. In some ways like a citrusy (dry) white Bordeaux with a lot more zip. Scents of ripe peaches and plums. Yum. I suspect the age on the wine helped boost the flavor and lusciousness factor. A wonderful summery white that could even go with your fancier seafood preparations or Mediterranean-style poultry. Also a delight by itself. To me, the best wine at the tasting. Available at Astor Wines in New York for $12. ***1/2 (with hummus at the Pen and Pencil Club, Philadelphia, 4/2007)

Tannat Monte de Luz 2005 (Uruguay). This wine drew the most strong feelings. Several patrons raved and raved and raved while one veteran taster called it the worst wine I'd ever served at a P&P event. Tannat will do that. It makes thick, black, intense wines that need careful elevage and care to be palatable. The wines of Madiran in Southwest France are the true glory of Tannat, but Uruguay has fallen for Tannat with a Gallic passion. There are, however, better expressions of Tannat in Uruguay than this one; a massive, fruity and somewhat obvious wine. Loads of finish, if a little crude, after a powerful, blocky time on the tongue. Tannat can be spicy in Madiran; this was less spicy and more brutish. Age would have helped, I think. At the price ($7 at Astor) a fair value with grilled meats, sausages and other such hearty fare. Not bad, not great. ** (with Moliterno {Sardinian sheep cheese] at the Pen and Pencil Club, Philadelphia, 4/2007)

Yakut Kavakliere Dry 2005 (Turkey) Making wine in a Muslim country, even such a secular one such as Turkey, cannot be easy. but the Kavakliere winery has been in operation since 1929 near Ankara. This wine shows why they've lasted that long. It blends indigenous Anatolian grapes (Okuzgozu and Bogazkere) with that stalwart of Languedoc vin de table plonk, Carignan. The Turkish grapes add the spice, Carignan the body for a delightful light-ish red. With a slight chill, a good cocktail-party red, or with crudites, lighter cheeses, the like. A refreshing berry-esque aroma and flavor, not much of a finish, pleasant in the middle. $13 at Astor, maybe a little pricey. Nothing too dramatic or powerful; does there always have to be? **1/2 (At the Pen and Pencil Club, 4/2007)

Cuvee Rouge Musar 2003 (Lebanon) Speaking of hard places to make wine, the Hochar family has been doing so since 1930 in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, better known for bombings and terrorists than Bordeaux-style blends and terroir. Yet Chateau Musar, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Carignan/Cinsault blend, has been considered one of the great red wines of the world. This is the second wine of Musar and it adds Syrah to the unoaked blend. The result is a terrific and gutsy Rhone-style wine blowing away most uninspired Cotes du Rhones and the like. To me like a baby Chateauneuf de Pape with its spice, raciness and depth of flavor. Lighter in color than most Rhones but denser in flavor. Many patrons, however, found it harsh and lacking in charm, and that could be from an excess of Syrah -- I find the same faults in most Australian Cab/Shiraz blends, but did not find them here. This could certainly age 2-3 more years or perhaps more. A solid value at $19 (Astor) that will go well with virtually anything you'd serve red wine with (though a match with a good daube de Provence or grilled lamb in a honey sauce would be sublime). Makes me lust after the real thing, frankly. ***(With Meditterranean chicken and salad at the Pen and Pencil Club, Philadelphia, 4/2007.)

Next P&P tasting: South Africa

The next Pen and Pencil Club wine tasting will be Thursday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. as I present the wines of South Africa, one of the most exciting places in the wine world right now.

Cost is $25 and includes appetizers. (A dinner menu will be available afterwards.) Sign up at the bar or leave a message at the club. Hope to see you there!

More tasting notes

Far and wide here:

Apremont (Vin de Savoie) Pierre Boniface 2005 A much better Liquor Control Board choice than the Vacqueryas below, this $12 bottle delighted all. Light, fresh and floral, a simple treat. Some of it went in the Cuban-style shrimp stew and the rest accompanied it. A gently pleasing wine, with wildflower notes and a trace of something sweeter on the crisp finish, from the little-known Jacquere grape, grown in the foothills of the Alps in Savoie, France, near Geneva. 11.5 percent alcohol seemed just right as did the non-oaky finish. Nothing fancy, probably not worth ageing, but this will be a superb summer wine with salads, fish, or chicken. ***1/2 (With Cuban-style shrimp stew at my sister’s house, St. Davids’, Pa., 4/2007)

Rosso Classic 2005 – It’s a good thing the Coppola family make better movies than they do wines. Sofia’s whites and sparklers are truly appalling, some of the worst swill being made in California now. This red is a Francis Ford production and The Godfather it is not, quality-wise. A blend of (roughly) 45 percent Zinfandel, 30 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 percent Syrah, I found it overwhelming and obvious. Jammy, plumy fruit, almost baked in the way of inferior Port, although fruit-bomb lovers will be pleased. A hot aroma in the glass which does dissipate, given enough time. A soupy mid-palate with some character and even a little nice Zin berry flavor before that’s swamped by a truly noxious finish, in which you can taste the entire oak tree and then the ax used to chop it down – a weird metallic taste left in the mouth. Less alcoholic than it tastes at 13.5 percent. I will freely admit this is not my kind of wine – though I do very much appreciate quality Zins – but I still can’t imagine many being pleased with this even at $11 a bottle. * (With fruit and Brie and crackers at my sister’s house, St. Davids’, Pa., 4/2007)

Cahors Georges Vigouroux 2004 – Those who buy wine based on pretty labels would never choose this Cahors. M. Vigouroux uses his label to print a manifesto, which my French basically translates as “this is our wine, young, fresh, and, we hope, tasty.” (gouleyant). And it is. Dark and rich, almost black, the Malvec grape makes a tough, dense wine here. Cahors isn’t a complicated wine, and this is not: a pleasing aroma; fruit, then a tannic, gripping finish. Not too good with any sophisticated food, but certainly a food wine. Might benefit from 2-4 years in the cellar, but it’s ready now. I enjoy Cahors immensely as a bistro red, but like all French wines its price is creeping up. I found this at $30 on a Brooklyn wine list, and it’s fine at that price or maybe $5-$8 more, but this should not be an expensive wine; it doesn’t have the complexity and charm to hit the wallet that hard. But as a basic red with simple food, an absolute treat. *** (With hanger steak in a roasted shallot sauce, Moutarde, Park Slope, Brooklyn, 11/2006)

Rully J.M. Boillot Premier Cru, "La Pucelle," 2004 – I never quite know what to do when handed a wine list in a restaurant with friends and told to the pick the wine, especially when they are treating, and even more especially when they are having much more elegant food than me. Such was the case in an utterly delightful old-line Brussels establishment with my friends Jim Neuger and Renee Cordes on my trip in February. They had sole; I was having Flemish shrimp croquettes. Hmmm. Jim has a terrific cellar, almost all French, so his taste is in line with mine, and surely their sole could match a top-shelf white Burgundy. But that wine would be wasted on my humbler choice and I didn’t want to break the bank though some village Meursaults and Chassagnes were available at (for this place) quasi-reasonable prices. But … a Maconnais white, fine with my meal, would not be elegant enough for the sole. So … Cote Chalonnaise to the rescue. I am not especially enthusiastic about reds from the Cote, which lies between the Cote d’Or and the Maconnais, but the whites I find trustworthy and good food wines, and this was a popular choice here – fruity but not obvious, zesty and lemony with structure and real body despite a somewhat vapid finish. Improved in the glass and had a hint of that deeply satisfying richness of fine white Burgundy after opening up. Overpriced on an absolute scale at 44 euros, but reasonable in the context of this elegant Old World restaurant with wonderfully old-fashioned Continental service. (If you go, ask for Giovanni.) I especially liked Charles, the oh-so-French 60-ish maitre d’, who always had a glass of wine in his hand on his elegantly courteous errands. Salud! *** (At Aux Armes de Bruxelles, Brussels, 2/2007)

How to learn about wine

I endorse this approach completely: the way to learn about wine is to pull corks (and twist screwcaps).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/dining/11pour.html

And the gentleman at Chambers Wine picked a heck of a list.

I think I will post my version of a Case to Learn with this week. A great idea!

Tasting notes: part I

This is going to be a work in progress as I have been taking tasting notes since January with the idea of posting them here. Doing them all at once would eat up huge amounts of time, so they will appear in bits and pieces here.

I will shamelessly rip off Michael Broadbent's 5-star rating system -- 0 is white zinfandel, 5 is Latour 1982 -- but with a catch. For many years the capsule movie reviews in The New York Times' TV listings would refer to a horror movie or Western -- genre films with lower ambitions than a Kurosawa film, in other words -- in praiseworthy tones followed by the words "good of its kind". So, while the 0-5 stars does generally reflect overall quality, it should noted that I may well give a Chenas or Muscadet or the like a high rating, which does not mean it is "as good as" Lafite Rothschild or Dom Perignon, but that it is "good of its kind". The commentary will make things clear, I would suspect. Stars in () mean what an age-worthy wine might wind up being.

So here we go:

Vacqueyras Domaine Mas Du Bouquet 2004: Best part about this bottle was the bottle, a nicely embossed "Vacqueyras" crest above the label and a silver sticker indicating a prize won at the 2005 Concours des Grands Vins de France in Macon. Must have been a small field at that contest. I should have known better with this one, featured in the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board store in Doylestown, Pa., at $13 with a glowing writeup. But every so often the LCB stumbles into a quality bargain so, thought I, why not, as I generally like the peppery, vivacious and gutsy wines of this AOC and its neighbor Gigondas. Why? would be the better question. This one is a real dog, easily the lamest wine from Vacqueyras I have ever had: thin, bitter, unpleasantly sharp, little aroma, and next to finish. Far too hot and heavy (14.5 percent alcohol), swamping the fruit, if any there was. Absolutely unpleasant. And not improved by air -- in my glass for 90 minutes, tasted flat and lifeless and I poured 1/3 of it down the drain. Avoid! (With anise-flavored short ribs at my mother's house, Avalon, N.J., 4/2007) 1/2*

Pouilly-Fuisse Rijckaert 2005: Under a screwcap, unquestionably the first Burgundian AOC wine I have ever seen so handled. As part of this was used for cooking, it was convenient, and who ages Maconnais whites anyway (though if you were, Pouilly-Fuisse might be the one you would)? Refreshing and pleasant, no oak in sight (or smell), with pineappley and grapefruit flavors amid the general Maconnais crispness. More aroma as it warmed, sleek and light on the tongue, a hint of peach on the finish. Perfect match for my chicken in a lemon-leek sauce. A touch pricey at $18, but: 1) that is an Avalon (i.e., Jersey Shore) price and is probably $2-3 more than it would be in New York and 2) Pouilly-Fuisse is no longer a bargain wine: the LCB gets $33 (!) for one bottle of it and it's not common under $20 anywhere. If the liquor store in Avalon keeps carrying it, this one will reappear in these notes over the summer (With chicken in a lemon-leek sauce at my mother's house, Avalon, N.J., 4/2007) ***

Champagne Pol Roger NV: Look, when I walk into a restaurant in New York (TriBeCa, would you believe) and see this -- my all-time favorite bubbly, to my mind the best, most consistent non-vintage made and a classic among classic -- on the wine list at $40 I am getting it, and I don't care what I am eating. Having had two enormous martinis before this late dinner -- we sat down at 1:25 a.m. -- may have made my impulse buy more likely but I suspect I'd have gotten it under any circumstances. Oddly, it had very little mousse at all and distinctly few bubbles, and we were concerned the bottle was off. But no: most of the Pol lushness and all of the classiness was still there, that yeasty, bready zing to go with structure and citrus and then that crisp finale that says Pol Roger, though, true, with a hint of bitterness. Sure, I'd have liked more bubbles, but the wine was fine. We hypothesized that the bottle was an older one that had been around (well-stored) for a while, which might explain the bubbly's lack of, well, bubbles. And it coped well with my seafood meal. At this price, a grand steal; this restaurant's wine policy prices bottles at just a few dollars more than they'd cost in a store and should be imitated around the U.S. Maybe not the best Pol I have ever had, but no regrets. (With grilled octopus and mussels in pesto at Landmarc, TriBecCa, New York, 3/2007) ****

More to come !

Remember April 19!

Our next Pen & Pencil Club wine tasting: Wines from places you didn't know made wines! $25 for four wines and appetizers. Details...

Wine in Paris: We have a red 1934, we have a white 1934 ...

The title is a line uttered by the brilliant Graham Stark in a hilarious turn as a supercilious French waiter in Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, one of my all-time favorite films (how Robert Preston did not win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his star turn as an aging, gay cabaret performer I will never know; if you haven't seen the movie, do so now!).

Stark's line comes in response to Julie Andrews' asking for a wine list. And even today in most Paris bistros and less-formal places, his response is not all that far off.

The carte des vins at the kind of places I eat at in Paris lists things like "Beaujolais"; "St. Veran"; "Bordeaux"; "Chiroubles"; "Muscadet" and the like. Vintage? Who cares? Producer? Get serious. Stupid comments that adorn many U.S. wine lists about wine (such as this)? Thankfully, none.

Once in a while the better wines might get a vintage; at one bistro on my February visit I had an enjoyable St. Estephe that Le Patron had deigned to tell his patrons was a 2004.

But generally, no. I should say that: 1) most wine ordered by the bottle will have such info available to you before you order and 2) this obviously does not apply in high-end places with legendary lists.

At first this can be disconcerting, to look at 20 wines available and no vintages given or producers or anything. Just "Chenas". Well, what, who, when? As someone who knows the French vintages and wants to avoid duds such as 2003 Rhones (flabbier than a trailer park after Thanksgiving) the lack of info can be frustrating.

But ... if you're trusting Le Patron to feed you, and you know they take pride in their food, why would you worry that their wines are not up to standard as well? If their steak au poivre is good, why would they serve Le Plonk with it? They're telling you, after all, what they think you need to know: the French AOCs are more than just grape types, they reflect terroir, styles and regional personality.

And many bistro wines are the latest vintage, that simple. Or they're Le Patron's choice of available vintages -- again, do you trust them or not? Given their pricing (low) and their willingness to serve you as little as 7cl of the wine at once (ie, if you're not sure, try some), I trust them. And often that trust is rewarded by a cuvee made just for the bistros (as the Beaujolais crus are at Le Duc de Richelieu near the Gare de Lyon, a subject of a future post of its own) which can be amazing values and special treats.

Given that these wines are almost all AOC -- and they are careful to point out the Vin du Pays on the lists -- you know there IS vintage, that's it's not some non-vintage horror. And these are not Chambertins and Pauillacs where producer and vintage are critical -- they are wines meant to be consumed fresh and young.

So don't be put off by the simple listings. Explore and enjoy!