May 18, 2012 New Coturri Winery
Coturri Winery Albarello
United States (California)
carignan (40%) grenache (20%) petite sirah (20%), zinfandel (20%)
www.coturriwinery.com
In Chicago, there are hot dogs…
…and then there are hot dogs!
Nothing but an American wine would do.
Coturri Albarello 2008
There is a juicy earthiness that stopped me in my tracks. Smoke on the nose, bright, fresh, instantly approachable. A nice cut of acidity in the mouth, full of flavor, delightfully unpolished. Naturalness at its Californian best. Like a Chicago-style hot dog – an unabashed blend of multiple ingredients. A workingman’s wine. It ran out way too soon. Bring on more dogs. $
The winery is Sonoma born and bred, located near the village of Glen Ellen in what is known as the Valley of the Moon. For 30 years Tony Coturri has been bringing to the market wine at its natural best, long before natural (organic and sulfur free) wine had much of a profile. Some wine outlets liked to call it ‘hippie juice’ and relegated it to the offbeat netherland of wine shops. It suffered an image problem.
But no more. Natural wine bars have sprung up in many major cities. Whole books on the subject of natural and organic wines have appeared, including Alice Feiring’s recent “Naked Wine”. There is a hard core of wine enthusiasts singing the praises of a natural, non-interventional approach to what goes into a wine bottle. They appreciate the fact that consistency across vintages is not necessarily something to strive for. Variation from year to year can be an exciting prospect.
Take 2008, the vintage of the bottle at hand. It was the year a vast number of wildfires raged in Northern California. The 2008 Coturri vintage is touched by smoke, a lingering secondary characteristic, as well as an element of the terroir unique to that year. It’s a touch of history in the wine.
The roots of Coturri go back to the turn of the last century, with the arrival of Enrico Coturri from Tuscany. He brought with him the culture of wine making. It fell to his son “Red” to first turn the interest to a commericial venture, and to his two grandsons Tony and Phil to enlarge and refine the venture to what we have today. Now Enrico’s great grandson, Nic, is poised to lead it into the decades ahead.
Phil oversees the Coturri vineyards, as well as hundreds more acres supplying organic grapes to a bunch of other wineries. Brother Tony defines himself, not as a winemaker, but as a “custodian” of grapes, a reflection of his hands-off approach. Let the grapes do what comes naturally following their biodynamic cycle in the vineyards. The grapes are gently crushed, the “must” led into open redwood fermentation tanks which are promptly covered by white sheets. Beneath the sheets the naturally occurring yeasts set to work for up to two weeks. The must is retrieved and then basket pressed for a further collection of wine.
Coturri has its own cooperage, producing reconditioned 230-litre French Oak barrels. Here the wine matures for up to two years, during which time the wine is racked several times. The wines are hand bottled, having been neither filtered nor fined. Nor does it see the addition of any sulphur. Coturri produces in total only 5,000 cases annually.
I was very pleased to discover this bottle in Chicago, at an artisanal food and wine shop called Pastoral. I would buy it again in a flash.
Tags: Albarello 2008, biodynamic wine, Coturri Winery, Kevin Major, Nic Coturri, organic wine, Phil Coturri, Tony Coturri, Vinland
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May 4, 2012 Domaine Vacheron
Domaine Vacheron Sancerre
France (Loire)
sauvignon blanc
[no website]
Last week was spent in Chicago. A striking city in so many ways.
Not least of which is its dynamic culinary scene. Lunch at Blackbird was a highlight, each dish exceptional, as was the wine we paired with them.
Domaine Vacheron Sancerre 2010.
A mild golden glow. An appealing, subtle zest on the nose. A crisp, lemon punch, the first sip juicy but showing definite edges. Laced with fresh minerals, displaying a bright energy. Sharply anticipating the sturgeon, the octopus, the white asparagus. $
Almost all, roughly 45 hectares, of Domaine Vacheron’s vineyards are to be found on the outskirts of the French village of Sancerre itself. The Vacheron family has had a wine presence here for generations, and is one of the few remaining family domaines to still be centred in the town. Today it’s two brothers, Denis and Jean-Louis, and increasingly their two sons, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique, who run the estate. In many ways their methods are those of the winemakers who have gone before them — hand harvesting, hoeing of the soils, low-pressure pressing. But today it is not out of necessity, but because the estate has embraced biodynamics, an initiative of the two cousins. They have stepped up the game at Domaine Vacheron and the estate’s wine have never been better.
Domaine Vacheron works wonders with pinot noir, particularly its Belle Dame cuvée, and also produces a single-vineyard sancerre, the heady “Les Romains”. But fully three-quarters of the vineyards are devoted to their regular sancerre, what Jean-Dominique calls their “first priority.” It is a polished blending across their terroir , and as the domaine’s starting point it sets the bar high.
The soil in which it grows is an even combination of limestone and flint. The yields are restricted, and there are several returns to the vineyards through September so only fruit at its optimum level of ripeness is picked. There it is sorted before being transported inside in small crates. Following pressing, the juice is gravity-fed into stainless steel tanks for fermentation. It is aged for 8 months before bottling.
The major influences on winemaking at Vacheron are Burgundian. There is movement towards vinifying the best parcels within the vineyards separately, of aging these wines in both tank and large wooden barrels, as well as varying the blending of the regular cuvées from year to year. As Jean-Dominique contends, their best work with sauvignon blanc is yet to come.
Leaving the restaurant with the empty bottle I had in mind a spot that reflects the wine’s steely polish, its bright future. What else — Anish Kapoor’s famed sculpture Cloud Gate, “The Bean”.
Tags: biodynamic wine, Denis and Jean-Louis Vacheron, Domaine Vacheron, Jean-Dominique, Jean-Laurent, Kevin Major, organic wine, Sancerre 2010, Vinland
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April 20, 2012 Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet Gevrey-Chambertin 1st Cru “ClosPrieur”
France (Burgundy)
pinot noir
The centrepiece is “Pork and Apple Pie with Cheddar-Sage Crust” (compliments of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook), with a side glass of green grapes infused with a combination of white wine, birch sap wine and vodka. It calls for the addition of a subtle, yet complex red, a Burgundy to be sure.
There is an elegance to a good Burgundy, a noble intrigue. If you were to take the famous wineman Harry Waugh at his word: “The first duty of wine is to be red…the second is to be a Burgundy.” Ummm…
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet Gevrey-Chambertin 1st Cru “Clos Prieur” 2002
A wine to explore, first with aromas of the forest floor, laced with mysteries of black cherry. Medium body as to be expected, with a very pleasant tannic structure, a subtle sting of well-seasoned dark fruit and spice. A wine to let linger on the palate, and when finally it is released there is left a rich and memorable aftertaste. Very well done. $$
I confess I am not versed in the intricacies of Burgundy wine culture. I do know that the commune Gevrey-Chambertin is the largest in Côte de Nuits, and here is to be found some 110 producers. 
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet, together with family-related Domaine Trapet, are two of the better known. The pair were once one, the property having been split in by two sisters in 1990. Interestingly, over time, both have moved to biodynamic production.
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet is now the work of sons Nicholas and David Rossignol. Wine critics generally agree that the improvements to the domaine that the brothers have undertaken in the past decade have led to stronger, more memorable wines. There are 14 hectares under vine, including three grand crus and six premier crus, of which our Clos Prieur is one.
The domaine’s holdings in the two hectares of Clos Prieur (once a walled vineyard belonging to the Abbey de Bèze) amount to just .25 of a hectare. The gentle slopes are composed of clay and limestone, with vines now 25 years in age. It is a prime, much-valued spot just below the grand cru Mazis Chambertin. The soil tends to be warmer here than in some of the other premier cru plots, with grapes that ripen earlier and produce wines with more immediate appeal.
Throughout the domaine the grapes are 
hand harvested by experienced pickers who return year after year. The grapes go through a second selection at the sorting table. The amount of de-stemming ranges from 60-100%, depending on the vintage. There’s a pre-fermentation maceration of several days, the exact length again a judgement call. Eventually the wine is moved to French oak barrels where vinification lasts a further 14-18 months. Daily monitoring is the norm. Bottling takes place without fining or filtration, followed by further maturation in the cellar.
And from their cellar to my glass several more years pass. Though not as long as the time between the formation of this ice in Greenland and its arrival a couple of days ago (looking rather cat-like) just off our shores in Newfoundland.
Tags: biodynamic wine, Clos Prieur 2002, David Rossignol, Domaine Rossignol-Trapet, Gevrey-Chambertin, Kevin Major, Nicholas Rossignol, organic wine, Vinland
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April 6, 2012 Mas Estela
Mas Estela Vinya Selva de Mar
Spain (Empordà- Catalonia)
grenache (50%), syrah (35%), carignan (15%)
Mas Estela Vinya Selva de Mar 2001
Taken with an array of fine Spanish cheeses (Roncal, Majorero Maxorata, San Simón da Costa), there is a lot riding on this wine. It delivers. Garnet red in the glass, with dense, old world aromas. Polished fruit, well rounded tannins, yet never less than fresh, displaying the liveliness of experience, the complexity of its years spent in the bottle. A wine opened in anticipation of spring, that most organic of seasons. $$
There can hardly be a more stunning setting for a wine estate — tucked in the Saint Romà valley in the far northeastern reaches of the Catalonia region of Spain, just three kilometres from the Mediterranean’s Costa Brava.
The estate itself didn’t always suit its surroundings. In 1989, when owners Diego (‘Didier’) Soto and Núria Dalmau discovered the property while on a hiking expedition, it had been abandoned and was in acute disrepair. Although the roots of its viticulture date back centuries, it had been 30 years since it had last seen production. An intense dedication and years of hard work have restored and expanded the property. Today there are 17 hectares under vine, and many more surrounding them, a sloping landscape filled with pines and oaks and a myriad of wild herbs.
Mas Estela has been organic since the start and biodynamic since 1999. The owners, together with their son Didac, are greatly aided in their approach by the strong, dry winds that blow from the north. The moderating influence of the Mediterranean keeps the potentially intense heat of summer at bay. Here the soils are metamorphic brown slate, with a modest amount of chalk. The roots of the vines go deep in search of water, drawing minerals into the fruit, eventually doing much to enrich the wine.
Mas Estela makes a range of seven red, white, and sweet wines. The red Vinya Selva de Mar (named after the nearby village) is one of their signature bottles. Grapes from this 2001 vintage were hand-picked at optimum ripeness, de-stemmed, then crushed, leading to cold maceration in stainless steel tanks. Temperature-controlled fermentation followed, stretching over several weeks. The wine spent 18 months in French oak casks, then, after light filtering, continued to mature in the bottle…before years later the foil covering the cork was sliced away, and set aside, allowing the bottle to welcome spring (even if the tulips, like the wine, are imported).
Tags: biodynamic wine, Didac Soto, Didier Soto, Diego Soto, Kevin Major, Mas Estela, Nùria Dalmau, organic wine, Vinland, Vinya Selva de Mar 2001
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March 23, 2012 Château du Cèdre
Château du Cèdre Le Cèdre
France (Cahors)
malbec
www.chateauducedre.com
Château du Cèdre Le Cèdre 2002
Deep, dark, and moody. A rich nose of stewed black fruit, nicely aged. Firm and concentrated on the palate, with strong ripe tannins. A wine at home next to a fireplace, the aromas of roasting beef or lamb inviting you to the table. There is a homey, rural feel to this wine that warms the heart. $$
These days when ‘malbec’ is mentioned, it seems to be in tandem with ‘Argentina’. Certainly, South America has given the grape new prominence. But France is its ancestral home, and it is the Cahors appellation, in the region of the Lot, that originally set the standard for malbec (or côt, as it is called there). And in recent years several Cahors estates have thrust it back into the limelight. One definitely in the forefront is the 25 organic hectares of Château du Cèdre. (In fact La Revue du Vin de France lists it among the nine major organic domaines in France.)
Its story goes back to 1956, a devastating year in Cahors, when the vineyards throughout the region were wiped out by severely cold temperatures. That summer Charles Verhaeghe and his wife Marie-Thérèse first planted vines on their property. Their sons Jean-Marc and Pascal Verhaeghe, both of whom studied oenology, eventually took over the estate (Pascal by way of motorcycle racing). Now Jean-Marc handles the vineyards, while Pascal takes more responsibility in the making of the wine and its distribution.
The vineyards of Château du Cèdre are on hillsides near the town of Vire-sur-Lot, and are blessed with the best soil types found in Cahors. Half the vineyards are planted in very rocky argilo-calcareous soil, the other half in pebbles mixed with red iron oxide sand atop siliceous earth and clay. The climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on another, and the Pyrenees on a third. Southerly winds bring sunshine and the waters of the river Lot act as a cooling agent at night.
The malbec wines that emerge are more austere than those of Argentina, with pronounced tannins and strong natural acidity. They tend to be longer-lived, with distinctive notes of black fruit. Very dark in colour, they have given rise to the recent marketing campaign of Cahors wines as “Vin Noir”. It is an attempt on the part of the wine producers in Cahors to re-establish their wines in the consciousness of the French public, and to separate themselves a little from their New World competitors. And to mark their bottlings as wines of character, which they most surely are.
Tags: Château du Cèdre, Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, Kevin Major, Le Cèdre 2002, organic wine, Pascal Verhaeghe, Vinland
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