Saturday, June 11, 2011

Chablis Training Seminar Highlights - June 8th

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a Chablis Training Seminar produced by the Burgundy Wine Board.  The highlights of the seminar were the discussion of Chablis as one of the most iconic white wines in the world and the associated high demand and fraud; the 'climats' of the Grand Cru appellation; and the incredible diversity of vinification styles within Chablis.

Look at this map: Chablis.



<Climats> of the One-and-Only Grand Cru Appellation

That's right, there is only one Grand Cru appellation in Chablis.  So why are there names listed on the bottle after the Grand Cru AOC?  Within the vineyard there are seven different 'climats,' separated by elevation, slope and degree of south-facing sun exposure: Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, Vaudésir.

The wines we tasted are as follows:

1. Petit Chablis, 2009, La Chablisienne  Clean, zippy lemon-lime juice and bitey, green apple tang with very slight vegetal and musty undertones. (Suggested Pairing: cheese puffs)

2. Chablis, 2009, Domaine Daniel DAMPT et Fils  Slightly more developed fruit, leaning towards the floral, sweet pear, green apple and vanilla qualities.

3. Chablis, 2009, Domaine des Malandes Sweet, aromatic lemon oil dances upon a seashell minerality with with an essence of delicate, toasty, grilled green asparagus.

4. Chablis 1er Cru, Montmains, 2009, Domaine VOCORET et Fils  This wine exhibited some of the vinification styles that are less expected from a Chablis.  Definite toast and butter notes with a lemony, stone fruit core.  With this wine, the ability to pair with creamy seafood really started to  jump up and down. (Suggested pairing: offal/ headcheese and thicker butter sauces)

5. Chablis 1er Cru, Mont de Milieu, 2009, Domaine SIMMONET-FEBVRE  Although it has the same structure of the Chablis and Petit Chablis, the fruit really changed on this one.  The fruit became much softer and really balanced the acidity.  White peaches and floral notes sang on the nose, and dissolved on the palate.

6. Chablis 1er Cru, Vaillons, 2008, Domaine du Chardonnay  This was the most interesting wine in the flight.  It was pure olive or oyster brine.  The fruit was yellow, both apples and pears.  The culprit?  Bâtonnage.  The stirring of the lees left some warm brioche to suck up the sauce.

7. Chablis Grand Cru, Bougros, 2008, William FEVRE  This one was corked.  I would like to personally re-taste this Grand Cru, and I think I've seen it in the local wineshops.  Strong minerality and sweet vanilla notes persisted on the nose.

These were all pre-opened and were approaching room temp.  However the final Grand Cru was opened about 20 minutes before we tasted it and really showed some interesting characteristics from bottle aging.

8. Chablis Grand Cru, Grenouilles, 2005, La Chablisienne  I was a little overwhelmed with this one. It was definitely was tacked onto the uncommon delights list.  Previously, I have predominantly tasted older white wines of the Champagne and Riesling regions.  A true Chablis Grand Cru with some age on it morphs into some interesting pantry (or maybe special order) items: lanolin, beeswax and toffee soaking into the juicy bruised pineapple.


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

2006 Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCeG

2006 Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCeG


I have been craving pasta in a light tomato sauce all week. Along with this craving has come the desire for a good Sangiovese.  Well, tonight I am eating pasta... Pasta fagioli with pork belly, kale in a tomato sauce. Thanks to my girlfriend who is running the kitchen, I had some time to run to grab a bottle of wine.

Here we go... another attempt at a readable wine tasting note:
The color was darker than I expected: a hazy garnet core, flowing into a softer red with defined staining in the legs, I was thinking, "Isn't this supposed to be a red fruit grape?"  I had to throw it in the decanter.  Wow, this 2006 is still young!  Needless to say, the red fruits are there.  The penetrating red cherry, tart pomegranate and cranberry flowed smoothly into the intense dusty, chalky minerality.  The phenolic structure on the nose was soft white pepper and licorice with a nice fennel vegetative quality.

On the palate, this translated into round, cherry, black raspberry and pomegranate acidity with a dusty mouthfeel.  The cherry pit and rhubarb tannins were mellowed out by the sweeter oak influence, imparting notes of cinnamon, cardamom and some grippy tobacco.  With a pretty big body and length on the tongue, this is a serious red-fruit wine...  not a dainty, delicate red-fruit wine.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Headed "north" with a 2006 Hans Lang Charta Trocken Riesling and homemade Borscht.

2006 Hans Lang Charta Trocken Riesling - Rheingau

I'll start with the wine because I've been excited to crack this one open.  Rieslings are one of my first loves when it comes to wine.  This goes back to when I first started reading about wine.  Almost all my studies have begun with Alsace, France and riesling.  Although they relatively come from the same part of the world, German rieslings have a unique character that can't be found anywhere else in the world.

This "trocken" (dry) riesling was true to its label.  There was no residual sugar on the palate, but there was still plenty of aromatic fruit to go around.  As I've been re-reading some of my older wine post I realize that my strict-to-ISG standard tasting notes are not the most user friendly, so I'm going to try something new: para-phrased, sentence form tasting notes (although I still have my notebook with ISG tasting notes if you ever want to see thorough, objective tasting notes).


With a beautifully faint, yellow tinge and swift but well-defined legs, my first impression was that this wine was going to have a little residual sugar considering its 12.5% alcohol (although that is fairly high for a typical German riesling).  On the nose the fruit is sweet and very ripe.  It almost reminded me of a basket full of delicate fruits that have been sitting out a couple days too long.  Another drag at the nose and the definite mineral backbone and sweet honey and petrol notes emerge.
Then it hits your palate.  Wow, this a dry riesling.  No residual sugar, crisp but in check acidity and low alcohol give this riesling some serious body and length on the tongue.  The fruit on the palate is less expresive than on the nose, giving more evidence of bruised, ripe yellow apples and tangy, sweet persimmons.  Again, there is that minerality that does almost as much for the structure of this wine as its acidity.  I would imagine that is why good riesling, and this is a good riesling, can take some bottle age.

Check out this interview with Mr. Lang:

Borscht
So what do you eat with riesling?  (I guess most people ask what you drink with food, but often find myself a bit flip-flopped.)  Cold weather food of course!  My inspiration to make this Russian beet soup was inspired by the sour beets recipe in the book Wild Fermentation which was gifted to me by a friend.


First, I julienned a HUGE beet into long strips and fermented it for two weeks with caraway seeds in a saltwater brine.  Similar to my Porotos Granados recipe, I sweated the garlic and onions and then added the chopped potatoes, carrots, celery and beets.  I also added some ground, pan-toasted caraway seeds and about a tablespoon of fresh dill.  Then, I added boiling water, stired and lowered the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.

Topped with a nice quenelle of sour cream and some more fresh dill, here is the finished product:



Wednesday, June 1, 2011

2004 Chateau Bélair Premier Grand Cru Classé Saint Émilion

2004 Chateau Bélair Premier Grand Cru Classé Saint Émilion



Appearance:
Clear, deep ruby core w/ red rim variation, high - intensity with staining in the legs, med viscosity.

Nose:
Clean, high intensity, tart black cherries, tart black currants, jammy blackberries.  Organic earth notes, mushrooms and marshland.  Lots of oak, sweet baking spice, cigar box, leather, tobacco, spicy herbs, thyme and cedar.

Palate:
Med body, med acidity, med + length on the tongue, med + grape tannins, med (+) oak tannins.  Black cherries, black currants, tart black berries.  Organic earth, dense woody mushrooms and stoney minerality.  Lots of oak, sweet & spicy herbs, leather, tobacco, cigar box, cedar.

This wine is still very young!  The tart fruit still pierces through the sweet and spicy oak.  Good acidity, low alcohol and plenty of structure leave me curious how it will mature in 5, 10 and 20 years!