Posts Tagged ‘Alsace’
MWG May 24th tasting: report (1/4)
The first of four sets of notes from a tasting based on the May 24th Cellier release.
Vinho Verde 2010, Muros Antigos, Anselmo Mendes ($20.25, 11612555)
100% Alvarinho grapes treaded with the stems, then vertical-pressed and macerated for 48 hours. Fermented and matured for four months in stainless steel. Unlike Mendes’s Muros de Melgaço cuvée, this sees no oak.
Light lemon morphing into honeydew melon with a hint of sawdust and a vaguely floral note. Broader than your usual Vinho Verde, the winey texture softening the high acidity. Favours tend to lemon and quartz. Very dry with a pithy, puckery finish. Really delicious. An excellent pairing for grilled seafood (think squid), this also worked well with the Spanish-inspired salmon recipe you’ll find after the jump. (Buy again? Yep.)
Alsace Riesling 2010, Réserve Personnelle, Domaine Weinbach ($29.05, 11639053)
100% biodynamically farmed Riesling from young vines in the Clos des Capucins vineyard.
Effusive nose of potpourri, chalk, faint lemon/lime. Medium weight yet fluid. Intense flavours (lemon, minerals) and tingly acidity. Fruity and a little sweet on the attack, dry and a little sour on the finish. Fine enough though, like so many Weinbach wines, sweeter than I like and pricey compared with, say, Schueller or Frick. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Vin de terroirs
As explained by the young and personable Mathieu Deiss, who was in town last week for the Renaissance des appellations event, the Marcel Deiss estate has two basic lines of wine: variety-driven and terroir-driven.
Vineyards where, in the winemaker’s opinion, the expression of terroir is muted are planted with single or segregated grape varieties, and the wines are made and labelled as varietals: Riesling, Muscat, etc. With the exception of a handful of high-end bottlings (the so-called vins de temps, which are vendange tardive and sélection de grains nobles wines considered particularly expressive of the character of their vintage), these are marketed as vins de fruits.
Vineyards where terroir trumps variety are planted with mixed varieties, all of which are harvested, pressed and fermented together (Mathieu says co-planted, biodynamically farmed grapes “learn” to ripen at the same time). These vins de terroirs are the estate’s flagship wines. Although such field blends were once the norm in Alsace, it wasn’t until 2005 that Deiss convinced the INAO authorities to allow estates to label wines from grand cru vineyards with only the vineyard name and sans the grape variety.
Alsace 2009, Marcel Deiss ($22.60, 10516490)
The estate’s entry-level vin de terroirs is a field blend of biodynamically farmed Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. Gold with a pale green cast. Attractive if hard-to-pin-down nose: dried lemon peel, quartz, grapefruit, sweeter fruit in the background, a hint of pine needles and alcohol. Soft and round on entry – yellow-fruity and verging on off-dry – followed by a faint, spritzy tingle. Dries as it goes along, the fruit becoming more citric, the flavours more savoury. Bit of heat and bitterness on the longish finish. Lingering straw and brown sugar notes.
We’re so accustomed to associating fine Alsatian whites with varietal characteristics that drinking such an unmistakably Alsatian yet varietally elusive wine is disconcerting. Nonetheless, this bottle delivers pleasure by the glassful and convinces me that tasting through a range of Deiss’s vineyard-specific vins de terroirs would be a fascinating exercise.
A sweet suite of Burgs from oenopole
oenopole‘s Theo Diamantis recently led a tasting of the agency’s new arrivals from Burgundy – mostly from Domaine Naudin-Ferrand – plus a red ringer from Alsace. All the wines are made from organically farmed grapes; the Naudin-Ferrands with the nature moniker have next to no added sulphur. They proved to be Burgundies of remarkable finesse, the best 2009s from the region that I’ve tasted and the kinds of wine that really float my boat.
The first four wines are available at the SAQ. The others are private imports and can be ordered by the case from oenopole.
FIVE WHITES
Bourgogne Aligoté 2009, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($17.25, 11589703)
Light lemon, wax, chalk and eventually fennel. Relatively soft for an Aligoté but by no means acid-deficient. Builds to a mouth-watering, crystalline finish. Pure and tonic if a little less characterful than the Chardonnays.
Bourgogne 2010, Soeur Cadette, Domaine de la Cadette ($18.65, 11460660)
Minerals, green grape, a hint of lime. Zingy acid balanced by ripe fruit. Long minerally finish that turns a bit buttery as the wine warms. “Simple but not facile,” someone commented. Clean and delicious, I’d add.
Bourgogne-Véselay 2010, La Châtelaine, Domaine de la Cadette ($22.10, 11094621)
Lemon-lime with hints of toast, tropical fruit and eventually orange. Rich on entry, sweet-fruity on the mid-palate, puckery on the finish. Bright, bracing and clean as a whistle: quite the contrast to the bottle opened at the January MWG tasting.
Chablis 1er cru Beauregard 2009, Domaine Pattes Loup ($35.00, 11349072)
Classy nose: lemon, puff pastry, gun flint. Plush texture. Layers of flavour though more about minerals than fruit. Excellent balance and length. Lots of bang for the buck. Probably not a long keeper.
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2009, Nature, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($36,25, 12 btls/case)
Astounding nose: pineapple, brioche dough and, unbelievably, menthol. Buttery and hazelnutty attack, turning minerally and lemon curdy. Pulsing with fruit and acidity. Long, herb-tinged finish. Special.
SIX REDS
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits 2009, Nature, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($39.75, 12 btls/case)
Initial cherry and spice with hints of hay, gaining mineral, beet and red meat notes. Ça pinote. Delicate. Fruit starts sweet, turns sourer. Light, firm tannins and some oak emerge on the finish. Give it a few years and it’ll be a sleek and silky beaut.
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2009, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($25.35, 12 btls/case)
Forest floor, mushroom, red berries, less exuberantly Pinot Noir than its nature siblings. Fine and delicate but showing lots of structure. Woody undertones and tight (but ripe) tannins. Needs a couple of years to knit together.
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2009, Nature, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($37.75, 12 btls/case)
Lovely. Red berries, leaf mould, hints of beet and cola: once again, ça pinote. Supple and fluid. Pure, ripe fruit, fine tannins, a sheen of acidity. Long. Complete and surprisingly approachable.
Alsace Pinot Noir 2009, LN012, Domaine Gérard Schueller ($48.00, 6 btls/case)
Only 680 bottles made. Aromatic, complex, funky nose: dark berries, spice, game, straw, cola, “dill pickle chips,” dried pine needles and more. Medium-bodied. Dry. Spicy red fruit mixed with, beets, game, leather, dried wood. Complex and layered. Long “savoury, salty, tamari” finish. Lots of umami going on but not everybody’s cup of tea (though those of us who liked it, loved it).
Aloxe-Corton 2009, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($50.25, 6 btls/case, NLA)
Strawberry pastry, turned earth, forest floor and a hint of oak. Rich but supple. Oak and tannins need time to integrate. Long. Pure, elegant and delicious. A favourite of just about everyone around the table.
Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes 2009, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ($99.50, 6 blts/case)
Class in a glass. Closed but glorious nose: mineral and berries, fields and forests. Primary but elegant. Layered deep cherry fruit. Very structured and tight yet so fine and balanced. Long, long finish. Full of potential: not peaking for another ten or 20 years.
oenopole at the SAQ
Quick takes on eight bottles brought in by oenopole and available at the SAQ. Prices – several of which were recently cut due to exchange rate fluctuations – are in Canadian dollars and include 13% sales tax.
Mantinia 2009, Moschofilero, Domaine Tselepos ($19.55 [was $19.95], 11097485)
Flowers, minerals and white grapefruit. Bright and clean. More about the front of the mouth than the finish (something I’d say about all three of the Greek whites). Slight carbon dioxide prickle. Dry, bitter-tinged finish. Very enjoyable.
Vin de pays de Markopoulo 2009, Savatiano, Domaine Papagiannakos ($15.85, 11097451)
Lemon, soap and minerals. Subtler than expected in the mouth. Peach/pear notes, bright but not glaring acidity, a rounding hint of residual sugar and, again, a bitter-tinged finish. Great QPR.
Vin de pays des Cyclades 2009, Atlantis, Domaine Argyros ($15.95 [was $16.75], 11097477)
Minerals above all with whiffs of sour butter, dried herbs, preserved lemon, charcoal/smoke. Quartzy and a bit zesty. Clean, acidic and savoury but not a lot of fruit. Excellent aperitif or as an accompaniment to raw shellfish, grilled fish, pikilia platter, etc. This has proved to be a big hit at the SAQ; a third shipment will be arriving this fall.
Bourgogne Vézelay 2008, La Châtelaine, Domaine la Cadette ($19.75, 11094621)
True to form and more affordable than ever. Nose of lemon, chalk and sour milk with hints of green hay. A pure, clean and bright mouthful of oats and minerals with flavours building to a caramel-scented finish. Very long. If there’s a better Chardonnay at the price, I’m not aware of it. The 2009 should be showing up soon.
Crémant d’Alsace 2007, Brut, Domaine Barmès Bucher ($21.55 [was $22.35], 10985851)
Yeasty, floral nose. Fruity (oxidizing yellow apples?) on the palate with fine teasing bubbles. Initial hint of residual sugar gives way to a dryish, bitterish finish.
Alsace 2007, Riesling Herrenweg, Domaine Barmès Bucher ($29.70, 11153117)
If one can talk about QPR in a $30 wine, this Herrenweg has it. Serious and structured, long and wonderfully pure. Bursting with stone, lemon and petrol. Very dry. Zesty acidity and a hint of spritz. Classic and complete. Almost sold out.
Côtes du Rhône 2007, Lieu-dit Clavin, Domaine de la Vieille Julienne ($25.70, 10919133)
The best vintage of this wine I’ve drunk. Still in the massive, even monolithic, fruit-dominated style (at least in its youth) but in no way galumphing. Heady bouquet of spicy plum and choco-cherry with notes of sawdust, sweat, red meat, ink earth. Tannins tight but fine. Long. Almost sold out, though a small new shipment will reportedly arrive soon along with the 2008.
Rasteau 2006, Domaine Gourt de Mautens (now $62.25 [was $70.50], 11217774)
Dark plum and spice over earth and wood. 15.5% but elegant: smooth, rich and long albeit not particularly deep (depth may come with time). Fruit-forward but savoury too. A Châteauneuf in everything but name.
Brett happens 