Two Summer Wines

Posted on July 7, 2021 by thewineraconteur

There are days when I walk into my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source and every wine is a winner.  Actually, that is every time I stop in, because they don’t carry the usual run-of-the-mill wines that are found in gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, department stores and convenience stores.  I would have to say that close to one-hundred percent of all the wines that they carry, they have actually tasted.  Another unique aspect, is that if they really like a wine, they may try to corner the market on it, in the state.  And if that does happen, he still doesn’t try to gouge, because sometimes he can get a better price and he in-turn gives a better price to his customers. 

What a perfect wine to start the day then, having Les Maîtres Vignerons de Vidaubanaise “La Plage” Rosé du Var IGP 2020 and la plage translates to the beach.  The producer is also known as La Vidaubanaise.  The cellar was founded in 1912 in the town of Vidauban, and operates a cooperative of vineyards in the Var Department of the Cotes de Provence.  They mainly grow Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Rolle.  They have also attained the highest level of environmental agriculture in France.  They maintain six-hundred hectares of vines which are between fifteen and thirty-five years of age, planted on soil of sand, clay and limestone.  The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Carignan and Merlot.  The wine is fermented and aged in Stainless and bottled in February after the harvest.  The nose offered ripe cherries and raspberries and delivered a bright refreshing taste that gave me watermelon and cherries with a short finish of minerals.     

I followed up with Ixsir Winery Grand Reserve Rosé Batroun, Lebanon 2020.  Ixsir Winery was founded in 2009 in the northern part of Lebanon in Batroun which is a coastal area.  They are a mountain winery, and one of the highest in elevation for the Northern Hemisphere.  The name Ixsir derives from the Arabic word “Iksir” the original Arabic word for “elixir.” History has recorded that man has searched for the perfect elixir for eternal youth and for love.  The winery is very progressive and has been named one of the greenest buildings in the world.  The winery owns one-hundred-twenty hectares in the Batroun with several different vineyards capitalizing on the terroir.  The winery grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Tempranillo, Caladoc, Cinsault, Merlot, Obeidy, Viognier, Muscat, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon.  Quite impressive for a young company, as far as I am concerned. This wine was forty percent Mourvedre, forty percent Cinsault and twenty percent Syrah.  This was done in Stainless Steel for both fermentation and aging to maintain the fresh fruit of the wine.  A beautiful floral nose with flavors of red fruits, bright and firm acidity and a nice lingering finish of terroir for a lighter wine.  Perfect on a summer day with barbecued lamb, and a couple of more bottles chilling on reserve.

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En Primeur Reds – Part Two

Posted on July 5, 2021 by thewineraconteur

If I was this excited just tasting a selective sample group of En Primeur wines, if and when the world opens up again properly, those lucky souls that will be there, will be in Seventh Heaven.  I have read and lived vicariously through some of the other En Primeur seasons by writers that I admire.  To be even this close, through the generosity of my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source, is a trip to Heaven for me.  As you may have surmised from plenty of my articles, The Fine Wine Source is not a corner store, it is a destination trip for me and the majority of the customers. 

This tasting of wines was over the top for me, and while I have never learned the fine art of “spitting,” partly because so many of the wines that I taste as a lay-person are just too good, not to savor.  I also apologize for my lack of descriptors when faced with great wines.  I grew up and was mentored when one didn’t need Roget’s Thesaurus to describe wines.  They would educate me, by saying this is a classic example of a Pauillac, or they would say this Saint-Julien is too young and needs another ten years in the cellar.  I would like to appear erudite and sophisticated in discussing these wines, but it would never sound like me, and I think a couple of words can truly suffice when talking about quality, because I can certainly ramble on, about other subjects.  I guess that I will always be the Damon Runyon of wine writers, so without further ado, here are the last six wines that I had the good fortune to taste.

Blason d’Issan Margaux 2020, the second label and the younger vines of Chateau d’Issan Margaux, a Third Growth.  This is a blend of forty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, thirty-seven percent Merlot, three percent Petit Verdot and the balance is Cabernet Franc and Malbec.  I have a six pack of an earlier vintage of this wine, that I am cellaring.  This is a perfect example of younger vines, more fruit and a wonderful youthful Margaux; and I have had the good fortune of probably having more Chateau Margaux vintages, as well as other wines from this famed commune than any other commune.

Chateau Ferriere Margaux Third Growth 2020, one of the smallest vineyards of the Classified Growth and bought by the Villas family (Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal in Pauillac) in 1988 and they did major renovations in the winemaking side in 2013.  A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  This wine even though it is still aging in the barrel has some very sensuous and serious tannins and I feel that after a few years in the cellar it will be excellent, as the tannins mature and the wine develops more layers of interest.

Chateau Pape Clement Rouge Pessac-Leognan 2020 a Classified Wine from Graves and part of the Bernard Magrez group of estates.  It is one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux.  It is basically fifty/fifty of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but they do add a touch of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc into the mix.  James Suckling gave this wine a score of 97-98.  Right from the start without any fuss, this wine was big and chewy with a great finish of terroir. 

Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan 2020 was once part of Chateau Haut-Brion, but in 1584 gave this land to the Carmelite Order, hence Les Carmes.  This wine is a blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with just a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a rather unique blend for Graves.  James Suckling awarded this wine 92-93.  I only wrote one word, and my partner in the tasting agreed, when I wrote “delicious.”  I don’t think I could expand on it, at all.

Domaine de Chevalier Rouge Pessac-Leognan 2020 is one of the Classified Growths of Graves and owned by Oliver Bernard.  Through the course of centuries, they have been able to maintain the name Domaine instead of Chateau, even though it sounds like it should be in the Burgundy region.  A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  James Suckling gave it a score of 96-97.  The first impression was that this was a sweeter and riper wine compared to the others, there was also less oak, it was very fresh, and I would definitely give this wine some time in the cellar to mature.

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Pessac-Leognan 2020 is a Classified Wine of the Graves and presently owned by Florence and Daniel Cathiard.  This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot plus a dash of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  James Suckling gave this wine a rating of 99-100, and I only saw these numbers that I am listing after the tasting. The two of us doing the tasting were joined by the owner to repeat this wine that he had just the night before.  I have had another vintage of this wine, but all I can say and it was concurred by my tasting partners is that wine is “BIG” and hit all the notes for what makes a Bordeaux wine stellar.  After tasting these sixteen wines, I was more than satisfied and I didn’t need another wine, as I was savoring the memory. 

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An Arneis and a Turbiana

Posted on July 3, 2021 by thewineraconteur

All the years that I was in retail, I enjoyed the customer relationships and I think that is why I really like my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source.  When I walk in, they all know me by name and there is never an urgency to get me to the register, in fact there are plenty of times that I don’t make it to the register.  I know that it sounds odd, but when you are in retail, you discover that not every customer is a purchaser, but he or she is still a potential customer. The purchases far exceed the non-purchase visits, but there are always new wines to learn about.  Some times they pour me a glass of wine, that they are thinking about, and that bottle is a sample that they have received from one of their many suppliers.  I offer my thoughts on the wine and I am sure that they have already made their decision, but a second outside voice is always reassuring.

Vite Colte Villata Roero Arneis DOCG 2020, which is owned by Terre da Vino in the heart of the Piedmont.  I have to admit that I did not know about Roero or Arneis, but even at my age there is still time to learn.  Roero DOCG is a small district in the hills of the Piedmont, known for its refreshing whites made from Arneis, and for their bold red reds made from Nebbiolo. The district is named after the Roero family, who were powerful bankers in the Middle Ages.  The classic Roero Bianco must be at least ninety-five percent Arneis, the other five percent can be any other local white varietal.  They tend to grow the on the northern slopes of the hills, while Nebbiolo grows on the southern side.  For a while, the grape almost became extinct, as all the interest was in the red wines.  The grape can be difficult to grow and was often grown along side the Nebbiolo, because its fruit was sweeter and the birds would feed on the white grapes and leave the red grapes alone.  Traditionally a dash of Arneis was added to the Nebbiolo to soften the tannins, similar to how Viognier is used in parts of the Rhone. It is easy to understand why it was unknown to me.  This wine was made from hand harvested grapes and it undergoes cold maceration and spends ten days on the lees in Stainless Steel.  The wine is a pretty straw color, and the nose offered pears and apricots.  The wine was very crisp and fresh with the notes of fruit and a tinge of hazelnut with a touch of minerals in the finish.  Just a delightful wine, and since the bottle was a sample, they gave me the balance of the bottle to let my Bride try it. 

About two weeks later, they called me that the wine was in and I went to get some.  While I was there, I mentioned a wine that was getting a lot of comments on one of my Social Media sites.  I said I had never heard of a grape varietal Turbiana, I felt foolish, but we looked it up and it is the local name for Verdicchio, the white wine that has suffered from over production from some of the big houses.  They opened up a bottle right from the shelf, it was not chilled, but so that everyone could try it.  It was a bottle of Azienda Agricola Ottella “Lugana” DOC 2020.  In 1964, the family discovered a book about a winery in the region that grew Turbiana at the turn of the last century and they really got into the project and by 1967 Lugana DOC was created with the local grape Turbiana.  This was also the period that the winery was growing and creating their own brand.  The name Lugana refers to the clay vessels that the winery that they read about used for aging their wines.  Verdicchio is probably the most planted white varietal in Italy, and there are wineries that are striving to restore the honor that the grape has lost in the past fifty years.  Some of the other names that will be used instead of Verdicchio is Trebbiano di Soave, Trebbiano di Lugana, Trebbiano Valtanesi, Marchigiano and Turbiana di Lugana.  The wine uses soft pressing of the whole bunch, and some with gentle destemming by oscillation.  Then temperature-controlled fermentation for five months on fine lees.  This wine had the straw color, with the telltale marks of quality Verdicchio, which is notes of almonds, honey and marzipan and high acidity with a touch of lemon and grapefruit in a crisp, dry finish.  I had to get some of this wine while I was there, and they told me to take the bottle that we drank at room temperature home with me as well for my Bride.  You don’t get this type of attention at the big wine shops.   

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Father’s Day Dinner 2021

Posted on July 1, 2021 by thewineraconteur

My Bride always makes sure that I am remembered on Father’s Day, and half the time, even though I usually select the gifts for me, I tend to forget.  She also claims that I am a very expensive habit, high maintenance and stuff like that.  She doesn’t say it in a mean or derisive manner, but I would rather have one item, instead of five items, unfortunately the one item usually cost more than the other five items combined.  With men’s wear, I have always thought it was a good investment, because fashions last for a long time, if you avoid the really trendy stuff.  I also believe in age-appropriate attire, as I am not sure that a Peewee Herman skin-tight suit with petal pusher pants would be the right clothes for me.  Actually, I can’t think of a time, when it would have been appropriate.  So, I probably do drive my Bride crazy, but after all of these years, she has adjusted to my peccadillos.  After brunch, we went out shopping, not that either of us need anything, but it is an activity, and it also guarantees that the gifts for whatever holiday is in the future, will be the right size. 

If you think that I am only a raconteur when it comes to wine, it occurs with other subjects as well, and if I am in a men’s wear establishment and I discover another old veteran from the glory days, we can actually talk about brands, stores, fashions, sales representatives and especially quality.  My poor Bride would sometimes like to put me on a leash, so that she could drag me out of a store.  I guess that she is happy that I don’t want to shop that often.  Then again, I am not going to take assistance from a clerk that can’t coordinate colors and patterns and who looks slovenly.  I am old enough to be a curmudgeon and I want to deal with a salesman or a consultant, not someone that is perpetually in a job-searching mode.  We actually finished shopping, and had a chance to talk to our other two children a couple of time zones away and all was good.  Parents always get concerned about their children and grandchildren, especially if we have a chance to proffer some ideas.  We got home, and my Bride decided that we were going to have filets for dinner along with a salad, potatoes and vegetables.  She is always trying to keep me healthy, perhaps a filet is that not healthy to some, but I am sorry, I still enjoy a steak, and with a filet, there is no waste. 

Since it was Father’s Day and only the two of us for dinner, I went to the cellar to look for something interesting in our collection of splits.  I thought a bottle of Chateau Latour “Les Forts de Latour” Pauillac 1998 was the right selection.  Chateau Latour is probably one of the most famous wine producers in the world.  It was a foregone conclusion that it was a First Growth in the Medoc back in 1855 and it hasn’t faltered since then, perhaps even getting more desirable year after year.  The site goes back to 1331 with a fort and a garrison to protect the estuary and it started with several small vineyards.  It eventually cobbled all the small vineyards and began getting recognition in the 16th Century.  One family owned the estate for almost three-hundred years and they survived the French Revolution and eventually got the estate back together back in 1841. Chateau Latour is currently owned by Francois Pinault and his Groupe Artemis. The vineyard is eighty percent Cabernet, the rest basically Merlot with just a touch of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  Chateau Latour is only made from the vineyard plots surrounding the domain as platted in 1759.  “Les Forts de Latour” which is their second label is made from younger vines.  There is a bit of an inherent chance of trouble with older splits, so I went and used The Durand corkscrew, which we got strictly for older corks.  As you can see, the cork was in pristine condition and I was really all set to have to decant the wine through a filter, because of a crumbling cork, but it was perfect right from the bottle and the nose filled up the room, perhaps even more than the filet and the dinner.  I have had the good fortune to have enjoyed two vintages of Chateau Latour and this was my second bottle of “Les Forts de Latour.”  Perhaps this Street Somm is out of it, but this twenty-three-year-old wine was still full of life, the tannins were robust, the fruit was still tempting and the finish was nice and lingering.  One can’t really ask more from any red wine and if there were any tears in my eyes, it was because the wine may have been good for another ten plus years in the cellar, and it was the only bottle I had of this wine.  C’est la vie.

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Father’s Day Brunch 2021

Posted on June 29, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I am really curious what the new approved wording will be for Father’s Day will be.  Right after Mother’s Day we found out that it is now “birthing parent” and for that alone, I pray to God, for taking my mother years ago, as I can just imagine going into a Hallmark store to buy a birthing parent card.  I will pass and forego another instance of being politically correct and still use the term “mother.” We took our son and his wife out for Father’s Day brunch and found a restaurant out in this direction, and afterwards my Bride and I were going to do some shopping. 

We went to Bill’s, which on the face of it sounds like a corner eatery, and there is nothing wrong with that, but Bill actually owns several very fine restaurants and this was his latest venture, and we tried it long after the dust had settled and this was the only one left that we hadn’t tried.  It was where the old Fox and Hounds was located, and Bill’s capitalized on that and made a gentrified setting that was very comfortable. My Bride had a very fancy interpretation of Avocado Toast which seems to be the rage across the country and it was topped with two poached eggs. She just about always eats healthier than I, my brain still thinks that I am an immortal teenager.  I had Braised Short Ribs Hash with crispy diced potatoes and two poached eggs.  I adore Braised Short Ribs, though it is easier to let the restaurant do all the work and this dish is becoming my normal Brunch selection when possible.  Our son and his wife basically ordered the similar dishes, and then the four of us ordered two different desserts and we shared.

My Bride and I started the day, just like any other Sunday with Mimosas.  The restaurant I guess doesn’t get too many heathens, so they don’t offer a version of Bottomless Mimosa, and it was more economical just to order a bottle and carafe of orange juice.  We had a bottle of Bocelli Family Prosecco Extra Dry NV, and they have been producing wine for about three hundred years in Tuscany.  In case you were wondering, this is the same Bocelli family that has the famous opera singer Andrea Bocelli.  Also, in case you were wondering, in 2011 they acquired vineyards and contracts further north to produce both a Pinot Grigio and a Prosecco wine.  The Prosecco is made using the bulk method or the Charmat Method. For Mimosas it was perfect, as I had to try some neat before I adulterated it with orange juice.  During dessert, I splurged a little bit and had a glass of wine from Famille Sichel, their Maison Sichel Sauternes 2017.  The Maison Sichel collection is from their negocient side of the business.  The wine is a blend of ninety-five percent Semillon and five percent Sauvignon Blanc from vines that are about fifty years of age.  The wine is aged for ten to twelve months and they recommend that eight to ten years of cellar time before drinking, and that did not happen here.  The wine is very balanced and was rather refreshing, which was a good thing to discover at Brunch and it had a beautiful nose and color, what one would expect from a Sauternes. My curiosity was piqued, because one of our go-to wines at the house is Famille Sichel Sirius which is a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend.  The day was starting off beautifully. 

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Almost Normal? Part Two

Posted on June 27, 2021 by thewineraconteur

The end of an era of elegance and class came to an end; instead of Cary Grant we now have Stanley Kowalski. Years ago, Ronald Reagan called for the Berlin Wall to be razed, today there is nothing as dramatic, but supposedly the State is back to normal.  Restaurants can start full capacity indoor seating and extended hours, but now they have to find the employees to make this happen.  Everywhere one looks, there are signs for hiring, but the number of people filing for unemployment is rising, this is all beyond the Economics that I took in college. While the science that demanded businesses to shutter was never shown, the science that allowed the all clear was never shown here either.  Though political recall petitions in a couple of states allowed the normalization from the powers that be without any further ado.  I bring this all up, because my Dinner Club that I used to write about ten times a year, just had their first abbreviated meeting since the lockdown began. It was abbreviated, because the restaurant informed us that they would be shutting down at eight in the evening sharply, which eliminates several parts of the meeting.

The club has been around for about one-hundred-thirty years and originally it was held in a member’s home, because by the constitution of the club, membership is limited to forty-four members.  The club survived the Great Depression by holding the meetings in restaurants, because homes that large and formal were disappearing and no one could afford the staffs to maintain such a lifestyle.  Several other traditions over the years have also disappeared from the club, and finally one of my favorite traditions was deleted by a quick vote during our first meeting back.  With the club originally being held at a member’s home, a coat and tie were de regueur for the meetings, and they voted to change the wording to “country club dinner attire.” I expect by next meeting, I will see some members in shorts and tee-shirts.

Normally, the menu selection is limited to three choices by the hosts, as the dinner tab is shared by three members; due to some quick decisions, the first meeting was a “Dutch Treat” event, years ago, the tradition of the hosts picking up the drinks for the evening was also terminated.  Even with my club, traditional values have gone by the wayside.  The restaurant had paper menus and each member could select, what ever entrée, he wanted and our waitress did a fine job of getting all of the orders properly, as well as the individual bills, albeit with a twenty percent gratuity added per tab, which is fine, because if it had been a hosted affair, the same gratuity would have been applied.  I have always enjoyed the St. Louis Style Baby-back Ribs that they make, so that was my choice along with their version of jumbo well-done and seasoned French Fries, Garlic Toast, Cole Slaw and a Chocolate Sundae.  When I asked about the wines, our waitress informed me that they now had a Shiraz, so I took a chance on such a great offer, after having my traditional Whisky Sour during the cocktail hour.  

I had the Michael David Winery Petite Petit Lodi 2019.  Michael and David Phillips represent the fifth generation of grape farmers in Lodi. During Prohibition, the family skirted the law by growing grapes and creating solid bricks of concentrated juice with explicit warnings detailing the steps not to take in order to ferment and produce wine from the concentrated juice brick.  It was technically legal, and a clever way to survive the first failure of the Nanny State.  The winery now farms seven-hundred-fifty acres of vineyards and all the vineyards are certified organic and since 2011 they are certified as sustainably grown.  There most popular brand is The Seven Deadly Zins, and beyond their popular priced wines the brothers also have a reserve collection of red single-variety wines.  The wine I had was a blend of eighty-five percent Petite Sirah and fifteen percent Petit Verdot.  The wine was aged for twelve months in French Oak, with twenty percent new. The wine was a classic fruit bomb of deep colors, dark fruit, figs and vanilla.  It was kind of in the middle of the road, it was not dry and it was not sweet, but it was great with the ribs.  It looks like the next meeting will be a “Dutch Treat” again, until we can get a schedule going again for the hosts.  More tales to come.    

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En Primeur Reds-Part One

Posted on June 25, 2021 by thewineraconteur

There I was at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source and I was doing a wine tasting with one of the employees and kibbitzing with the owner of the shop as well, as he already had a chance to taste the En Primeur wines of 2020.  This was a special event for me, as I have never had the chance to try a wine straight from the barrel, and that is what these small dram bottles represent.  I am sure that there is a more technical term, but a dram bottle works for me and I think it is rather self-explanatory.  For a Street Somm, it is a very heady experience.  Part of the En Primeur season is for the wineries to determine the future retail of the wines, predicated on how they are rated by the major critics and others in the industry, they also sometimes sell wines ahead of time, known as futures.  When I was in college, way back when, I was once offered three bottles of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1973 for the princely sum of fifteen dollars a bottle.  At the time that this was offered Chateau Mouton-Rothschild was the top of the Second Growths by the Classification of the Medoc and Graves of 1855 and they never even mentioned the Classification on their labels.  The 1973 vintage not only featured art work by Picasso for the label, but lo and behold the label said “Premier Cru Classé” and that poor student when he got the wines had, he felt, the coup of the century.  Looking back, I still feel that way, and I still have one bottle in my cellar.

Of the sixteen wines that I got a chance to try, courtesy of The Fine Wine Shop, over the years I had actually had five of the wines represented.  In the very early days of my education of wines, I had envisaged that one day I might have a chance to try every bottle of the Classification of 1855, and so far, that hasn’t happened, but I have had many of them, and I think that I have a working knowledge of what the great Communes represent.  Since for the most part, it has been on my dime, and I was just a working man, I think that I did alright.  Just so that I don’t ramble on and on, I will write about the first six red wines and then I will follow up with the other six wines in two days.

Chateau Beaumont Haut-Medoc 2020 is one of the largest properties in Bordeaux, located in Cussac, which is between Margaux and Saint-Julien.  It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a dash of Petit Verdot.  This was a good solid Bordeaux from the old school, but there was a trace of menthol, and I am not sure if it is because it was so young out of the bottle, but I thought I should mention it.

Le Merle de Pepy Faugeres Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020 is a stand-alone vineyard inside of the larger Chateau Faugeres.  The Chateau and grounds are now owned by Silvio Denz of Lalique.  The wine is pure Merlot.  It was a beautiful glass of wine, of course I am partial to Merlot and Saint-Emilion wines for fifty years, but this wine had big tannins, a solid Merlot with an amazingly long finish. 

Chateau Le Boscq Saint-Estephe Cru Bourgeois Exceptional 2020 by Famille Dourthe. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot.  James Suckling rated this wine at 91-93.  This was a well made and a very chewy wine, that is one of those rare affordable wines from Saint-Estephe and a pleasure to drink.

Chateau de Villegeorge Haute Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2020.  This from Vignobles Marie-Laure Lurton.  A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  This wine was very young and chewy, but I thought it offered great potential, especially for an affordable wine.

Chateau Tour Saint Christophe Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020.  This is from the Vignobles K Group.  A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.  This was a nice full and rich wine, quite a bit of heat at the opening an a very nice long finish.  Once again, my bias is showing, but I think that this is a very nice wine, worthy of some cellar time.

Chateau Dauzac Margaux Fifth Growth 2020.  One of the older vineyards and chateau going back to the 12th Century.  A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  This is one of the earliest Classified wines that I had as a teenager and then it kind of disappeared from the horizon for me.  This was a beautiful wine, as it even opened up in the glass between the first and the second taste, it was very impressive for such a young wine that is probably going to see more time in the barrel.

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En Primeur Blanc

Posted on June 23, 2021 by thewineraconteur

In the spring time as the saying goes, a young man’s fancy turns to amour, but in Bordeaux, the amour is en primeur.  What is en primeur?  To put it in easy-to-understand language, because I am not an authority, it is the futures market of Bordeaux.  Wines that may only be six to eight months in the barrel, and not even close to being matured, are blended by Master Vignerons to create what the hope will be a close approximation of what the finished wine will taste like.  It is the season that will actually predetermine what wines of that vintage will be selling for.  The major buyers and reviewers and other very fortunate people are invited for this event, and it is an event that people end up telling their grandchildren about, because they are wined and dined, sometimes at the most fabled chateaus in Bordeaux.  The chateaus also hope that they will receive orders with a prepayment, and cases of wine will be placed in “bond” or “hold” until the wine is properly aged and bottled.  It is a great incentive to raise capital for the chateau, as there could be another year before some wines will actually be ready for retail.  The other benefit, is that from the en primeur, an actually pricing structure starts developing for that vintage year, and the pecking order of all the communes and rated wines are adjusted from the season.

The last two years, you may have noticed that traveling was rather hindered, and the en primeur season was reinvented.  Instead of people drinking wine from the barrels and making their educated guesses, the wine was bottled and shipped to key buyers, distributors, etc.  My local wine shop The Fine Wine Source was scheduled to attend en primeur, that did not happen.  He was invited to taste the freshly drawn wines, which were in small dram bottles, and he actually attempted to get me an invite to the local tasting, but that idea was declined, but he was given sixteen assorted dram bottles, so that his help (and me) could taste the wines at the shop.  There were a couple of false starts, but it happened, and I was as giddy as a young man going on his first date. 

In the Bordeaux Blanc wines there were three white wines, to taste and then after all the reds we tasted one dessert wine:

Clos de Lunes “Lune d’Argent” 2020, Famille Bernard Bordeaux Blanc.  A blend of seventy percent Semillon and thirty percent Sauvignon Blanc.  James Suckling 92-93.  My thoughts were dry, with notes of banana and a nice long finish.

Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Blanc 2020, Pessac-Leognan region of Graves, both the red and white wines of the Chateau were Classified in 1959.  A blend of seventy-two percent Sauvignon Blanc and twenty-eight percent Semillon.  James Suckling 95-96.  My thoughts were that this was very creamy with notes of dried apples and green melon with a nice flinty finish.

Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 2020, Famille Bernard Pessac-Leognan region of Graves Bordeaux Blanc.  This wine is also a Classified wine in 1959.  A Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend.  James Suckling 96-97.  A very pretty wine with notes of cloves and Briar fruits and a nice flinty finish.

Clos Haut-Peyraguey Sauternes First Growth 2020 owned by Bernard Magrez.  A Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend.  This was a big rich Sauternes with pineapple and stone fruit notes and a very long finish, really a wine to enjoy.    

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Armenian Red Wines with Roasted Lamb

Posted on June 21, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I can guarantee that if you are invited for a lamb dinner at an Armenian home, you will most assuredly get lamb.  Armenians do not use yearling and definitely not mutton.  For all of the suffering that the Armenians have endured, their table is always open for company and guests.  Lamb is the meat of choice, and how ever it is butchered, the results are always tasty, and from the section of the Old Country that my grandparents came from, you also knew that the lamb would be hot and spicy.  Just like the wines that we were serving, which are grown on the mountainsides, lambs were also raised on the mountainsides.  It is only natural that Noah’s Ark would land on Mount Ararat, one of the three famous mountains of Armenia and the people are hardy from the start, as they planted among other things; grapes and olives. 

My Bride was making a Roast Lamb and the entire lamb was slit with X’s, just deep enough to stuff a clove of garlic in each X.  As you can imagine a roast of lamb requires plenty of cloves, and when the meat is fully roasted the garlic has imparted its spiciness and that rich sweet roasted garlic is a wonderful by-product to enjoy as well.  The lamb is roasted with root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips and they absorb the rich broth that the roasting produces from the meat.  There was also Armenian Pilaf which is a staple in our house, almost for any dish, especially for the big parties and even the non-Armenians are upset when we don’t have it.  For the uninitiated, it is browned egg noodles and rice steeped in chicken broth and butter, until all the broth and butter have been absorbed by the rice, and yes, my family has always made this with garlic as well.  The recipe has been toned down a bit, from the early days of my youth, because there was so much butter used back then, that as a kid, I would scoop out left over pilaf from the refrigerator, put it on a plate and eat it cold, it was so rich, another factor of why I was a fat kid growing up.

Of course, besides the food, the focus was on the red wines that were furnished as samples by Storica Wines.  We were going to serve the last two wines, which were both red, side by side for comparison.  Both of the red wines were from Zulal Wines and the winery was founded by Aimee Keushguerian who learned winemaking from her father at Keush Winery.  Zulal which is Armenian for pure was founded in 2017, and Aimee and her father are striving to identify some of the indigenous grapes that have survived on their own in Armenia.  The winery is a mountain winery, and there are plenty of people that are always looking for mountain wines, because not only for the volcanic and limestone soil, but that the grapes have to struggle and stress to grow, and the grapes are smaller, and the winemakers have to work extra hard to prune the leaves, to allow just the right amount of sunlight on the grapes to allow them to ripen properly. The first wine that was poured was Zulal Wines Areni Classic Vayots Dzor 2019.  Areni is one of the major wines of Armenia and is a thick-skinned varietal that grows in small tight bunches.  The fruit is hand-harvested from the vineyards in Aghavnadzor from ungrafted vines that average from fifty to one-hundred years of age.  This wine is fermented and aged in Stainless Steel to accentuate the bright red fruit character and nose.  There were four-thousand cases produced of this wine.  This was the first Armenian red wine, and their first tasting of Areni and thought it had a light nose, moderate tannins and a medium finish, a couple of people suggested that it reminded them of a light Pinot Noir.  The second wine that we were serving side by side was Zulal Wines Areni Reserve Vayots Dzor 2018, but the fruit for this wine was from vineyards in Aghsafi.  The Reserve wine was aged for twelve months in neutral oak barrels and three-thousand cases were produced.  The winemaker suggests buying a case, and drinking half of the case when young and then finishing the case a decade later when it has mellowed.  Once again, this was their first tasting of an Areni Reserve and they mentioned the deeper color of the wine, some thought the wine was like a Rioja and some thought it was like a Syrah, so we had split decision of the wine.  The mention of dark berries and spices were mentioned and the wine had a nice finish.  Five of the six, enjoyed the Reserve over the Classic, but it was a bigger wine.  The food and the wine were enjoyed by all, and if any of the guests encounter an Armenian wine in their travels, they will have positive thoughts about the wines, just like the thoughts that they formed from the wines that we had from Storica.      

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An Armenian Bubbly and a White

Posted on June 19, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Now that I have some history with Armenian wines, shall I proselytize? I know it sounds glamorous to say that I have received wine samples, but I feel that it is a heavy burden to do my best to feature these wines.  I have participated in some virtual wine tastings, where the people were drinking the wines before the tasting, and I think that is in poor taste.  I feel that I have an obligation to give these wines the same consideration and respect, as if they were First Growths.  Maybe, I am old-fashioned, but I have to use my own personal code of ethics.  Not to mention, that as an Armenian, I want to be able to spread the news about Armenian wines, because most people have not heard of Armenia or that they are pioneers in wine making from ancient times.  There will be arguments pro and con, about who was the first, and it may never be settled properly, but I am betting on the Armenians.  The first Christian nation in the world, and still a Christian nation surrounded by non-Christians.  The history of the Armenians is a long one, and they still perform mass in Old Armenian, as this was the mass that was taught to them by the Apostles.  They also unfortunately suffered a cruel fate in the Twentieth Century and the word “genocide” was coined for the barbaric massacre of men, women and children; and unfortunately, Man’s memory can be conveniently short and another genocide was perpetrated against another religious group, and later included others as well.

Armenians love to eat and to share, when I was a kid, the tables always looked like they were going to collapse from all of the weight of the food that was on them, and that was only if just a couple of friends stopped by, otherwise if it was a crowd, one just had to get more tables.  I and my Bride decided that Lahmajoon would be the perfect opening dish.  For a lack of a better term and easy for everyone to envisage, it is a personal size pizza that is topped with triple ground lamb or beef in a tomato paste, spices and parsley on its own unique dough.  I remember my grandmother making these by the hundreds, with barely a couple left for lunch the next day.  My family has always been partial to adding red pepper flakes for some extra zing. This appetizer was going to paired with Keush Origins Vayots Dzor NV.  Keush LLC is based in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.  The wine is from Vayots Dzor, a mountainous region in southeastern Armenia, and one of the oldest documented wine producing regions in the world.  Keush Winery is located in Khachik and the vineyards are limestone and volcanic rock.  Vahe Keushguerian is an Armenian born in Lebanon and was in the wine business in San Francisco for many years.  He then moved to Italy and had a wine business there for over ten years.  His first trip to Armenia was in 1997 and he bought land and planted vineyards on original ungrafted vines and finally moved his family there in 2009 and founded the winery in 2011.  The grapes are sourced from the village of Khachik and it is the highest elevation of any grapes used in the Northern Hemisphere for Methode Traditionelle sparkling wine.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Voskehat and forty percent Khatouni (Khatoun Kharji).  Voskehat an ancient Armenian varietal translates to “golden berry” and is a late ripening grape that requires more time in the sun, and in a mountainous region, it gets that quite easily.  Khataoun Kharji another indigenous Armenian varietal translates to “Madam Kharji” and is a yellow green grape that offers alpine flowers, citrus and pineapple.  The fruit is hand harvested, aged on the lees for twenty-two months and secondary fermentation is in the bottle.  There were four-thousand cases produced. At first, my Bride thought I should have done the pairings different, for this part of the meal, but she agreed, especially after hearing the others enjoy the Lahmajoon with the Keush Origins.  The consensus of the group was that the wine had a nice floral nose, and everyone enjoyed the notes of lemon peel, golden apple and pear and a nice decent finish with mineral traces. For a wine that was made with two grape varietals that they had never heard of, or had before, this wine received rave reviews, and we were off to a great start.

Then we had Cheese Boereg, an appetizer that is made with layers of Phyllo dough that is folded over White Brick cheese.  I guess depending on the cheese used, this dish could be sweet, but the version I know is savory, and it has been a mainstay ever since I can remember.  It is also a hit, with anyone that tries it, and thankfully the Armenian caterer makes the dishes very similar to how my grandmother made the dishes, so unfortunately no one bothers to make these dishes from scratch.  This appetizer was paired with Zulal Voskehat Classic Vyots Dzor 2019.  The Zulal and Keush wines are imported by Storica Wines who offered the samples for my review.  Storica Wines are interested in the growth of Armenian wines, especially with indigenous grapes, some of which have a six-thousand-year history with Armenia and its winemaking.  Zulal means pure in Armenian.  Zulal Wines was founded by Aimee Keushguerian in 2017 and the fruit is sourced from about forty grape growers in the villages of Aghavnadzor and Rind, as well as the Arpa Valley in Vayots Dzor region. Voskehat is one of the most recognized varietals in Armenia and some of the vines are Pre-Soviet era and definitely pre-phylloxera and the average age of the vines are fifty to one-hundred years of age.  What saved this varietal is the demand by the Soviets for brandy and their version of Sherry known as “kherez.” The wine undergoes natural fermentation in Stainless Steel to preserve the acidity of the wine and is bottled directly from the tank, with a production of three-thousand cases.  While they were enjoying the savory Cheese Boereg, I was explaining that this was pure Voskehat and this was a winner both in pairing and with drinking. The consensus here was that it had a nice floral nose, with enjoyable salinity (brightness) with notes of apricots and a nice finish of flint, is what they all agreed on.  

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