If you seek shelter...

Francois Chidaine's expression of Chenin Blanc

When I look over a wine list, the section I end up finding myself in most is the Loire.  Food friendly and well balanced at a great price point, the Loire valley covers a great range of varietals and styles that perfectly pair with nearly any meal.

Vouvray is the most well-known region for producing Chenin Blanc, an incredibly versatile grape variety that can reach hauntingly ethereal levels of complexity, but you might find a better value the across river in Montlouis sur Loire.  My favorite producer here is Francois Chidaine, and we recently had a bottle of his Clos Haberl 2007.
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I am not one to usually get too excited about color (I treat it more as an indication of age and condition than quality), but this wine did have a very saturated golden yellow hue that could not be ignored for such a young wine.  Right now it is displaying the classic scent of minerality - the sea breeze, wet sand, and saline notes you might experience at the beach or after a rain shower.  The nose is also balanced by citrus, peach, floral and a touch of herbal notes.

On the palate, it displays nice, balanced acidity that is not screaming but still quite formidable.  It has a nice medium body with complex notes of citrus, honeysuckle and apricot.  Some might consider this off-dry, but for a Chenin Blanc I would call it dry (sec).  Youthful and vibrant, I think it is drinking decently now, but would be exponentially better with some age.

Towards that end, we let it sit in the fridge and drank it over the next couple days to see how it would evolve over time and were not disappointed.  The nose showed very nice development, maturing and revealing more of its seductress self.  There was more ripe fruit up front - juicy peach and golden apple, with even hints of hay and grass.  The finish is long and enjoyable, akin to the golden glow of a Hudson River School painting depicting magic hour over a lush landscape.

 

Korea's wine meme

One thing you hear often is how the growth of the consumer class in Asia is fueling the asset bubble in wine that took off after the much-touted 2005 vintage.

This is evident in Korea, where the idea of drinking wine is a relatively new concept for many.  Its novelty appeal, combined with inflated perceptions of social status, have created a "mania" of sorts.

Whether this has anything to do with the trend we saw in Seoul, who knows, but outside most bars or restaurants you will often find lines upon lines of empty wine bottles.  Now, I admit that, while I do have sentimental tendencies and will save a bottle that holds a particular memory every now and then, this is different.

I don't think they are showing off, because their bottle selection seems pretty haphazard across the board.  It seems more like some quasi design-related thing that somehow caught on.  It would be interesting to see how this trend plays out over the years.

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Imbibing birthday beverages in Brooklyn brownstone. Booyah.

Last weekend Liz made an excellent dinner to celebrate the ol' birthday with my side of the family.  It was also a great opportunity to taste some very nice wines.

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the dishes, but here are some labels with their pairings.

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Appetizers:

Pairing:
Joh. Jos. Prüm, Bernkasteler Badstube, Riesling Kabinett, 2008 (8.5% abv)

J.J. Prüm is one of the classic producers in the Mosel/Saar/Ruwer, and one of my no-brainer picks for quality Riesling.  These days, with global warming, it is hard to find a bad Riesling coming from Germany, but good ol' J.J. manages to rise to the upper echelon of winemakers in the region.  It also doesn't hurt that this particular bottle was made from grapes grown in what some would argue to be the best vineyard site in the Mosel.

I was instantly struck by the complexity of aromas, ranging from the citrus/mineral side of the spectrum, to the tropical/peach arena, to the grassy/floral/herbal range.  As I took a sip, it actually punched me in the face.  And I liked it.  My mouth exploded with a bone-crushing, cavity-inducing acidity that was balanced by a bright level of residual sugar and a length that did not stop to ask for mercy.  This wine has everything going for it, and I would be interested to see how it matures over several years.

All in all, an excellent aperitif.  The acidity provided a nice backbone to the tomato, orange and beets and the fresh grassy elements also complemented the anise scented fennel quite well.
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Main Dish:

Pairing:
Belugado Reserve, Châteauneuf du Pape, 2005 (15% abv)

After our trip to Provence last fall we managed to bring back a couple bottles, so when Liz mentioned that she was cooking lamb I instantly seized the opportunity to dip into the cellar.  Well, more like tiny wine refrigerator.  Unlike most wines from Châteauneuf du Pape, which are a blend of grapes (usually Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, but can be any of thirteen varieties), this wine is made of 100% Grenache, following in the tradition made famous by Chateau Rayas.

The Grenache instantly made itself known from the start, with a very spicy nose and red cherry scent.  Some darker aromas like chocolate, tobacco and coffee were apparent as well, providing some nice contrast.  On the palate, the spiciness was still intact and lasted for quite some time through the finish.  I think the timing on opening this bottle was spot-on, as it was still alive and vibrant - all the developing notes were there, but the fruit had not yet been completely beaten down.  The spiciness and dark complexity of Grenache provided a nice counterpoint to the herb-infused lamb and vegetables.
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Dessert:

Pairing:
Gianni Doglia, Moscato d'Asti, 2009 (5% abv)

Moscato d'Asti is a great way to end a meal.  The fresh effervescence works as a great palate cleanser, and the sweetness and low alcohol form a beautiful closing parenthesis to the phrase of a meal.  This particular Moscato really stood out, with the classic ripe peach aromas leaping out of the glass.  For a fairly straightforward varietal, this wine actually had some depth to it and a very nice length that complemented the berries and mascarpone in good fashion.

Gigondas & Tour de l'Isle 2007

Last fall we went to Provence for our honeymoon.  It charmed our socks off.

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting a tiny wine shop and bar, Caveau de la Tour de l'Isle, in the picturesque L'Isle sur la Sorgue.  The proprietor of the shop, Stéphane Fina, is an excellent sommelier and cheesemonger.  Wines by the glass are appropriately priced with no mark-up; a glass will typically run about one-fifth the price of a bottle.  The city itself is gorgeous, with several canals that allow the River Sorgue to pass through it.

We enjoyed many glasses of André Chemin Champagne, a producer that he represents.  Another producer represented by Stephané is Tour de l'Isle, and we were fortunate enough to walk away with a bottle of their 2007 Gigondas, which we uncorked recently.
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The aroma was quite pronounced, with clove, blackcurrant, red & black cherry and brambly fruit bursting through, balanced by an earthiness and touch of oak that rounded everything out.  On the palate, the texture was silky smooth with a nice glycerine level and full mouthfeel.  The finish was slightly spicy and had a very good long length.  Alcohol level was quite high, but in balance with the fruit and tannins to make it not noticeable.  I left half the bottle in the fridge overnight to see how it might age in a couple years, and it was equally enjoyable yet different.  This time around the palate was much darker and spicier, with tons of chocolate, damson fruit, a lot more tannin and baking spices on the nose.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape region is the star of the Southern Rhône Valley, but I must say our visit there did not prove as enjoyable as we had expected.  It has much more of a tourist draw than the other regions, and the attitudes of the people there reflect it.  Understandably so.  We walked into a cellar for a tasting and had to leave in the middle because the customers next to us were so pompous and obnoxious I wanted to spit out more than just the wine into the bucket.

Luckily, Gigondas is just thirty minutes away and exceedingly more attractive in appearance and personality.  Here are some images from our visit.

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