Bigger Than Your Head » Wine of the Week

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:55:42 +0000

The last vintage of Catherine Le Goeuil’s Cairanne Côtes du Rhône-Villages that I reviewed was the excellent 2007. Now it’s the turn of the 2009, though the current release is 2010. Why am I stuck on the ’09? Because it’s still available in markets around the country and because it’s drinking beautifully right now. If you happen to have a few bottles on hand or run upon it at a retail store, now is the time.

This is not an ancient estate in terms of present ownership. Catherine Le Goeuil bought a few hectares in the commune of Cairanne, in the heart of Vaucluse, in the southern Rhone valley, in 1993. The wines are certified organic and are made from vines that are about 50 years old. Le Goeuil uses indigenous yeasts and puts the grapes through a long fermentation in cement vats. The blend is 51 percent grenache, 35 percent syrah and mourvèdre, 14 percent carignane and counoise, in other words, much like many wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Twenty villages are entitled to attach their names to the basic appellation of Côtes du Rhône, thereby lifted to the theoretically superior designation of Côtes du Rhône-Villages and possessing the potential of further elevation to full AOC status. Villages that have achieved such beatification, as it were, include Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Beaumes de Venise and Vinsobres. Cairanne, generally rated as the best of the 20 villages, surely deserves that honor, more than Vacqueyras did, in my opinion. By the way, beginning with the 2012 vintage, the abbreviated designation AOC will change to AOP, standing for Appellation d’Origine Protégée.

Before the Revolution, Vaucluse was the domain of the de Sade family. Their ruined castle, last inhabited by the Marquis de Sade in 1777, stands in the hills above the village of Lacoste, about 25 miles southeast of Avignon. The castle is owned and was restored by fashion icon Pierre Cardin; it is the site of a celebrated theater festival every summer.

Anyway, the Catherine Le Goeuil Cairanne 2009, Côtes du Rhône-Villages, is a dark ruby-mulberry color. Prominent aromas of spiced, macerated and slightly stewed black currants, black raspberries and blueberries are wreathed with beguiling undertones of rhubarb and pomegranate. The texture is firm and resilient, moderately dense and chewy and layered in pleasing dimension with elements of forest floor and underbrush and slightly dusty tannins enlivened by vibrant acidity and graphite-like mineral qualities. Give this a few minutes in the glass, and it pulls up traces of lavender and violets, fruitcake and plum pudding. Altogether, it adds up to perfect pitch and tone in a savory, highly drinkable package. 14.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2014 or ’15 with grilled sausages, leg of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic, barbecue ribs and the like. Excellent. About $21.

Imported by Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, Ca. Tasted twice with consistent results, a sample and at a trade event.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:50:47 +0000

Chateau des Annibals “Suivez-moi-jeune-homme” 2010, Coteaux Varois en Provence, was one of my favorite rosé wines last year, and it made my list of “25 Great Wine Bargains of 2011.”

Now it’s the turn of Chateau des Annibals “Suivez-moi-jeune-homme” 2011, and though it’s still early in the rosé-drinking season, I know it will once again be among my favorites. The appellation lies in an area of Provence east of Marseilles and north of Toulon, a region of sun-bleached rocky soil, dusty fragrant wild herbs and wind-sheltered pine forests; vineyard cultivation here goes back beyond the stolid Romans, beyond the wily Greeks to the clever and mysterious Phoenicians. The wine, produced on an estate run on bio-dynamic principles (and founded in 1792), is a blend of 60 percent cinsault grapes and 40 percent grenache, made entirely in stainless steel; let no oak tamper with this sheer delicacy and elegance! The color is the palest of the most pale onion skin, just slightly tinged with watermelon pink; spare yet evocative aromas of dried raspberries and red currants are subtly imbued with melon and peach; the wine is bone-dry, vibrant, shimmering with acidity and limestone-like minerality, flush with spice and a hint of thyme, devolving to a finish that manages to be both taut and supple. Really lovely but with backbone. 13 percent alcohol. Winemaker was Nathalie Coquelle, whom I nominate, on the basis of this wine, for a Nobel Peace Prize. Sip it or remark on its versatility as you drink it with a variety of summer fare. Excellent. About $18 to $20.

The wine’s name means “Follow me, young man,” perhaps a reference to Hannibal’s armies, which marched through this region, with their elephants, in the Autumn of 218 B.C., before turning north to cross the Alps southward on the way to do battle with the Romans on the plains of northern Italy. I think the golden elephant depicted on the label should be evidence enough.

Bourgeois Family Selections, Asheville, N.C. I bought this one.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:28:44 +0000

Since 2003, Bonny Doon’s Le Cigare Blanc has consistently been one of the best Rhone-style white wines made in California. The high quality continues with the version for 2010, a blend of 55 percent grenache blanc grapes and 45 percent roussanne grown in the bio-dynamic Beeswax Vineyard, in the Arroyo Seco region of Monterey County, south of Soledad. This is mainly white grape territory, with chardonnay and riesling leading the pack. Beeswax, indeed, since the wine exudes in plenty the characteristic waxiness of the grapes and a touch of small waxy white flowers, like camellias, to which add roasted lemon and lemon balm, spiced pears and yellow plums and hints of bay leaf, hay and leafy fig. The wine is ripe and spicy and savory — there’s a fleck of rosemary-like or pine-like resin — yet its juicy pear, peach and fig flavors are allied to a sense of spareness and astringency; there’s nothing opulent or voluptuous strung on this glittering structure of plangent acidity and scintillating limestone, aspects reinforced by the long, lively, spice-packed and faintly bitter finish. 12.7 percent alcohol, and boy, it’s a long time since I saw a wine from California with that little alcohol. Winemaker was Randall Grahm. This was terrific with asparagus risotto with roasted garlic and shiitake mushrooms. Now through 2013 or ’14. Excellent. About $24.

A sample for review.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:32:39 +0000

Wines made from gewurztraminer grapes can be so floral that they’re off-putting, like old flowers in a vase, or so sweetly ripe that they’re cloying, but find one that’s perfectly balanced and you should clasp it reverently to your bosom, especially when it’s priced as attractively as the Lucien Albrecht Reserve Gewurztraminer 2010 from Alsace. The estate was founded in 1425 and is now operated by the 18th generation.

Made all in stainless steel, the Lucien Albrecht Reserve Gewurztraminer 2010 displays a pale straw-gold color and an alluring bouquet of jasmine and honeysuckle, lychee and mango and a hint of slightly buttery and clove-inflected roasted pineapple; the final fillip is a trace of rose petal and golden raisin. This is a gleaming and (again) golden gewurztraminer which in the mouth is all ginger and quince, pears and pear nectar, though the wine is bone-dry, vibrant with crisp acidity and a piercing line of limestone-like minerality that rivets the finish to your blissful palate. Still, the texture is supple and silken, enveloping in character, and the whole package is sleek and seductive. 13 percent alcohol. Now through 2015 or ’16. We sipped this quite successfully one night with shrimp risotto and the next day with tuna panini. It would also be good with moderately spicy Southeast Asian cuisine. Excellent. About $20, a Great Bargain.

Pasternak Wine Imports, Harrison, N.Y. A sample for review.

Image, cropped and re-sized, from aglassafterwork.com.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:41:55 +0000

One of the advantages of tawny port is that it has already been aged for you and is ready to drink when opened; another is that it tends to be less expensive, often much less, than the Vintage Porto that grabs all the headlines and is produced in small quantities. Tawny ports are left to age in barrels until they reach the desired point of maturity and character, so that, unlike Vintage Porto, they do not develop once they have been bottled. Tawny ports that carry age designations, usually 10, 20, 30 or 40 years, are typically made (or should be made) from high quality grapes to maintain a level of integrity. Those age designations are approximations, generally meaning an average; a 10-year-old tawny may be blended from wines from five to 15 years old. Remember that port is a fortified wine whose fermentation is stopped by the addition of pure spirits, resulting in sweetness and relatively high alcohol, about 19 to 20 percent.

Warre’s launched its Otima label a few years ago in an effort to modernize the rather staid image of port in general and tawnies in particular. The design is simple and stylish, and unlike most port bottles, the glass is clear rather than opaque. Warre’s, the oldest British Port house, established in 1670, is owned by the Symington family, which also owns Cockburn’s, Dow’s, Gould Campbell, Graham’s, Quarles Harris, Quinta do Vesuvio and Smith Woodhouse.

Warre’s Otima 10 Ten Year Old Tawny Porto sports a radiant medium copper-amber color with a faintly lighter rim; as the case should be with a 10-year-old tawny, the nose is a subtle yet complex weaving of toasted coconut, toasted almonds, rum-soaked raisins and citrus fruit, and fruitcake with overtones of orange rind and a touch of the exotic in hints of cloves, sandalwood and mango. In the mouth, this tawny is fairly direct, rather fiery initially, and it slides over the palate with sleek ease; what it lacks in depth it makes up for with the suavity and smoothness of its brown-sugar-and-rum-tinged citrus, plum and fig flavors and the authority of its vibrant acidity; sweet on the intake, it turns quite dry by the finish. Made for sipping after dinner sitting out on the porch. 20 percent alcohol. Serve slightly chilled. Very Good+. About $26 for a 500ml bottle.

Imported by Vineyard Brands, American Canyon, Ca. A sample for review.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:21:25 +0000

The Sovrana Barbera d’Alba 2009, a single-vineyard wine made by the estate of Beni di Batasiolo, is a “new style” Barbera, that is, it’s aged in small oak barrels — 12 to 15 months — instead of the traditional large old casks. The controversial process — sides have been drawn, insults hurled throughout Piedmont — imparts a different range of aromatics to the bouquet, and yet what a winsome and seductive range that is. Sovrana Barbera d’Alba 2009 offers an incredible perfume of dried cloves and sandalwood, lavender and potpourri and pomander, dried red currants and raspberries with a tinge of ripe mulberries and plums, layered with dusty graphite, all quite penetrating and evocative. In the mouth, matters take a more serious turn; the wine is intense and concentrated, displaying heaps of backbone and grit and vibrant acidity, along with dense, chewy, slightly grainy tannins and, finally, tightly-knit flavors of black cherry, red currants and tart mulberries. The finish brings in more earthiness and granite-like minerality with hints of iron and iodine. Give it some air and give it food; this is no smacky-mouth sipping wine but a beverage intended for a salt-strewn medium rare rib-eye steak, a veal chop grilled with rosemary and garlic or, as we tested it last night, with spaghetti with sausage meatballs, basil and peas, a Jamie Oliver recipe. 14 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $20.

Imported by Boisset America, St. Helena, Ca. A sample for review.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:46:41 +0000

Here’s a sauvignon blanc wine not to be missed. The Hess Allomi Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Napa Valley, was fermented in stainless steel and then spent six months in neutral French oak barrels, “neutral” meaning that the barrels have been used enough times that they impart little of the more obvious wood influences but can lend the wine subtlety of spice and suppleness of texture. The color is shimmering pale gold; aromas of lemongrass, lychee, gooseberry and pear are augmented by hints of thyme and tarragon, a mild grassy element and a backnote of tangerine. The wine is beautifully balanced and integrated, tart and zingy with taut acidity, but not as startlingly tart as many examples from New Zealand; roasted lemon and grapefruit flavors harmonize with a sunny-leafy fig-like quality, all nestled in a structure that paradoxically, but happily, marries talc-like softness with crispness and tension, finishing with an arrow-bright stream of grapefruit rind and limestone. And just to show you how some wines make surprising matches, we drank this one night with fennel-braised pork-belly with green olives and potato-leek mash; it was terrific. 13.5 percent alcohol. Now through the end of 2012. Excellent. About $16, representing Great Value.

A sample for review.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:53:37 +0000

Pine Ridge Winery, founded in the Napa Valley in 1978 by a partnership headed by Gary Andrus, made its reputation on cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, but the smartest business move the producer ever made was in creating a chenin blanc-viognier blend and selling it cheap. This justly popular wine — if I owned a restaurant I would sell it by bottle and glass — hits all the points the American palate desires in an inexpensive white wine: it’s tasty, nicely complex for the price and a trifle sweet.

The Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2011 is a blend of 79 percent chenin blanc and 21 percent viognier. The wine is clean and fresh, with beguiling aromas of ripe pears (and pears and more pears), roasted lemons and a hint of peaches, twined with touches of mango, lemongrass, jasmine and green tea, for a flirtatious note of the exotic. Pear, peach and citrus flavors are spicy enough (and slightly herbal) that the wine is almost savory, not to mention crisp and lively with bright acidity that cuts through a lovely, moderately lush texture. That trifle of sweetness emerges mainly in the finish, but makes the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2011 a good match with slightly spicy cuisine. It’s versatile too; we drank it one night with whole-wheat linguine with walnuts, orange zest and red chilies and the next with cod and chorizo stew. 12 percent alcohol. Michael Beaulac is Pine Ridge’s general manager and winemaker. Bottled with a screw-cap for easy opening. Very Good+. About $14, representing Fantastic Value.

A sample for review.

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:47:26 +0000

The Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc 2010, Paso Robles, isn’t just a well-made rendition of a southern Rhone Valley white wine; it’s better than about 75 percent of the examples from the region. A blend of 50 percent grenache blanc grapes, 33 percent viognier, 10 percent roussanne and 7 percent marsanne and made all in stainless steel, Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc 2010 is a pale straw-gold color; provocative aromas of roasted lemon, lime peel, dried thyme, ginger and quince are highlighted by a winsome note of honeysuckle. Flavors of lemon and spiced baked grapefruit generously open to hints of crystallized pear and Bit o’ Honey, though the wine is as bone dry as bright acidity and a burgeoning limestone element can make it; the complete effect is spare, supple, almost sinewy and yet juicy and savory, sleek and stylish. I bought this bottle at a local store, and we drank the wine last night with Vinegar-Braised Chicken with Leeks and Peas, a fantastic match; it would be great for serving as an aperitif through the Spring and Summer and with grilled fish or chicken. 13.5 percent alcohol. Tablas Creek is a collaboration between the Perrin family of Chateauneuf-du-Pape’s Chateau de Beaucastel and Robert Haas, owner of their American importer Vineyard Brands. Executive winemaker is Neil Collins; winemaker is Ryan Hebert. Excellent. About $20 (though I paid $22).

Wine of the Week

Fredric Koeppel — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:43:43 +0000

Fired up the grill yet? Maybe it’s a tad early, but we’re having pretty perfect outdoor cooking weather in these parts (though the prediction is for cooler temps and rain at the end of the week). Still, you can’t plan too far ahead, so here’s a recommendation for a wine that will go head to head and toe to toe with the heartiest fare you can rustle up over charcoal; I’m talking steaks, pork chops, leg of lamb, ribs, especially, yes, ribs. The wine is the Petite Petit 2009, from those madcaps at Michael David Winery, founded in 1984 by brothers Michael J. and David J. Phillips, fifth-generation grape-growers in Lodi. These guys have a sort of genius for producing big red wines and marketing them with clever names and designs. Petite Petit, with its exuberant cartoon label featuring two circus elephants, is the cleverest, though not far behind is the line of blockbuster reds named for the Seven Deadly Sins. Winemaker and general manager for Michael David Winery is Adam Mettler.

Petite Petit 2009, Lodi, is a blend of 85 percent petite sirah and 15 percent petit verdot. The color is really truly deep inky purple; in fact every aspect of the wine embodies the notion of “inkiness.” Aromas of deliriously ripe black currants, blackberries and blueberries are woven with licorice and smoky lavender, with hints of graphite and jammy boysenberry; give the wine a few minutes in the glass and it brings up intriguing notes of Bazooka bubble gum, sour cherry and melon ball. In the mouth, yeah, well, this is sturdy, robust, dense and chewy, a powerhouse of finely-milled, velvety tannins and vibrant acidity that still manages to be sleek and appealing. Dark and intensely ripe black and blue fruit flavors seethe with graphite-like minerality and exotic spices, while the finish careens through reserves of underbrush, briers and brambles. No, friends, Petite Petit 2009 is not for effete Europalates, but we’re not in Europe are we, and when was the last time you heard of Europeans chowing down on barbecue ribs or a bowl of chili or a platter of enchiladas in mole sauce? 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2013 or ’14. Very Good+. About $18.

A sample for review.