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grand cru sancerre…

By greg

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Chene Marchand Label

Sancerre “Chêne Marchand” Domaine du Carrou
When the famous taster Pierre Bréjoux headed the I.N.A.O (the governing body that regulates wine in France), he observed that while tasting the greatest wines of Sancerre, “…one would like to have a throat as long as a swan’s neck.” His I.N.A.O never classified the vineyards of Sancerre, but if that ever happens, the chalky, sloping Chêne Marchand in the hamlet of Bué will be at the top of the list of its Grands Crus.

Dominique Roger has 0.37 hectares of forty year-old vines in Chêne Marchand, the crown jewel of his Domaine du Carrou. In most years, this tiny parcel yields fewer than 200 cases of round, elegant Sancerre.

Dominique Roger:
If you visit Dominique Roger (photo) at his Domaine du Carrou in Bué, don’t expect to spend a leisurely time indoors tasting the latest vintage and hearing all about the new Vaslin press or the Tronçais barrels from a famous cooper in Burgundy. Dominique Roger won’t try to impress you with his tools. But if you can keep up with him on a brisk climb through his immaculate, steep vineyards, you’ll learn a lot more about wine, and maybe find that you suddenly care a lot more about who grows it and where it comes from than you ever did before.

This wine:
This citrine-yellow wine has delicate nectarine, white peach and pink grapefruit in the nose, along with a suggestion of cassis and walnut, which on the palate turns to pistachio. There is fine minerality in harmonious balance with what Klaus Peter Keller calls “inner density” and lively acidity. This is sublimely elegant Sancerre.

As always at Moore Brothers, this elegant Sancerre was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers, so it tastes exactly the same as it tasted at Dominique’s home in Bué, when I drank it with the tiny goujons, gardons, and eperlans, – fresh from the Loire, that Danielle Roger dipped in milk and seasoned flour, then fried and served in heaping mounds on large heated plates.

I thank you again for your continued support of sustainable viticulture, and the stewardship of these special traditions.

Greg Moore

Categories : food with wine, learning, loire, our winegrowers

Tags : learning, loire, our winegrowers

“chablis premier cru…” von rheinhessen?

By greg

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Grüner Silvaner trocken Weingut Keller
…from where? Here’s another sleeper that I hope you try: one of the purest, most detailed expressions of a marly limestone vineyard that you will ever taste outside of Chablis.

If you have ever enjoyed a fine, unoaked Chablis Premier Cru, you don’t need to ask if you’ll like this classic Grüner Silvaner – at one third the price: a flinty, precise, and harmonious dry wine from Klaus-Peter Keller, who is by most accounts the greatest producer in Germany.

The grower:
When Klaus-Peter and his wife Julia took over at Weingut Keller in 2001, they had an enviable advantage: his parents Klaus and Hedwig Keller had laid a solid foundation for their future with their work in soil analysis and clonal selection, and their estate was already known as the best producer in Rheinhessen. But Klaus-Peter has taken Weingut Keller to even greater heights. In 2002 he received the International Award at VinItaly, and in 2003 was named “Winemaker of the Decade” by Gault Millau.

Of course, the king of grapes here is Riesling, and today, the single most sought-after (and expensive) cult wine in Germany is Keller’s dry “Riesling G-Max.” But Silvaner has a 350-year history in Rheinhessen, and Klaus-Peter believes that it sometimes is Riesling’s equal at expressing terroir, especially in these marly, clay limestone vineyards near his home in Flörsheim-Dalsheim.

This wine:
This Grüner Silvaner has a deep and attractive nose, with green apple, grapefruit zest, chalky minerality, and clean hay that reminds me of unoaked Chablis. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied, stony and crisp, with a refreshing combination of purity, intensity and transparency. The finish is long, with plenty of fresh acidity, depth, and cut. “Das ist mein Lieblingswein,” Klaus-Peter’s grandfather told me. “My favorite wine. I drink a bottle every day.”

And as always at Moore Brothers, this small-farm gem was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers. It has evolved beautifully over the past several months, but remains as fresh and compelling as when I tasted it at lunch with Klaus-Peter and Julia, at their home last April.

I thank you for your continued support of the extraordinary people who grow fine, traditional artisan wine.

Greg Moore

Categories : germany, our winegrowers, tasting notes

Tags : learning, our winegrowers, tasting notes

terrasses du larzac le grand pas domaine du pas de l’escalette

By greg

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Pas de l'Escallette

Here’s a show-stopping blend of ancient bush-trained Grenache, Carignan, and Syrah, grown on terraces of crumbling limestone in a forgotten corner of the Languedoc, which combines the warm concentration of old-vines Châteauneuf-du-Pape with the vibrant elegance of fine Côte Rôtie. I know you will like it. We poured Le Grand Pas at the tasting table when Julien and Delphine were here last November, and the wine was gone in an hour and a half.

OK, there wasn’t a lot to begin with. Most had already been reserved by top sommeliers in France (so if you miss this offering you can drink Le Grand Pas at Joël Robuchon or Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, or at Michel Bras in Laguiole, which is arguably the greatest restaurant in France).

When I last saw Julien Zernott in November of 2008, Le Grand Pas was still strictly allocated. Top restaurants were clamoring for more, and construction on his new state-of-the-art winery was nearing completion. Then suddenly the music stopped, and Julien was caught in the whipsaw of contracting restaurant demand in France, and his newly incurred debt. So he made us an unprecedented special offering on his flagship wine. And the right thing to do is to pass it directly along to you.

Our customers saved over $10 per bottle when we offered the wine on one of our “special offerings.”

Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette:
Julien Zernott was already a star when he and his wife Delphine Rousseau found these ancient terraced vineyards at the foot of the plateau du Larzac, where the Massif Central crumbles down onto the plain leading to the Mediterranean. As the technical director at Domaine Henri Pellé in Menetou-Salon, Julien was one of the Loire Valley’s top winemakers.

But the Loire was too crowded for Delphine, who wanted to raise her growing family in quieter surroundings. Here, in a place where time seems to have stood still for a hundred years, the nearest village is Pégairolles-de-l’Escalette, which has a population of 144.

This wine:
In the glass, this wine has a beautiful deep purple color, almost black at the center. The aromatics are pure garrigue; with lavender, crushed dried violets, ripe black cherries, red currants and fennel. On the palate, there is a lovely core of sweet black fruit that puts on weight as the wine evolves in the glass. The satiny finish is bright and mineral, with fine, silky tannins and fresh acidity. Drink now – 2020.

As always at Moore Brothers, this wine was selected in a personal relationship with an extraordinary producer, and was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers.

Imagine: you could drink it with a civet de sanglier en croûte sauce faugéroise at Restaurant L’Arbousier in Lamalou-les-Bains, about 35 km from Julien and Delphine’s home in Pégairolles de l’Escalette, or you could drink it this weekend at your favorite BYOB, and it will be just as fresh and compelling and delicious.

I invite you take advantage of this special offer, and thank you again for your continued support of these dedicated stewards of our viticultural heritage.

Greg Moore

Categories : southern france/catalunya, tasting notes

Tags : learning, tasting notes

copper river salmon and oregon pinot noir…

By greg

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

laurent

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Reserve Clos Julien
OK, the fish came from the Copper River in Alaska; not the Willamette. But the wine came from three of the top vineyard sites in Oregon: Gran Moraine, Willakia, and Laurent Montalieu’s own Hyland Vineyard near McMinnville – all certified “Salmon Safe” by inspectors who analyze the impact of agriculture on salmon habitat.

I was only thinking about what to drink with the wild, buttery Chinook salmon, fresh local favas, and the first corn of the season that Sue prepared last Wednesday. And lest you assume that twenty years of sommellerie in French restaurants makes me an OLDE-WORLD SNOB, I want you to know that this all-American wine-and-food pairing was one of the most perfect in recent memory.

Here is another great red wine for the summer: no lumbering cumbrous fruit-bomb, but a classic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, deeply aromatic of ripe sweet cherries and cloves, with fine minerality and length.

Laurent Montalieu:
Twelve or thirteen years ago, you might have bought a Laurent Montalieu Pinot Noir at our first store in Pennsauken. He was a partner and the winemaker at Bernard Lacroute’s WillaKenzie Estate in Yamhill. While still there, he and his wife Danielle Andrus bought an eighty-acre vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, which they named Domaine Danielle Laurent, and established Soléna Cellars. In 2003 he founded the Northwest Wine Company in McMinnville, a state-of-the-art winery that provides technologically advanced winegrowing expertise for more than twenty-five clients, including his own Soléna Cellars.

This wine:
In the glass, this wine has a limpid garnet color. The nose is pure smoky Pinot Noir, with aromatics of strawberry preserves, black cherries, rhubarb, and cloves. On the palate, the wine is light to medium bodied, with a beautiful sweet core of fruit, bright fresh acidity, and a long, fine-grained finish. This is another wine that puts on weight over time in the glass.

As always at Moore Brothers, this wine was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers. Last week at home with Sue it tasted as fresh as I can imagine it would, on a leisurely picnic at Bridal Veil Falls State Park in the Columbia River Gorge, about twenty-five miles from Portland. Sometimes in a detour from “wine travel,” I visit a great old friend there – who was best man at my wedding almost thirty years ago.

I invite you take advantage of this special offer, and thank you again for your continued support of sustainable agriculture and sensitive, artisan winemaking.

Greg Moore

Categories : food with wine, tasting notes

Tags : food with wine, tasting notes

just now perfect…

By greg

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

menetou

Ménetou-Salon Cuvée le Charnay Jean-Max Roger
Here’s a shimmering, elegant Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc that I’ve drunk at least twice a month since it arrived here a year ago.

Last Friday at home, alongside a buttery crusted fillet of halibut with parslied new potatoes and wild rice, this wine was perfect: sapid and vibrant, and a textbook example of a beautifully evolved wine at its peak. On Sunday I bought a case, of which eleven bottles remain (I couldn’t resist). But I plan on one or two at least, for a picnic of Monterey Chèvre, New Canaan tomatoes, and a baguette from Rubiner’s, with Beethoven and Mendelssohn on the lawn at Tanglewood later this summer.

Jean-Max Roger:
The Rogers have been winegrowers in Bué, a tiny hamlet outside of Sancerre, since the early seventeenth century. Jean-Max Roger inherited four hectares of Sancerre vineyards in 1970, to which he has added another twenty, along with five hectares in nearby Ménetou-Salon.

Like his cousin and neighbor Dominique Roger, Jean-Max combines a deeply felt respect for tradition with a willingness to apply sensible innovative methods. His neighbors in Bué thought he was crazy when he abandoned chemical herbicides in 1990, and planted grass between alternate rows of vines.

If you visit his compact winery in the heart of the village of Bué, he probably won’t be there (even if you made an appointment). He’s much more likely to have forgotten the time, and to be out among the vines.

This wine:
This pale yellow wine has beautiful white peach, pink grapefruit, and fennel in the nose, along with a suggestion of cassis and walnut. On the palate there is nectarine, citrus zest, fennel, and flinty minerality, with lots of dry extract: what Klaus Peter Keller calls “inner density.” The finish goes on and on.

As always at Moore Brothers, we selected this lovely wine in a direct, personal relationship with the grower. It was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers, and over the past year it has ripened beautifully in our perfect, temperature-controlled facilities. It won’t taste better, even if you drink it in the lovely old tasting room at the winery in Bué, with Thibault or Etiènne Roger filling in for their father.

I thank you again for your continued support of family farms, and for your participation in the stewardship of these special traditions.

Greg Moore

Categories : loire, tasting notes

Tags : learning, loire, tasting notes

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