September Arrivals

It's been a while, but we finally have some new wines coming in From France. Some old favorites as always, and a number of new and exciting wines never before seen on our shores. The can should be delivered to our warehouse sometime in the 1st week of September. Recession busting at its finest.

LOIRE

CAVE DE SAUMUR


The Cave de Saumur is reknowned for quality, regularity, and value. The latest vintages are some of the best that we've brought in. 2008 is a quasi-perfect vintage in all colors. I prefer it to 2005 because I think the ripeness is in better balance with the rest of the wine's attributes. One of the best white Saumurs I've seen at a small fraction of the high-end's price. 2007 produced juicy well-colored reds with friendly tannins for immediate to mid-term enjoyment.

2008 SAUMUR BLANC "RESERVE DES VIGNERONS"
Ripe, juicy, melony, citrusy flowery goodness!

2007 SAUMUR ROUGE "RESERVE DES VIGNERONS"
Deeply purple, with gobs of dark fruit. Excellent acid and warm, friendly tannins.

2007 SAUMUR-CHAMPIGNY "LES POYEUX"
Deeply purple, layers of dark fruits and dusty spices. A very consistent performer over the years.

DOMAINE DE LA ROCHETTE


François Leclair has proven to be an excellent source for a wide range of wines from TOURAINE that are exceptional bargains. Quality is always good, but in vintages like 2008 it approaches superb for a risible price.

2008 TOURAINE SAUVIGNON BLANC
Very pale, nice aromatic intensity, good weight and plenty of zip.
2008 TOURAINE PINEAU D'AUNIS
Gorgeous, electric gris color. Explosive nose, perfect texture. Exuberant, yet very sophisticated rosé. Que demande le peuple?
2008 TOURAINE PINOT NOIR
Surprisingly deep color. Excellent fruity, spicy and earthy nose. Firm friendly tannins with good zip.
2007 TOURAINE PRESTIGE DU VIGNERON" (Cabernet Franc/Côt)
Very deep opaque purple, with a medley of red and dark fruits with spice.

DOMAINE SEBASTIEN RIFFAULT


Something about me wants to hate these wines, and I would if they weren't so completely seductive. I was for some reason naturally hostile and skeptical to the concept of strictly non-interventionist 'natural winemaking' where the wine is literally allowed to make it itself. I was basically dared to taste them by a colleague in France and found my prejudices and preconceptions swept away by the extremely seductive character of these wines, which overwhelms even their strangeness. You won't need to leave your points of reference at the door, they'll be rendered meaningless all by themselves. To me these wines are revelatory. The wines all contain some solids. Don't be afraid of them, they are just part of the deal.

2007 SANCERRE BLANC "AKMENINE"
The name means "Made of Stones" in Lithuanian. 6-9 months in very old (10+) Burgundy barrels. Very bright yellow color. Bonbon anglais, nutty, lightly oxidized. Voluminous, sumptuous and exotic. Incredible length.

2007 SANCERRE BLANC "AUKSINIS"
The name means 'Golden', and that's a fair assessment of the color. 18 months in very old casks. Oxidized, candied nose. Mature, candied fruits. See above x 1.5

2007 SANCERRE BLANC "SKEVELDRA"
The name means "Fragment", and refers to the flinty soils that produce the fruit. About a year in old casks. Bright yellow with a vivid orange-ish edge. Quasi Sherry-like nose. Flavors are quite complex and pretty bizarre but most importantly absolutely and irresistibly delicious. The wine gives so much pleasure that you don't want to swallow it, you just want it to live in your mouth! One usually has to pay a lot more than this for that attribute...

2007 SANCERRE ROUGE "RAUDONAS"
The name means "Red". 18 months in old casks. Deep bricky color. Very ripe, candied, stewed fruit. Tiny prickles, bracing acids. Good volume, if bizarre.


LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON

LES COTEAUX DU RIEUTORT


A fairly recent cooperative, founded in 1996. 1250ha of vines are worked by 250 vignerons, providing a rich and varied palette of material going into the wines. From textbook VDPs to Millésime's first Saint-Chinian wine, I am very pleased to have discovered this source.

2008 VDP D'OC "LES GRANJOTS" VIOGNIER
Pale color, this is a really attactive, textbook stainless steel Viognier. Rich and intense with plenty of interest.

2008 VDP D'OC "LES GRANJOTS" GRENACHE ROSE
Delicate salmony color. Explosive fruit, bone dry.

2007 SAINT-CHINIAN ROUGE "LES SCHISTES"
Syrah, Grenache, Carignan. Carbonic for the Syrah. Deep and brilliant, this wine is explosive, intense, lush, silky and way underpriced. Best QPR red out of literally hundreds I tasted in France several months ago.


CHATEAU PLANERES



2007 COTES DU ROUSSILLON BLANC "PRESTIGE"
Tourbat/Rolle/Grenache Blanc. Tourbat is also known as 'Roussillon Malvasia' and was once widely planted in the area. Nowadays it is very very rare. It is a very noble, but late maturing and low-yielding varietal. Gilles Jaubert is a big believer in this grape, which he reintroduced at the the domaine in 1980. A revelation in 'southern whites'

2007 COTES DU ROUSSILLON ROSE "PRESTIGE"
Syrah/Cinsault/Grenache. Dark, meaty, 'structured' rosé that stands up to most foods.

2006 COTES DU ROUSSILLON ROUGE "CHANTAIL" 1L
Syrah/Grenache/Carignan. The Syrah and Carignan are vinified by carbonic maceration. Dark, soft, and juicy but with a decent tannic backbone. It is a great BBQ and paella red.

2006 COTES DU ROUSSILLON ROUGE "PRESTIGE"
Syrah/Mourvedre/Grenache. Deep and brilliant garnet with brambly, plummy and chocolatey fruit. Superb QPR.

2006 COTES DU ROUSSILLON LES ASPRES ROUGE "LA COUME D'ARS"
50% 100 year old Carignan, 30% 45 yo Grenache & Syrah. - This single-vineyard wine is earthy, juicy, big and powerful with attractive dark fruit background and firm tannins. Way undervalued, brownbag this to your next tasting group and blow some minds.

Back from FENAVIN

Made it back from FENAVIN - the traveling was gruesome, but the show was great. I found lots of really great wines - more than I can possibly take, which is a good problem to have. As expected, plenty of really great deals. A pleasant surprise was the restraint of many of the wines, I was subjected to very few of the brutally furry examples that are alas all-too-common these days in France (but I'm sure they were there). The show was just about the perfect size, you really didn't need to plan a route through the pavillions, everything was close enough not to sweat it, unlike at the big international 'monster shows' the scale, at 'only' 1000 exhibitors is rather more human than 2500 like at Vinexpo or Vinitaly, or (gasp) 3200 at Prowein. Lots of really excellent, well-balanced wines, even from some of the more 'desirable' DOs like Ribera del Duero, Toro, Priorat...

Everything was represented, from the most garish sickness imaginable: This picture doesn't really do the 'sickness' justice. Avril Lavigne on the video screens is a hint, but there were also painted bimbo 'hostesses' - all in an effort to flog 'wines' in tallboy aluminum cans.

Other booths were much classier, appointed in 'rich Corinthian leather' : In comparison to the disco cans, very classy and understated.

Here is the self-service tasting area, upstairs in the largest hall: yes, it really is as far as the eye can see! The only drawback was that if you didn't go first thing in the morning it started to get pretty warm up there, which didn't exactly help a lot of the reds to show their best. 'Room temperature' is indeed a relative term.

Wretched excess: Thousands and thousands of glasses were soiled daily.

And finally, there were facilities for those who had a bit too much: It looked like they had enough gear in there to handle all but the most serious of cases. Made it convenient to get back to the show after coming to!

FENAVIN

FENAVIN stands for FEria NAcional del VINo which is the largest trade show in Spain - over 1000 exhibitors from all over the country will be showing their wines. I've always been a big believer in Spanish wines and I think they are probably best values in the business, Euro for Euro. This is an exciting event for me because it is the first time that I will be exposed to so many different Spanish wines - I should be plowing through 100+ per day in my quest to find new and exciting wines to bring in. It will be interesting to discover producers who are making authentic wines of character, hopefully I won't have to suffer through too many examples of the overblown and overdone ones that are sadly very fashionable these days...

TBC

"Corkscrewed" book signing

Tuesday the 17th of February there was a book signing/tasting at the Local Vine in Belltown with Robert Camuto, author of "Corkscrewed". We had a couple of suppliers featured in the book, which I would recommend to winos everywhere even if none of 'my' suppliers were in it. Turnout was strong and I'm happy to say that the wines were very well received. Most of these wines are still in stock if anyone is interested:

2006 Côtes du Roussillon Rouge "Tradition", Ch. Mossé
2005 Côtes du Roussillon Rouge "Temporis", Ch. Mossé
2004 Côte-Rôtie, J-M Stephan
2004 Côte-Rôtie "Vielles Vignes en Côteaux", J-M Stephan

Languedoc/Loire

I spent a couple of weeks in France recently, where I attended a number of Trade Shows as well as some grueling tastings set up by the CIVL (Conseil Interprofessionel des Vins du Languedoc). The first week was spent in and around Montpellier and I tasted 120-150 wines per day from AOCs from all over the region: Corbières, Saint-Chinian, Côteaux du Languedoc Grès de Montpellier, Pezenas, Béziers, Picpoul. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a 'costly' education in terms of wear and tear on my body - just be happy that there are people who can do this for you! Sadly, a common thread was the familiar over-extracted, overblown, overwooded, ferociously tannic wines that are still considered fashionable in some circles. Here is a tasting table (one of 15) to give you an idea of the scope of some of these tastings:



It got to the point where in order to spare myself the abuse, I would quickly scan the pricelists to tell by the price which "Q-vay" I was going to skip - when there was a doubt, I would ask to taste only the 'non-boisé' wines. They were always much cheaper and almost always way more enjoyable.

After that week it was a pleasure to head up to Angers for the Salon des Vins de Loire, easily one of my favorite shows to attend. As a group, Loire wines are eminently more 'civilized' as was the mostly self-directed pace of tasting. Were there some highlights from the first week Absolutely yes, but the sheer number of brutally tannic overblown wines that one had to fight through to discover them was most daunting.